21

Florida
Enrique and Amanda
Folklore

-19-
everytime we get pay; one of the men takes a collection to help Spain, and the other man writes the receipts for whatever you give. It is almost like buying bolita, the way they work it--you can buy a five-cent piece or as much more as you want. Giving receipts that way nobody can never say any of the money is missing. And they print in the paper the record of how much every man give."
Although it is only two o'clock in the afternoon when we return to the house, Amanda is already considering what she should cook for the evening meal, which is eaten at four o'clock. She explains that it is Cuban custom to eat at four, because that allows time to clean up the kitchen before night; and also, when they retire early, the food is thoroughly digested before they go to sleep.
"What would you lal like to eat for supper?" she asks. "We want to fix something you like. I don't know much about cooking American dinners."
"We don't want American food," says Edith. "I'm sick and tired of eating American food; it hasn't got any taste to it. That's one reason why I came to Tampa: so I could eat some good Cuban food."
"I know a man who sells crabs," says Enrique. "If I can just find him while he is drunk--he stays drunk most of the time--I can get three dozen crabs for fifty ents. Crabs makes very good enchilado."
"My husband likes enchilado, frijoles negra (black beans), garbanzos (Spanish beans), arros con pollo (rice with chicken); he likes all Cuban things, plenty hot," Edith says.
"I know," Enrique says, "I make the empanada. You know, the shrimp all crushed up and cook with hot sauce and then fry inside little long

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