A Little Better

The Rest of Our Lives (Story By Cesar Rodriguez)

    River’s parent moved to Mexico when he was 9 years old. A desperate man, his father decided to use the little money they had to settle in a little pueblo in the state of Jalisco, Sonrisas. River’s distant uncle had recently passed away and left his cottage to River’s father, John. John quickly found a job doing yard work and other handy work with a staff of 15 others for a very wealthy man a few miles east of the the pueblo.
    The man John worked for was Joaquin Romero. Romero had amassed his wealth participating in many local businesses and dealing what he called “the world’s purest and finest cocaine”. No one really cared about Romero’s illegal practices, they stayed out of his way and vice versa.
    8 years passed by and John became a very integral part of the Romero Estate. He ran all the cleaning, gardening and repair people. John never wanted to be a part of the drug processing and packaging that occurred in the estate. Romero respected that because he respected John, after all he had proven himself after 8 loyal years of work. Romero trusted him enough that when John asked for a job for River, Romero didn’t hesitate to say yes.
    That day John went home to talk to his son.
    “I got you a job with Mr. Romero”, John said.
    “Really? What do I have to do Dad?”, River said.
    “Well I guess you will do some gardening work until I teach you how to fix somethings around the house, eventually you will take up Jose’s job maintaining the cars. Jose is getting old and needs someone to take over”- John said.
    “Alright Dad, thanks!” River said.
    “There is just one more thing”
    “Yeah Dad?”
    “Mr. Romero is involved in some very dangerous business, I want you to promise me to never interfere with this business, you stick to your job and ignore whatever you hear from everyone that isn’t me. You got that?”
    “Yeah Dad no problem”
    The next week River began his first few chores, water the plants and cut Romero’s front lawn. River took to these tasks right away, they didn’t require him to do much thinking.
    One day while water the plants around the back of the Romero Estate. River saw a girl around his age reading a book. This girl was unlike anyone River had ever seen, she had long blonde hair and fair skin. River was used to seeing girls with dark hair and dark skin, a typical girl from Mexico. He was instantly intrigued by her. So much so that every day he returned around the same time to peer through her window while watered the plants. River wasn’t an idiot, he knew that gawking at this girl for a long time would lead to him getting caught so every day it was just a five second glance. He would stare at her for five seconds and wouldn’t do it again until the next day. This went on for weeks.
    On a hot summer day, she finally returned the glance. River was doing his usual gardening and then decided to take his glance. She looked back at him and smiled. This instantly sparked so many questions in River’s mind. Had this girl always know that he was looking at her? If she did then why didn’t she close her blinds?
    River couldn’t think of these questions for long because at that moment, the back door of the Romero Estate burst open and a man wearing a brown suit and a gun wound on his left arm carrying a suitcase ran out. The man had a red swollen face as if he had been in a fight and was spitting out blood. He began to run across the field in the backyard away from the house. Dave, one of Romero’s gun carrying associates, came out of the back door of the house as well, yelling at the man to come back.
    River ran after the man instantly, not wanting to look useless in front of the blonde girl who was now at her window looking out at the man who had run away. River caught up to the man and tackled him. David caught up to River right after and shot the man in the head as River was standing up from tackling the man.
    “Thanks kid” David said to River as he picked up the suitcase, the now dead man was carrying.
    River looked at the dead body horrified at what he realized he had done. John ran to his son, grabbed him by the neck and dragged him home screaming, “I told you to ignore everything that happens around here!!!”
    John locked River in his room when they arrived at their cottage. “Stay here while I go talk to Mr. Romero!”
    River explained to his mom what had occurred while John was away.
    When John returned he was very calm.
    “Mr. Romero said you could return to your job tomorrow if you want to, but you have to talk to him first.” John told his son.
    River had no idea what Romero was going to do to him. Was he going to kill him to cover up what occurred with the brown suit man? Was he going to kill him because the girl, who he could only assume was related to Romero, finally said something about the daily 5 second glances? River was pretty sure he was going to die.
    The next day after a sleepless night, River knocked on the Romero Estate doors for the first time in his life. He never went in the house, his father usually was the only one allowed in there to talk to Romero about the staff. Dave opened the door.
    “We have been waiting for you kid, boss wants to see you in his office”
    Dave walked River through the rather enormous Romero Estate to an office that resembled an auditorium in size. There was a desk at the center and there sat Joaquin Romero wearing a dark blue suit with standing next to him that River had never seen before.
    “Sir, the kid from yesterday is here to see you” Dave said.
    “Oh yes, sit down young man” Romero said.
    Without a word, River sat down in the empty seat in front of the desk.
    “Now I know what you saw yesterday afternoon might have frightened you, but let me assure you, that man got what he deserved. I don’t get rid of people who don’t deserve it, but thats not important, whats important is that Dave told me you helped catch the man who dared runaway from me. Is that correct?” Romero asked.
    “Yes Sir” River said.
