short 1

 “You coming or what!?”

My sunburnt eyelids slowly opened to the same bright sun as always. Half my body hung over the side of the bus stop bench. I still felt hazy from last night’s fix.

“Dude, I’m doing you a favor here!”

I looked up to be blinded by a bright red car holding up traffic at the intersection. Horns were blaring behind him as he scolded me from the car. It seemed like the horns didn’t even bother him as he sat back in his seat with his head nearly touching the roof and his eyes stuck on the dirty windshield in front of him.

Confused as to what was happening, I got up and cleared the dust from my eyes. I grabbed my bag and made my way over to the dented passenger side door of that red car. He rolled the window up and let out a deep sigh as I approached. 

“It’s Sam, how ya doin?”

“Hey I’m M-”

“It’s not short for anything either, it’s just Sam. What you feelin man?”

“I’m, uh, I’m pretty, uhhh-”

“Music, man, music!” He slammed his hand on the steering wheel. “What do you like for Christ’s sake?!”

“Well… I guess I don’t really, uh-”

“I got something you’ll like. You look like a chill guy. You a pretty chill guy, man? Listen to this.”

He pressed play and continued listening to what was on before he stopped. It was instrumental, the slow beat type music. Pretty repetitive and boring if you ask me, but Sam seemed to like it. His lips came together as if he was giving the air a kiss and his eyebrows tilted and moved closely together as he slowly shook his head side to side. One second ago, this guy was impatiently yelling at me to wake up at an intersection and now he was tapping his knee along to the beat.

I sat back in the seat. I discreetly peered out of my peripherals to investigate where I was. Just an average car. No tinted windows, no touch screen dash, an analog clock, who is this guy?

“What you feelin man?” He asked once again.

“Ummm I’m not really into stuff like-”

“Food, man, food! You like tacos? I got this great taco place I’ll take you.”

“Yeah tacos are great.”

“We’ll fill you up then I’ll let you on your way okay? I got places to be, things to see.”

My eyes slowly made their way back to the road. ‘Did I ask him to pick me up?’ I thought. ‘Was I that out of it?’ No way. I wasn’t that needy. I mean, I was hungry as hell, but not needy.

I used the rear view mirror to look at Sam, you know, to not make it obvious. He was a pretty big guy. Pretty young too. The Lululemon shorts said he was successful even though the car didn’t say it. His brow was always furrowed, almost like he was annoyed. His hair was short but messy and his shirt looked pretty worn. With my background, I feel like I could get a read on most people, but this guy had me fooled.

“This place has got the best horchata.” He said as the rear suspension on the car let out a loud creak as we crossed the intersection. “You ever had horchata?”

“HORchata?” I questioned.

“No man, it’s ORRchata, like drop the H, ORRchata.”

“Nah I don't think I ever have.”

“Maaaaan, it’s the best.” 

His mouth stiffened as he finished his sentence. It was almost as if he was just reminded of something terrible. The song changed. Sam stopped tapping.

“You know man, I don’t need to drive this car. It’s just a place-to-place type car, you know. I’d let you have it if you had a little cash on ya. You know, I just need a little something from it, not much, but I gotta have a little bit for it. You know what I mean man”

He didn’t even let me answer.

“You know, a lot of people, they look at this car, at me, and they think I’m a cheap guy. And you know what man, I am a pretty cheap guy, but not like that. Like I’m cheap, but not like thaaaat cheap. You know what I mean man?”

“Yeah I know what you mean.” I responded, not knowing what he meant.

Sam was a very anxious driver, you could tell. He let out a deep sigh every time he had to wait or stop for an extended period of time. It was honestly a pretty choppy ride, but I was starting to like this guy.

“There it is!” He exclaimed as we pulled into a parking lot. The building was colorful and old. I didn’t know where I was anymore. We were the only car in the lot.

Sam turned off the car and quickly inhaled. “Alright, let’s do this.” He said as if we were going to off someone quick.

We walked inside. Sam didn’t make eye contact ever. He had a way of letting you know you were there, but never quite acknowledging your presence. I don’t think he ever quite looked at me, but never made me feel like I was invisible.

There were two people working. An older lady with a great smile and a younger man, who had kind of a clueless look on his face. 

“2 pastor, 2 cabeza, 2 carne asada, 2 horchatas.” Sam said with an exaggerated Mexican accent. It seemed forced.

He didn’t turn his head as he said “that’s all good with you, right man?”

“Yea.” I mumbled from behind him.

It took seconds for the tacos to come out. Sam spent all the time strategically selecting the toppings as I stood in silence, taking in the moment. I didn’t know where I was, who this guy was, or what I was about to eat, but it seemed like a pretty damn good day.

“Here you go man.” Sam said as he handed me 3 tinfoil-wrapped tacos, 2 different salsas and a little plastic cup of limes. “Enjoy this shit. Because someday you’ll miss it.”

Miss it? You can’t miss something you never had and this was my first time having it. I was gonna feast. I didn’t care what it was, who it was with, or where it was, I was about to have the feast of my life.

We sat at a table outside. Not my choice. Sam sat there, sweating bullets down the side of his head, down his neck, and soaking his shirt. He never once looked ahead. He devoured all 3 tacos looking at the clouds in the sky. It was like the guy had never actually looked at the sky before. His gaze never moved.

He had the type of eyes that you could tell there was more there. ‘Who is this guy?’ I thought to myself. ‘Why did he do this?’ His eyebrows curved upward and his mouth came to almost a scowl and he sat there and watched the clouds float by. I only glanced up from time to time as I sucked down my horchata.

Twenty minutes had gone by and Sam didn’t say a word. I almost felt scared. This guy picked me up, fed me, and now he is sitting there, in a trance, not saying a word. I had nowhere to be, but was ready to go.

Finally, after thirty minutes, he got up. He grabbed my paper plate and styrofoam cup and bagged it with his. Then he walked to the trash, threw it away, and looked toward the car.

“Ready?” He said, still looking toward the lot.

I said nothing, I just walked his way.

On the way home, the music was different. This time with words. But not fast, still slow. A man with a great singing voice, I must say. The lyrics of that song let me see inside Sam for the first time even though his face was doing all it could to not let me in. 

The same song played the entire way back to that bus stop. When we got there, the sun had just set. 

“Alright man, appreciate it.” He mumbled as he put the car in park.

“No Sam, I really appreciate it, is there anything I can do for you? You need anything from-”

“Nah man, you already did enough. Just stay safe okay.”

“Alright.” I slowly said back. “Once again man, thank you so-”

“Don’t thank me.” Sam turned and looked at me for the first time. “Thank you, man.” His eyes began to water. 

I shut the door. Sam drove away, looking straight forward. 

I watched that red car until I couldn’t anymore. Still confused, I sat back down on that bench. I couldn’t really figure it out. ‘Who was that guy?’ I thought again. 

I don’t really trust people, because, you know, but I trusted this guy. He never once made eye contact until the very end, but I trusted this guy. I wish I could talk to him again, but hey, that’s just the way life goes.

I guess some questions are never meant to be answered.