An American Landscape
Once
the string was pulled, the engine roared with life. The huge lawn mower lurched forward like a
raging bull when the brakes were lifted.
From the house window, some residents could see an employee wrestle with
the machine for control. Most closed the
curtains. The older people always kept a
watchful eye on them though.
Antonio was yelling
orders to Julio about which houses to mow.
Julio was automatically nodding, half confused already. Antonio’s speech was always quick and
confusing. The workers often had to
guess what their job was. It was Julio’s
first day on the job.
“I want you to finish these houses when I come
back. Hurry up because we have to move
out to the next suburb before it gets dark,” Antonio said to Julio. He started the leaf blower and began to blow
the heavy leaves. Dogs would always
start to bark when the loud noise began.
Antonio’s knees started
to hurt; both were jolting with pain. He
had been working for as long as he could remember. Even though an owner of his own business, he
never could stop working. He was
approaching his retirement years, but couldn’t see a future where he would just
retire. He had to continue to work. He still had a family to look after. He still had bills to pay. He still had loans and debts that continued
to rise. When he was done with what he
had to do, he limped his way back to the trailer to put his equipment
back. One of his clients approached him.
“Anthony! How
are you? Haven’t seen you in a
while. Listen, I have something to tell
you. See that huge pile of wood. I want you to take it away,” the client said. He pointed at the whole mess of wood. He signaled with his thumb, guessing that
Antonio’s English was somewhat limited.
“Sure, I pick it up.”
“And another thing.
Don’t come back for the rest of the year. Our son will be doing our yard work from now
on. Ok.”
“Ok. No
problem with me.” After the client left,
Antonio let out a cry from the jolts of pain that came from his knees.
When
Julio saw Antonio leave to check on the other employee, he began to relax
more. He took longer periods of break
time. Once he finished mowing a house,
he went inside the equipment trailer and began to dig around his pockets for a
smoke he was saving. He looked around
him. Nobody was watching him. He lit it up real quickly and surfaced into a
new happier world.
“Mira! I told you to do the blue house as well. What the hell’s wrong with you?” Antonio said
to Manolo.
“But patron, I
don’t remember you telling me,” Manolo said.
“Yes I did!” Antonio said. “Remember! I don’t know where your mind is right now,
but you have to clear it out and focus next time I’m talking you. Now go back and finish those houses. You didn’t mow them right. I’m paying you so that you can get the job
done right!” He made it a habit to
micromanage, so he spends half the day as a supervisor.
Manolo
went back to work. An old lady, another
one of Antonio’s clients, approached him.
“Anthony, I need to have a word with you right
now. Remember those bushes you planted for
me in the spring. Well they’re all
dead,” she said.
“Did you water them?” Antonio said.
“I believe so…or at least I think I did. I’m not sure.
Look, I’m going to discount it off the next bill you send me. Call it credit,” the old lady said.
“Sure. Do
what you have to do,” Antonio said. He
knew she forgot to water them. He
thought of setting up a laundry mat or maybe a restaurant business, a business
where he didn’t have to deal with customers or work.
Glenville
was a very nice neighborhood. It was
clean year round, no junk food joints in sight, and the houses looked like old
English manors. It was Antonio’s next route. Police patrols increased in frequency when
the landscapers arrived. They always
watched them from a distance. They never
hesitated in giving them a ticket when the smallest of violations were committed. The community had zero tolerance for them.
“Alright, you know what to do here. Don’t take too long on each house. Andales!”
Antonio said.
“We’ll never finish them,” Julio said, waving his
arms in frustration.
“Have a more positive attitude, Julio. If you don’t want to work, then you can go
walk home. I’ll find another,” Antonio
said.
“You don’t tell me what to do!” Julio said. Manolo chuckled.
“Who else pays you then?” Antonio said. Antonio began to walk towards the trailer to
get the equipment out when his knee pain began to attack viciously again. He limped back to the truck. Julio saw this while walking past him.
“Have a more positive attitude. Have a more positive attitude,” Julio
mimicked, laughing now.
A client approached the
landscaping proprietor.
“Antonio, Antonio.
Where have you been? I haven’t
seen you in a while,” the client said.
He was an old man who claims to be Italian or Greek. He didn’t like going outside and could only
stay outdoors for a couple of minutes, which after that would start to get
tired from the wind and the sun.
“I’ve been working all day like a horse,” Antonio
said.
“You let them work.
I have a job for you. See those-“
the client started to walk towards the chores he had in mind. Antonio knew that the old man wasn’t going to
pay a fair price for the labor. The old
man never pays fair.
Julio
was inside the trailer again, getting out his smoke. He was taking a huge risk since his boss was
still there. A car stopped near the
trailer. The driver’s window rolled down
and called to Julio.
“What are you doing?” a voice said.
“Mind your own business, lady,” Julio said. He put out his smoke as quickly as he could,
waving his hands to get the smell out.
“Aren’t you too young to be working? It’s a school day,” she said. She put the parking breaks on. Julio told Antonio that he was 18 years old
and was able to work. He looked 12.
“I don’t care about that. Teachers don’t care either.”
“Well, yeah.
I guess not all of us are made for school.”
“If you don’t mind, I need to get back to work. Why don’t you go back to your rich parents,” Julio
said, pretending to look for something. She
was looking at the cigarette that he stuffed in his pants in a hurry.
“You have any left on you?” she said.
“It’s going to cost you.”
“You think cost is an issue here?”
