Rafael’s father was killed during the border crossing, but his mother made it. She applied for refugee status to the United Canadian American States, came to Seattle, and set up another grocery store, earning enough to raise her son on her own. But then a Stuffer Shack moved in next door, go-gangers began hanging out in its parking lot, and the store began losing business. Luisa died in a car crash when Rafael was still in his teens, and the store went under shortly thereafter.