Read Online A So-Called Vacation by Genaro González - Free Book Online Page B

inside, Gustavo! You might learn something.”
    â€œWhat’s there to learn, Dad? We’re just getting points and plugs, something we should have done back home.”
    â€œPlus a valve cover gasket. And whatever else I may need.”
    By the time Gus finally entered, their father was already asking for a gasket. Gus noticed the confused impatience on the balding Anglo’s face, so he repeated their father’s request. While the man joined his helper in the stockroom and while their father was distracted by a ratchet wrench set, Gus said under his breath, “Why’d you let Dad open his mouth? They’ll think we’re
mojados.
”
    Gabriel was about to say that their father sounded nothing like someone raised in Mexico when the man returned with a teenager who looked enough like him to be his son, with the same coarse eyebrows and high forehead. “This what you need?” the boy asked in a perfunctory tone.
    Gus nodded, then asked the man not to ring up the sale yet. The stock boy disappeared around an aisle corner, butit was not until Gabriel noticed him watching his father on a ceiling security mirror that he understood Gus’s discomfort. Then he saw Gus looking at their father just as intensely as the stock boy, but with a seething silence.
    â€œHurry up, Dad,” said Gabriel. “I think they’re about to close.” He was hoping the Anglos would contradict him and encourage the browsing. Instead they seemed to agree through their silence, and the older man even reached behind his back, as if trying to untie his work apron.
    The older man was adding up the items when their father asked, “You got any good mechanics around here?”
    The man nodded without a word, while the younger one asked, “Why, you need one?”
    â€œOh, no. I’m one myself.”
    The older man placed the change on the counter and slid it toward him. “We have enough here.”
    â€œLet’s go, Dad!” said Gus. “We need some stuff from the general store across the street.”
    Gabriel glanced toward the small supermarket and suspected that Gus had called it a general store to mock their town.
    Gus held the door open for two Anglo women who entered the store. He gave the first girl a closer look, but the other one had already given him her own once-over and, not liking what she saw, called the girl to her side.
    The balding Anglo greeted them by name, and as Gabriel neared the door he heard the older woman ask, “Were you about to close?”
    â€œNot at all.” The man retied his apron strings. “Not for another hour at least.”

7

    G abriel spent much of that evening in a sullen mood, and it smoldered into the next day. Finally even Gus, who harbored no illusions about their predicament, offered some uplifting advice.
    â€œI don’t know what’s bothering you, Gabi. But tomorrow we’re going back to the fields, so make the most of the weekend.”
    â€œI’m still pissed off about that shopkeeper.”
    â€œHe’s from another generation. They’ll die off soon.”
    â€œYeah? His son wasn’t much better.”
    â€œWell, you know what pisses
me
off even more? That two-bit town they’re from.”
    â€œYou think the other hicks who live there are just as bad?”
    â€œThat’s not the point. I mean we came all the way to California for that. What’s worse …” He stared out the screen door. “For
this
. No wonder the workers actually look forward to going back home. We could have stayed back in the Valley and been a lot better off. There’s movies—”
    â€œWhat did you expect?”
    â€œSo now you’re siding with Dad.”
    â€œNo, Gus, I’m just saying that this is where migrants work. It’s not like we were coming to pick crops in L.A.”
    â€œFine. And you let go of that episode at the auto parts store. Besides, it was all