watermelons
never be his
for
some
odd
reason
,
I
smell
watermelons
000416
...
amy
i
dunno
...
you
must
be
cued
in
. plugged
on
.
in
the
house
.
on
the
table
.
hearing
ghosts
.
wichichaka
. dalai lama.
flava
flavor
.
maybe
later
.
onto
somethin'.
hold
the
pumpkin
.
tore
the
fabric
. roarin'
maverick
.
000416
...
nom
years
ago
years
ago
years
i
dreamed
a
nightmare
down
by
the
bay
060727
...
birdmad
earlier
in
the
day
,
a
flatbed
truck
had
come
down
to
the
loading
dock
of
the
shed
and
the
forklift
operator
began
to
take
all
of
the
pallets
off
of
the
back
of
the
truck
.
Atop
each
pallet,
there
was
a
cardboard
cylinder
about
three
feet
tall
.
Within
each
cylinder
were
several
dozen
watermelons.
The
driver
directed
the
forklift
operator
to
take
two
pallets
from
the
day's shipment
and
park
them
in
the
refrigerated warehouse
for
the
workers.
the
dial
thermometer
hanging
from
the
foreman's
office
was
pegged
at
110
degrees
,
but
the
voice
coming
through
my
headphones
pronounced
the
day
to
be
headed
for
117
.
The
foreman's
small
Air
conditioner
that
chugged
away
was
straining.
the
conveyor
traffic
sped
up
so
i
kept
on
shoveling
the
ice
into
the
boxes
of
onions
that
made
their
way
down
the
line
.
i
cranked
my
headphones
and
kept
on
shoveling
until
Joe
got
on
the
P
.A.
and
called
out
"
Break
Time
!... Quebrada!"
Old
Jose
with
his
calloused
hands
came
up
to
me
and
slapped
me
on
the
back
to
direct
my
attention
from
Veronica
at
the
counting
machine
to
the
table
by
the
warehouse
door
where
the
spindly
guy
we
called
Flaco ("
skinny
")
had
brought
out
his
machete
and
was
slicing
up
the
now
deeply
chilled watermelons
i
sat
with
Veronica
and
my
"
cousin
" Clemente
at
the
edge
of
the
railroad
dock
laughing
at
Clemente's
bad
jokes
and
doing
my
best
to
flirt
with
Veronica
in
an
innocent
enough
way
that
wouldn't
have
her
mom
come
after
me
with
Flaco's machete.
a
mundane
,
mostly
meaningless
day
,
half
my
life
ago
from
this
very
moment
,
but
there
it
is
all
the
same
,
the
taste
of
freshly picked
watermelon
and
good
company
near
the
close
of
a
hard
,
hot
day
060728
...
mos
so
round
and
!
060729
what's it to you?
who
go
blather
from
