"Wheeler-LandOfFlowers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wheeler Deborah)

The boat nudged up against the inflated bumpers of the pier, wide and white with
its sunshaded deck, indoor cabins, its tablecloths and flowers. A man and two
women got off, escorted under parasols by the green-uniformed crew to the limo
parked beyond the guest gazebo. The man wore a protective jumpsuit and the
women, billowy caftans of peacock and rose-colored silk. Metallicized
wraparounds hid their eyes.

The silk-robed women disappeared into the limo and the man beside Javier
whistled under his breath. He was skinny and blond and his cheap boots bore a
snakeskin pattern right down to the tips of the sharply tapered toes. "I hear
that rich pussy is hot, real hot," he said. "I'm gonna get me some. Screw 'em so
hard their eyeballs pop out."

Javier shook his head in disgust. "Shit, man, didn't nobody teach you how to
treat your women?"

The hopefuls pricked their ears like slum rats scenting blood.

"Better than you, barrio trash," Pointy-Toes shot back.

Javier grabbed a fistful of Pointy-Toes's shirt and spun him around, slammed his
back against the fence. The metal links rattled with the impact. Pointy-Toes
turned flushed and pale in patches. His lips drew back from his clenched teeth.

"Button it and keep it buttoned, you two!" One of the crew unlocked the gate and
swung it open. "What's the matter, you trying to get yourselves fired before you
even start?"

Pointy-Toes's fist was inches from Javier's nose, his bared forearm gleaming
with body oil and sweat. The veins stood out sharply.

Blood that close to the skin, it spills real easy, Javier thought. He'd seen
enough of his own to know.

Heart pounding, Javier reminded himself why the hopefuls gathered at the docks
every morning. Some days, they said, two out of three new-hires got sent back.
But not me. I'm gonna be the one who makes it. He opened his hand and let
Pointy-Toes pull free.

Javier showed the crewman his job-offer papers along with the other new-hires.
The crewman closed the gate after them and locked it. "That's it."

"C'mon," whined one of the hopefuls. "You gotta give us somethin'."

Javier laughed, his nerves still raw from the confrontation with Pointy-Toes.
The crewman turned away from the hopefuls to glare at him. "What are you
strutting about? Yesterday you were trash, no different from them. Tomorrow you
gonna be trash again, just like that." He gestured at Pointy-Toes. "He won't
make it one day."