Mark looked at the closed door. "
Humph
. What's gotten into him?"
An hour later, the new and clean Mark and Tom stood in their doorway looking at the empty apartment. "So long, old life," Tom said, and closed the door.
"Hello, new life. Mark pounded his way down the stairs and out of the building.
They threw the remainder of their belongings in a dumpster and walked fifteen blocks before they found a taxi. "The old neighborhood just ain't what it used to be," Tom said, puffing from the exertion of the walk. "Taxi drivers won't even come in here."
"What are you talking about? Taxi drivers aren't stupid. They
never
came into this neighborhood. Someday I want to live in a neighborhood where they have taxi drivers and pizza delivery."
"We play our cards right, Mark, and we will."
Finally, a taxi pulled up and they climbed in. Mark cleared his throat. "Airport," he said in his most professional voice, and off they went.
The Lima airport proved to be an adventure in controlled chaos. With the construction finished, it was much easier to navigate, but this early in the evening had commuters and vacationers vying for position at ticket counters, baggage pick-up, and rental agencies. Tom and Mark fought their way through the crowds and sat in chairs near a bank of lockers and looked around to see if they had been followed.
Thirty minutes passed before Mark leaned close to Tom's ear and whispered, "Looks clear to me, do you see anything?" Tom shook his head and they moved in.
Inside the locker, they found two tagged bags and another large envelope containing their tickets, passports, American money, and driver's licenses tucked inside nylon wallets. They also found assorted credit cards and pictures of phony kids and relatives. They gathered their duffels, and headed for the gates.
Once on the plane, they stored their bags and took their seats. They had three transfers between Lima and Chicago, and they went over how they would get from one plane to the next.
"Damn cheapskate, couldn't book us a direct flight," Mark mumbled.
"I'm sure he did it this way so we would be harder to trace. I know we have tickets, but do you think we should turn them in for others just in case the boss man has other plans, like stealing his money back?"
Mark scratched his chin. "Uh yeah, I thought of that, but I got one better. Let's ditch the credit cards when we get there so he can't trace us through them. What if he claims we stole them later just to get us arrested and rip us off the money he owes us?"
"Oh. I get it. Yeah, good idea, Mark, but the thing we really have to watch is spending too much of our cash. We may need it later, so we must to be thrifty. I hear it's expensive to live in the States."
"I read the same thing last week in a magazine. We can use the credit cards for everything until we get there. Mr. Big Boss won't be able to trace us beyond the airports." Mark settled back in his seat. "So, cousin, do we have any plans on how we are going to uh
, spend our vacation
?"
Tom looked confused and then the light went on in his head. He cleared his throat in case someone was listening. "Uh, no, Mark, but once we get there, I'm sure something will come to us. Maybe if we sleep on it now, we can think of something to do. I think I want to see the Willis Tower."
"Why yes, what a good idea. Maybe take in a museum or the art institute, too."
"Good idea, Mark. We don't have a set schedule."
"Oh, dude, I thought you had it all worked out."
"Don't worry about it. I did; or I do–or will have. Go to sleep, Mark. It's a long trip."
"Yeah, okay." Mark slept and Tom stared out the window deep in thought.
6
The aircraft ascended into the evening sky and Evo turned to watch Luis and Alfredo, their noses pressed against the window. The brothers marveled at the twinkling lights below as they left Lima behind them.
Tony yawned and stretched as the private plane soared toward Chicago. "Can you believe it, Evo? An actual vacation. When was the last time we got to do anything remotely so cool?"
Evo opened one eye. "I don't know, Disney World as kids?"
"Yeah, that was cool. We were awfully little, though."
"You cried when we took pictures of you with Mickey Mouse."
"You're the asshole who said he'd eat me."
Evo smiled sleepily. "Yeah well, you always were gullible."
"And you're still an asshole"
"Thank you. Now let me sleep."
