my mom has Mexican roots. She seems so American to me."
Maggie shook her head. "She is American, Scott. The fact
is, we Americans are all just one big melting pot of many dif-
ferent cultures. I just don't understand why people can't see
Ithat. Anyone with half a brain can see that all this purebred
white Aryan business is nothing but a bunch of nonsense
conjured up by some narrow-minded bigots with too much
time on their hands."
"Can I quoteyou directly on that?" He teased, and then
grew more serious. "Sorry, I haven't been able to shape this
into much of a story yet. So what do I do now? Any ideas?"
Maggie could think of several ideas offhand; for instance,
investigating into Ebbert's past connections, checking out
any groups he belonged to, and so on, but she didn't offer
any suggestions. It was important that Scott figure this out
for himself. "What do you think?"
He dropped his spoon into his now-empty bowl. "I think
this chili is surprisingly tasty." He grinned, and then absently
scratched his head. "I suppose I should continue with my
research. I found a number of hate groups on the Internet that
Ican quote from. I just wish there was some way to infiltrate
into Ebbert's little world so I could get some real juicy tidbits.
But I don't have a chance at being taken seriously by him,
being a 'half-breed wetback' as he so kindly put it."
104Melody Carison
Maggie studied Scott's appearance. Of all of Rosa's chil-
dren, he had the most of the Latino features. He was dark
and strikingly handsome. Why were people like Ebbert 50
threatened by such small and superficial differences? "I'm
sure it'd be an eye-opener to get an inside look," she said,
"but I don't know that it would be wise."
"Hey, I used to take drama," said Scott. "Maybe I should
get a blond wig and dress up like a freckle-faced redneck."
She laughed. "Now that'd be funny. But even so, I don't
recommend it, Scotty. You never know about people like
Randy Ebbert." She remembered how frightened she'd felt
when he'd abruptly reached into his jacket the other day in
the office. "You never know-it could get dangerous. And
I'm certain that Chloe wouldn't like the idea of you putting
yourself in that situation either."
"Well, I'm not giving up yet," he declared. "I'll keep on
with the research and figure out some way to get what I
need-just you wait and see."
"I'm sure you'll come up with something, Scott." She
placed money and a tip on the bill and stood. "By the way,
I think you had an object lesson today."
"Huh? What's that?"
She waited until they were outside to answer him. "I
think you were just slightly prejudiced against Dolly's Diner
before you went in and tried it out for yourself."