chapter seven

word count: 549

this whole thing was not sitting right with raul.. sure he was pleased that deputy “call me vic”
di tardo, had approached him to help with the hauling… having him in his pocket was definitely a good thing…

he knew his good for nothing cousin, jorge would only be too happy to catch the $150.00 the DOC would be dropping on him to haul the shit away…again… he just didn’t trust, jorge, he was a sponge… and he wasn’t sure his alcohol soaked brain would follow thru on this… and if he didn’t… surely it would be rauls own ass on the line….

he had picked up the phone several times,, wanting to call and make sure that the deed had been done… but he knew jorge,, and he knew his word was merde,, he was a seeing is believing kind of guy,, not someone that you could trust just because he said so over the phone….but he also knew,, jorge knew what keeping your mouth shut was…he was like a steel trap,, he could in any and all circumstances be relied on… to know nothing…

raul replayed the conversation he had had with jorge over and over in his brain,, “you have to destroy it bro,, it has to be gone,, don’t just dump it somewhere,, take the money and get rid of the bucket… one pinche bucket.. you can do this,, don’t let me down man,,, dont fuck this up … again….”

“si. primo… no problema, no problema,, comprendo,, comprendo….don’t worry…”

yeah,, easier said than done…..

as raul paced,, jorge slept..

“jorge,, borrachone… get up.. go get a job.. go anywhere i cannot see you!!!” his mother called from the kitchen… “i spent all morning cleaning your filth out of the yard…”

the yard,, the yard,, why did that make him feel like he was supposed to do something… the yard,, the yard,, what was it he was supposed to do in the yard???

the yard,, fuck,, the bucket… they had taken it off the truck when martin showed up and they needed an extra seat… the bucket,, was in the yard,, he had to go make sure it made it back on the truck.. he really had to do this right this time,, he had to take care of that pinche bucket once and for all… today,, this morning,, right now….

he righted himself, found his sea legs and stumbled out the front door, avoiding his mothers judgmental eyes…

he scanned the yard,, the chairs were still all sitting where they had left them,, in a semi circle surrounding the fire pit… but the bucket wasn’t there… where was the damn thing??? it had been right there… at least he thought it had been right there,, it had got kind of hazy there in the end of the evening…

“mami,, what did you do with the bucket,, the one that was right here??” he yelled into the house…

“now you care.. now you care where things are,, last night you didn’t care.. you left the yard a mess,, beer cans everywhere,, fire burning,, cigarettes all over the grass,,, now you care about this bucket???

“mami.. where is the bucket??”

“your father took it… what the hell was in that thing anyway,,, the stink!! a whole bottle of bleach he used to clean the stink from it……”