When Karma Reaches You: When Karma Reaches You vol 1, #1

By Luis Enrique Pedraza

A story that will make you relect on the road to life. It doesn't matter your age you can always reach your dreams, if you do it the right way because the land that you are at is the land of opportunity., if you know how to take advantage of it. In this story it wil reflect how each person makes their own destiny or their own karma. Remember that every wrong thing that you do to other oeople will come back three harder at you. All of these things and more you will encounter in this story.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Luis Enrique Pedraza
• Release date: Jun 17, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224045754

Luis Enrique Pedraza

Luis Enrique Pedraza was born in a place of low resources in the beautiful state of Colima, Mexico, where he did his first studies in the Ignacio Manuel Altamirano school, reaching only the fourth grade. Later at 18, he finished elementary school in Mexico at an adult school. Then, to improve economically, he emigrated to the United States, settling in the beautiful state of California. He first worked in the apple and other fruit orchards in the fields of Watsonville,Castroville and Salinas all in the same of California. Later, he worked in general labor and later joined the OE3 Operators Union, he currently works at CDM Smith and today resides in Spring, Texas, where he enjoys writing in his spare time.

Book preview

When Karma Reaches You!

LUIS ENRIQUE PEDRAZA

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the copyright holders. The infringement of such rights may constitute an intellectual property offense.

The content of this work is the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher.

Copyright © 2020 Luis Enrique Pedraza

Translation and correction: Cyndi Pedraza & Monica Caballero

Story developer assistant: Juan Pedraza

Content Table

INTRODUCTION  5

Chapter 1

Leo’s Youth   9

Chapter 2

Leo’s teenage years  49

Chapter 3

Leo’s Adolescence   67

Chapter

The new mature Leo

About the author

Introduction

T

his is the story of a young Mexican American boy that was looking for the American dream. He believed that wherever in the world you were, was the land of opportunity if you knew how to take advantage of it. And the truth is, he was right! The opportunities that come your way, depend on the kind of life that you decide to live and the decisions that you make to get there. In the long run, those decisions define your destiny, each one comes with a consequence. Every action has a reaction, a consequence. Everything you do in life, will come back around to you three times as strong. The problems you encounter later in life are direct consequences of the decisions you have made in the past.

Look into your past, you may have done bad to others and now that karma is coming back to you and explain why you are suffering the consequences.

On the other hand, if you have a good life, that means that your actions are reflecting your positive past actions.

Sometimes, we go through life doing bad things to others, we take advantage of the ignorance of others or their conditions or necessities. Then we must suffer these consequences that are the result of our own actions. We raise our hand to God pleading to him,

WHY ME?

We envy the lifestyle of other people that have no worries of their destiny. This kind of people always do good to others and help those in need, listen to whomever is in need, and are there for the ones that need help or advice.

The Courtroom was completely silent. The Judge ordered the defendant to stand up, as the sentence was deliberated from the Jury. The Judge banged his gavel three times and dictated the sentence by saying, The defendant is declared guilty of first-degree murder for the homicide of Manuel De La Fuente Jr., and he is to spend 20 years incarcerated in the state prison without the chance of parole as it was demonstrated that the defendant acted with treachery.

The defendant put his hands on his head and yelled, Noooooooooo, Nooooo! I am innocent! You all know that I am innocent!

Exhausted and crying like a baby, the defendant sat down on the chair behind him. The courtroom was full of people whispering about the verdict. Some were against, and others agreed.

Silence!  The Judge exclaimed. Take the defendant to his cell.

The defendant felt his feet unresponsive like they were sponges, still in shock from the verdict. He felt so faint that the guards had to hold him, one on each side. In shock, the defendant could only say, Why are you so cruel? I am innocent! ... I am innocent! he repeated himself as he began to whisper, as if he did not have any more strength.

He was grabbed by the guards to his cell from which he would be transferred the next day to the state prison, where he would spend the next 20 years of his life.

