José Muñoz

“How’d you like dinner, Barb?” asked Bradley Bell, her husband, as he put the car in first gear.

“That’s the best steak I’ve had in a long time,” answered his wife.

Bradley smiled, because he loved to give his wife the good things in life. She deserved them, and he was happy to give her all she wanted. This dinner was special because Barbara’s mother had begged to have their kids over for dinner, or else the Bell vehicle would have been at full capacity. “Did you see the news this morning?”

“I don’t need to see the news to see what’s going on.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked the perplexed Bradley.

“All I see in the news are about children in cages. It’s everywhere,” said Barbara, as she reached into her purse for a tissue. “You ever wonder if God gets angry at us for allowing this to happen?”

“Barb, you know the US is using this harsh treatment as a deterrent. And as bad as it looks, maybe those people shouldn’t make the trip up north,” Bradley replied, as they got on the freeway.

“Ha, deterrent? That would be believable if the architect of this policy didn’t have Nazi leanings. I mean if he were still alive, I bet this administration would have Josef Mengele as the Camp Doctor,” replied Barbara. She opened the glove box and tossed a few papers from her purse into it to show her displeasure.

“Look, I know the optics of it makes us look bad.”

Barbara laughed sarcastically, then said, “Us? Are you part of the team?” Her mouth curled to one side, and Bradley knew she was pissed.

“Barb, let’s talk about something else, my love.” He reached for her hand and found her hand locked up in a fist. Slowly and gently, he pried her hand open, and he felt Barb’s resistance leave, and then a smile came to her face. “Always remember that I love you.”

# # #

Wednesday was Bradley’s favorite day of the work week because he always had a ten-thirty tee time to talk business with members of the community. The weather was a perfect seventy-two degrees with a slight breeze coming from the southeast. He enjoyed some fellowship with his friends, but he also liked to be competitive, challenging himself to play with his utmost concentration. All those hours of watching the PGA on television were conducive to him lowering his golf score from the low nineties to the mid-eighties.

Bradley was four over par after nine holes. They stopped and had lunch, having called the kitchen as they finished the seventh hole. He had his usual cheeseburger and fries while the others went with a pastrami sandwich. “Please pass the catsup,” requested Thomas Tipton, as he pointed to the red plastic bottle. He took the bottle and drenched his fries. “So what do you think about the news from the border?”

Charles cleared his throat and then spoke. “It’s called deterrence. You must make it extra hard to be able to come in, because if you don’t, there will be a full-blown invasion.” He took a bite from his sandwich.

“I don’t know, it seems kinda cruel to separate children from their parents. That’s the worst kind of trauma for children,” added Larry.

“But if there is no punishment, more of them will come,” added Charles, his palms up trying to plead his case to his friends.

The debate continued on the back nine. On the par three, fourteenth hole, everyone was on the green. As they went down the hill with their cart, Thomas said, “Hey Bradley, we haven’t heard anything from you. What are your thoughts?”

Bradley looked up, saw that he was out, so he looked at the slope on the green and concentrated on his breathing. He practiced his slow pendulum swing and then stepped to address the ball. He went through his practice swing, looked at the hole that was four feet away, held in his breath and hit the ball straight into the hole. “My thoughts? My thoughts are that I just made a birdie putt.” He pumped his fist in the air with glee. There was a short wait at the fifteenth hole, so Bradley pipped in on the debate. “My thoughts are that they should not be separating families. If they get caught, just keep them all together until they are processed out of the country.”

“But you have to make them feel some pain, that way we will be one less option for them,” interjected Charles, as he took out his driver and took a few practice swings.

“When they get caught, they have to give their information making them ineligible to immigrate legally. That should be enough,” added Thomas.

“I agree, lock them up together, but anything else is being vindictive,” said Bradley, before putting a tee on the ground and then hitting a two-hundred-and-fifty-yard drive.

“Nice shot Brad, but if you just slap their hand, how is that a deterrence? How will that make them stop coming over? You have to make it hurt, to make them think about the consequences,” replied Charles.

“And is it working?” asked Larry. He got ready for his tee shot.

“These things, they take time for the news to get back to the natives back home,” Charles said with a wry smile.

