Day LXIV

The Fine

    I called Jeffe over, asked him if he gave Juan a fine, and he paid it, would he let him out?”

     “Jess, jess of kourse I let heem go!”

     I asked him how much, and he thought about it long, and hard. Then after a bunch of ummmmmms, aieeeees as his worn face contorted back, forth, grinning and showing us his missing, and brown dentures, he says:

     “Fine ees feeteen dollars!”

     I went back, and said to Juan:

     “Hey man, if ya pays a fifteen dollar fine, they’ll let ya go.”

     “Okay tell him to open the door.”

     “Fifteen bucks, ya dumb ass…all ya hadda do is pay da ho ten. Wats da mattah witcha?”

     “This is a fine. The ten was foda lay. I told ya I don’t pay fo pussy, man! This was all about principle, man.”

     “Yea man, I gots ya pwinciple, a ite!”

     El Jeffe let him out, and as we were walking out the door, I asked him where the fine was going, and would the girl get any of it.

     “No mi ameeego, this be a municipalidad fine, she gets nada, absolutamente nadaaa!”

     Then he suggested we leave town, because her friends will find out what went down, and come looking for Stupido, our pal, to give him a little El Paso justice.

     “El chulo is muy malo,” he said as he rasied his hands up in the air, half closed his eyes, bit his lips, and shook his head from side to  side.

     “Es muy muy malo!” he said again.

     The chulo was her pimp, a very bad hombre, and he would probably try to kill Juan. That would make life very difficult for El Jeffe, and he would appreciate it if we left as soon as possible. He didn’t have to try too hard to convince us, we ran to the car, jumped in, and left.