It was a bright, cloudless cold Friday afternoon. My mother and I decided to go grocery shopping since we’ve always loved our bonding time together. After we arrived at Shoprite, my mom looked for a parking spot, while I got out of the car to go grab a shopping cart. As we walked through the cooking utensils aisle of the store, we saw a couple that looked around forty or fifty, rolling their eyes and being very forceful with their carts pushing around others. My mom didn’t acknowledge it, so I just ignored them until my mother told me to get an item, meaning I had to walk past them. 

   I kept my eyes straight towards the end of the aisle, my peripheral vision catching all the different colors of cans of food and bags of chips. Once I got near the couple, the woman moved her cart away from me, saying something under her breath that I couldn’t hear. As they left the aisle, it was like the devil walked away. I went running to my mother, not caring who I bumped into. I had a gut feeling that something was going to happen. As I huffed and puffed, I told my mother what just happened in the next aisle. 

   She said to me, “Don’t think about it too much, maybe they are just having a bad day.” My mother always tried to see the good in everyone. I love that about her. 

   Our conversations are always in Spanish. People usually stare but never say anything; they go about their day like normal people. As we walked around the store, shopping for our last items and getting ready to pay, I saw them coming our way and my body started to itch. I tugged on my mom’s shirt, whispering into her ear telling her it was them, the old couple. 

   My mother then said, “Just ignore them, they don’t know anything about us, we didn’t do anything wrong.” My mom then went into another aisle in order to get to the register..

   All I heard on the other side of the aisle was the squeaky rusty wheels of the couple’s cart and the old couple saying, “get out of my way” loud enough for someone to hear on a different aisle. My gut was telling me that it was them,they were trying to get ahead of us. 

   Once we got to register all I heard was a loud, raspy voice saying, “you ugly Mexicans better pay for your stuff.” I was so shocked that I looked around to make sure she was talking to us.

   The husband then said, “We’re talking to you both, illegal immigrants” in a disgusting tone.as I put my head down to cry. 

   I heard a strong voice say, “Both you guys are the stupidest people I have ever seen in my life, causing a ruckus in a store just because we know more languages than you both.” I knew that voice the second I heard it: it was my mother defending us both. I looked around to see that we were surrounded by an abundance of people watching. 

   Everything went to a blur. My palms had gotten so sweaty and my head began to  hurt.  The second after my mother was done, I yelled back saying, “y’all should go back to school and get an education. We are in America, English isn’t the only language.” Once that came out of my mouth I felt proud of myself because I didn’t back down. People in the store stood back and watched. It felt like a million bugs bit me at once, they all were bystanders.

   The couple kept saying nonsense like, “go back to your country,” “you want papers,” and other comments. 

   My mother then replied, “I don’t have time to argue with uneducated people,” and we turned around to walk away from them to another register. They continued screaming from the other side of the store thinking that it would phase us. That day my life changed. I am proud of my country and who I am as a person, my culture, my language and my family. My mom is  a strong person and my idol.. This day has given me the opportunity to now show others my experience. To show others that you can always stand up for yourself and show what you’re capable of.