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The Deal
By
Robert Klein Engler, Jan
21, 2007
by the
slice
A frail, autumn rain turns the street around the strip mall into a black
mirror. Tony Rodriguez waits by a lamppost near the corner. His wallet is
as empty as his stomach. It is late, so except for the pizzeria, the
stores along the mall are closed. After a while, a metallic blue SUV pulls
up to the corner. Tony looks up and sees the driver roll down the right
window. He looks at the driver cast in the shadows of the SUV's interior
and nods, "Yes." Then, Tony looks back at the flashing sign in the
pizzeria and reaches for the door.
There is a click like the sound of a revolver cocking as Tony pulls the
door open and gets in. He slams the door with all his strength. As the
driver speeds off, Tony slides down the leather bucket seat, his wet
Starter jacket slippery with rain.
In a moment the red tail lights of the SUV join the traffic on 79th Street
and disappear. A steady rain runs down the steamy window of the pizzeria,
now. The paper sign in the window that says "pizza by the slice" begins to
curl with the dampness. Ask the young man whose hands are white with flour
working inside Pat's Pizza what just happened outside and he will say he
saw nothing. Then, he'll just look at you and keep chewing his gum.
old tricks
An hour later, Tony Rodriguez sits in Pat's Pizza and counts out 5
twenty dollar bills. After his soda and Italian beef, he'll have more than
$90 left. Not bad for an hour's work. First he lets the old guy in the
SUVA touch him. Then, he gives the old guy a hand job. Tony thinks these
old guys don't shoot much, but this one surprises him. He is a two tissue
trick. He wants Tony to finger his foreskin just the right way, too. Tony
does what he was told, counting out the strokes in his mind. He rests his
arm at 134.
Tony has learned that with older tricks, they want you out of the car as
soon as they're done, so he is grateful this guy at least drives him back
to the parking lot where he picked him up. They talk a little as they
drive down 79th Street and Abba plays on the stereo. Tony tells the old
guy a lie about where he's from and what's he doing. He tells him he has a
job and is trying to earn some extra money to buy a car. The guy says he
wants to see Tony again. Tony says he will be at the parking lot next
week, same day, same time.
"Look for my Toyota," the old guy says. "You have soft hands."
Tony was hungry. He hadn't eaten all day. The Italian beef tasted good and
the sport peppers had a nice bite. When it rains, you usually can't score.
You just stand on the corner and get cold and wet, but tonight Tony was
lucky. He has money, now, too, for food. He can go back to the motel room
and sleep. Everyone will be happy to see him. He can help pay the rent.
They can count on Tony.
Tony slurps the last bit of soda from the bottom of his cup. He is almost
full. Still, there is the vague emptiness in his thoughts that never goes
away except when he is high. He doesn't understand why one minute he is
drawn to men old enough to be his father and then the next minute he wants
to vomit. When he gets to the motel he'll take a shower and smoke a joint.
That'll help him forget.
Soon, Luis will pick Tony up and they will drive to the Double Day Inn,
just off Southwest Highway, near the Chicago suburb of Maple Lawn. They
have been staying at the Double Day Inn for over a month now, all in the
same room. There are two girls, Maria and Conchita, besides Luis and Tony.
There are two older guys as well, the Jimenez brothers, José and Raúl, who
recently arrived from L. A. and are friends of Luis.
The Jimenez brothers don't seem like brothers to Tony, and he doesn't like
the way they glare at him, but they are west coast members of Luis' gang,
so they are welcome. Tony thinks it's odd the Jimenez brothers have the
number 13 tattooed on their left forearms, so he asked Luis about it. Luis
said it was a California thing and not to worry, so Tony just stays out of
their way. They don't know about Tony's hustling, and what if they did? It
pays for the room. Luis will take care of Tony, anyway, just as Luis
always has since they first met. Tony trusts Luis because he has tasted
his body.
folded bills
From where he sits by the window in Pat's Pizza, Tony sees the van coming
down the street. One of the van's headlights angles off to the left making
it seem like some crippled behemoth moving through the rain. He knows by
that headlight that it is Luis come to pick him up.
