Welcome to Wonderland: A Dramedy of Acceptance, Growth, and Love by Bobbie Candas ➱ Book Tour with Rafflecopter
Welcome to Wonderland
by Bobbie Candas
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GENRE: Women's fiction--romance
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BLURB:
A recently fired biologist with mommy issues,
a successful entrepreneur with a dead wife, and an immigrant hiding from gang
violence…These three have only one thing in common.
They’re all screwed up
Biology researcher, Violet Hill, was just let go
and is devastated. She found the solitary lab and long hours the ideal respite
for her anxiety issues--doing meaningful work while avoiding people and
conversation. Now unemployed, with diminishing finances, Violet is forced to
face the enemy, her mother.
For years, Turner Cooper was consumed with building
his company’s client roster, until the sudden death of his wife throws him
totally off kilter. Now, instead of work, Turner’s guilt and alcohol issues
consume him.
Living a reclusive life in Dallas, Rosario Guzman
is hiding from a Mexican cartel while working in the shadows at three part-time
jobs. Finally, the item she covets the most, a Green Card, arrives in her
mailbox. But Rosario quickly realizes the paper card doesn’t solve all her
problems.
While navigating social issues, private
demons, and nightmare memories, these three lives collide as they find each
other at a place none of them ever imagined they’d be working at. As their
mutual relationship evolves, Violet, Turner and Rosario lean into each other
and unexpectedly find their lives unfurling in remarkable and magical ways.
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EXCERPT
The Winning Ticket
Rosario Guzman
The alarm went off with news blaring through the radio,
jolting me awake from a deep sleep. It was ten PM. I’d showered before bed and
rarely bothered with makeup anymore. When your job was washing and folding
laundry at a twenty-four-hour lavanderia, what was the point? I put on my
favorite fitted jeans, a clean white tee shirt, and pulled my shoulder length
brown hair into a tidy bun. I forced a smile in the bathroom mirror before
brushing my teeth and then repeated my mantra, “It’s going to be a great day!”
I tried to keep the sound of my voice upbeat, but lately, maintaining
positivity was becoming more challenging each day.
My second cousin, Miguel, owned Bright White Laundry, where
I’d worked the eleven PM to six AM shift for a year. I was grateful for the
work but knew I was capable of so much more. It was boring, repetitious, and
surprisingly busy. At eleven PM, Diaz Avenue in East Dallas was dark, but
Bright White Laundry sat on the corner of the sketchy business block like a
shiny fluorescent-lit beacon for the unwashed.
I walked in waving to co-worker, Enrique, another distant
cousin. I hated following Enrique’s shift. He was lazy and usually left a
string of unfinished tasks in his wake after clocking out.
“¿Qué pasa, Enrique? How 's business tonight?”
Seeing me, he’d already grabbed his backpack and was walking
to the office to clock out. He stopped and nodded towards the bathroom.
“Welcome to Wonderland, Rosario. I just locked the bathroom. Man…you do not
wanna go in there. That place is nasty. Tonight, if I was you, I’d keep the
street people outta there.”
I shook my head, once again surprised at his lack of work
ethic. “Enrique, you know the person on each shift has to clean the bathroom.
That’s your job. You expect me to work ‘till six tomorrow morning and not use
it?”
“Well, I’m not doing it. It’s up to you, chica. Gotta fly.
Things to do tonight.”
“OK, but I’m telling Miguel.”
“Do what you have to do, man,” he said with a little laugh.
“Do you think I give a flying fuck about this job?”
Apparently not. I watched him walk out, while shaking my
head. What a jerk! Sad to think I was loosely related to him. Very loosely.
I checked out the place. One lady and two guys were doing
laundry after carving out their own personal space amongst the machines. Pretty
slow for a Thursday night. I gingerly unlocked the bathroom, needing to see
what I was dealing with. Yeah, it was bad. I took a picture to show our boss,
pulled up my mask. put on rubber gloves, and got to work.
