World Breakers

Lilia Ramos

I'm surrounded by idiots...
I took a big breath and started daggers at the lady standing in front of me in line. Seconds earlier she had shoved past me with a shopping cart. Three boxes of hotpockets teetered on the edge of the cart failing to settle between her boxed rice and bag of generic cat food. The woman dressed in nothing but house shoes and a bathrobe that had long stopped fitting her proceeded to check out her 30 plus items in the last remaining self checkout stall.

You've got to be kidding me.

I kept my cool. The last thing I needed today was to get into verbal altercation in the middle of a packed Walmart on a Friday afternoon. Kayla would be proud if that did happen though. I probably would never hear the end of it from my bestfriend if somehow I ended up on someone's snapchat story fighting a middle age woman for breaking the fifteen items or less rule.

Either way, picking arguments wouldn't make the line go any faster, I was already late to the annual family summer reunion. My mother would have my head if she believed that I was skipping out on it again. Last year I had snuck out of the family gathering to hang out with Kayla at her parents ranch an hour out of Nashville. By the time Abuelita and Tio Paco had wrangled the youngest of the kiddos for the family photo op they had realized I was long gone. I didn't find out how furious my parents were till I got back home the next day. Everytime they had called to find out where I had gone the call went straight to voicemail. Not that I had expected to receive any calls. I knew there wasn't cell reception at Kayla's folks.

I had vowed to make an effort to enjoy myself at the family reunion this year. I looked forward to meeting back up with my primas on my dad's side. They were refreshing in the sea of little kids asking to connect their phones to wifi and the older primos and tios getting too tipsy too quickly while the older women in the family all yelled over eachother in the cramped kitchen preparing last minute meals for the unexpected 10 extra friends that decided to show up last minute. Calling the Ramos family large was an understatement. I wouldn't give them up for anything. Still I had to take them in small doses if not, you'd probably find me driving out to Kayla's apartment in 15 minutes stat.

I glared back at the woman in the plale pink bathroom still beeping away at the check out. She had barely made a dent in the cart.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" I jumped at sudden tap on my left shoulder.
"Ma'am, there's a freed up spot out there" a teen aged girl with a blue pixie cut pointed to the next checkout behind bathrobed woman.

"Oh, um...thanks, I didn't see that" I'm mumbled. I gave her a half smile. A wash of embarrassment came over be. The girl had probably watched me me stare down the woman that cut in line for a solid minute or two. I had failed to realize that there was a freed up stop in my proximity.
"Sorry for holding up the line." I mumbled awkwardly.

"It's cool" she laughed it off as she shrugged holding the black basket in her left hand.

I streamlined towards the self checkout stall clutching the three one liter-bottles of coke and hurried on out of the store.
I was running late!!!

×××[Location: Ramos Residence]×××

There was no way that I would find a parking spot by the time I got home. The driveway had arealdy impressively housed six cars one being Tio Paco's massive F-150, six more cars were cramped on to our front lawn, it seemed like dad had opened the double gates to the back yard to make room for a few more vehicles. As rolled on over the curb and to the back gates I could hear the loud music. It sounded like maybe on of the younger kids had gained access to the bluetooth speakers and decided that blasting drake was way to go. I shook my head. Nobody seemed to mind tho. The reunion was well on it's way as the dark plume of smoke from our grill rose up and over the trees past the horizon. I rolled down the windows to get a better view of who was here so far. Seven round tables were dotted about our back yard. Each housing eight or more relatives. Many had already begun to chow down on Abuelas tamales, rice and grilled meats. From what I could assess, almost everyone had arrived. The sounds of family members laughing and kids complaining filled the atmosphere. From what I could tell the only car I knew was missing was Aunta Karina's red Tesla. I'd bet she'd be picking up her son Marcus from BNA at this moment; she loved to make a late arrival. Karina was a Karen if I'd ever met one,never missing the opportunity to turn heads and make back handed comments to the other family members.