Varitations - Death wish

It’s been a couple of minutes, maybe more, maybe less. It’s dead quiet. The air is thick with tension that I cut through with my blearing eyes. My eyes are narrowing, scrutinizing every part of the car. All over the interior, the dashboard, the windows, the heads of people, and the back of people, my mind wanders. No one is looking at me - no one is looking at anyone. I’m being left out. I can sense it. Something is not right.

Yolanda is looking out the window, she starts pushing Raúl like she wants to wake him up. He remains motionless, droopy, like a sack of potatoes spilling over unto the floor. With a jolt, he reacts.

“What the hell Yolí!”
“Stop this shit Raúl, look at him he isn’t scared, he looks pissed as hell.”

All eyes on me, grinning faces that rip into my head.

“I’ve been fooled. These bastards were just kidding around. I should have seen it coming.”

If I could, I would steer this piece of shit car into a nearby police car. With only me as the sole survivor, I would stand triumphantly laughing at these idiots bad joke gone wrong.

“There’s no police, what the hell. We just wanted to see your reaction.”
“C’mon man, it was only a joke, don’t get mad.”

I’m not mad, I answer. I’m just tired.

“Let’s go to Eddies place. We can watch some ‘traces of death’ while we wait for Miguel to call.”
“What about José, is he coming?”
“Don’t think so, he works nightshift at Blockbusters tonight, the sucker.”

Our car slows down, makes a right turn and leaves the sun setting in the back. Eddie’s house towers in front of us. Some dogs run besides the car.

Soon we will be sitting in Eddie’s giant water bed, drinking Medalla beer and listening to the new cd of ‘Death’. I hope Maya is there, she’s always cool. Usually she can handle her boyfriend.

Yes, Juán can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.