Out the darkness the shape of a boy appeared candidly playing with his ball in the small courtyard inside the house. From where he stood he could see the entrance to the house. The front room was in between the patio and the outside world. At the moment he lost control of the ball the front door opened and a silhouette of a woman appeared; the light from the street distorted the view. The shape called out, “Jorge do you want to come to the market with me.” The familiar voice brought a smile to the boy’s face. “Mommy!” he yelled, running toward her. “Well, are you coming” his mother said. “Yeah!” he yelled. He grabbed his mom’s hand and off they went, walking out the door and onto the sidewalk that bordered a dirt road. The boy held his mother’s hand firmly and swung slightly pulling on his mother’s hand as if taking her to the market. Every time they passed a person, a salute was given “good afternoon”, “nice day “, etc. When they reached a corner where Berlolies’ store, a store that sold an assortment of things but primarily beer and soda. They turned, and up ahead was a vast jungle of stands. People everywhere were yelling out advertisement, “2 completors for two dollars.” “Look at these beautiful radishes. They are going fast, better buy some.” But to no avail. It seemed that his mother was not only savvy but also only needed one thing. She walk over to a lady selling spices
“Hello Missis Lidia. Need to spice up the kitchen again? What are we running out of?” the woman said.
Taking out a list his mother responded, “Cinnamon, cumin, and other stuff.” Just then the face of a little girl popped out from behind the counter. “Ah, you brought your daughter,” said his mother.
“Brought your son,” said the lady. At that point the boy, who had been distracted by the hustle and bustle, turned around and suddenly as if a light shown on that little girl the boy felt like he was floating and the world moved in slow motion. Then all of a sudden the girl grew before his eyes to an older child then an adolescent and stopped as an adult. The brightness that she emitted started to hurt.
Jorge’s eyes opened. And realizing it was a dream and that it was the sun that now shown through the sky light inside the back of the moving truck he was traveling in. The light was right in his face burning his eyes. It had been a long night. His rear end and legs were numb from sitting in a fetus position and from being half crushed by a big fat man who seemed to have died or at least he smelled like it. The trip was a long one. There were no pit stops allowed until the destination was met. So some, like Jorge, had opted to hold it all in while others just couldn’t so the whole truck reeked of fecal matter.
He had long past the point at which he thought this idea might not have been a good one. His love for the girl at the market was all that was keeping him on board with this dumb idea. He needed money and this was the only way he knew of to make the money in a timely manner. At this point he, after much rational thinking, had just told himself that it was too late to back out.
As he was thinking of this the truck started to speed up and the driving seemed erratic. The wheels screeched at every turn and suddenly the reason became evident. Gun shots could be heard. Everybody who had not passed out from the trip scrambled to the floor trying to stay as flat as possible. The gun shots kept getting louder when shots began to penetrate the truck. All the people in the truck, blinded to the outside, screamed in fear. As a “silent” killer People started to be hit one after the other. Some people were crying out in pain and some were struck dead without a chance to say a word. At that point the truck gave a violent turn and started to flip. It was like a big salad spinner, bodies slaming into the walls. Jorge thought to himself ‘”I’m a dead man”. As he thought that a bullet hit his head and he was out.
