48. "Vesper and Oxnard" In response to In response to 0 Tue Mar-09-04 10:25 PM
the steady wail of stomachs signaled revelry for the men who stood on the corner of Vesper and Oxnard some were summoned by their own hunger, but most rose in response to the desperate melodies that played hundreds of miles away
Mariano liked to tuck his left foot underneath him as he offered his weight to the metal pole that also propped up a wall of chain links he had 3 babies in a small town in the state of Jalisco that only the 97 people who lived there had ever heard of & if you asked him (or if you didn't) he'd dig into his shirt pocket and present you with a single photo where all 3 of them wore sunshine on their faces & if you asked him (or if you didn't) he'd tell you, as best he could in the tongue that wasn't supposed to be his, that the photo was taken on his oldest boy's eighth birthday which was 3 years ago last month & if you asked him (or if you didn't) he'd sigh that he hadn't seen his babies since 5 days after that picture was taken and he'd sink back into the fence whispering a "Hail Mary" preparing to pounce anytime any passing car slipped below the speed limit
Rodrigo planted his back against a palm tree waiting for the morning to pass 'cause the afternoon was always good to him one day of work a week was usually enough to last from Sunday to Saturday providing enough bread to pay for his 1/5 of the rent for the room on Eighth and Victory where he laid his head and enough bread to fill his stomach every other day or enough tequila to tease his liver every third day but he never knew which day it would be and he could never tell whether it was the week or the weekend every day became another that looked just like the one before it except for the days when the skies over Southern California cried on those days, Rodrigo would say to the other men, "God's heart is broken, too."
Emiliano still wore hope on his sleeve as if it were his padrecito's finest cufflinks his brand new wife and her belly fat with life stood somewhere next to him on the edge of the sidewalk while they waited patiently in Tijuana for Emiliano to send money for them to join him in the States he had been hired five times for work during his first month in Los Angeles and he saved all $200 he had earned at the expense of his own waistline which shrank by the hour unnoticed by the eyes that looked forward to meeting his first son Emiliano guessed that six months of work would be enough to pay a coyote to sneak Amelita across the border before the baby came and he crouched anxiously in a mock 3-point stance believing that Abraham Lincoln and Mickey Mouse were real people who might one day be his neighbors
when a 2004 Dodge Durango eased to the curb on the western side of Vesper at 9:30 am the blonde bobcut who lowered its tinted windows sat up straight in her seat when the men on the corner surrounded the SUV after a deep, calming breath, she asked if anyone spoke English standing side-by-side and on top of each other, Mariano and Emiliano both said, "Si." the woman craned her neck forward, her eyes scanning the contents of the two characters whose bodies were being smashed against her car & when she judged them to be harmless, she asked if either man knew anything about roofing Mariano and Emilano both said, "Si." the blonde bobcut paused before unlocking the door behind her instructing both men to get in -which they did- and the 2004 Dodge Durango turned onto Oxnard accelerating toward the the work that needed to be done and away from the wait that never would be for the men who stood on the corner of Vesper and Oxnard.