“As in double”
“Maybe if you go back to school you could learn how
to charge people triple!” She furiously
put it on drive and pressed on the gas pedal and left.
“And
that’s how I met Al Capone. I really met
him. You think I’m kidding. I have his famous guns on my cabinet. I would invite you to come in, but well, you
know,” the client told Antonio. Antonio
really needed to get back to work. He
felt as if he were falling behind.
“Okay, I’ll do all those things next time I come,”
Antonio said.
“What things?”
“I’ll come back next week.” The old man nodded in agreement.
“One other thing.
I really like your white trailer.
White looks really nice on everything; just look at my house.”
It
was now noon. Both Julio and Manolo were
having their lunch on a client’s front lawn close to the pickup trucks. Both got their food at a gas station. They looked at the sky and saw the clouds
darken. It was going to rain soon, which
raised their spirits with the thought of leaving early. Manolo’s favorite part of his lunch, besides
his cigarette, was the lottery scratch tickets.
Every day he played it he knew he was getting closer towards his luck. Julio was constantly on his cell phone, being
on several different websites at once.
“You know, I’m getting tired of this job,” Julio
said.
“Vato,
it’s your first day. How are you already
tired?” Manolo said.
“I can’t stand the boss. He’s always yelling at me. It’s my first day and already he expects me
to know everything.”
“Maybe you got on his bad side. Never get on his bad side. He’s the type of person who doesn’t forget
things.”
“I got something for him he’ll never forget.” Manolo chuckled at this.
“Where are you from anyways?”
“I was born here,” Julio said. Manolo laughed.
“That explains your crooked Spanish.” Antonio came back. The workers immediately got up and started to
get ready.
“Vaya vaya.
I was gone for an hour and you guys are still here. If I’m not here, nothing gets done,” Antonio
said. He climbed painfully into the back
of the truck to get a couple of trash cans down.
“Why don’t you get a good long look then, so you
won’t keep coming back,” Julio said, grabbing himself in front of Antonio.
“Mira
Julio, I’m not liking your attitude.
Keep it up and you won’t have a job,” Antonio said.
“I don’t care.
I don’t even want this job anyways.”
“Keep it up.
Keep it up. We’ll see who comes
out of this winning.”
“Yeah, me.”
“You might not be related to your father-in-law, but
you’re going to end up like him one of these day: a worthless mechanic, and a
drunk and a thief who sneaks off with my tools. Don’t think I don’t know, and I also want you
to know that it’s coming straight from your payroll,” Antonio said.
“What? I’m
not even related to him!” Julio said, throwing his rake to the floor.
“Yeah, but he sure does pay that roof over your
head. I’m going to start calling you Jr.
from now on,” Antonio said, now laughing.
He started to cough violently after laughing so hard. The weather was becoming unbearably cold now,
and the pain in his knees started to surface again. Thunder could be heard rolling in the
distance. His cell phone ringed. On the other line, a slurred voice can be
heard. The client had a stroke recently.
“Is this Maldecimo’s Landscape?” She didn’t wait for
a response. “Antonio, what is going on?
I told you to be careful with the roses, and one of your men cut them
down. I am going to have to deduct them
from your next bill. I also want to tell
you that I am very dissatisfied with the service.” She began to cry over the phone. “Those roses were very special.”
“Okay okay.
I’ll replant them-“
“I do not want you to come back. Not ever!
Goodbye.” She hung up.
Antonio
for the first time in his life started to accept he was old. Every part of his body started to hurt as he
climbed down from the truck. He was
uncertain if he was going to continue for the next year. Everything was falling apart. The first drops of rain started to hit his right
shoulder and the back of his neck.
Antonio got the trash
cans down from the truck. Rain started
to pour, but it seemed as if it wasn’t going to last that long since he could
only feel small amounts of rain hitting him.
He started to climb down from the truck when all of a sudden he could hear
someone’s screams from behind a house. Out
of the back of that house, Julio came running like a madman to Antonio. Julio’s left hand was completely covered in
blood. One of his fingers was gone.
At the hospital, the
doctor asked him where the finger was, but Julio couldn’t remember. Julio’s family threatened to sue Antonio, but
was held back once they discovered some contents in Julio’s blood. They couldn’t afford a lawyer anyways.
Antonio’s shirt was
covered in Julio’s blood, and he still had a full day ahead of him. He left the emergency room in disbelief. Manolo was waiting for him at the waiting
room. He was impressed by the luxury of
the hospital. It was a private one, and
its waiting room was finely decorated.
Its lights were dimmed low, giving the room a calm atmosphere. Manolo almost fell asleep.
“He put his hand on the blades for some reason,”
Manolo said. Antonio gave a weak
chuckle.
“Pos for
not being careful, he got what he was looking for,” Antonio said, shaking his head
at the whole idea. They left the
hospital. Outside they could see other
landscapers tending the hospital’s beautiful gardens.
“I wonder who’s paying for the hospital.”
“The government,” Antonio said. “The government always helps. They have to.
No, they had to. If Julio didn’t
have his papers, they would fix him up and then send him back immediately.” Manolo spat in the ground.
“We still going back to work?”
“Yeah. That’s
exactly what we’re going to do. Clients
don’t want excuses. Better move on and
keep working,” Antonio said. They were
heading towards the truck. The sky was
blue, with a faint rainbow in the distance, and the sun shined brightly
now.
“You’re bad luck.
You lost a lot of time today, and a worker,” Manolo said.
“I lost a long time ago,” Antonio said, limping his
way to the truck.