At six AM, I clocked out and went next door to Daylight
Donuts, also owned by Miguel. As usual, I grabbed a chair in the back, craving
my morning cup of hot fresh coffee with lots of milk, and then bit into a soft
and sweet pineapple empanada. Heaven! The front doorbell began to jingle as I
tied on my white apron, ready to face the early risers and day laborers needing
their morning sugar rush. I put on my smile and joined the team of two others
already manning the front counter.
By eleven AM there were a few late donut-seeking stragglers,
but two could easily run the front while I finished clean-up in the back. After
clocking out, I walked down the street and boarded DART, eating my lunch from a
paper bag as the yellow city bus carried me to the outskirts of Dallas. From
there, I walked the remaining few blocks to Construction Connection. From noon
until four, I worked the final leg of my day in a warehouse cleaning porta
orinales, or what everyone here calls Port-A-Potties. A place filled with tall,
nasty smelling blue boxes that needed a thorough scrubbing and sanitizing
before they were sent out for another day of duty at construction sites.
A co-worker, Yolanda, and I punched in at the same time.
From our assigned lockers we donned knee-high black, lug-soled rubber boots,
elbow length rubber gloves, and tied on long black canvas aprons.
Trudging out to the warehouse, we crossed a road where two
guys driving forklifts were moving sanitized port-a-potties onto trucks. As I
walked by, they both hooted, whistled, and called out, “Looking good today,
Rosario! Your ass, in those jeans… so hot.”
I blushed and tried to ignore them, amazed anybody would
think me sexy in my rubber encased work clothes.
Yolanda tapped my shoulder. “Hey, don’t mind them; they’re
harmless. Enjoy it while you can. Trust me, nobody’s whistled at me in ages.”
“How long you worked here, Yolanda?”
“Ten years, girl. Can you believe it?”
“Shit!”
“That’s right. Ten years of shit.”
I pulled the mask up over my mouth and nose, grabbed a power
hose and yelled, “If we’re both working here ten years from now, just shoot me.
Promise, OK?”
Yolanda laughed and nodded, “Sure, but then who’s gonna
shoot me?”
At four my shift ended and once home, I had five hours
before the whole crazy cycle started again. I knew the schedule was extreme but
it was the only way I could maintain an apartment and manage to send a bit of
money to my mother in Mexico.
Standing outside my apartment, I pulled a white envelope out
of the dented tin mailbox. A thrill momentarily pulsed through me. Carefully
opening the white envelope from the U.S. government, I pulled out an
unimpressive looking, but oh-so-important, printed paper card qualifying me for
legal work in the United States. The coveted Green Card. My ticket out of the
shadows, away from working lousy jobs that nobody else wanted to do for less
than minimum wage.
I’d applied a year ago--scrimping and saving, paying all the
filing fees, going to interviews, paying an immigration attorney. And now, here
it was; but suddenly my excitement fizzled. Receiving it felt so bittersweet
because I had no one here to share my news or happiness with.
I’d purposely tried not to befriend people since coming to
Dallas. And I didn’t want the people I worked with to know I’d be looking for
other work. I wasn’t sure who I could trust. Most of my family, the few I cared
about, were in Ciudad Juarez in Mexico or dead. That evening, I felt so alone.
I placed the card in a hidden compartment in my wallet, set
my alarm for ten PM, removed my clothes, took a shower, and then smiled to
myself in the mirror.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Bobbie Candas
lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband, Mehmet Candas, a stray gray cat, and a
jealous tabby who does not enjoy sharing affection with the interloper. Bobbie
attended The University of Texas in Austin, earning her degree in journalism.
She took a detour with a career in retail management, and found her happy place
when she returned to writing fiction about nine years ago.
Amazon Author
Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B00MNS6KV0
Facebook:
facebook.com/bobbiecandasauthor
Good Reads:
https:// www. goodreads. com/ author/ show/ 8292457. Bobbie. Candas
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobbiecandas/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CGYSJL4P
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER
CODE:
Bobbie
Candas will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn
winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
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