#7 Postcard Fiction - Ring Off

     April dug around in her purse, the gym bag hindering her movements as she shoved the door open to exit towards the street. Her finger tips brushed over the silicon case and she was dialing before the phone was out of the bag. With angry rapid fire words, April told of her mother about a stolen engagement ring, the stupid gym and its rude gym owners, which gave way to tears as her thumb rubbed her empty finger.

     "Chica! Hey, Chica!"

April turned and saw a rough Hispanic man with spider web tattoo on his neck. Her head whipped forward again and she clinched the phone tighter, picking up her pace. 

     "Wait!.. Hey, Chica!"
     April scanned for her car measuring the shortening distance as she dug back into the purse for her keys.
     "Oh, come on!...Flaca, tirame un hueso." April heard footfalls coming closer and faster.
     "Oh my god, Mom. There's a guy following me." A hand grabbed April's shoulder as her mother told her to run. She swung the gym bag, connecting and causing her attacker to stumble back.  As she prepared to scream, April saw the man holding out her diamond ring. 

***

Creative Writing Now offers up Forty-Four Short Story Ideas on its website. The suggestions are a combination of three different elements. The first combination series is the inspiration for this short fiction: a stolen ring, a fear of spiders, and a sinister stranger.

I don't like stereotyping, but the few people I've actually met who have a tattoo of a spider web on their neck were Hispanic, which is why I went with that characterization. Choosing a specific cultural characterization also meant I was going to have to venture into the world of the Spanish language, something I've always avoided in my writing because I don't want to appropriate another's culture and then proceed to butcher it.

Since I don't speak Spanish, I sought some help. There's a great blog called The Grande Enchilada that had clear information about the culture of Hispanic catcalling, "Cat Calls and Harassment: The Mexican Version." From this article I learned about piropos or poetic catcalls though they don't seem to translate into English very well. I also found an article called "If Piropos Were Translated to English" to get a better idea of some examples with English translations.  I think a lot of cultural nuances get lost in the translations. Hopefully, I didn't butcher it too much or use the Spanish incorrectly in the story. I tried to do it justice.