One of the shelves displays cans of interior and exterior Marlux matt vinyl paint; another, rolls of Pétalo toilet paper. Multicolored Christmas lights honor a Virgin of Guadalupe statue. Screws, eyebolts, and hinges make a pleasing echo as a boy rifles through their drawers. The radio on top of the zinc counter is tuned to the mariachi station La Rancherita del Cuadrante. A lariat sits next to a curtain awaiting its horse.
Hands rest on the counter, hands that have weathered everything, geological hands, almost cosmic, pick and shovel hands, hands of pipes and water, bleach, plumber, bricklayer, gardener hands. They are essential hands that do not fear eternity. Before returning to work, loading, scrubbing, planting, they rest on the counter. They do it with modesty, shrinking as if not to bother; so no one will say to them, “Get your hands off there!”
“Give me a liter of turpentine.”
“I don’t make any money on amounts that small.”
“Okay, give me a gallon then… It’s really dark where I live.”
“A small one for the table.”
“José Luis, come here, come here. The boogeyman will get you over there.”
“Cars pass at this corner paying no attention.”
“Leave him. Don’t call him anymore. As soon as I get done here, he’s going to see what I’m made of…”
“Such a good man, don Seki, so obliging. When he said, “I’ll have it for you next week,” he had it.”
“Why don’t you paint your kitchen yellow?”
“The tile’s yellow so I want to paint the doors white.”
“It’s really, really dark where I live.”
“Give me a roll of duck tape.”
“He must mean duct tape.”
“I asked for nails and you gave me headless nails.”
“Can’t you see I was looking everywhere!”
“Excuse me, should I use thinner to take off the old paint?”
“This is a good business. The merchandise never goes bad. It lasts for years. It’s not like a restaurant or a food stand, you know what I mean.”
“I’ve been wanting to move because it’s so dark, but where would I go?”
“My receipt, you see, they always asks for a receipt.”
“It’s not the first time, and we’ve already gone to the police station to ask for a speed bump, but they act like they couldn’t care less.”
“You won’t find a remover that costs sixty pesos anywhere.”
“Whatever… It’s just for the kitchen. I’ll put plastic on top of it.”
“I gotta have eight for today, yeah, next week.”
“Can I have my receipt?”
“Two liters to make it worth your while.”
“Yes, because there’s one, two, three, four doors.”
“Mister, do you mind exchanging it for one that costs forty?”
“A squidgy for the floors.”
“Life insurance my foot, no sir. What was he going to insure?”
“Can I have an opener? One for soft drinks, I guess. Not that one, one that’s not so fancy.”
“Votive candles used to be bigger, in a tall vase, nowadays, forget it.”
“One of those girls who rides around in her daddy’s car.”
“How much?”
“Five fifty.”
“Hmmm… Let me see that one over there.”
The bleached-hair woman tries to see what she’s buying. She presses her stomach, packed into tight blue jeans, against the glass.
“Mister, can I please have a sales receipt?”
“Can I use the phone, please?”
“Sure.”
“They never let me in. They say, but don’t take my word for it, that he had rice paper lanterns.”
“My phone died a month ago. I call the phone company every day.”
“Over there, in the island where he came from, kids carry a little flag as they cross the street. They wave it and then leave it on the other side in a basket beside the pole. That’s why the crosswalk scared don Seki so much. “Little animals,” he’d say, “animals,” in his language of course.”
“Isn’t there any other kind of burlap?”
“Burlap is burlap.”
A short man dressed in navy blue overalls, the words Garza Gas in white letters on his back, says, “There are accidents on this corner every day.”
“A rubber washer for a hot water faucet.”
“Who knows where the moisture gets in.”
A hand waves a five-hundred-peso bill.
“Hey kid, can I ask you a big favor?”
“Some sand paper for iron. The six fifty brand is okay.”
“He keeps her in all the latest luxuries, from top to bottom.”
“Can I have two sockets,” asks a little girl with a ten-peso coin.
“Plain or with a switch?”
“With a switch, and two 100-watt light bulbs.”
“He looked out of the corner of his eye.”
“They don’t know how to drive and they’re racing.”
“Can you make it a little thicker?”
“Can I get a receipt?”
“Do you have Fab in bulk? How much is it a kilo?”
“Twenty-four fifty.”
“It went up. You have floor rags? How much are they?”