Leonardo Jr. García, the defendant, was sentenced to prison for the murder of a rich entrepreneur, farmer and wine producer, Manuel De La Fuente, who was murdered from a gun shoot wound to the chest.

The day after the sentence was given, the defendant was moved to the prison, where he was cuffed on his hands and feet with a chain extending throughout his entire body from his neck to his feet. The guards pushed him without any consideration inside the bus where he was taken to prison.

Upon the arrival to the prison, the defendant felt goose bumps all around his body and his back just from the sight of the high fences that were surrounded by barbed wire. In that moment, he felt he was living a nightmare, he felt he was not there and that it was just a bad dream. The guards pushed him brutally and without any consideration. He felt like if he was floating in clouds, and he felt he was going to faint, as he was so weak and exhausted. Two guards opened the huge main door that closed after he came in. That was the most shocking and traumatizing event that has ever happened to him and that would become something that he would never forget. When he finally arrived at his cell, at the end of a long hall, there were countless hands reaching out from the cells belonging to the angry inmates that were housed there too, Well done! Shouted some of the inmates. Others yelled obscenities such as, You are going to be my bitch, fucker!

It seemed that all the inmates already knew everything about him and the sentence he was given. Like they had been informed by some contacts that work exterior the prison. That is possible.

Suddenly, Leo panicked, and he just wanted to escape. All he wanted right there was to become a bird and fly away, but that was impossible.

The guards put him into a dark cell with other inmates. This is your bed, said one of the inmates.

Leonardo García Jr. was 35 years old. He was fit, average height, curly hair and dark brown eyes with sight that was like looking through an eagle eye. You would think just by the way he walked that he was a tough guy, even though he was not. Leo, as they called him, was friendly, happy, silly, and sometimes crazy. Leo had a lot of projects, some of which he had completed but others remained only as dreams.

Leo stood still starring at his bed, as the guards removed his chains and collar. He sat on his bed covered by the blanket the guards had provided him with. Leo was still, trying to comprehend what had just happened, it seemed that he was living a nightmare. He took his hands to his head to think and just closed his eyes until he felt asleep. Suddenly, nightmares of what had happened the last few days started to come back. While he was sleeping, memories of his childhood were racing through his mind.

He remembered the day, he met Manuel De La Fuente Jr., a quiet kid, quite reserved, timid, and kind of a loner, and wasn’t very friendly. They went to the same primary school, and they shared the same class. Leo defended Manuel from the bullies at school. Leo considered Manuel his best friend, but people change as they grew up and without really knowing why, people change so much.

Chapter 1

Leo’s Youth

L

eo’s first memories started in 1973, when he was only a playful child, just like any other child of his age. He knew his father only from the pictures his mother gave him. In his memories, there was a picture where his father was wearing  his Army uniform. He looked so handsome and stood, with so much authority. His combat crew was sent overseas to fight in the Vietnam war. Leo’s mom, full of hope, used to tell him that his dad would come back one day.

Finally, one day his father came back home. That was a sunny day full of happiness for Leo. The first days his father was back, Leonardo Sr., he was incredibly quiet and reserved with Leo and his mom. His dad barely spoke, so Leo just left his dad alone, thinking that something was wrong with him.

The veteran Leonardo Garcia Sr. was 28 years old, medium height, dark skin and curly hair. He had just graduated from high school when he got into the Army looking for a better future. The way he walked, and his personality were exactly the one’s of an Army man. This was what he learned while he was enlisted and during the war. He did not show any traumas left by the war, besides the fact that he avoided talking about it, so he could forget all those horrible scenes he lived.

Some days after his arrival home, he started working as a farmer, picking lettuce. He used this hard work as a therapy to avoid all those bad memories. The veteran and his wife started working for a company that had a route throughout the crop fields. The route stretched throughout several cities in California.

Leo’s family lived in a little house in the town of Soledad, California. This was a house surrounded with agricultural crop fields growing all kind of fruits and vegetables, and they remained green at any season. There were also many trees in the fall, whose color would turn a copper, pale brown, yellow and orange. Most of these trees would lose their leaves every winter, because winters were very cold there.