Tony said softly, "Hey, Evo, thanks for the vacation." He slumped down in his seat, covering his eyes with his ball cap.
"Sure, Tony, no prob–Vacation?" Evo jerked upright. "Are you telling me
I
paid for this entire vacation?"
Tony smiled and crossed his arms, snoring softly. Evo threw his pillow and knocked the cap off Tony's head. Tony jumped, pretending to have been rudely awakened. "W
hat
?"
"What my ass, you cheap shit. Did you invite me along so I could pay for your trip and suffer abuse from Dr. Death on top of it? You should be paying
me
to go. Dammit, Tony…" Evo rubbed his stomach and absently searched for an antacid.
Tony sat up, concerned. "Evo, man what's up? Your secretary told me to make you get your ulcer checked out. She wasn't kidding. You really have one, don't you?"
Evo shifted uncomfortably. His stomach burned, but he refused to give in to it in front of his brother. "It's no big deal, Tony. Leave it alone."
"Look, Evo, I'm your brother, not your mother. You want to end up in the hospital playing He-man, you do what you got to do, but don't play me about not being sick. Take care of it while it's still small."
Evo exhaled and popped two tablets. He sat back, closing his eyes. "It started bothering me a few months ago. I guess part of me thought if I ignored it, it would go away. Now I'm just a little scared. I can't afford to miss work."
"Elena made me promise."
"I'll get to it."
"You got three weeks off."
"I'm on vacation."
"Not if you keel over first."
"You're worse than a wife. It's no wonder you're not married."
"Speaking of someone who should be getting married..."
"Okay, okay, I'll see a damn doctor."
"Good boy."
"
Arf
." Evo turned his back to Tony and closed his eyes. Tony permitted himself a small smile and picked his ball cap up off the floor. He pulled it low over his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
The trip was long, but uneventful. They dozed, woke, ate, and dozed again. Luis and Alfredo continued to stare out the window. Tony and Evo played chess and cards, and Evo read while Tony played solitaire. They watched movies and Evo finally fell into a deep sleep.
When Evo woke several hours later, he noticed right off Alfredo still sat with his nose pressed to the window. Luis was dead asleep next to him, drool running down onto his shoulder.
Evo whispered to Alfredo, "Why don't you ease him back into his seat? Wouldn't he be more comfortable?"
"But,
Se
ň
or
Evo, he may miss the good part."
"Uh, okay." Evo went to speak with the pilot. When he returned, he woke Tony and told him and Alfredo they were about fifteen minutes out of Milwaukee.
Alfredo tore his gaze away from the window. "All I see is the ocean,
Se
ň
or
Evo. Where is this Wisconsin?"
Tony grabbed his map and flopped in the chair next to Alfredo. He pointed and said, "Look, my friend. This is Wisconsin. This is Lake Michigan. What you are seeing is a lake. Pretty big, eh?"
Alfredo looked out the window. "
Si
, pretty big, eh. So where are we going?"
Tony again pointed. "That's Milwaukee." He slapped Alfredo on the back. "It's the beer capitol of the world."
"Is it as big as Lima?"
"There are very few places as big as Lima, my friend. Milwaukee could fit inside Lima, I'm afraid, but it is a large city by American standards."
"It looks large from up here–oh look, Luis, the airport. We are here, in America, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Beer Drinking Capitol in the World. I like Milwaukee already."
Tony chuckled. "Beer Capitol, Alfredo."
"
Hah
. Not after Luis and I get done drinking,
mi amigo
."
They were still laughing as they taxied down the runway. Evo took the brothers to wait for the luggage and Tony went to see about the vehicle. They met at the rental kiosk where they took a shuttle to their car. Evo took one look and thought it was a joke. "Uh, Tony? I thought you rented an SUV?"
Tony looked at the rental agent, who looked at his paperwork. "It says right here, Castillo, Antonio, one Suzuki."
