Bon Appetit Señior Cartel

Stressed

Carmen

Damnit! I’m going to be late! I hated being late, especially when it came to family events. Someone has to set up the tables and decorations, make sure someone else brought candles, decorations… f**k! Decorations! I had given myself one hour to get everything ready for the party, and I was now going to have to set everything up in ten minutes.

God dammit and those stupid f*****g lazy no good dirty… I was running late because a co-worker made a cake wrong; having to stay after my shift to make sure that everything was perfect and in order, lest we lose money. On all the days to pull something like this; why today?! Everyone knew I was busy after work today, especially Miss know-it-all; but I swore she had been doing s**t like this since she came to my store, seeing me as competition instead of a co-worker.

“Finally! We weren’t sure what to do without you!” My sister yelled at me as I pulled up in my car, the golden little bullet covered in leaves and sap from this morning, having parked under the pine tree last night.

“You mean to tell me that no one thought of even attempting to put table covers on or even blow up balloons?!” I was exhausted and f*****g mad, but that wouldn’t help me now. “Fuck.. Okay. Erin, you go get the table covers on. Who else is here?”

“Oh, Rose is out back smoking and Irene is watching the kids.”

“Great; go get Rose and have her do balloons. Help her hang streamers as soon as you’re done and then set up chairs. Has anyone even started on food?” I asked hesitantly.

“Um..” the hesitation from Erin told me everything as I grabbed my head at the oncoming migraine.

I took a large breath and slowly let it out. “Erin… this is your daughter’s fifth birthday. You should already have all of this figured out.” I sighed again as I turned around and pulled the cake I made for my Neice out of the passenger seat. “Just… try… please? I can’t keep doing this.”

I ignored her exaggerated humph as she rolled her eyes and walked off to go and find rose. I found myself hesitating at the door of my parents house as I braced myself for the onslaught of noise and screaming children I was more than likely about to face and steeled my shoulders. Come on Carmen; we’ve got this. Just ignore mom’s comments about your weight, hair, and life then wish Velvet a happy birthday and get the f**k out of dodge.

I gave myself the pep talk as I smoothed out my work shirt with one free hand and plastered a fake smile on my face. “Hey everyone!” I called out as I opened the door to the chaos within, a squeal of delight coming from the congregation of small children as I weaved my way past grabbing little hands and made my way to the kitchen.

“It’s about time! Velvet’s friends from school should be arriving any time!” My mom turned from the sink and glared at me; her dark brown eyes flashing as she took me in. “Huh. You still haven’t been sleeping right; your eyes look like raccoons. Oh! And have you seen that new diet they’ve been talking about? Paleo something or other.” She made a pointed look at my curves.

“Hi mom.” I winced as I tried to ignore her small jabs. “Here’s the cake. And I take it spaghetti for everyone? Since we’re running out of time.” I pointed to the clock.

“We would have had something better if you’d shown up on time for once.” She grumbled as she pulled out a large sauce pot from under her cabinets. “Hopefully none of the guests complain about it.”

Two hours… Two hours and I can go to aunt Stephanie’s and sleep.. I reminded myself as I set down the cake and got to work on getting out meat and seasonings for meatballs.

*****

“Bye! See ya all!” I called out as I made my way outside, everyone ignoring me really since they got what they wanted from me.

“Oh, Carmen, you’re leaving already?” Aunt Stephanie had shown up about an hour ago, her husband in tow and a fresh manicure on her hands.

“I am. I have inventory tonight at one. So I need to get some sleep where I can.” I giggled my keys for the car out of my pocket, starting to head to my freedom.

“Good. Be a dear and take care of the dog when you get there. He hasn’t been out since ten since we went out of town and I’m sure he’s just dying for a walk. Oh! And the cats are out of food, so stop and get more for them too!” She called out in way of parting.

I waived in acknowledgment and scurried to my car before anyone else requested something of me.

Fuck… I was tired, exhausted, and was more than likely only going to get four hours of sleep once I got everything done. “f**k me.” I groaned as I started the car and drove away, heading to the store first. “I need to get a life.. maybe even a boyfriend.”

*****

Julio

“Did you see anyone?” I asked my brother as he scrambled into the car.

“No… but are you sure we won’t get caught? This is more than any load anyone’s gotten through this highway in one go.” He was indicating the lot of product we had loaded into the rental van.

“I’m sure. I’ve cased this area for five months now. I know their locations, their routes.. f**k, I even know where they like to stop and piss! Once we get this over, it’ll be like raking in the cash!” I patted him on the back in reassurance as we took off from the gas station; my brother, Rojelio, watching the roads like a hawk. “Loosen up. If a cop does see us, they’ll take one look at you and decide we’re worth pulling over.”

He nodded his head as he took out a cigarette and lit it, rolling down the window slightly and lighting up. “What’s the first thing you’ll buy?” He asked casually, his eyes still darting everywhere.

“Cars, of course. No one questions cash when buying cars.” And I had quite the collection too. Some with tags and titles, others as trades for the goods I sold. I had about two hundred and fifty thousand just in cars sitting around the city, all of them being bought, sold, or even stored in buildings if I liked them. The government couldn’t care less about cash on a car, especially if you did it frequently enough and always paid the taxes on them; f**k, it was about the only clean way left to launder money anymore.

Our grandpa had taught me the old ways too of keeping my business clean and the money flowing, which is why I had the most successful drug operation outside of the city gangs in Chicago. I made connections with the rich who wanted to party, the poor who wanted an escape, and the ones who just wanted to have some fun. All of them knew I sold clean product and didn’t take any s**t, so most of the wanna be gang leaders knew not to mess with me, especially with the last name I carried in the Latin community.

“Fuck.. trouble up ahead.” I spotted the little red car in the parking lot of an abandoned store, the unmarked police car one that shouldn’t have been out at this time of day. “Stop staring at them and pretend to laugh at something I said.” I urged my brother.

“What?” He tapped the ashes out of the van and looked to me like I was daft.

“Laugh.” I said again, this time through my teeth as I smiled at him.

He laughed heartily then, his eyes darting to the red car as we drove past, my heart going a million miles a minute. I kept my eyes on the vehicle as I took the next corner, letting out a small sigh of relief as I noted it didn’t follow us only to suck it all right back in again as it immediately started its engine and pulled out of the lot just before I lost visual. “Fucken chingon…”

They were following me, and I was still twenty minutes out from my safe house.