Sara, Leo’s mom, was a full-figured lady with long black hair that was always braided. She had big brown eyes that looked to be always alert. She had thick sexy lips. She was a truly kind and happy woman who always had a smile on her face, which smile that made Leo’s dad fall in love with her. She was raised as every farmer’s kid that grow up in the fields of California, Texas, Utah, and other states in the USA which produce fruits and vegetables. She was taught and learned how to work traveling throughout the fields and working hard in the sun.

Leo’s parents were hard working people. Both were descendants of Mexican citizens, but they were born and raised in the U.S.A., better known as Chicanos. They met through their families, both parents of Leonardo and Sara were from the town of Michoacán, México. Where Leo’s grandparents were born originally, and the place that they dream about returning to one day.  Leo’s parents periodically visited each other’s families and they used to bring each other gifts. Remembering those old times, drinking, and having fun, they always told the story about the little town they were born and how they wished they could go one day.

Leo admired his dad as he was always active and a very hard-working man, whose bosses always put him as the head of the workers in the field due to his hard work and loyalty.

Leo always used to tell his dad, Dad, when I grow up, I want to be just like you!

No, son. When you grow up, I want you to study, and I want you to be much better than I am. I want you to have a professional career, not to be just a fruit picker or a simple farmer like me, even though it is an honest job, I want you to do better. Do you understand?

Leo remembered how his mother was a very hard-working woman, and how much time she spent helping his father in the fields, and how sometimes she stayed home with Leo. He also remembered how some seasons they would work in the Salinas Valley, Gilroy, and near Coalinga, California. There were a few times when they even went to Yuma, Arizona, where they used to live for a few months out of the year.

In winter, when the season felt over the fields, they were called to work in the nurseries and the fields where they grew broccoli and celery, which was harvested in the season of rain. Therefore, Leo was in so many different schools depending on the harvest seasons, but he was used to it. It was quite easy for him to make friends and see all of them every season depending on the town and the season he was in, but he was always excited to go back home to Soledad, where all his closest friends were.

In Leo’s memories, there were a lot of friends whose parents were farmers and used to work with him and his family in the fields. There was a lot of people working in the fields, most of them were Mexicans, but also people from Central America, like Guatemala and El Salvador, or South America, like Brazil or even from the Caribbean, like Haiti.

Leo could only speak English with his friends occasionally, when permitted by his parents, because they used to get upset if they heard to him speaking English at home or in the fields, they only wanted him to speak English when necessary or at school. Leo could not comprehend the reason of this rule, since his parents were born in California, and they could speak and understand this language perfectly.

There was a time when there was so much work and not so many people to work in the fields. Leo heard his parents taking about what they heard on the news about how The President of the United States was requesting farm workers from the President of México to be able to finish the harvest season. In his memories, he replayed his parent’s conversation. His father said to his mother, I do not know if The President’s idea is a good one. To which his mother asked why he has felt that way. Because every day there are so many immigrants in the fields and there are so much immigration police arresting and deporting people from the fields. Leonardo Sr. replied. You are right about that, but all these are hardworking people that come looking for a better life and all they want is a job to feed their families. Sara said.

I understand your point of view, but you must understand that when all these people are arrested, we are the ones that, again, must do all the job that they cannot finish due to these circumstances. Leonardo Sr. said.

He back then thought that this was correct. In his memories he remembers when the immigration police used to gather and arrest all these families. These people used to pay so much money to bring each one of the family members to the United States looking for jobs and a better life. His memories were so sour when all of this came to his mind, remembering as a kid, all these people’s pain and suffering. He understood perfectly what his father was talking about, and what all of this had meant in the conversation.

Between the Chicanos and Mexicans, they were building up resentment against the immigrants. The Chicanos were jealous of the Mexicans, thinking that they were taking all the jobs available away from them, and the ones that were born here could not find a job in the field. The jealousy and hate between these people started to raise. Leo could not understand why Chicanos hated the Mexican workers as he felt they were all the same, same skin color, same language, and same culture.