As soon as the van pulls into the parking lot, Tony is out of his seat and
running through the rain. He jerks the van's door open and almost falls
into the seat. Tony looks out the windshield and sees that the wipers are
half working, making a blur of colored lights as they stutter across the
wet glass.
"You get the money?" Luis asks.
"Here," Tony says, handing Luis the folded bills. Then, Tony grips Luis'
hand and holds it for a second, until Luis pulls away and turns to drive
out of the parking lot.
"Your hand is cold," Luis says with the tone of apology in his voice.
"I had to wait in the rain too long for that asshole," Tony says.
"You did good, kid, now we got a place to stay 'til next week."
"And after that," Tony asks?
"That trick is good for a few hundred more. If not, don't worry. I got a
plan."
Tony is silent for the rest of the ride to the motel, almost hypnotized by
the glare of traffic. The broken heater fogs up the windshield, so the
world from where Tony sits becomes lost in a fog. Tony stares straight
ahead. Then, Tony turns to look at Luis, who is intent on driving.
The colors of the night are soft on Luis' face. Tony turns and looks again
at the windshield wipers as they fan back and forth. They beat the rain
away with a stead rhythm. Outside, the rain licks the street clean the way
a cat licks its paws after eating. Tony knows now the truth about hunger:
it always comes back.
spinning wheels
You can get away with a lot when you're 17. Tony knows that and pushes
the limit. Today, he is at the mall with Maria, one of the girls who stays
at the motel with the gang. Maria needs some new clothes, so Tony sits and
waits for her to try on some jeans at J. C. Penny's. They will go to the
music store next and see what's happening. Maybe Tony will buy the new
Rappin' Aztec CD. Maybe he'll steal it.
Shoplifting is easy for Tony. He has fast hands and wears big clothes. He
started shoplifting back in San Antonio when he was 13. When his father
came home drunk and there was no money for food, he could always sell
whatever he lifted for hot-dogs and a soda. His little sister was so happy
when he brought her home an ice cream cone paid for by that money.
Tony hated his life in San Antonio. He especially hated high school. He is
a bright kid and knows how to read but is bored with the rules and
conformity school demanded. One day, when he was just over 15, he got up
in the morning and said to himself, fuck this shit, I'm leaving.
He took the bus to Houston, then to New Orleans, and finally to Chicago.
All along the way Tony hooked up with other Latino kids who followed their
favorite urban artists. Tony then fell in with some comanchos and the crew
that follow the Rappin' Aztec from concert to concert and city to city. By
day these kids would wander the shopping malls, hustle for money, and at
night all fall into the same motel room on the city's fringe. That was
Tony's life and it was way better than boring days in high school.
Eventually, he met Luis, and now they live together at the Double Day Inn.
Tony survives in the underground because he is smart and does not mind
selling his body. He is cute and young and thin, just the type of young
man some older guys want. With his tan skin, these tricks see Tony as the
perfect youth preserved in amber. Besides, Tony makes more money hustling
than the girls who are prostitutes, and waste their money on drugs. Tony
never did that much drugs. Maybe pot from time to time, but never crack or
even meth.
When he met Luis a few months ago, Tony realized that Luis was into
selling drugs, but Tony overlooked that because Luis had a power like a
magnet and it drew Tony to him. Tony likes the excitement of that electric
power, and the money he sees Luis make, but more importantly to Tony are
Luis' rugged looks and hard body. Tony would like to be strong like that
someday. Tony is not ready to say it out loud yet, but he knows that when
Luis is next to him, the emptiness he feels inside goes away.
