In Viramontes' short stories, "The Cariboo Café" and "Neighbors", you begin to find a similarity in two of the main characters. The café owner, from "The Cariboo Café" and Fierro, from "Neighbors", are two men who have both suffered the loss of a son. The café owner's son, JoJo, died in Vietnam, and Fierro's son, Chuy, was attacked and stabbed. Both of these men have many problems emotionally in dealing with this loss. They have both isolated themselves from other people, and have trouble taking care of themselves. In Viramontes short stories, "The Cariboo Café" and "Neighbors", Viramontes illustrates her belief in how men have exceptional difficultly in dealing with the emotions subsequent to immense loss.
             Viramontes short story, "The Cariboo Café", opens with a young boy and girl locked out of their home. The young boy will later be referred to by the café owner as "short order". The two children later seek refuge in what they call the "zero-zero place", due to the wearing off of the letters on the café's sign. Later in the story the narrator perspective changes from the children to the café owner. The café owner is an older divorced man who runs a small café. He has been divorced from his wife Nell for an undetermined amount of time. The café owner's son JoJo died in Vietnam, this loss was very hard on the café owner.
             The café owner runs a fair and honest restaurant, but he finds that his honesty is not helping his business. He lets pretty much anyone with money dine in the café. Paulie is an illegal immigrant in his mid-thirties who is a regular at the café. The café owner allows Paulie to dine at his restaurant because of his resemblance to JoJo, the owner's son. The café
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