At the little outdoor restaurant I told the lady, “I’ll have three panades and three tacos.”
While I was sitting at the big picnic table my friend Jorge came in. He ordered and took a seat at the table with me.
“Where have you been, Jorge?” I asked. “I haven’t seen you lately.”
“I been on the mainland,” he said. “I work in San Ignacio five days and I come home on weekends. You ain’t seen my old lady have you?”
“Not in the last week or two.”
“I just got home an hour ago and she and the boy both gone. I know they around ‘cause there’s clothes on the line and the house is unlocked.”
“She’s probably out visiting her friends,” I told him.
“Hey, Papa!”
It was Jorge Junior, who came riding up on a brand new bicycle.
“When did you get a new bicycle?” his father asked.
“I just got it this afternoon.”
“Where you get the money?”
“I saved it.”
“Saved it? From what money did you save it?”
“From the money I get paid for walking.”
“What walking money are you talking about?”
“Since you been working in Belize City the man who lives in the big house on the corner comes to visit Mama. Every time he gives me ten dollars and says, ‘Here, muchacho. Take a walk’.”
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