He remembered that his father told him on a Saturday after work, Son, say goodbye to all of your classmates at school, we are moving to Brentwood, California.

Where is that place at, dad? I have never been in that town, right Mom? I have no friends there! Leo replied.

Even though he was used to moving to a different place every season following the harvest fields following work openings, he had never heard about this town.

The next day, his parents were all set to move to that new unknown town, where his dad was offered a job as a field harvest supervisor. Leonardo Sr. gladly accepted, as this was a higher position and was offered more money, which would give him the opportunity to stay in one place so that Leo could stay in one school without the need to keep moving as they did in the past. One of the reasons his father was offered the position was since he was bilingual and fluent in both English and Spanish.

When they left Soledad, where they had lived for several years, his father wanted to walk the few streets of the town from beginning to end. When passing by the last houses, Leo’s father stopped and said, Son, my aunt Elena lives here! Come in so that you can say goodbye to her.

My aunt Elena? Leo said looking surprised. Yes Leo, she is your grandfather Miguel’s sister. Leonardo replied. Aunt Elena is your family member from your dad’s family. Sara added. Yes, I understand, so why have I not met her before? Leo replied. Leo, your father did not like her, but she is the only aunt left on from your dad’s family. Sara replied to Leo.

Leonardo Sr. rang the doorbell. An elder woman welcomed and invited them in to have a seat in the living room. After a while of conversation, his Great-aunt finally told Leo he looked so big, handsome and strong, like his grandfather Miguel. Come and give me a hug. Greataunt Elena said. Leo allowed Elena to hug and kiss him in the cheek. Give a good-bye kiss to Elena, Leo, we are leaving. Sara said. Why so soon? Elena asked. This is the first time that you visit me, and I would love for you to stay longer. She added. Yes Elena, we are moving to Brentwood, California. I got a better job there with better pay and position and we must be there soon. Leonardo replied to her. I am happy to hear that, and it is a pity that you guys cannot stay longer. Aunt Elena replied. This was the first and last time Leo ever saw her.

Through the car window in which they were traveling, Leo was able to see Elena for the last time as she was waving goodbye. Later, they passed by the school, which had Leo wondering what it would be when he would come back and what his friends would say when they saw him arrive. Would they miss him? He would attend classes in the spring, then he would help his parents with the harvest in the summer, but his memories would be full of those Sunday walks with his parents in the park of that town in Soledad, California.

Over time, he forgot about the town of Soledad. Even though he only lived there four six months a year, he loved and considered it his hometown. He never cared that it was extremely hot and humid in summer and very cold and windy in winter.

The trip to Brentwood was long and took forever. There was nothing that drew Leo’s attention, he would doze off and at times he would see the endless rows of posts lined up on the side of the road. As if in a dream, he remembered that his parents had said something about aunt Elena, Poor aunt Elena, I am her only remaining nephew and relative as she never married or had kids, and now she is left alone in that village as I am going away. His dad said. Yes, honey, just try to call her on the phone all the time, so she does not feel alone, do not lose contact with her. Sara replied. Yes, you are right. Leonardo agreed.

They arrived at a small town, country style, with only three or four streets and a few modest houses could be seen here and there. It was extremely hot and dry. It was very strange not to see any people walking or doing any work outside of the houses. The town looked like a ghost town. Leonardo Sr. thought that it was funny that he left a ridiculously small town to move to a smaller one. The fields at the distance could be seen covered with cornfields that the wind moved, making strange waves with the spikes of the canes. You could see the blond hair of the corn, and everything was green. Is this the town where we are going to live? Leo asked. No, son, we are not going to live in the town, we are going to live in a ranch near here. His Dad replied.

But Leo no longer paid attention to his parent’s comments, as he was mesmerized by the green fields everywhere. The car they came in drove through a well-maintained road, the sides of the roads were filled with different colors of beautiful flowers. After a few miles they arrived at a ranch with white picket fences, that had many different varieties of fruit trees on the sides of the path leading to the house. There were two people at the entrance of the house