Waiting in the mall for Maria, Tony sits on a mall bench and thinks about
Luis. He remembers how Luis forces his way inside, hard and strong. Tony
wonders why he can have Luis' body, but not his heart. Tony will do
anything Luis asks, but wishes Luis would just kiss him.
Then, Tony sees a boy about six years old who plays with a remote
controlled car in the toy store across from where he sits. The boy makes
the car spin and then go fast. Tony wonders what it would be like to be as
fortunate as that boy. To have a house and a family and a father who is
not drunk all the time. Someone cared for him from the start, Tony
concludes.
Tony watches the boy play. The boy seems lost in his carefree world of
abundance. "Daddy, watch this," the boy shouts as the toy car hits the
door, flips over and then lands on its back, wheels still spinning in the
air.
the deal
Detective Chester Jablonski puts his face right up to Tony's face and says
sternly, "Look, kid, either you work for us, or you're going down on
hustling charges." Tony smells the spearmint gum the detective is chewing
to mask his heavy smokers breath. Tony thinks of an old trick who stiffed
him back when he first started hustling in San Antonio. He smelled just
like that.
Tony looks around. He feels the dominating presence of detective Jablonski
even when the man is standing behind him. The small interrogation room in
the Maple Lawn police station needs to be painted. What looks like a
two-way mirror is on the wall to Tony's left. The odor of too many
cigarettes and too many sweaty bodies seems to be everywhere. Tony fidgets
with the small cross he wears on a gold chain around his neck. He thinks
of his sister who gave it to him.
"OK," Tony says reluctantly. "I'll do it, but you gotta get me outa here
and a good job when it's all over." Tony rocks back on the metal chair and
folds his hands in his lap. He looks at the detective. This is just
another kind of hustling, Tony thinks.
"Don't worry kid," Jablonski says. "We'll take care of you."
"Yeah, right," Tony says sarcastically. "So, just what do you want me to
do?"
"Keep your eyes open. Then, tell me what you see. We believe there is a
shipment of cocaine coming into Illinois from Texas soon, and we would
like to know just what those creeps the Jimenez brothers know about it."
"What about Luis?" Tony asks cautiously.
"That's your business, kid, not ours. Just keep working that corner by the
pizza place. From time to time, I'll drive by in the SUV, you get in and
we talk. It's simple.
"Simple." Tony echoes. "You gonna pay me, like the last time we TALKED?"
"Of course, but we'll sweeten the deal. How's about $150?"
"That's cool," Tony says, looking around the room and pretending to be
indifferent. Then he adds, "But one other thing."
"What's that?" Jablonski wonders almost innocently.
"Get some more tissues."
on the floor
Tony curls up on the motel room floor below the half open window, using a
few blankets as a makeshift mattress. He hears the rush of traffic from
the highway that the room faces. Maria and Conchita are asleep in the bed.
Tony cannot sleep. He feels anxious. He knows he is growing into
something, but he is not sure what it is. He feels like his skin no longer
fits. There is a body inside his body and it wants to get out.
As Tony turns on his side to become more comfortable, he hears the sound
of Luis' van pull into the parking lot. Then, he hears the sound of the
doors slamming shut. Luis has finally come back with the Jimenez brothers.
Tony half smiles. He feels safe when Luis is around.
Tony follows in his mind's eye the footsteps of the three men as they
climb the concrete steps to the second floor motel room. Tony hears the
keys jangle and then the lock click open, followed by a brightening of the
room as the three young men come through the doorway, trying to be quiet,
but laughing and talking in Spanish all the same.
"Esta chingada puerta," Luis says in a muffled voice, kicking the door as
the three men shuffle into the motel room. "It's not gonna keep anybody
out of this shit hole." They all laugh and move quietly around the room.
Then, there is the sound of piss hitting the water in the toilet bowl,
more water running in the sink and then Tony feels Luis lay down beside
him on the floor by the window. One of Jimenez brothers moves to sleep on
the couch and the other crawls into the bed. Tony remembers it's José's
turn to sleep with the chicks tonight.
