Braving it in the New World
Guess Who?
Raphael flexed his hand the way Splinter had explained in his little book. He didn’t think his fingers, big though they were, would ever be strong enough to hit someone the way the instructions described, but these exercises were supposed to make his hands stronger.
He sat on his father’s meditation mat and tried to meditate himself into oblivion while his hands flexed and stretched in front of him. His mind drifted to Estrella and Miguel. He really admired her for having come back to apologize... he wouldn’t have done that. She’d found a different old lady to look after her son; one who wouldn’t go to bingo and leave him to his own devices. Raphael really felt for her; she had a hard life, going to school during the day and working at night. She told him that she had a nap between school and work, then slept again between three am and eight. He’d noted that she was missing her nap to come and talk to him.
They’d talked until the store closed. She’d gotten pregnant when she was seventeen and her parents had thrown her out in shame because she wanted to keep Miguel when he was born. They didn’t want any teenaged mom living in their house.
“I didn’t know how babies were made,” she’d laughed sadly. “I mean, I did know how it worked, but I thought that you got some kind of freebee. You know, like the first time didn’t count or something. I also thought that you had to be married to have a baby.”
“So ya got pregnant on yer first time?” Raphael asked, leaning his elbows on the counter to talk to her when he was between customers. He couldn’t believe that he was talking to a woman at a bar about sex... actually, yes he could. It was a very Raphael thing to do, he figured.
“Yeah,” she chuckled and tapped her painted nails on the bar. “Pretty stupid, huh?”
Raphael shrugged. “It wasn’t all yer fault,” he said. “It takes two.”
Estrella snorted. “He was an asshole, but I didn’t know that then... I thought he was handsome and wild and wonderful. He had big muscles, too and I thought he was the toughest guy in the world. He’d failed three grades over the years, so he was older than me, too.” Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “I like bad boys,” she confided in a low voice. “I shouldn’t, but I do.”
Raphael quirked an eyebrow at her and smiled wickedly. If she only knew...
“Anyway,” she continued. “I went to him and told him that I was pregnant and he said it wasn’t his and then he told everyone at school what a whore I was.” Estrella blushed as she said it. “I guess I am... I am a stripper, after all.”
“Yer a stripper, not a hooker,” Raph said. “And if ya blush over the word ‘whore’, then ya ain’t one.”
She giggled and looked him carefully over. “So is it hot in that costume?”
Raphael smiled slyly. Technically, he was naked with an open shirt on. He wasn’t hot at all. “It ain’t a costume,” he said, turning to unload the mugs from the dishwasher.
Estrella laughed and sipped her cocktail. “How do you get into it?” she asked.
“You have to buy me a drink for that,” Raphael teased. He and the guys were getting good at not giving a straight answer about their costumes.
“Come see me at work sometime and maybe I will,” she smiled.
Raphael smiled at her over a rack of dishes. Charlie had been right all those months ago... chicks did dig bartenders.