“Really, now you’re calling them natives?” inquired Bradley. “Look I get what you mean, but it just looks bad, and when people use these buzz words, it doesn’t help anyone.”

Bradley ended up shooting an eighty-five. He could have shot an eighty-four, but he shanked two easy pitches into bunkers. It had been a great day outdoors and the bonus was there was only two days left in the work week.

# # #

Wednesdays were also good for Barbara, as it was the day, she and her friends had lunch. On this day they met for Mexican food at Don Aniceto’s. Candice Carlucci and Paula Peterson, were friends from church, while Wendy Winthope served with Barbara on the PTA.

They were seated and their server brought two bowls of chips and salsa, and placed them on each side of the table, put the menu on the table, then put four glasses of iced water with a slice of lemon on the rim of the glass in front of each of them. They immediately dug into the salsa and chips because Don Aniceto’s was known to have the best salsa in town. They all took turns updating each other on what happened over the past week, as well as hearing about the daily quarrels with their children, as they tested the family boundaries in their quest to find their independence. Everyone was attentive and gave advice where they saw fit. Their server came back to take their lunch order. Eventually the talk turned to what was occurring at the Southern US border. “Every day it gets worse at the border,” said Barbara.

Paula was in the middle of a bite, she chewed her food, then drank some water, a scowl formed on her forehead. “They need to stay in their own country. We don’t need anymore, we’re full.”

Barbara was shocked by her friend’s callousness. “Do you ever consider how bad their life must be for them to take on such a risky journey?”

Paula sighed, then flicked her right hand out and said, “We’re full. No vacancy.”

The look on the faces of Barbara, Candice, and Wendy said it all. They looked at each other trying to come up with something to say. Finally, Wendy cleared her throat and stated, “But does the administration have to be so punitive? The ones hurt most are the children.” Just then, their lunch order arrived, so it grew quiet as they had begun their meal. After a few minutes of silence, and without missing a beat, Wendy continued. “Plus, there are those in the administration who seem to enjoy the children’s despair.”

“Just stay home and there wouldn’t be any family separation,” retorted Paula.

“You aren’t seeing the big picture Paula, what is so bad that these people would gamble with their lives?” said Candice.

“That’s not any of my concern,” replied Paula, her arms folded in defiance. 

Barbara shook her head, and with a sad voice sad, “Gee Paula, that’s very Christian of you.”

“Don’t go there Barb, you know I’m not like that. You know what I mean,” said Paula with a farrowed forehead.

“Paula, I hear the economic argument about this. What is missing is showing dignity to others. If you want to lock them up, I’m with you, but lock the whole family, together,” she explained.

Paula put her hand up and said, “Look, I’m sorry for all the grief, but they are breaking the law.”

There were groans at the table for the age-old excuse for mistreating people for their indiscretions.

“I can understand Paula’s position,” added Candice. “We see people coming in and our nation keeps getting worse. The more people they allow in, the worse we will be.”

“Look, the world is a mess. Let’s pray to God to help all people,” said Wendy. After the prayer the group stuck around discussing where next Wednesday’s lunch would take place, then they retreated to their own world.

# # #

The Bell kids bedtime was nine in the evening. This was the time of night when the Bell’s talked about how their day went. Bradley got to brag about shooting an eighty-five, and Barbara talked about what her friends had said over lunch. “Paula was so adamant that the administration was correct in separating families as a deterrent,” reported Barbara, as she put lotion on her legs.

“Charles was the same way, and kinda in a mean way too,” replied Bradley, as he buttoned up his pajama top.

Barbara sighed deeply, then said, “I’ll tell you one thing, some of our friends put the importance of having a sound economy, over having compassion for all people, and they use immigrants as scapegoats.” 

“Yep, some of our friends are downright mean. It’s all about the money. To them money trumps over anything else.” Bradley looked at himself in the mirror one last time, then pulled the sheets back and got into bed. “I mean, I can see Charles point, but separating a child from their parents is barbaric.” He shook his head and sighed deeply. “I say catch them but keep them together.”

