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Ice King
Down in the Dirt (v141)
(the January 2017 Issue)




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Ic King

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Delivery Man

Gabriel Valdez

    I clench my new teddy bear to my chest. It reminds me of the other stuffed animals daddy’s friends give me. My daddy loves to have his friends play with me. One gave me a new turtle backpack and said it is filled with candy for grown ups.
    “Mijo, ven aqui ahora.”
    “Si, papa.”
    “Carlos, we are going to play a game with my friend here.”
    “Hey, Carlos,” daddy’s friend says.
    “Now, we are going to play pretend. You like playing pretend, right?”
    “Of course,” I say. “Can I pretend to be a police officer?”
    “Chinga esos bastardos, mijo. You can pretend to be a delivery man.”
    “Do I get to deliver presents like Santa Claus?”
    “Yeah, like Santa Claus.”
    Daddy’s friend invites me to sit in his lap.
    “Carlos, this is going to be a super secret mission. You have to keep this a secret just like the other times, okay?”
    Daddy and his friend laugh. I join in too even though I do not understand adult jokes.
    “Miguel, let me talk to you for a second.”
    Daddy takes a drink of daddy’s juice, and pulls his friend aside. He says a swear word to him, and looks angry too. He is scary when he is angry. Mommy always said the devil was inside of him. Daddy comes up to me, and pats my head.
    “Now listen, mijo, I love you more than anything in the world. Your mother didn’t believe it, but where is she now?”
    He adjusts my backpack, and tightens the straps.
    “I want you to stay safe. If anything goes wrong, I want you to run. Just run for me, ok?”
    “Ok daddy. I love you too.”
    I kiss his prickly cheek. He gives me a hug and a kiss back. Mommy said he has no room for love, but he loves me a lot, and he shows it too. He buys me all of these toys, and lets me play pretend with his friends.
    “Carlos, let’s get going.”
    “Ok. Bye, daddy.”
    “Remember what I said, Carlos.”
    Daddy’s friend takes me by the hand. He tells me not to worry about the shot marks on his arms, but I always stare at them. His car is parked over our dead lawn. Mommy used to make it look pretty, but everything died when she moved away.
    “Alright kid, you sit in the backseat.”
    This car is easy to get into, and I step into the car all by myself.
    “Miguel, how come there are so many skulls and naked ladies on your car?”
    “Because it’s what I like.”
    I join in with his laughter. Adults are weird with their jokes.
    Miguel fumbles with something in his pants, so I strap my teddy into the seat next to me. Daddy tells me I should take care of my stuffed friends.
    Miguel shuts his door, and the lights inside dim. The warm summer sun glistens off of the windows. The car rumbles, and the smell of gas fills the car.
     I cough, and Miguel gets mad.
    “Ayiyi. Stop coughing, or else you will attract attention, niño.”
    I try to hold them in, but they escape once in awhile.
    I look out the window, and through the vibrations, adults gather around their chipped houses, and other kids play near them. Some adults share secret handshakes with each other, and other girls walk around in short cloths.
    We drive up behind another car, and wait in a line. The other cars around us have happy families in them. I remember when mommy brought me to this line, and how happy she was. People made us turn around, and she cried all the way home, and cursed at Daddy’s name.
    A giant rod lifts up, and then back down. The line lurches forward and excites me with every inch.
    “Miguel, look how many green-goes there are,” I say.
    He is too concentrated on the line.
    A woman stops Miguel, and the two talk in gibberish. I cough, and the lady stares at me while she talks.
    “Little boy, where are you going?”
    “Don’t answer her, Carlos.”
    “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to pull off to the side.”
    The car lunges forward, and it rains glass when we pass under the rod. We hit a car, and I launch into the back cushion of Miguel’s chair.
    He pulls something out of his pants, and it makes loud noises that hurt my ears. I push tears out with each heartbeat, and shield my teddy. I try to drown out the loud noises with screams. Smoke fills the car, and drops of blood fall from my nose to stain my bear.
    I try to run away like daddy said. I open a door, and the woman from earlier coaxes me outside. I crawl away from her, but she snatches me up. A green-go lady steals my teddy bear. I thrash about to get it back, but I stop to look at Miguel a few feet from the car. He was laying in a pool of red with a black box kicked to the side.
    The woman pops the head off of teddy, and bags of candy pour out of the body. The lady says one of the few things I learned from mommy speaking English.
    “Drugs.”



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