    “Thats very impressive. Thank you for that. Now here is where it gets complicated, you stopping this man shows me that you are a very strong young man. I am in need of strong men here in the Estate to do more than just water the plants if you know what I am saying. So I would like you to become Dave’s assistant. Dave takes care off all the little things that prevent me from running my business smoothly. Obviously Dave is getting old and needs a little help now, so whenever Dave goes to take care of one of these speed bumps, you will obviously come along to help him”
    “Sir I don’t think I can..” River tried to say before being cut off by Romero.
    “You didn’t let me finish. This isn’t a choice. When I offer you a position you take it and if you don’t then you become something in the way and as Dave showed you yesterday we get rid of things in our way. So the only thing you should say to me is ‘When do I start?’” Romero said.
    “Well, when do I start?” River asked.
    “Right now” Romero said handing River a gun. “ (to Dave) Take this young man on his first assignment. (to River) And don’t worry about your father, he knows exactly whats going on”
    Dave and River walked out of the room and began walking out of the home. As they walked out of the home, River saw the blond girl in the other room looking at him, he looked at her and couldn’t say a word.
    Dave took River to get a suit for his new job. River was wearing a white t-shirt and jeans when he first walked in to the Estate and now Dave had taken him to buy a black suit. Dave bought River three other black suits. “This is your uniform for the job kid”
    For the next few months, River trained with Dave to become just like him. River knew how to handle a gun like no one’s business.
    He walked into the Romero Estate ready for his next assignment. He walked to the office. It was empty. He assumed Romero was out for the day and was on his way out the home. He ran into the blonde girl for the first time since he become Dave’s assistant.
    The girl looked at him and finally said, “Hi I am Alison”.
    “I’m River”
    “Yeah Dad is usually gone during this time of the day”
    “Dad? You mean Romero is your…”
    “Duh! Anyway, I’m bored we should do something”
    “Wait I don’t think I can”
    “Sure you can! My dad’s not here and you aren’t doing anything”
    She grabbed his hand and walked him upstairs. River had never been anywhere that wasn’t the office and the restroom of the Romero Estate.
    She walked into Alison’s room and they began to talk about everything. River was nervous but she continually assured him that. They talked for a few hours and River knew that he couldn’t live without this mysterious blonde girl.
    “Its getting late, but come back this time around midnight next Sunday and we can continue talking” Alison explained.
    River like a dog obeying orders came back that Sunday and the next and the next for weeks and weeks. They went on walks across the field at midnight when her father was away in the city. Alison and River talked about everything together. She told him about how her father would never let her leave the house and he told her about how Romero would never let him leave the business.
    “You know, I really like you” River said to Alison.
    “Yeah I feel the same”
    Thats all River needed to hear before he kissed her. He left after that because he felt that there was nothing to say.
    “I saw what you did” Dave said appearing from the behind River on the road as he walked home. “Romero isn’t going to like it”
    “Don’t say anything Dave, please”, River begged.
    “I have to River, its my job. You know I’m going to have to get rid of you down the road, so I might as well do it now” Dave said reaching for his gun.
    River pushed Dave away before he could pull out his gun. River pulled out his own gun and pointed it at Dave.
    “Don’t tell Romero, please Dave” said River.
    “I have to!” Dave said and with that River shot his.
    Dave screamed with pain as River paced back and forth trying to figure out what to do. He decided to run to Romero’s home and get Alison. They needed to get away together and there was no time to do it.
    He ran to the home and knocked on Alison’s window.
    “What are you doing?!?! My dad is home!!!” she said after opening the door.
    “Listen Dave saw us earlier and he is going to tell your dad, we need to get out of here” River explained.
    “What?!?!” Alison said surprised.
    “Listen I know that this might be too much, but ever since I started working here and I saw you through the window, I became infatuated with you. I need you and I love you.” River explained.
    Alison speechless just gave him a kiss.
    Romero at this point heard them talking and was banging on the door.
    “River I know you are in there with Alison! Open the door and I will only kill you and not your entire family! I gave the opportunity to become more than a yard worker and this is how you repay me?!?! Taking my daughter!!!”
    The two lovers climbed out the window and began to run out towards the long field. Romero managed to break through the door and was now following them, carrying a shotgun.
    “Dave told me all about it! He has a cellphone you idiot” Romero exclaimed while running through the field after them.
    River and Alison climbed over a grassy hill and River crotched down and pulled out the gun Romero had gave him.
    Alison realized what he was doing pushed him away. “You can’t shoot my father!” she screamed.
    “No he is going to kill me if he comes over here!” he screamed.
    “He is my dad and I still love him!”
    Romero was getting closer to the couple at the top of the hill when out of nowhere he fell down with a gun shot through his stomach. John stood behind carrying a gun a well.
    He walked closer to Romero’s body and put another bullet through his head.
    “I knew what was going on the whole time!” John screamed from the bottom of the hill.
    John walked up the hill and was greeted by a gunshot through his eyes by Alison.
    River stunned, looked at his father’s now dead body and Alison holding the gun.
    “You killed my dad!” River screamed at Alison.
    “He killed mine!” Alison screamed back at River.
    Both of them began to cry and embraced each other. They cried together at the top of the hill all night until they fell asleep.
    They woke up as the sun was rising. Holding hands, they walked out of the pueblo of Sonrisas and never returned.

The Rest of Our Lives By Cesar Rodriguez