Barbara looked at her husband and nodded her head to show that she had heard him, but Bradley knew where she stood on this issue. “I think God is testing us to see what kind of people we are, and we are failing right now. Do you think it pleases God to see families broken up?” She hit the bed with both fists out of frustration. “Do you think God is happy with Christians?” as she put two fingers up in each hand to make an air quote. “They care more about money than about treating people with dignity.”

“Honey, we’re only in charge of ourselves. God knows everyone’s heart.”

“Well them, his heart is sad.”

“Barb, we can pray for them to find their compassion. We have our faith.”

# # #

Barbara was up at five in the morning. She liked her quiet time to start the day, but she also used the time to prepare lunches for her family. She went to the cabinet and took a coffee cup out, just as the coffeemaker was finished brewing, thank God for automatic coffee machines. While the last drip fell into the coffee pot, she pulled out condiments, lettuce, and deli meat from the refrigerator, then took out the bread from the pantry, and placed it on the counter. She then poured herself the first cup of Joe for the day. She took her coffee black without sugar, like an old army sergeant, her husband liked to say. The first jolt of caffeine hit her system, and then her day officially started. She turned on the television and placed four pieces of bread on a plate and spread mustard evenly around each slice. As she opened the package of Black Forrest ham, a segment on the news shocked her. It was an undercover BBC video that had been taken inside a government facility, where immigrant children were being kept. Every minute of the segment made Barbara angrier. She shook her head when she learned from the video that immigrants were being denied toothpaste, toothbrushes, and even soap. She slammed her hands on the counter. She knew exactly what was happening and tears fell from her face. She bit her lower lip upon hearing reports that girls were seen bleeding through their pants because they were denied feminine products. Yes, she thought, this is the first thing they do. It’s easy to mistreat others when they are not viewed as equals. Barbara wondered if this was how the Nazis started, but either way, it was not good for humanity, nor Christianity, nor for her family, nor for her. She felt an inner calling to speak out, to do her part to let people know that what was occurring at the southern border was a sin. Her husband walked into the kitchen and gave her a kiss.

“Good morning my love. Did you sleep well?”

Barbara smiled and said, “Good morning, yes I slept well, then I made the mistake of turning on the news.”

“Well, what happened?” 

Barbara finished cooking a skillet of scrambled eggs, then reheated the bacon she had fried yesterday. Their kids came to the table for breakfast. Brooke Bell was a sixteen-year-old junior in high school, and her younger brother Bruce, was a thirteen-year-old eighth grader. When Barbara saw the kids enter the room, she turned the television off. 

“Mom, we know about the BBC video, Vanessa texted me the link. Why are we being so cruel to people?” asked Brooke.

“Good morning, everyone, I hope we all had a restful sleep.” Bradley finished buttoning his shirt.

Brooke ignored the question, and then said, “Dad, have you seen the BBC video?”

Her father sighed deeply, looked at his wife, and then said, “Yes, what is happening is a tragedy.”

“How can America allow this? Why can’t we treat all people with dignity?” Brooke was upset, and tears fell from her face. Her mother walked up to her and gave her a hug. She tried to soothe her daughter’s concerns, but she was as disturbed by this as her daughter.

“I thought this was a Christian nation. Why are we treating others so bad?” asked Bruce, with concern on his face.  

Barbara and Bradley looked at each other and they could see how affected their kids were by the video. All they could do now was have a family prayer asking God to comfort the families.

# # #

Brooke picked up Bruce from school. She was happy her parents bought her a car, but the downside was having to chauffeur her little brother around. “How was school today, Fart Breath?” Brooke smiled at her wittiness.

“Ha ha, in every class it was all about the video. It was all over school.”

“Same here, it’s just so sad and disrespectful that we can’t show some decency to others. It really makes my heart hurt.”

“Oh God, are you close to your period?” joked her brother. She stopped for a red light, gave him a dirty look, and punched his arm twice. “Okay, I’m sorry, I’m just trying to be funny.”

“It isn’t funny. Most of the students are against the child separation, but there are others who support what’s happening,” informed Brooke.

“Yeah, at our school too. I bet their parents are so proud of them,” added Bruce sarcastically.

“Ah, hello little brother, where do you think they learned it?” said Brooke, as she turned left into their driveway. 

