Never Doubt Yourself

“Never Doubt Yourself”
By: Nicholas Gianella

“How far from the Detroit are we?” I ask.
“Only 1 hour till we get there.”, Jose says.
“I wish mom was here, because its hard right now to leave the place we grew up at.”, I said.
“I know you do son I do also, but we need to be here for money because remember we lost our house last week in Mexico.”, Jose said.
“I know, its just I didn’t wanna leave cause of friends.”, I said
“You will get new friends when we get to Detroit, I promise.” Jose said.
“I hope I do.”, I say.
“You will, now get some sleep, you need it.”, Jose said.
“Ok dad I will.”,I said.
As I lay down all I think of my old friends in Mexico and how it will be hard to find new friends. I keep thinking of what it will be like to actually be in Detroit. I always wished I could go there, but I never thought I actually would go there. As I think I fall asleep quickly.
“Morning, son.”, Jose says.
“Morning, dad.”, I say.
“How did you sleep?”, Jose asks.
“I slept well, how about you/”, I ask.
“I didn’t sleep because I was helping the owner of the house we are gonna live in clean the place.”, Jose says.
“Wait we are in Detroit?”, I ask.
“Yes, we have been here for 4 hours.”, Jose says.
“Oh, Why didn’t you wake me when we got here so I could have helped you?”, I ask.
“You needed the sleep.”, Jose says.
“I could have went without sleep.”, I say.
As me and dad were talking, a kid comes to the door. He looks to be about 17 years old, my age. I wonder what he wants. He looks like he could be pretty nice but who knows. Maybe I am making a new friend already.
“Hey, my name is Ben, I live next door.”, Ben says.
“Why don’t you to go and hang out while me and the owner finish cleaning?”, Dad says.
“Ok dad, we will and try not go get hurt.”, I say.
“I won’t.”, Dad says.
As Ben and I walk outside, the sun comes out. I never knew that Detroit was this beautiful in the fall. The sun is gleaming on the leaves and the trees look beautiful.
“So, where did you move here from?”, Ben asks.
“Mexico, we came here cause we lost our house and we needed jobs.”, I say.
“I came from Mexico city, last year.”, Ben says.
“I only been there a few times.”, I say.
“It gets boring after a while.”, Ben says.
“Doesn’t all places get boring anymore?”, I ask.
“Ya, but Detroit doesn’t.”, Ben says.
“So, where are we going?”, I ask.
“I want you to meet my friend Sara.”, Ben says.
“Ok, how far is her house from here?”, I ask.
“Not very far.”, He says.
“Ok.”, I say
As we walk along, I keep noticing that he keeps looking at the bracelet my mom made me when I was young. She died 2 years ago from shome disease that I can’t remember the name of. She always helped me when I needed the help.
“Where did you get that bracelet from?”, he asks.
“My mom gave it to me before she died.”, I say.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that she died.”, He says.
“It’s ok.”,I say.
“This is Sara’s house.”, He says.
As we walk down the walkway to her house, a girl about my age walks out the door and waves to us. She is actually pretty good looking. She reminds me of my mother.
“Hey Ben, whos your new friend?”, Sara asks.
“Hey Sara, this is John he just moved here from Mexico.”, Ben says.
“Oh, Hey John.”, Sara says.
“Whats up?”, I say.
“Nothing much, you are pretty fluent in english.”, Sara says.
“My parents didn’t teach me much spanish, they wanted me to know english.”, I say.
“ I guess they wanted you to come to the U.S.”, she says.
“I don’t know, maybe.”, I say.
As we walk in we start talking about how the trip was. We also talk about things that I never heard of. It was fun to learn about new things. I’m happy I made new friends already. When I looked at the clock it was 7 pm. already.
“Maybe I should go home and see if my dad needs any help.”, I say.
“Ok wants us to walk you home?”, Sara asks.
“It’s up to you if you want to or not.”, I say.
“Ok then we will walk you home.”, She says.
As we walk home, I hear the sound of running going up the street by my house. I didn’t think it was anything bad untill I got home. I walked in to see my dad on the floor holding his side. He was bleeding pretty badly.
“Oh my god, Dad are you ok?”, I ask as I’m running over to his side.
“I fell off the ladder and landed on my knife when I heard noices outside.”, Dad says.
“Sara call 911.”,I yell.
As Ben and Sara walk in they both are in shock. When Sara snapped out of it she called 911 and the police were on their way. When they got here, the police asked what happened and we told them. They said ok and they went looking around for clues to what the noise was. It ends up it was the neighbors dogs that got out. The police end up taking me and my new friends to the hospital to see my dad. He is in pain but they say he will live. They say that someone has to pay the bill off and Sara’s mom says she will. I try to reject but they say no. They say I can pay them off by working for them. The only thing I could do was thank them.
“How am I going to pay you back?”, I ask.
“You can help work at our store untill you pay it off.”, Sara’s mom said.
“How much is the cost?”, I ask.
“Only $250.”, she says.
“Ok and when do I start working there?”, I ask.
“Tomorrow morning at 7 am.”, she says.
“Ok I will be there.”, I say.
“Want a ride and a house to stay at?”, she asks.
“I would appreciate that.”, I say.
“Ok.”, she says.
As we leave the hospital, I keep thinking what I may be doing. I hope it is something that I enj oy. I havent had a real job yet so hopefully I don’t mess up. I fell asleep on the way to their house.
“Morning.”, Sara says as I walk down the steps.
“Morning, what time is it?”, I ask.
“Its almost 5:30.”, she says.
“I didn’t think I slept that long and how did I get into bed?”, I ask.
“My dad carried you up to our extra bed room.”, she says.
“Oh ok at least I didn’t sleep walk or something like that.”, I say.
“Ya haha.”, she says.
“So what will I be doing at your store?”, I ask.
“Simple things like putting things on shelves.”, she says.
“Ok.”, I say.
The rest of the day went by slowly. All I did at the job was put things on shelves and I was being paid $7.99. It was so easy to do this job. I enjoyed doing it also. Sara helped me do everything. She is just like my mother now. She acts like her and helps me do the things that my mom would help me do.
“Thanks for the help Sara.”, I say.
“Your welcome.”, Sara says.
“I needed the help haha.”, I say.
“Ya you did .“, she says.
“I’m glad I didn’t doubt myself when I moved here.”, I say.
“Why is that?”, she asks.
“I thought I wasn’t gonna make any friends.”, I say.
“Why would you think that?”, she asks.
“I don’t know I just thought it.”, I say.
“I bet you will make a lot of friends when you start going to my school.”, she says.
“When does school even start?”, I ask.
“I believe it starts in 4 months.”, she says.
“Ok I gotta sign up first.”, I say.
“Ya you gotta do that first haha.”, she says.
“I’ll go to the school when I pay off the hospital bill.”, I say.
“Ok.”, she says.
The next week went by very slow. I paid off the hospital bill by the end of week. I kept working there though because I enjoy it. My dad and I end up finishing the house not too long after I started going to school. I enjoy the school because I made a lot of new friends and it is actually pretty fun here in Detroit. I wish my mother was here though. I bet she would love to see me grow up in the United States of America. It ends up me and Sara become best friends. We always hang out with each other and Ben comes by a lot now also. I actually pass high school with very good grades. I end up becoming the new owner of the store that Sara’s family owned. Sara still works there also. I’m so happy in myself for learning never to doubt myself.