New River Blues by Elizabeth Gunn

Author:Elizabeth Gunn [Gunn, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Severn House Publishers Ltd
Published: 2009-01-31T13:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

After he parked the Party Down vehicle Nino scuttled, almost too scared to breathe, into the bus depot. Nobody grabbed him so he bought a ticket to Albuquerque. He had no reason to go there, but it was the next bus leaving, and the cost of the ticket left him enough for a few meals.

He hid out in the rest room for a while and then, as departure time neared, stood close to an exit and nervously scanned the room. He had no idea how badly Zack had been hurt by his fall on to the pavement. If he was in fair shape and able to get a ride he would surely think to look in the bus depot, so Nino knew he could be toast any minute. When the bus was announced he got into the last seat in back and crouched down, trembling with anxiety until they pulled away from the depot.

He was afraid to get off the bus in Willcox when they stopped there, so he waited till they reached the small town of Lordsburg, across the New Mexico border. When he came out of the men’s room there, he stood in a line of men fishing coins out of pockets in front of the Coke machine. The man ahead of him looked part-Indian or Mexican, had a broad dark face and rough, hard-working hands. But his jeans were new and he had sturdy work gloves in his rear pocket, so when he turned holding his Coke, on an impulse Nino said, ‘I’m looking for work. You know where the jobs are around here?’

‘Oh,’ the man said, slow and quiet, ‘what kinda work you lookin’ for?’

While his Coke rolled out of the machine Nino did his best to arrange his face in an imitation of Pauly’s open, guileless expression. He told the man with the gloves he wasn’t particular. He said he had been picking tomatoes back in Willcox and got laid off when one crop ended and another wasn’t ripe yet. ‘I live paycheck to paycheck,’ he said, ‘I can’t afford to lay off.’

‘Know what you mean, bro,’ the dark man said. He took a long swig of Coke, belched thoughtfully, and finally said, ‘You could get on out to Utley’s if you don’t object to some stoop labor. Mmm? Up near Hatch. There’s work in the pepper fields there.’ He looked at Nino, skinny in his ancient jeans. ‘Ain’t easy work, though.’

‘Hey,’ Nino said, ‘what is?’

‘Well, I’m going out there if you want a ride,’ the man said, and Nino ran and got his nearly empty gym bag off the bus. Carlos, that was his name, said he was a crew boss at Utley’s and had an open spot for Nino, ‘if you can keep it moving, man, you know what I’m saying? I got quotas to fill.’ He drove the big pickup fast along the Interstate to Deming, a little slower on the almost-empty two-lane to Hatch, where he stopped to pick up supplies.

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