“Sixteen and eighteen a meter.”
“Give me the one for eighteen. Make it red, that one there, the one with the red stripe.”
“They go crazy with fruit. Fruit over there is expensive, outrageous. It’s an island, a little island. They don’t have room for anything. Can you imagine a stack of watermelons?”
“The gas company didn’t come. I’ve been reporting it, and we still don’t have hot water.”
“She came out of nowhere and almost killed him, but that’s not all: after the car swerved and the fender clipped him, it landed against the glass display where people were standing, where don Seki was helping customers. Can you believe that?”
“Don Seki would never have confused bolts and screws.”
“She never put on her brake, never.”
“They were always so careful, so picky. They’re Buddhists you know. When don Seki got sick, he’d wear a mask. I’m serious, supposedly to protect others.”
“Being tall is a good thing.”
“If the police hadn’t taken her away, they would’ve lynched her.”
“What a bitch, fuck! How’s he doing?”
“So, what happened to the girl?”
“Nothing, not a thing.”
“Throw her in the joint.”
“Thing is they let her out the same day.”
“This washer’s for a kitchen sink.”
“A rubber plug.”
“The kind who puts her mascara on at stop signs.”
“Do you have two more?”
“Blood was running down her face.”
“She didn’t even realize what she had done. She didn’t say a thing. She just started shaking.”
“Shoelaces, the longest ones you have. Can I have four?”
“Four. These navy blue ones aren’t long enough.”
“Is that all you have? Give me the other ones, one pair.”
“He didn’t like anyone to touch him or hug him.”
“Huh uh, they believe in personal space. Up to here, and that’s that.”
“And don Seki laying there, his little eyes open. You know how little they were? Well they got all big. His blood as thick as oil. All the cans of Marlux rolled out into the street. I picked some up and brought them back, but some people just ran off with them.”
“No, we don’t sell Kotex. This isn’t a drug store.”
“Karma will get her.”
“If you see her, slit her tires. Maybe she’ll have an accident and kill herself.”
“My receipt, please.”
“Chinese tea from Dolores street, green tea. They roast rice like popcorn and throw it in the tea.”
“Not just killed, robbed too.”
“He planted cherry trees and all he got was Capulin cherries.”
“What’s goin’ on with Chata? I haven’t seen her in a long time.”
“My receipt, please.
“Nara, close to Kyoto, Nara.”
“Look at that huge dog.”
“It’s a Saint Bernard, the kind that walks through the snow.”
“Let it go by.”
“Persimmons come from Persia.”
“It must eat two pounds of meat a day.”
“More, maybe five.”
“Very special fruit.”
“My sink stops up all the time.”
“Will you cut the floor cloth in half for me, then by half a meter.”
“These gentlemen…”
“We’re here to discuss the accident that happened on the 8th of this month involving an automobile that crashed into your store causing damage to your merchandize.”
“Muriatic acid.”
“About half.”
“Poison.”
“Don’t pump it.”
“It’s noon.”
“A pump.”
“Is it still giving shocks?”
“No, not anymore.”
“How much?”
“A quart of blue varnish.”
“I have maple and walnut.”
“Because policy number 218554 from the Fire division was written to cover Fire, Lightening and Explosion only, damages caused by vehicles to the contents are not covered and should be filed against the party responsible for the collision.”
“He used to ask himself why did he come all the way here if he could see the volcano from his window? The truth is he never liked it here. He missed the heat.”
“Stanhome. It’s the best brand.”
“They just replaced the window. It cost them an arm and a leg.”
“I’m out of it.”
“Even the Clarasol went up.”
“At the end, the insurance company always comes out on top.”
“You can’t get an electrician in this city any more.”
“Can I use the phone for a very important call?”
“What’s up?
“I’m doing awesome. What about you?”
“Fuckin’ awesome.”
“How awesome.”
“What?”
“Hello?”
“You’re losing it, dude.”
“Get it?”
“She’s an awesome girl.”
“What?”
“Hell yeah! How awesome!”
“It’s time for that dude to get his party on.”
“Fuckin’ piece-a-shit telephone. Hello?”
“We’re keeping don Seki’s motto: the customer is number one, anything the customer wants. The customer is always right even if he’s not. So here’s the phone.”
“A quart of starch. No one starches their clothes any more, but I do… shirts.”