Just before opening his door, Bruce asked, “What side do you think mom and dad are on?” He grabbed his backpack and got out of the car before slamming the door shut.

“I don’t know, how about you ask them later,” replied his sister.

# # #

Dinner was served at five-thirty. Barbara had prepared spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread, and a small salad to start off the meal. There was small talk about how their day went, and what was happening in school, but soon that question lead to what troubled everyone at the table. “Dad, what do you think about what’s going on at the border?” asked his son.

Bradley and Barbara looked at each other, then he cleared his throat and began, “What is happening is a calamity.”

“Yeah dad, but how do you personally feel about it?” added Brooke.

“Well, it’s complicated. You can’t just let people break the law. There has to be law and order.”

Brooke sighed loudly, then looked at her mother, then back at her father and replied, “Come on dad, do you support it or not?”

“I don’t support it, and they should not separate the kids from their parents.”

“But what about helping people in need?” asked Brooke.

“Well, it’s a messy situation,” answered her father.

Brooke sighed loudly to voice her displeasure but didn’t say anything else. She ate her dinner in silence. Barbara asked questions about school, but both kids were disengaged, just eating robotically, and not looking up. Her brother was now more confused than before.

# # #

Later in the evening Bruce knocked on his sister’s door to talk. He entered her room, then sat on a chair near the bed. He was sad thinking about children being taken away from their parents. It frightened him, that he would never know the fear they had. To him it was being done on purpose to punish people from trying to improve their lives. His sister could see he was upset and gave him a hug.  

Bruce was troubled to hear his father’s opinion on the border. He thought for sure that he would side with the families, but he still wanted families to be locked up, together. The thirteen-year-old boy was confused. Growing up in church, they had been taught to have compassion and take care of those in need, but now it seemed that everyone was cool with separating children from their parents.

Brooke felt the same way. All those years of church and the teachings of Jesus, she had learned that people should help those less fortunate, and now when people had the opportunity to help, all the compassion and dignity went out the window. To Brooke, and she was headstrong in her beliefs, the inaction of the Christian community showed they were nothing more than hypocrites, who wanted to be seen as Christian, in name only. At the end of their talk, they prayed their parents would have the wisdom and strength to do the right thing. That’s all they could hope for.

# # #

Barbara and Bradley were talking in the bedroom as they were getting ready for bed. “Did you see how upset Bruce was? I hate to see him like that,” said Barbara, as she took a drink from her bottled water.

“He’s a tough kid,” replied her husband.

“Brad, he’s a sensitive kid with a heart of gold. You do know all those years of Sunday School has given him a compassionate attitude for those less fortunate. What did you expect to happen?” 

“You don’t think I know that?” replied Bradley. “We raised our children to have good values, and then they see how we treat those who need help. They must think we’re the world’s biggest hypocrites.”

Barbara had a look of concern on her face. “How many of our Christian friends believe in what the government is doing, putting economics ahead of people? You know, I heard Pastor John talking with a parishioner, and he made a snide comment that these people should just stay home.” She had a scowl on her face and her husband knew she was fuming with rage. “Do you know how to fix Pastor John’s attitude?”

“How?”

A sly smile came to Barbara’s face as an idea crossed her mind. “All everyone seems to care about is money, even more than people, so what if we stopped tithing and instead give money to organizations who can help those people at the border.”

“What?”

“Do you think God is happy right now? Do you think tithing to a church that goes against God’s teachings should continue to prosper?” Barbara looked at Bradley dead in the eye.

He turned away and looked out the window, contemplating what his wife had said. “What do you mean stop tithing?”

“Bradley Bernard Bell, you know exactly what I mean,” replied his wife, as she walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulders. “Pastor John’s comments really threw me. He’s a man talking about living a Christian life, and he has an attitude like that? Have we been duped all these years?”

Bradley waked over from the window and sat down on the bed. His face was serious, and he was deep in thought. “Barbara, we can’t stop tithing, what would people say?”

