TJ99 by Mark Rogers

Author:Mark Rogers [Rogers, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798445698463
Amazon: B09ZLMDYM1
Publisher: Independently published
Published: 2022-05-03T11:00:00+00:00

22

A day passed and then another. I was thankful we hadn’t heard anything from Calixto. I couldn’t imagine how he could come up with anything I wanted to hear, except maybe, “I’m back in the States.”

I felt jumpy and vulnerable from my time in detention. I was wondering how I’d feel the next time I drove across the border into the U.S. Thinking about it made me frightened, like I’d be handing my freedom to them. Maybe they wouldn’t hassle me or maybe they’d throw handcuffs on me. What made me skittish was the knowledge that it could go either way, that they held all the power.

I spent the days listening to music—mostly Miles Davis—and nursing beers on the patio. The kids cheered me up and Paloma was full of affection, although I could see she was wounded, too. I took refuge in a book I’d read a couple of times, James Lee Burke’s Neon Rain, his first Dave Robicheaux novel. Burke’s writing had a clean, moral tone that always left me feeling better about the human race and better about myself. When I’d reached the final page, I felt the itch to get out of the house and walk around in the world again.

I tossed my empty Modelo bottle in the trash and walked into the living room, letting loose with my warped version of a mariachi cry, a strangled “Aye aye yi yi yi YIIIIIIII!”

Atilo smiled at the sound, while Isabel laughed and covered her ears.

Paloma stuck her head around the corner. “The crazy gringo is back.”

“With a vengeance,” I said. “There are two things I want to do. Eat fish tacos and body surf at high tide.”

I looked at my phone. “Which is an hour away. Who’s coming with me?”

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