Juan’s sister Isabella jumped into the men's conversation from the next table. "He’s never going to vote for Donald Trump. He’s a racist! He said he was going to deport thousands of Mexicans.”
“Donald Trump is as racist as I am,” Richard huffed loudly. “He didn’t round up people for mass deportation the last time he was president, did he?”
“My cousin’s brother got deported,” Isabell countered.
Juan took a deep breath before responding. Not everybody understood that Richard always acted grouchy. “I don’t know if I’m going to vote for Trump or not. I gotta do some research about it.”
Roberto snorted. “You don’t need to do research. Everyone knows the Democrats want to give handouts to lazy people and the Republicans want to make America great again.”
Juan felt a pang of embarrassment at Richard’s bluntness. Richard had been his boss for a long time and Juan always felt comfortable with his staunch conservative views. “I’ll think about it,” he murmured, but his words were lost in the noise of the party. I hope he didn’t make Isabella mad. I’ll never hear the end of it!
The conversation moved on to other topics, but Juan couldn't shake the unease that had settled in his chest, like he was caught between two worlds.