The rains had begun on the costal plains. The low clouds marched in stealthily from the Gulf and waited, quietly, until both horizons had become a monolithic palate of darkness that patiently looked down upon the city, as if to calm it, before it began its assault. And the rains came steady and unhurried and began to cleanse the city of what it could not hold onto and of what could not hold onto it. Chapter-9
Ten
The rain only meant that there would be no work for Orlando Santos. Still; he would have to try because he would not let himself give up on her or on the boy. He dressed quietly in the dark in the clothes she had washed for him the night before. His work boots were cleaned and placed on top of a folded grocery sack that sat next to the door and his raincoat was folded neatly on the arm of the sofa. He grabbed his coat and boots and took them outside to the patio where he sat in a plastic chair. The rain was bearing down on the overhang and Orlando watched as the streaks of rain fell onto the lamppost and cascaded down its sides into a puddle of murky water that ran down the sidewalk and out into the street where it disappeared from his sight. He put on his boots and laced them tight so that the mud would not cause them to slip from his feet. He stood. He put on his raincoat, and buttoned it to the top and he opened the front door and looked in at Rosa and the baby and watched them, from the flickering light of the lamppost, as they slept. He reached his hand inside the door and locked it and carefully pulled the door closed. Orlando stood there motionless then pulled the hood of his raincoat over his head and emerged into the darkness.
The foot-path was dark except for the lights that came from the occasional car as it lumbered, without any regularity, through the rain. Orlando walked alone in the dark and he knew every step of the path that would take him to the fenced in area where they gathered. At the second block Orlando stood under a single streetlight and waited until traffic was clear enough to cross. He continued walking until the glow from the streetlight had faded back into darkness and continued walking until the night began to fade from the morning sun that was behind the clouds and the rain. He arrived at the laborers pick-up spot and from the dim morning light that showed only grayness and a few workers huddled together, Orlando waited for Larry Conrad alone and cold.
The grey morning was in bloom as the rush hour cars hurried through the rain to the places where they had to go so that their owners could get money to keep them running. He waited patiently because he could not afford to lost day of pay, and, even though, Rosa would understand and comfort him, Orlando would never give Rosa a reason to have to understand why he stayed home. So he waited. He waited long after the others had given up and he waited until the rush hour traffic had dwindled down to a trickle of cars that were in no hurry to be anywhere. Then he came. In a slow, steady and unhurried roll; Larry Conrad, in his polished and unblemished crew truck, pulled into the fenced in laborers spot to find a wet and obedient Orlando Santos standing and waiting for him.
The big truck pulled in and up to Orlando on the driver’s side. The tinted driver’s window rolled down and a warm and dry Larry Conrad looked down on Orlando. “Good morning Mr. Conrad” said Orlando in an eager voice.
“Buenos Dias Orlando—it looks like it’s going to be a wet one today” Conrad said from the comfort of his truck.
In a confidant yet submissive voice, Orland replied “Ah Mr. Conrad, a little rain is just a little rain. Today we can work in the rain. What’s a little rain?”
“No señor” said Conrad as he shook his head “No work today.”
“Maybe we can go find some work—I’ll work hard today Mr. Conrad” said Orlando as his eyes moved to the ground.
“You can do what you want Orlando but I’m not working a crew today. Besides that’s not why I’m here” replied Conrad. “Look Orlando” said Conrad as Orlando eyes met his “I’m here because I’ve got to thin the crew down a little. I knew I could count on you and I knew that you would be here this morning.”
Orlando stood there and seemed pleased that Conrad had recognized his hard work yet unaware of what he was telling him. “You know I’ll always be here Mr. Conrad” replied Orlando.
“Were going to have to thin out the crew” restated Conrad.
“Thin out the crew—what do you mean by that?” asked Orlando.
“It means that things are slowing down, I can’t work all of you. We gotta cut this thing down
to ten men; I got to get rid of five of ya” said Conrad in a matter of fact way.
Orlando stood there in the rain and looked in at Conrad sitting in the warm and dry truck. He
feared for his job but was not sure what Conrad was asking him. “What do you want from me Mr. Conrad—are you going to get rid of me?”
Conrad leaned back in his truck chair and let out a guttural laugh “No Orlando, you’re my best man. I would never let you go.” Conrad paused and he wasn’t laughing. “Orlando, I need you to give me five names. The men respect you but I gotta cut back—I need you to give me five names of who I can get rid of.”
Orlando was confused. He had never been put in this position and did not know how to handle it. “Oh Mr. Conrad, I can’t do that—we all work together. Cant we find enough work for all of us.”
“Goddamnit Orlando. You’ll give me five names or I’ll do it myself.” lashed Conrad.
“No no Sir” said Orlando knowing that Conrad meant business “Let me think for a minute.”
Orlando stepped back from the truck and thought about the men who were married and who
had children, who were young and who could live with their parents and who were supporting their parents. Who could move in with who and who spoke better English and who were able go get work faster than the others, and, who didn’t know anybody and came over alone and who were lost and who wouldn’t make it or who would end up in trouble without the work and who would be have to be sacrificed for whom because there was no other way. “Come on Orlando” said Conrad “let’s have it, I want to go home and get out of mess.”
Orlando walked back to the truck. He looked at Conrad all snug in his warm leather seats and content that the world was as how it should be. Orlando gave him his names and Conrad sped off to take comfort in the system that was serving him well.
***
After Conrad drove away, Orlando waited until an elderly man arrived in a pickup truck. Orlando climbed in the back and they sped to the suburbs where Orlando planted shrubs in the rain under the old man’s critical eye. He cleaned up the old man’s yard and put all of the debris in the back of the truck. Orlando rode in the back of the truck with the debris and the rain while the old man drove to the municipal dump. He sat in the truck while Orlando offloaded the debris onto a larger pile of debris that was part of an even larger pile of debris that stretched for what seemed miles.
The damp dusk was approaching and the old man took Orlando back to the workers site. The mud caked Orlando got out of the back of the truck and walked over to the driver’s side door. The window rolled down and the old man handed Orlando forty dollars then sped off. Orlando stood there looking down at the money that was only a fraction of what he needed. He put the money in his front pants pocket and began his walk home.
It was dark and it was still raining when he made it to the tiny apartment. Rosa met him at the door and she new from his eyes that he was humiliated. He reached into his pocked and handed her one of the twenty dollars bills careful not to let her see the other one. He went to the bathroom and closed the door behind himself. He washed his hands and faced and looked himself in the mirror and made a quiet promise to himself.
He rustled around in his drawer next to the sink and removed a small cigar box that contained mementos from his past and from his homeland. He studied the items that had meant much to him but wouldn’t mean anything to anyone else. He looked back into the mirror and into his eyes and his eyes became fierce and strong. He looked back down at the cigar box and emptied the contents into the trashcan so that each item fell on the pile that would be discarded and forgotten about forever.
Orlando pulled the wet and wrinkled twenty-dollar bill from his pants pocket. He smoothed it out and put it in the cigar box and tucked the box back into the drawer on his side of the sink. He showered and changed and he spent the evening with his wife and child.
Across From the Bayou: Copyright 2010 by Harold Robert Hunsaker
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