Welcome! This week's word prompt is "chest." We have another episode of "Midnight in Central Park" today. Scroll down to return to Tuesday Tales. Thanks for stopping by.
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In Central Park, Ramon
had set up his hot dog stand. Tourists and residents, tired of being apartment prisoners, had come to the park
to breathe what we call “fresh” air.
“How’s
it goin’?” I asked.
“Bueno.
Hambre?”
“Si,”
I replied. I was always hungry.
He
dug into a bag of rolls, then plucked a hot dog out of the steaming water with
a long fork and shoved it in.
“Here,”
he said, handing it and a bottle of water to me.
“Thanks.”
I
dressed the thing with catsup and mustard and wolfed it down. Ramon had the
best hot dogs. He didn’t mind exchanging one with me for toting his garbage.
“Esto,”
he said, pointing to a closed black plastic bag. I nodded, chewed the last of
the dog, wiped my mouth, and picked up the bag. I carted it over to the curb.
When the guy with the truck came, they’d load that in, too. Park had rules and
vendors couldn’t leave garbage. Ramon didn’t like to have it near the
stand. He said it looked messy and dogs peed on it.
When
I finished the task, I headed for Balto. I plopped down on the grass opposite
the statue and took a swig of water. Taylor and Abby came out from the tunnel
and joined me.
“You
got that essay on Cather In the Rye?” Taylor asked.
I opened my backpack.
“Yeah.
The math?”
Taylor
pulled a sheet out of his backpack.
I
did the English homework, Taylor did the math. We traded. Because we had
different teachers, the plan worked. If my grades dropped, some nosy admin
person from school might come sniffing around my place. A disaster in the making.
“Here.”
Abby pulled a small bag from her purse.
Abby’s
chocolate chip cookies were to die for. She wanted to be a professional baker. With her chest, she could be an amazing topless waitress. I never told
her, cause she’d have smacked me good.
“Thanks.
Your cookies? The best.” I opened the bag and offered one to Taylor. He shook
his head.
“I
had some yesterday.”
Taylor
was Abby’s official boyfriend. He hung at her house a lot. But truth? She liked
me better and I liked her. But a girlfriend was pretty much off limits since I
never had any money.
Great tease. Street vendor hot dogs are awesome as is Central Park. Glad he has friends who help him out, poor kid.
ReplyDeleteGreat scene. I feel like I'm standing on the street corner watching this all unfold in front of me.
ReplyDelete