Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
I went back to the Esmeralda Ballroom and slipped backstage.
Mario was pacing nearby, wishing he were anywhere but here.
Tomás, chest puffed up with importance, gave me a thumbs-up and let me through the door to the stairwell.
I went up the stairs. When I reached the control booth, I saw a young man wearing a uniform and a name tag that said Ernesto.
He had dark brown hair, a freshly shaven face that didn’t seem to need shaving, and innocent brown eyes. He stood up from his stool.
“Can I help you?” he asked in lightly accented English.
“Yes,” I said, rubbing my necklace. I was wearing it around my wrist, doubled up like a bracelet.
“I work for Justice Alliance. I’m Suzanne Lyon’s assistant.
” I pointed at Suzanne through the glass window.
She was standing near the podium talking to a woman in a silk suit.
“We gave you an earlier version of our video by mistake. Here’s the latest one.
” I handed him a flash drive. “Pop it in, I’ll show you which one. ”
“You sure? Suzanne herself sent me the video on Vimeo.”
“Completely sure. I sent her the wrong one this morning. And if I don’t fix it...” I made a slicing motion over my neck.
“Ah. Say no more.”
He stuck the drive into the computer. “See,” I said, pointing to the documents folder. “Just Trade for a Just Economy, Final Version.”
“Huh.” He downloaded it onto his desktop. We looked at the two versions. Just Trade for a Just Economy, Final Version , and Just Trade for a Just Economy, Final.
“You guys need a better naming system,” he said, more riled up than I would’ve expected. “You could go by date. Version number. A, B, C. But writing ‘final’ leaves a big margin for error.”
“That’s great advice. Thank you.”
He erased Suzanne’s version, still irritated.
“Do you mind if I sit up here and watch it with you?” I asked.
“There is no problem.” He pulled out a second stool for me and gave me a toothy grin, apparently over the file-naming debacle. “Are you avoiding someone?”
“A lot of someones.” I sat down and looked out the window. “I find these events very intimidating.”
“Me, too,” he said. “That’s why I’m a tech.” He flicked the overhead lights on and off. People started heading to their seats. He pointed to his light board. “This has over ninety different faders and it’s still less complicated than people.”
Everything was less complicated than people.
I pressed my nose to the glass and looked for Matías.
I finally saw him in the first row. He was talking to a woman on his right, and there were two empty seats on his left.
When Ernesto flashed the lights for the last time, Matías turned around in his seat and scanned the audience.
I knew he was looking for me. The lights went off and his face was covered in shadow.
A soft light came up on stage, and there Suzanne was, standing behind the podium.
Ernesto focused the spotlight on her, bathing her in an orange halo.
“I’d like to say a few words before we start,” she said into the microphone, flicking her flame-red hair over her shoulder.
“Justice Alliance has been spearheading a campaign in the United States to bring organic, fairly traded coffee to all consumers. We’ve had a string of successes in progressive cities like San Francisco and Portland.
I’m proud to announce that we’re about to expand, kicking off a campaign in the Midwest.” Polite applause.
“To achieve political success, you must educate the public, and that’s why we work so hard on communication.
The video you’re about to see was produced to promote our newest Truth Trip.
These Truth Trips, and the campaigns they finance, wouldn’t be possible without the help of many people.
” She looked toward the front row. “First, I’d like to thank Matías Khalil, our lead organizer.
Without your dedication, Justice Alliance would not be the premier nonprofit in the social and environmental justice space.
” She gave him a warm look. “I’d also like to thank my colleague, Dee, for her tireless work on behalf of the Truth Trips.
” She smiled insincerely for one second, then looked toward the camera filming her from the back of the room.
“But most of all, I’d like to thank the people who make this all possible in the first place: our partners in the Global South.
When these men and women go to work, they’re not just producing coffee; they’re taking on the global economy.
When they offer us their coffee, they’re telling us, we do have a choice.
We can choose fairness. We can choose sustainability.
We can choose to build a better world, cup by cup.
” She found her light and moved into it.
“So I want to give my most heartfelt thanks and respect to the pioneering cooperative farmers of Costa Rica. Please help me welcome one of them here today.”
