The Finley Sisters' Oath of Romance (Indigo) by Keith Thomas Walker

Author:Keith Thomas Walker [Walker, Keith Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781585714858
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp
Published: 2011-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

THE EXCURSION

Progresso didn’t look any better once the girls got off the ship. Mona expected palm trees and bright sunny beaches, but the first thing they encountered was a downtown area that looked as bad as some of the poorest neighborhoods in Overbrook Meadows. It was actually worse because the health and safety laws are a lot less strict in Mexico.

Mona saw vendors selling smelly fruits and vegetables on almost every corner. She saw a butcher shop with no front wall to protect the counters from the environment. From the ceiling hung cuts of fly-infested meats. Mona already had it in her mind that she wouldn’t eat or drink anything that wasn’t individually wrapped, but now she wondered if she should even risk that.

The cruise ship docked next to a huge flea market, and the vacationers were inclined to walk through it on their way to whatever excursion they had planned for the day. And the Mexicans were out in droves waiting for the Carnival ships to come in. You could hardly take a step without being accosted to buy this shirt or that necklace or this cross or these puppets.

The worst part about it—aside from the smells—was the sheer desperation in the eyes of many of the street vendors. They gave you the impression that their children may not eat a good supper tonight if you didn’t spend your five-dollar bill on something you could get at any Wal-Mart for a mere ninety-nine cents.

The most heart-wrenching thing Mona saw was a poor, old nun with a link of rosary beads in one hand and a large pickle jar half-filled with coins in the other. Her English was not the best, but it only took a few words to get her message across:

“Give money? Please? For the orphanage…”

The nun was small and frail, and she had a mighty hump on her back. Mona’s heart melted like butter, and she produced a ten-dollar bill with no hesitation.

“This is terrible,” she told Rene as they sought an exit from the marketplace. She knew Mexico was a third-world country, but she didn’t expect such blatant poverty.

“Hey! Check that out,” Rene said. She pointed her camera and got a few shots of two uniformed men who hoisted a drunken vagrant from the curb and tossed him into the back of a pickup truck.

“What are they doing to him?” Mona asked, her eyes wide and disbelieving.

“That’s the police,” Rene said. “They don’t allow hobos to get drunk near the beach, especially when the tourists are coming in.”

“Are they taking him to jail?” Mona wondered.

“They’ll probably take him deeper into the city and drop him off,” Rene guessed. “They don’t really care about him getting drunk. They just don’t want us to see it.”

Mona looked around at the rest of the unsightliness and shook her head. “They need to throw a tarp over this whole damned city—if they’re worried about our opinion.”

Rene chuckled. “Do you want to take a tour?”

“Might as well,” Mona said. “Those

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.