chapter five

word count: 565

“este cabrón dice que no podemos dejar esto aquí, que no aceptan grasa. ¿no se supone que esto es un maldito basurero?”

jorge martinez told to his,, cousin,, lupe,, that the foreman at the dump said they had to load the five gallon buckets full of grease back on the truck.. they could not leave them here.. they had to take it somewhere else.. and pay again… this was bullshit.. they had already paid the $50.00 to dump this truckload here….

“pinche fuckin’ pendjos” he murmured as he and lupe hoisted the drums back into the bed of the truck…. he would think of something.. they couldn’t afford to pay again,,, they had only made $150.00, to haul the whole load,, and they were not paying any more of it out to get rid of it… this is what he gets for taking a job lined up by his jailbird cousin raul.. everything that guy touched was “salado”,, cursed….

in the mean time,, they could get some cerveza and think about where… after all,, no matter where they ended up leaving it,, they had to wait till it got dark….

they pulled up in front of la tienda and lupe went in for las cervezas… jorge leaned out the window of the truck… “oye mamacita!”

estella turned,, she saw jorge,, and glared at him..” oh so now your talkin’ to me… you disappear for days,, and now you think you can just call me over like some puta??? ”

“no, no ,, baby,,, i been busy,, i been workin’”… see i am workin’ right now… me and lupe,, we’re hauling for the department of corrections… you know.. i was gonna call you,, tonight… no really…”

estella flipped him the bird.. “pinche pendjo… if you weren’t so damn guapo,,” she leaned in the window of the truck and gave him a peck on the cheek…

lupe was approaching th truck with the 12 pack of ice cold modelo.. he did not look pleased that jorge had happened upon estella…

“mira, muchcacho… esta muy linda, no??” jorge turned and looked directly at lupe,, he winked,, play along amigo,, play along…

“si, cabron… “eso es mucho para ti solo. ¿vas a compartir?” lupe said with a laugh….to much beauty for one man…you gonna share??

with that,, they both burst into laughter,, and jorge shifted into drive,,, “Me tengo que ir, mi amor. Tenemos mucho trabajo que hacer. Yo te llamo más tarde.” “gotta go baby.. we have a lot of work to do… i’ll call you later…”

“fuck you jorge.. don’t bother,, i wont be…” her voice trailed off as jorge leaned hard on the accelerator and the truck squealed back onto the street…

ten hours and 24 cervesas later,, they backed up to the fence in the unlit, back parking lot of manpower, the day labor site that had kicked them both out a few weeks before for coming in drunk… pendejos.. they had asked for it.. let them pay to have it hauled away…

together they heaved the six five gallon buckets full of grease over the fence and into the trees behind the building..

it was late,, there was no sound of traffic on the highway.. it never occurred to either of them,, that they had actually dumped the buckets of grease on the side of the highway,, and essentially right back into the lap of the department of corrections…. but they would have enjoyed the irony,, if it had…