Baseball in April and Other Stories

After watching the band Los Lobos on the television show “American Bandstand,” Fausto dreams of playing the guitar in front of an adoring crowd. He knows that his parents will balk at the cost of a guitar, but he still asks his mother for one. Although she admits that the instrument is expensive, she does not say no. Outside, thinking of how hard his father works, Fausto decides to make money on his own. Grabbing a rake, he bikes to a wealthier section of town.

After getting no raking jobs and earning only an orange and a quarter for buying bread for someone, Fausto sits on a curb eating the piece of fruit. A dog approaches and begs for food, and suddenly, Fausto gets an idea. Checking the dog’s tags, he finds an address and decides to return the “lost” dog in the hopes of receiving a monetary reward. Planning to claim that he found the dog wandering near the freeway, he hides his bike and rake behind the bushes and walks a few blocks to the dog’s home.

When he knocks, an older man in slippers and a bathrobe opens the door. After Fausto explains that he found the dog by the highway, the man invites him inside, where Fausto sees the nice furniture and large television and smells delicious scents coming from the kitchen.