"Suzuki, I didn't say Suzuki, I said SUV. I want a big, American SUV, dammit! He stomped his foot and turned to see Evo laughing at him. "What the hell are you braying like a jackass about, Evo?"
Evo clutched at his stomach, doubled over, laughing hysterically. "SUV, Su-zu-ki–must have been your accent. How the heck are we all going to fit in there?"
Tony stood by, staring at the tiny car wondering the same thing. "I don't suppose you have anything else, do you?"
The rental agent shook his head, trying hard not to smirk.
Evo grabbed the keys. "Okay, I'm driving. Let's go."
Luis grabbed the door handle on the passenger's side and jumped in, locking the door. He looked at Evo and nodded his head once. Evo smiled as Tony and Alfredo stared at the tiny back seat and the luggage piled next to the car. "Load her up boys!"
Evo popped the miniscule trunk and tried the radio. He found a country station and kept time by tapping on the steering wheel, occasionally looking in the mirror to see how Tony fared.
The car rocked back and forth as they tried to stuff the luggage in the trunk. Evo turned up the radio to cover the sounds of Tony swearing. Luis giggled and kept time to the music. Alfredo held an armful of clothes as he squeezed into the back seat, and Evo watched as Tony shook hands with the rental agent.
Tony opened the rear door and Evo heard him say to the agent, "No, my brother won't mind, I appreciate your help." Evo heard murmuring and Tony said, "No problem. Yes, sir. You're welcome."
Tony jumped into the back seat and patted Evo on the shoulder. "Let's go, Bro."
Evo put the car in gear and eased out of the parking area. He looked in the mirror and saw the agent put a suitcase in his car, and a light went on in his head. "Uh, Tony? Where did the agent get the suitcase?"
"What suitcase?"
"The suitcase he's putting into his back seat, Tony. You rotten little bastard, that's my suitcase, isn't it? I'm turning around. Now."
"Evo, wait! You can't turn around–we're on a one-way, Just keep going, and it'll be okay. It must have been his briefcase you saw."
Evo whispered, "Yeah, right. You probably didn't mess with my underwear drawer, either, did you?"
Tony smiled and pretended to doze.
Evo fell silent as he negotiated the car into Milwaukee traffic and promptly turned the wrong way. Through the spaghetti mazes of the Marquette Interchange overpasses and entrance ramps, Evo took two more wrong turns before he headed south. With Luis holding the map and Tony navigating, they finally found themselves on I-94 East, heading toward Kenosha and White Bass Lake.
With so little traffic in the wee hours of the morning, they made excellent time. The Gallegos brothers stared out the windows into the blackness, trying to see anything beyond the shoulder of the Interstate.
Their exit onto Highway 50 came up thirty miles later and because of the early hour; they decided to check into a motel by the Interstate before continuing on. Leaving everything packed in the car, Tony grabbed a small duffel bag and he and Evo dragged themselves to their room. Hearing voices behind him, Evo turned to see Luis leaning an elbow on the check-in counter, schmoozing the little night clerk into a nightcap. Alfredo sat sprawled in a high-backed chair in the lobby, snoring to beat the band. Evo smiled and shook his head as he entered their room at the end of the hall.
Claiming seniority, Evo stumbled into the bathroom first and stepped under the hot water. The pounding spray kick-started his circulation again, and the smell of the body wash rejuvenated his senses; wiping the muzzy cloud from his brain. Not bothering with a razor, he brushed his teeth and stepped out of the bathroom. The aroma of oregano and onions filled his senses, and his stomach growled loud and long. "Wow, Tony, are you a miracle worker? How the heck did you find pizza at two in the morning?"
"Welcome to America, my boy. The clerk knew of a delivery place open 24 hours, and ordered us up some grub. Is this not fantastic?"
"Beer! You got me pizza and beer for my first night here. It's a good thing I took ulcer meds on the way here. All I can say is, 'I love you, man.' Really, Tony, you must have done something really rotten that I'll have to kill you for to go out of your way like this."