When we stopped in Nogales we were quite hungry and went to a, well, mexican restaurant. We ordered some burrittos and tacos and a couple of drinks. It was rather hot that day and the food spicy, so I went to order more drinks.
Not knowing how to say very much in spanish, I simply asked for "agua" thinking the lady behind the counter would understand. She seemed to but shook her head no. I asked for a Coke, everyone knows what that is in the Americas and Europe most definately. She squinted' furrowing her brow as if I was incomprhensible. So, I began the charades, motioning like I was drinking and nodding my head, she seemed to understand and nodded herself.
She went away and returned a few minutes later with two more burritos. I tried to send them back but she waved me away even when I wanted to pay! I insisted and left a few bucks, err...pesos, for them. I wasn't about to continue with the futile exchange and settled for what I was given.
I brought back the burritos to Rex and he of course, asked me what the hell I bought. I told him the story and we decided to try the burritos. We bit into them and realized they were completely vegetarian, one long pepper and some cheese in a flour tortilla. I could see the staff snickering behind the counter, out of the corner of my eye. I motioned to Rex It was too late, we had already bitten the bait.
A few seconds later, both Rex and I were dancing around the restaurant, up to the cash, begging for water! "AGUA! AGUA!" we begged and finally they gave us some lemonade. The staff were in hysterics and by now, so were all the patrons in the restaurant. I can't believe there is anything that hot on this planet, really. This coming from a woman who can drink tabasco sauce, straight up!...or with my tequila.
This whole episode reminds me of a Simpsons episode were Homer finds his soulmate, released years after. Believe me, the paint of reality started to melt.
And so, our night ensues...
After we quenched our thirst, we went for a walking tour of the streets. There was a young girl, who looked like she might have been a prostitute and when we passed, she smiled and said hello to Rex. We both looked at each other because we thought we were hearing things.
Rex turned to me and asked, "Didn't she call be by name?"
"I thought I heard that too", I replied
We moved on and left it at that.
Filled with young tourista, loaded on the free-flowing booze, the streets became to much for me and I wanted to step in somewhere. I chose a pool hall, as I often go to them to centre and ground myself playing a little eight-ball. As I was racking up, someone approach Rex and asked him if he wanted to by some cocaine. Rex declined. We shot a few rounds together and then Rex was asked again. We started to get a bit nervous now. We decided to leave. As we did, someone called out "REX!". I looked at Rex and he looked at me.
"Who is this guy? How does he know my name?" Rex was pale.
There was no way he learned Rex's name from my calling him. I barely spoke as it was. When Rex and I did speak, it was rather hushed and we were always careful not to say each other's name. We had our reasons.
When we left the pool hall we wondered around and encountered 2 more people who addressed Rex by name as we passed by. THis was getting rather spooky for us and we tried to rationalize it. It could be a greating here, like saying "hi guy!", Ola Rex!. We had to sit down, we were weary. We did sit and it sunk in....THIS WAS THE BENCH!
We found it.
MT |
