Flat Tire

Gabriel Donate

Jan. 19. 2012

A Flat Tire

        Beautiful Dominican morning. Some scattered clouds, but it didn't seem to rain. Enrique's my name, or Quique, I'm part of Trujillo's Army. I'm head of communications of the southern part of the Island. Today, my commanding officer, General Castro, or “Generalisimo”, as he liked to be called, reminded me thru a memo to head up north to Colonel Alfredo Gil's headquarters. We don't trust these new telephones that were brought. We fear the opposing forces could be listening in. So normally, they'd send me, and they'd let me take someone with me. José de Jesús, or Chucho, as he's always been called since we grew up together. We're so close, that his mother, thought I was the second son she didn't have. We had always been the adventurous type. We used to hunt, explore little forests near our home, swim upstream the rivers. The Tarzan brothers was our nickname.

        Chucho and I decided to join Trujillo's Army, to continue our legacy of being adventurous and risk takers. After our morning brief. Chucho went into our supply locker, and brought our machetes. We weren't supplied guns, don't ask me why. The Generalismo always gave us some pesos to eat on our way up and back down. “Here's the usual pesos, Sargent Enrique, don't let Chucho get ahold of the money, you know how he has no control of the money.” Chucho did not had this value of money. If he had 5 pesos in his pocket, they didn't last like 10 minutes. You'd see him buying food, or gambling on dominos. Chucho gave the Generalisimo this annoyed look. The General laughed and gave Chucho a pat in the shoulder. We shook hands and we left. “God Bless and be safe!” the General shouted from the window of his office. We waved and continued our way.

        Heading north, with a best friend. Better him than the General or some other cadet who's scared of a higher-ranking officer, I'd say. He and I have always been big fans of the best Trio in the world, “Los Panchos”. During the trip north, we always sang all the songs we know of Los Panchos. From the happiest one, “Me Voy Pa'l Pueblo” or “I'm heading to Town” to the saddest one, “Mi Ultimo Fracaso” or “My Last Failure”. He and I made this great duo. We used to sing in our hometown together. I used to be first voice, backup  guitar, and he was the backup voice and the first guitar. Friday nights, it was Quique and Chucho's Greatest Hits night. Good times were those.

        Time passes fast when you're with Chucho. He has the funniest jokes to tell, the most interesting stories, and the most clever anecdotes for you to learn from. Finally, we saw Colonel Gil's headquarters up in a hill, to the left of the road. There was this new roadside cantina. “Oiga, let's spend part of the money here Quique?” Chucho said. “You're so predictable, eh?” I replied. So we did. Friendly people owned the place. It was one of those family owned businesses where you feel like you're home. We ate some Alcapurrias with a beer. Paid and left. As we started to turn right to go up the hill where the headquarters are, we see this car, parked at the roadside. “Drive-by shoot-out?” said Chucho, with the most serious tone. “No se, let's check” I said. As we approached the car, there was a lady inside, with the most scared face. “it the machetes? Or is it Chucho's mustache that looks like a big caterpillar on his upper lip that's scaring her?” I thought. We saw she had a flat tire. “May we help you, Lady” Chucho asked in spanish. She replied something in English. She was nervous. I could see it in her eyes. “I'll pay you help me...” She said. Imagine Chucho's face after she said that. We agreed and we changed her tire. “Macho's work, easy, eh, Quique?” said Chucho. We got the money, said our goodbyes to the lady, and headed to headquarters.

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