“His widow is inconsolable. She was the lady that always kept her eyes down and sometimes worked the cash register. She didn’t like being in the store, being involved in her husband’s business. Her eyes are a little slanted, always closed. They say she wanted to get them operated on so she wouldn’t look so Chinese or Japanese. But don’t take my word for it. It’s what I heard. She didn’t like being so Chinese or Japanese anymore.”
“Chinese, Japanese, same thing.”
“Don Seki would go to San Juan to buy fresh fish to make his sushi.”
“Don’t tell me, you don’t know how hard it’s been since he died! At least he didn’t suffer. It was instantaneous.”
“Look, sprinkle it with Baygon insecticide.”
“Do you have kerosene for taking out spots? No, all we have here is spot remover. No, it’s better than Carbona.”
“On Sundays, he was a different man, very different.”
“They say they found pornographic magazines in the backroom.”
“I’m out of it.”
“A little ranch in Cuautla that he called Ojo de Agua. It’s pretty, well, sort of. They grow plums, apples, pears, peaches, potatoes, a lot of potatoes. There’s a great variety of flowers. He liked it. My mother doesn’t want to sell it, but we do. When are we ever going to go if we’re always here in the store? He loved vegetables. A green bean could make him cry. A tomato? Forget it. He even caressed the squash.”
“That one just grabs the money and runs. We never see him.”
“In February, he went out to fly kites and almost flew away. He was so skinny. People would gather around him because his kite was the prettiest. The whole thing was strange, very strange, almost like witchcraft. It was scary. They say that’s how their gods are, with those Chinese-looking faces, ugly. Well I think they’re ugly.”
“Of course the Capulin cherries have a flower, like regular cherries, a little white flower, nothing special.”
“She didn’t brake.”
“A little pot that belonged to his great-grandmother, sort of like a sake teapot. That’s what they call their rice wine.”
“He didn’t get drunk with it. Alcohol didn’t go to his head. The only thing he was proud of were his kites. No one flew them like him. With just one pull, they’d go up higher than all the others. He made them out of Chinese paper, and they’d go up into space, touching it like whoosh, whoosh, higher and higher. Imagine a ladder that slants up. I think they like heights cause they’re so short. He’d let go of the rope for a second, then pull it and there goes the kite, higher and higher, the glory of heaven around it. He became a mere shadow on the ground.”
“He was so light.”
“He was her whole life.”
“Two yards of wrapping paper.”
“How much is this wire?”
“A sheet of Manila paper.”
“These days all the buckets are made of plastic. I don’t like them.”
“A big colored paper butterfly for the kids, that’s it.”
“A Phillips-head screwdriver.”
“They’d clap, and he’d bow all the way to the ground to show his appreciation.”
“I got sick from so much food. Well, I got full and turned red like a tomato.”
“How much is that cable?”
“Things aren’t the same since he died. All you hear is “I’m out of it, I’m out.” He was very proud. He wouldn’t have accepted “I’m out,” never ever. “I’ll have it for you tomorrow” was his way.
“Since he’s gone, the radio breaks, the electricity, the water lines. They ran out of oil… Well, one thing after the other.”
“His past doesn’t matter to his children in the least.”
“Winter’s almost here.”
“Sometimes I feel like talking about myself, not them. They don’t like to. They don’t say anything. A person knows because he pays attention.”
“A constant state of happiness.”
“I’m out.”
“Can I have my receipt, please?”
“A dozen colored thumbtacks like the American ones.”
“They say they’re gonna open a pastry shop.”
“A traffic light? That’d be good. A traffic light and speed bumps.”
“There are some people like that, magnanimous, I think that’s the word. They know how to give.”
“The colored feather dusters are prettier. Yeah, and a broom, but not a plastic one.”
“No one ever expected anything from me.”
“What color tissue paper did you want?”
“Don Seki was one of the ones who signed the petition for the traffic light. But he never saw it, and see, they still haven’t installed it.”
“We don’t sell it by the piece, just in bulk.”
“They don’t wear shoes in their house, out of respect.”
“I like to talk to myself when I’m alone. I keep myself company.”
“They’re those watches that you don’t have to wind and they never lose time.”
“A kilo’s too much. Half a kilo will do.”
“Don Seki used to say that things happen on their own time, no need to hurry things.”
“I don’t care about things that have already happened. I care about tomorrow.”
“There’s never enough time.”
“We’re out of it.”