Mandy popped her trunk and tucked the lighter fluid between her beach chair and towel. She slammed the trunk down, and it bounced back up.
“Goddammit!” Mandi screamed as she slammed her trunk shut again and again in the Home Depot parking lot. Since she’d backed her Ford Taurus into that bitch’s VW Bug, she’d had trouble with the trunk.
“Senorita,” a voice called to Mandy from inside a Toyota Tercel. She turned and stared at the man behind the wheel; he flashed a kind, yellow smile. “Senorita, I fix your bumper. Seventy-five dollar.” He pointed to her crumpled bumper, which was the crux of her trunk-closing dilemma.
“Shit. Seventy-five dollars? OK. When? Where?”
“Follow me to garage,” he said.
…
Mandy sat on a rocking chair in front of Jose’s garage, which was a storage shed behind his apartment building. “How long is this going to take?” she asked.
“No entiendo,” said Jose as he removed her busted bumper from the car.
“Well, if you could do it quickly, that’d be good. I have a house to set on fire.” The confession caught her by surprise and before she could refocus, tears burst from her eyes and collected in her upturned hands.
Jose stopped working and stood by Mandy.
“I’m so sorry!” She exclaimed holding her tears up for Jose to examine. “It’s just my boyfriend. He’s cheating on me with this bitch who drives a really cute car!”
“No llores, señorita,” said Jose. “No le voy a hacer nada; solo voy a arreglar su caro. Tengo un trabajo lavando platos en la taqueía, pero paga muy poco. Necesito dinero para mandar a mi familia en Guatemala. Si mando suficiente dinero, mi hijo puede estudiar en la universidad, y podemos poner un nuevo techo en la casa. Mi esposa perdió la pierna en un accidente y ya no puede trabajar. Soy todo lo que tienen. Pues, gracias por darme este trabajo.”
“Thanks for listening.” Mandy flipped her hands over and examined her cuticles.
An hour later, the bumper was fixed. Jose demonstrated how the trunk now opened and closed with ease. Mandy paid Jose, then opened her trunk once more. “Here, you can have this lighter fluid too. I don’t need it. I think I’ll just spend the day at the pool.”
“No entiendo.”
“Adios amigo!” Trilled Mandy as she hopped behind the driver’s seat and drove off, leaving the lighter fluid and Jose in her wake. Jose counted the money she had given him. Five dollars short.
