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Chapter 18.
- University of Arizona Press
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105 18 Some time later Alex’s truck bounced up the dirt road toward them. Bea asked Jack to wait behind while she spoke with her brother. When Alex pulled alongside the silos he saw her talking with a gabacho. And then he watched the guy duck beneath the shadow of the silo while she approached. From his position, Jack could see Bea and Alex clearly through the rear window of the truck, and from that distance, he thought Alex looked like a nice enough guy. He was wearing a short-brimmed hat cocked on his head, and he had a cigarette in his mouth. He saw too that Alex nodded calmly while Bea waved her hands out in front of him. “Where we dropping this guy off?” Alex wanted to know. “He’s a friend, Alex, he’s coming to work la pisca.” He looked over his shoulder, out the back window. “Bullshit.” “He is, I swear it. We’re just friends is all.” Alex glanced back once more. Jack could see him now nodding at Bea. They exchanged a few more words, and then Bea looked at Jack and waved him over. “Friends, you say?” “That’s right.” Jack lifted the bags and made his way to the truck. “Just pray dad don’t catch you with your friend,”Alex remarked.Bea scooted over to make room. “Or Beto,” he added, sucking his teeth. She rolled her eyes. Jack tossed the bags into the bed and climbed into the truck. “Alejandro Renteria,”he said, sticking his thick hand out for the gabacho to shake. “Good to meet you.” “Same here. Name’s Jack.” Alex reached over Bea’s legs and unlatched the glove box. He pulled a bag of tobacco out and some rolling papers and flung them onto Jack’s lap. “Bet you could use a smoke?” 106 “Man, you bet right,”he replied, smiling over at Bea and catching a whiff of fresh tobacco. The truck hobbled up the dirt road and wound back toward the highway. Jack busied himself with licking the cigarette paper and sealing it shut. He pulled a match from the small box and lit up, then took a long drag. “Man,that’s exactly what a guy needs after a long day,isn’t it?”He took a few more puffs and handed it to Bea and got busy rolling another. “You two up for a drink?” Jack jumped right in. “You bet,” he said, nudging Bea with his elbow. “I could use a little something, I guess, but I gotta eat first.” She gave her brother a look. “All we had today were oranges. Isn’t that right, Jack?” “Panzón’s supposed to be waiting for us at the campo. Says he’s got a whole crate of wine, and not the cheap stuff neither.” He lifted his cap and set it back down on his head. “That pinche Panzón, man, he’s always got some kind of connection with someone. The guy don’t do shit but somehow everyone owes him something. I just don’t get it.” “Well, I still can’t stand him,” Bea mumbled. “That’s ’cause he’s got eyes for you.” Alex looked over at Jack and teased. “Panzón’ll do anything for Bea. Man, one time when we were younger I told him if he drank raw cow milk, ya know, straight from the tit, I’d get him a date with her.” Jack puffed on his cigarette. “And the poor bastard did it?” “Oh yeah, he did, got down on all fours and took that hairy titty in his mouth and gnawed on that thing like it was his own mama’s. If only I had a camera, God, I bet I coulda wrangled a sack full of cash off him, that’s how pitiful the guy looked. Man!” He slapped the steering wheel and Bea and Jack chuckled.“You’ll get to meet him here in a minute, just don’t say anything about what I told you. Not that I give a damn, just that he’s liable to get his feelings hurt and wind up not wanting to drink some of that good grape he’s got.” “You won’t hear a peep outta me,” Jack replied. Bea interrupted, “It ain’t like Panzón has a lotta friends anyway.” Alex looked at his sister from the corner of his eye,and was genuinely happy to...