Crossing Borders

By Sam Garcia

The door to the women’s restroom slowly opened and she stumbled out, keeping herself from falling by holding on to the wall and slowly pulling herself straight up. The front of her cerulean blouse was soaked a deep, dark, red. She was bleeding from both her nose and mouth and when she tried to speak, all that came out was a blood-tinted saliva bubble. Both eyes were swollen almost to the point of being shut and her nose, obviously broken, pointed awkwardly to the left. A piece of her right ear was missing, as if it had been bitten off. She tried to walk, but could no longer endure the pain of putting pressure on her severely sprained left ankle, so she surrendered to clinging to the wall. Neck muscles no longer able to support the weight, her head fell to her chest. She cried silently as she struggled to lift it. When she finally did, she again opened her mouth to speak. What came out was a gurgling that sounded somewhat like help me, right before her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell, unconscious, with the sound of bone and flesh hitting the Terrazzo-tiled floor of Tia Tina’s Mexican Restaurant.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sam Garcia
• Release date: Sep 22, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465845672

Sam Garcia

Sam Garcia is a novice author living in Spring Branch, Texas. He is an avid golfer, former drummer of the 60’s rock band, Critical Mass and recently retired after 40 years in the corporate world. He has published two novellas, The Pain and Crossing Borders. He is currently working on a full-length mystery-suspense novel.

Book preview

CROSSING BORDERS

By Sam Garcia

Copyright 2011 Sam Garcia

Smashwords Edition

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Chapter 1

The door to the women’s restroom opened slowly and she stumbled out, keeping herself from falling by holding on to the wall and struggling to pull herself straight up.  The front of her cerulean blouse was soaked a deep, dark, red.  She was bleeding from both her nose and mouth and when she tried to speak, all that came out was a blood-tinted saliva bubble.  Both eyes were swollen almost to the point of being shut and her nose, obviously broken, pointed awkwardly to the left.  A piece of her right ear was missing, as if it had been bitten off.  She tried to walk, but could no longer endure the pain of putting pressure on her severely sprained left ankle, so she surrendered to clinging to the wall.  Neck muscles no longer able to support the weight, her head fell to her chest.  She cried silently as she struggled to lift it.  And when she finally did, she again opened her mouth to speak.   What came out was a gurgling that sounded somewhat like help me, right before her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell, unconscious, with the sound of bone and flesh hitting the Terrazzo-tiled floor of Tia Tina’s Mexican Restaurant.

Chapter 2

It was almost closing time and Benny Escobedo was in the men’s restroom, inventorying the few belongings that mattered most to him as he repacked them into a small duffel bag. 

Reaching into the pocket that was sewn to the inside of his pants, Benny pulled out $5,000 in twenties, fifties and hundreds and added this week’s pay – two fifties and five twenties.  All of it off the books.  He was dying to count the money to make sure it was all there even though it had not left the hidden pocket since he counted it that morning.  He decided against it.  He was ready to go. 

Benny was sneaking across the border tonight, this time going back to Mexico and his hometown of Mazapil in Zacatecas.  He would be riding from San Antonio to Laredo with friends who had agreed to drop him off at the Greyhound Bus Depot to meet his aunt from Mexico.  But there would be no aunt.  Once dropped off, he would make his way to the truck yards east of I-35 and from there, he would cross the river into Mexico. 

No one knew about his plans.  Not even his boss and Tia Tina’s owner, Fred Ortiz. 

Fred’s restaurant had become well known on the south side over the last couple of years for its delicious enchilada plates, but they weren’t the creations of Tia Tina, as the restaurant's name might suggest, but those of Benny Escobedo.

Fred met Benny three years earlier when he picked up several day laborers to help paint the inside of his restaurant.  Besides the five dollars an hour, Fred had paid the laborers with enchiladas for lunch and Benny bragged that he could make much better.  Fred gave him the chance to prove it and immediately fell in love with Benny’s cooking.  Benny was rewarded with a job at Tia Tina’s as a lunch and dinner cook.

Fred mentored him and gave him a place to stay until he was able to afford his own small, one-bedroom apartment above someone’s garage in the Harlandale area.  They enjoyed each other’s company and often drank beer and watched the Cowboys games together on Sundays.  

Fred taught Benny English. It wasn’t always the grammatically correct, but it was good enough for Benny to assimilate to a Mexican-American culture and then he picked up even more by watching a lot of television.

In three years, Fred had become best friend and father figure to Benny. Because of this,