8•15

1. A Long Distance Call

It's a warm August night, here, in northern Arizona. A tall, rawboned Native American in his early twenties parks his truck at Big Chief Mart, right outside Navajo reservation, and goes inside the store to get a hotdog with plenty of condiments. He grabs a can of Coke on the way to the register, pays for them and starts eating in the truck. This is something he does every Wednesday after working as a manual laborer. Today, he went inside a concrete water tank and applied tar all over, from floor to the ceiling, while he wore respirators that clearly needed a new filter and rubber boots which turned from sage green to all black by the time he'd finished the job. It had felt 10 degrees warmer inside and sweat had poured out from every part of his body. The owner of the house told him that he'd come check on him every half an hour to see if he's okay, but the owner only stopped by once to drop off a bottle of water. He didn't take his cell phone inside the tank because he was afraid of damaging it from all the tar; and he'd wondered whether anyone could hear him if something were to happen to him. When he came out of the hole around 3 in the afternoon, he felt like a bird covered in oil and 5 pounds lighter. There were not much work available around the reservation so he took whatever was available. He'd made $90 in 6 hours today and was proud of it.

As he was finishing his hotdog, he hears a phone ringing right in front of him. Must be the wrong number, he thought. Ubiquitous cell phones put many public phones to retirement and this one at the Big Chief Mart sat stubbornly like a remnant from bygone era.
The ringing stops and few minutes later it starts ringing again. He gets out of his truck and picks up the receiver.
"Hello? You must have a wrong number. This is a public phone you're calling to..."
"Hello? Hi...Who's this?" A voice of young female with slight accent asks him.
"This is Anton Thornbird. Who are you looking for?"
"I'm looking for my friend Maki."
"Is this person a girl or boy?"
"Oh, it's she and she's Japanese. "
"Does she work here at Big Chief?"
"Big what?" She asks.
"Big Chief Mart...it's right off the Rez."
"I'm sorry, I don't understand. Where are you exactly?"
"Do you know where Arizona is? You're calling to a pay phone near the Navajo reservation. How did you get this number anyway?"
"I found this number inside my boyfriend's wallet and I'm calling from Japan."
"What? Seriously? So, you're looking for..." Before he finishes, she cuts in,
"I'm looking for my friend Maki. " then quickly adds,
"I'm sorry I have to go. My parents is back"
and hangs up.
That was weird, he thought and stares at teenagers in a truck for a minute.

Anton hangs up the phone and is heading back to the truck, when he realizes he has forgotten one more thing so he turns towards the store and suddenly notices that everything is dark. "Not again..." He mutters. He keeps walking and reaches the front entrance but it's locked.
"What the...?"
The clerk is standing behind the glass door with suspicious look and wielding a shotgun.
"Are you serious? Is that really necessary? It's not like you don't see me every Wednesday? Anton is dumbfounded. He continues, "I'm not the only people here...Do I look like I'm robbing this place? I just need to pick up some 4packs." The clerk just shakes his head.
Besides Anton's truck, there are two more vehicles: a silver beat up sedan which belongs to the clerk and another truck with four teenagers in it.
"Sorry, can't do it till the power is back." The clerk answers.
Can't blame the guy. This place had been robbed many times due to its remote location and Anton figures he would have done the same thing in his place. He gives up, gets back into his truck and drives off.
His place was only 3 miles from the store, but the road was unpaved and had several deep potholes and gullies which had to be avoided, so it took about 15 minutes to get there.
He's living in a small camper which he'd bought for $500 a couple years back and keeps it parked on his uncle's property under a huge alligator juniper tree, which kept the camper cool inside during summer. He'd also built a L-shaped wooden fence to keep the north wind out and to add some privacy between his and his uncle's place.
He takes off his boots and steps onto a wooden pallet. Then taking off the rest of his clothes, he hangs them over the fence, and turns the spigot. Luke warm water comes down on him followed by cold. It's a simple set up: a hose is connected to a pvc pipe which is attached to the fence and at the top, there's a shower head. There's also an industrial sink next to it and some dishes on a rack. He couldn't shower outside during the winter, but during the summer he enjoyed taking showers outdoor.

When he was six, his parents had moved to Phoenix to pursue a better life. His father had gotten a job in construction and was getting steady paychecks and Anton thought he'll do the same but he left high school after attending two years and moved back to the reservation by himself. Besides, his grandparents and most of his relatives still live there and it wouldn't hurt to do some soul searching, he thought.

"Hey, Anton, how was work?"
"Murder" Anton answers. His uncle and aunt are sitting outside since the power isn't back yet.
"You want a cold beer?" offers his uncle.
"Sure...let me get all these scum off my body and I'll join you."