I almost moved to Sante Fe. As a fact, I
was hell bent on relocating to Sante Fe. I lay in my bed enveloped by the desert
cold in this crummy Juárez apartment wracked in insomnia until 5am debating if
I should simply toss my belongings into my suitcase and make a dash to the border.
Instead, I dressed and wandered the predawn until I found a coffee shop open that
early.
As I briskly walked down calle Insurgentes
towards centro, the squat row of crumbling houses cast long and foreboding
shadows across a shattered sidewalk. Dull yellow lamplights buzzed overhead
as the crunching of my shoes on loose gravel was the only sound in this still
slumbering town. My breath puffed out into frozen air as I made my way across
Park Independencia – under dead and leafless trees, several concrete benches occupied with snoring immigrants
waiting for their chance to cross the border. This city was depressing the hell
out of me – I cannot connect with anyone. And for that matter, what was left to
connect with? I am dead inside. As dead as the rotting houses which surrounded
me. I bitterly glanced around. Why does this city attain the appearance of the aftermath
of a bombed-out war zone? Ah, I forget…it is the aftermath of a bombed-out
war zone. Who am I to judge?
Ding! I sling open the door to Café Central
and take a seat at the long counter. I order coffee from the tired looking
waitress in the grease splotched uniform and as I stir the sugar into my mug,
once again the question slaps me across the face: What the fuck am I doing here
in Juárez?
I recall I had stated that question the
evening prior toward two intoxicated cohorts as we sat and drank caguamas at
Bar Olympico. The statement fell on deaf ears, unfortunately. They did not care
for my personal woes, they were more interested in the rentboy who slinked
up at us and was slurping on his free beer.
“For a hundred pesos, he’ll let you suck
his dick.” My friend confided. He pronounces it deek.
I eyed the hustler with obvious contempt. Oh. Of course. The solitary gringo in
the joint and this doe-eyed waif decided I was an easy mark. Little did he
realize I am one jaded homosexual and at that exact moment and time really wasn’t
in the mood for any of his shit.
“Wait a minute.” I began, pointing into
the well-formed pecs hidden under the rentboy’s tight, flannel shirt. “You want
me,” I point back at myself, “…me…to give you one hundred pesos so you can have
an orgasm?”
“Yes.” He curtly nodded, with hip hooked
in that universal stance of Hustlers of the World.
“What about me? You gunna get me off?
Suck me off? Anything?” I asked.
“No, man, I’m not no faggot. I don’t do
that shit.”
“Don’t do that shit? What shit? What
fucking shit don’t you do?” I barked. He glared at me in consternation, slowly
realizing I was not the typical weak spirited tourist he usually employs. I
leaned on my stool toward him, “Again, you expect me to pay you to come?”
“That’s the way it works, yeah.” He said
morosely.
“Get the fuck out my face.” I retorted
and slumped into my beer. The hustler casually shrugged and decided to lurk in the
cantina's doorway and await more promising prey.
One of my two friends refilled my glass
from my bottle, “Why were you so mean to him? He’s a nice boy.”
I paused. Lit a cigarette and watched
the plume of carcinogens swirl up into the water damaged rafters, I said, “I
think my time in Mexico has come to a close. My adventure here has grown stale.
Nothing interests me. I have done it all. There is nothing else. It’s time
I lay tracks toward a more civilized locale.”
My words, again, fell on deaf ears as
yet another macho fuck sauntered across the dirty tile floor and distracted the
two queens with a smile and a coy nod.
In the coffee shop, I sat bitterly. A
lonesome Mexican ballad crooned over the speakers as I looked at my ravaged,
tired face in the mirror attached to the wall across from the counter. Except
for myself and the three servers, the only other occupant was a wrinkled old
fuck slumped in a booth wearing shades. Probably asleep. The half-eaten fried
eggs coagulating on his plate in front of him. Gnawed chicken bones scattered about the formica. The thought of returning to my
house, collecting my things and leaving screamed in my skull. For some time, online,
I had been checking out cities which appealed to me – Boulder, Daytona Beach,
Tacoma – I had settled on Sante Fe in lieu it was easily accessible to acquire
the simple things in life I have been so longing.
Anyway, I didn’t go. The time is not right. I think I will wait out February and make the jump at the beginning of March, the first of April at the most. I really need to get my shit together before I completely and utter loose it all.
Anyway, I didn’t go. The time is not right. I think I will wait out February and make the jump at the beginning of March, the first of April at the most. I really need to get my shit together before I completely and utter loose it all.
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