GIRL BACK AT CARRIZALES; BETRAYAL CUTS DEEPER

By Juan Montoya
Well, it seems that Brenda is back at Carrizales again.
Those of us who knew Brenda (not her real name), remember her as a not-unattractive young woman who loved to hang out and party the night away over at Javier Ruiz's 1,2,3 Bar on 14th Street. Sometimes she waited on tables, and other times she just hung out there.
She used to live in a an apartment Javier rented to some of the ladies who worked there. But Brenda was no floozy. Sure, once in a while she would hook up with one of the regular clients and the relationship would last a week or two before she dropped him and go party with another.
After a while she met Esteban (also not his real name) and it surprised some people to see them together for months on end. Tiring of life on the strip, they would sometimes be seen walking down the street hand in hand and visiting friends who worked in the downtown bars.
In fact, Brenda had worked in a few downtown bars herself and was known to the clients at La Movida, Los Pescadores, El Capitan, or Chatos, which later became Norma's.
She had an easy personality and got along well with the sometimes surly (and drunk) patrons. And, unlike most of the women working there, she was a fluent bilingual. Her mothers lived along St. Charles on the city's southwest side and she would often visit.
A couple of times she got into fights with other girls, most often over some petty jealousies involving a boyfriend who was drawn to her milky white, and ample, legs. Once, after a jealous girlfriend tried to smash a bottle on her head, Brenda got the best of her and smashed in on her head instead.
When she was  released after serving three months at Carrizales, she looked fit and healthy, and in fact had even gained some weight. That weight slowly went away after she hooked up with the guys and girls with the rock. Often, they would stay up late into the  night and into the morning smoking it.
At first Esteban stayed away from smoking crack and would just sit by her to keep her company or discourage overly amorous crack heads. But after a while, he, too, took up smoking crack.
Esteban was a jack of all trades who could lay down a cement driveway, do small house improvements as a carpenter, and if needed, also did some mechanic work. Both were always short on cash and friends would spot them beers when they met them at some of the local joints.
Both made friends with Roberto, an older man who was receiving his monthly Social Security check. He took a liking to them and they to him and after a time you would see all three drinking at a table, with Roberto buying the rounds. The three became inseparable. In fact, after a time they decided to share an apartment behind the 1,2,3.
Lenguas sueltas insinuated that Brenda was doing both of them. But nobody really knew.
Now, just as other women were jealous of Brenda, she was just as jealous of them over Esteban. Often they would have dragged-out, no-holds barred fights that resulted in pulled hair for her and bruises for him over some imagined infidelity. Yet, they remained together, with Roberto looking on trying to play the referee over the shouting brawls.
They say that Brenda told Esteban and Roberto one Sunday that she was going to visit with her mother over at St. Charles and that she would probably spend the day with her.
"Voy con mi jefa, Stevie," she told Esteban as she walked to the front of the bar early Sunday morning to wait for her mother to pick her up. "She'll bring me back at night."
"Ta gueno, Guera," said Esteban softly, as not to wake up Roberto, who was sleeping on a sofa in the living area. "Aqui vamos a estar. Adios."
Early that afternoon, after visiting with her mother, Brenda decided to go back to the house and got a ride from a friend. There were a few customers at the front and she sat down to gossip with the owner's daughter who  tended bar for her dad on Sundays.
"Que paso, Guera? Y tu viejo?," Susie asked.
"En la casa, atras," said Brenda over the blaring jukebox. The noise, and the grating off-key renditions of  popular narcomusicos like Beto Quintanilla were popular with the Southmost and proyectos crowd who hung out at the 1,2,3. After a time, his songs all sounded the same and she had gotten used to it.
"No han venido Esteban o Roberto pal frente?," she asked Susie.
"They came in and took a few beers back there," Susie answered. "They were sitting in the shade under the back porch. I haven't seen them come back in."
Brenda chit-chatted with Susie for a while and then went to the back of the bar. She took out her key and opened the door. There, on the edge of the sofa, Roberto was bent over and kneeling in front of Esteban and both had their pants down.
Blind with anger and disbelief, she grabbed a knife from the sink and stabbed Esteban as he tried to pull his pants on. He was cut once and then he grabbed her hand as Roberto ran out the door screaming for someone to call the cops. She then grabbed him by the throat and tryied to strangle Esteban.
When they finally came, they took Brenda away and the EMS guys bandaged Eteban's wound. Everyone thought that it had just been just another one of their brawls, but the story came out soon enough that Esteban had been fooling Brenda with Roberto behind her back.
It might be a while before we see Brenda again. She's at Carrizales waiting for her trial and those who have seen her inside say that she doesn't care what happens to her. Esteban's betrayal cut her deeper than any jail sentence or any wound she could have gotten from him.