Tony feels Luis' warm legs on his as they both share the same blanket.
They don't talk, but Tony knows what Luis wants. Tony wishes they would
talk, say something nice to each other, but they don't. Still, Tony likes
the warmth between them. Tony always gives himself freely to Luis. He
learns a lot just hanging around him. He hopes that maybe someday Luis
will teach him how to shoot the pistol Luis keeps in the van's glove
compartment. That would make another bond between them, Tony thinks, a
bond not just of their bodies.
Once the room is silent and Luis is assured everyone is asleep, he slips
off his boxer shorts and forces Tony's head down between his legs. Tony
feels the strong hands of Luis running through his black hair. They are
firm hands, and they move the way a man would run his fingers through the
silken hair of a woman. Tony takes Luis into his mouth. Luis smells of
cigarette smoke and cheap aftershave. When it is over, Luis turns on his
side and falls off to sleep. Tony swallows all the words he wishes he
could say.
out for a ride
"Is this the spot?" Tony asks nervously.
"Just up a bit," Luis says. The van rattles forward. They move from the
bright lights of the expressway to the darkness of a Cook County forest
preserve side road.
The Jimenez brothers sit silently in the back of the van looking left and
right, while tapping to the beat of rap music. The Jimenez brother have
arranged for a shipment to be passed on, so Tony has to pay attention.
"Keep a look out, kid," Luis says to Tony as he pulls over to the side of
the road and turns off the headlights.
The trees are dropping their leaves now, and the bare top branches make a
soft line of lace between the forest preserve and sky. Above the tree line
Tony sees the far off lights of the city cast a halo into the darkening
sky. All that heaped up confusion from millions of people isn't so far
away, Tony thinks. Still, here, just waiting, with bushes along the side
of the road going down into darkness, they could be in the middle of
nowhere.
Luis takes the pistol from his jacket pocket and in one swift motion
points it at Tony's head. It happens so fast Tony doesn't have time to say
a word. Without a pause in his motion, Luis pulls the trigger. Tony slumps
over suddenly when the 22 cal. bullet slams into him just above his left
ear and his head hits the dashboard with a thud. His body is strangely
motionless, now, the way a puppet flops down when its strings are cut. The
Jimenez brothers bend forward, surprised.
"Damn!" José says to Luis. "You cold, dude."
"Get the motherfucker out of the van," Luis yells. "I don't want him
bleeding over everything."
The Jimenez brothers rush out of the van and fling open the passenger side
door. They then drag Tony from his seat and down into the bushes away from
the forest preserve trail.
"You gotta finish off 'la rata'," José says to Luis, pointing to Tony who
lies motionless, and face down in a mat of dry leaves and twigs.
Luis aims the pistol and fires more shots. Bam. Bam. Bam. They hit Tony in
the head and neck over and over again. Tony's shiny black hair is now a
mass of blood and red tissue. No more faggots for me, Luis thinks. He
keeps firing until José says, "Fuck, that's enough, man."
José bends down and empties Tony's pockets. He removes Tony's wallet, the
keys to the motel room, and a packet of tissues. Then, Luis rips the gold
chain and cross that Tony wears from his neck.
The night deepens now, eating all the remaining twilight. With the
darkness comes a deep silence, too, until the sound of a car engine is
heard. The men hold still for a moment, as if a viewer above the world
clicked the remote and freeze framed a video. Slowly, the headlights of a
car appear, then travel down the gravel road, past the van, to vanish
behind a stand of bony trees.
Robert Klein Engler lives in Chicago and sometimes in New Orleans. Born on
the southwest side of the city, Robert taught many years at Richard J.
Daley College, until he was banned by the chancellor. Robert holds degrees
from the University of Illinois at Urbana and the University of Chicago
Divinity School. He has received 2 Illinois Arts Council awards for his
poetry. Google him to find more of his work and read an interview with him
here.
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