Ernesto shone the spotlight on the seat next to Matías—which was now occupied by none other than Don Manuel . He stood up and waved at the audience. I had a small heart attack. Shit shit shit.
Suzanne waited for the applause to die down. “Thank you, Don Manuel. With no further ado, I am pleased to present Just Trade for a Just Economy .” Ernesto dimmed the spotlight and Suzanne sat next to Manuel.
“We’re all aware of the deplorable conditions found in the apparel industry,” said my voice.
“But are we aware of the equally abominable conditions coffee farmers confront in outdoor sweatshops?” The screen showed a photo from Café Bavaria of a young boy bent over a coffee bush, his face red and shiny with sweat.
Suzanne and Matías looked at each other in surprise; this was not their video.
Another still appeared on-screen: Dona Belén, looking straight at camera.
“When you drink your coffee in the morning, do you taste the suffering in your cup?” asked my voice.
Suzanne sat upright on the edge of her seat, trying to understand what was happening.
Photos from Café Bavaria flickered across the screen as Dona Belén’s voice described the terrible conditions in conventional cafetales . Suzanne seemed to be in shock.
“Fortunately, there is an alternative,” said the Professor’s voice. A still from Las Nubes came on. It was of Clara, Héctor, and Ramón at the mill. “Cooperative and organic farms like Las Nubes show us that it doesn’t have to be this way.”
Don Manuel’s face went red at the sight of Clara.
He turned to Suzanne and said something, clearly pissed .
This shook Suzanne out of her stupor. She bolted up and walked toward the back wall, trying to find the entrance to the control booth.
She paced back and forth along the wall, looking for a door, until she finally went out the hallway. She was going to find the door soon.
Now Clara’s voice came over the stills. “Cooperation is about more than working together. It’s about working for each other. It’s about the worth and dignity that each person has, and not the worth that each thing has. It’s about being fair. And it’s about hope.”
More photos faded in and out: Héctor and Ramón raking the beans, kids playing games at the community center, a young couple pointing proudly at their first harvest. I stared in surprise at my own photos; they looked so different. They had just been pictures before. Now they were testimony.
“But unfortunately,” said the Professor’s voice, “all is not well in the cooperative kingdom. Some bad actors, like Café Alegre, pose as an ethical, sustainable, organic producer to unfairly profit.” A photo of Don Manuel in Café Alegre’s tasting room flashed across the screen.
In the audience, Don Manuel stood, apoplectic.
“What the hell is this?!” People turned to look at him.
Matías reached for his arm, trying to get him to sit back down.
“No, I will not sit!” he shouted. “Stop this video now! This is slander!” Don Manuel ran in front of the screen to try to block people’s view.
The audience gasped. Professor Ramírez ran toward him.
Oh god, I hope he left his machete at home.
This was an absolute train wreck. Why, why had Suzanne invited Manuel? !
“Sit down!” someone yelled in Spanish from the back of the audience.
“ ?Vete pal carajo! ” said Don Manuel.
Ernesto moved the spotlight to the person who’d spoken in the back. It was Clara! OH MY GOD. The Professor must have invited her. “We know you sabotaged our plants, you hijueputa !” she said to Manuel. “And you set our warehouse on fire !”
The audience gasped in unison. This was by far the best conference any of them had ever attended.
“I will sue the shit out of you!” said Manuel, evading the Professor and running offstage to rush Clara.
Suddenly Héctor and Ramón stepped out of the shadows to block Manuel. Were they going to fight ?!
I heard a loud thump at the bottom of the stairwell. Suzanne. I turned to Ernesto. “Do not let anyone into this room until the video is over. Please .”
He nodded.
I ran down the steps and paused at the closed door. I could hear Suzanne arguing with Adrián and Tomás on the other side. “But this is the wrong video!” she was saying. “I need to get in to switch it!”
“I’m afraid it’s against company policy to have non-employees in restricted areas,” said Adrián’s voice, cool as a mud mask from Volcan Arenal. “Why don’t we go to my office and discuss this calmly? Then we can get to the bottom of this.”
“I’m not going anywhere until I put the correct video on.”
“Why don’t you just give it to me?” Adrián asked. “I’ll switch it.”
“Because you are totally incompetent! You let this happen in the first place. Tell your employees to get away from that door.”