Barbara laughed out loud and smiled. “You’re worried about what people will say? Who is going to remind Pastor John about compassion for the less fortunate? You do know if Mary and Joseph tried to come to America right now, the US would take baby Jesus away from them. Why do you care what people think? All we should worry about is serving God and teaching our children the true meaning of being a Christian.”

Bradley nodded his head. His wife had made some excellent points. There was nothing he could say. She was right about everything, and it made him feel ashamed that she had to explain it to him. “Well, have you done any research?”

Barbara said she was in the process of looking those up. There were several organizations who helped immigrants and she would look into it. She walked up to her husband and hugged him. Tears fell from her face, and her husband comforted her, and could hear her sobbing and trying to catch her breath. “I can’t get the look of Bruce’s face out of my mind at his concern for the children. It makes me so sad.” Then she smiled and said, “You know what? We raised our kids right. I’m glad that Bruce is sensitive, and I’m glad he cares for others.”

Bradley smiled and nodded his head, “Yes, we did. You know I feel like a boob over the view I had on this tragedy.” He shook his head in embarrassment. 

“No honey, you’re a strong man who wants the best for his family.” She hugged him again and kissed him on the lips. It was getting late and they both got ready for bed. “We’ll have a talk with the kids in the morning.”

# # #

Barbara was up early and had already prepared the days lunches for the kids, and now she was working on breakfast of bacon, eggs, hash browns, and toast. She still felt sad remembering the fear in her son’s eyes. Bruce was precious to her, just as Brooke was, but Brooke knew how to get her points across, she was feisty and had excellent communication skills, while Bruce was just learning how to express himself.

Just then her husband entered the kitchen wearing black slacks and a white t-shirt. He walked up to his wife and gave her a good morning kiss.

“Good morning, honey.” Barbara offered him a crispy slice of bacon.

He bit into the bacon and chewed for a moment, then said, “So, we’re going to tell the kids we’re going to do our part to help with this mess?” He poured himself a cup of coffee.

“We’re going to tell them that we are following God’s laws about treating people with compassion, respect and dignity.” The skillet sizzled as she put the hash browns on the stove. They looked at each other and smiled.

Both kids walked into the kitchen together, the smell of bacon was enough to entice them out of sleep. They hugged and kissed both parents, and then Bruce took out two glasses from the cabinet, while Brooke retrieved the orange juice from the refrigerator⸻teamwork at its finest. “Have a seat, your mother and I need to talk with you.” Bradley pointed to the chairs.

“What is it dad?” asked Bruce, confused as he had no idea why. Both siblings pulled out a chair and sat down.

“Your father and I have been talking, and I know these current events are troubling to everyone, but we wanted to know you were right. This should not be happening. It goes against the teachings of Jesus. We want you to know we are against this cruel policy.” Both kids looked at each other, shocked at what they had heard. “It would be hypocritical to support such a barbaric policy, only meant to inflict pain. This is not what Christianity is about, so we want you to know that you were both correct, in thinking about helping those less fortunate than us.” Both kids smiled, and Bruce exhaled in relief, happy to know their parents choose the true Christian way of helping others.

Then Barbara shocked her kids even further by explaining how they were going to do their part to help people out of this situation. “I’d rather our tithing go to help people, and not to contribute to a church that has forgotten their mission.” Brooke and Bruce looked at each other, not quite believing what they had just heard. Their mother continued, “It makes my blood boil to see politicians making this a partisan issue.”

“Mom, you can hear the hate that some politicians have, all so they can please their political base and get re-elected,” informed Brooke. Her mother smiled at her and nodded her head sadly. “But mom, you’ll be happy to know that most of my friends think like we do.” Her mother gave her a surprised look. “Yes, mother, our generation is more tolerant than yours, thank God. Everyone deserves to be happy, as long as a person does no harm to others.”

Barbara looked over at her husband and smiled, and he returned the smile because he knew their daughter was speaking the truth. “Yes, you’re right, the future is bright if you follow God’s rule of helping others. I apologize for my generation, as some people have forgotten God’s mission, and seem to worship money more than the teachings of God. Just know that our family will contribute to causes that help people, because that’s what Jesus would want us to do.” The whole family smiled and came in for a group hug. The Bell family was raising compassionate and caring kids, and Jesus would be happy with them.