Carina Valencia

[NebulaCloud]

~~ The morning following her shift...~~

Carina was caught off when the whistle sounded, the piercing shriek feeling like daggers through both of her ears. She jumped clear off of the floor, startled, and swore loudly. In her fit, she kicked over a large bucket containing slag sweepings, sending the jagged metal chunks clattering all about the floor in an arc from where it landed.

Workers scattered to avoid stepping on the pieces as they milled towards or out of the locker rooms as the shift change followed its otherwise normal routine, barely seeming concerned with her outburst. Carina’s mind was so clouded that she wasn’t even sure anymore with who or what she was so angry. With a heavy sigh, she grabbed a transfer shovel and started to rake the slag back together, recollecting it back into the bucket while the rest of her coworkers went on to punch out.

“So,” she heard a familiar voice behind her say hesitantly, “something on your mind, then, Lauchita?”

She chomped down on one corner of her lower lip and sighed again, glancing over her shoulder at Rodrigo’s heavy frame just briefly enough to acknowledge his existence before she went back to shoveling. “You could say that,” she replied, trying to sound casual.

Rodrigo grabbed another transfer shovel that was leaning against a nearby wall and started to help her. “Ain’t seen you jump like that at the shift whistle in years,” he told her. “And from the looks of it you were lookin’ to take some aggression out on something. Qué tienes, mija?”

Carina shrugged. “Dad kicked me out for applying to that prison transport ship.”

Her big friend stopped shoveling for a moment, looking up at her. “He went that far?” he asked, surprised.

She nodded, never taking her eyes from the last bits of slag as she shoveled it into the container. “Said I shouldn’t bother coming home in the morning.”

Rodrigo frowned, scratching his handlebar mustache, the last bits of slag going into the bucket. “That’s a bit much, even for him, ain’t it?” he asked. “Kick his daughter to the street over applying for another job?”

“Well,” she added, leaning on her shovel, “I broke his nose, too.”

From the amount that his eyes bulged out of his head, Rodrigo looked like he had just choked on a brick. “You did what!?”

“He didn’t like me suggesting that I took better care of the family than he did, and he slapped me,” she explained. “So I laid him out.”

“Well, now that seems like more a reason to toss you out,” Rodrigo said with a chuckle, but instantly caught it in his throat, his face going serious. “I’m sorry, mija.”

She shrugged again. “I guess it was gonna happen eventually anyway,” she said, still leaning on the shovel as she surveyed the foundry floor, watching the first shift workers taking their places. She idly wondered if her father bothered to show up to his station in another part of the facility, or if he used his busted face as an excuse to take another day off. “I don’t much give a **** about that. It’s mama and Connie I’m worried about. Dad and Connie don’t make enough to support the whole family.”

“Well, he’ll figure that out eventually,” Rodrigo assured her, taking the shovel from her and placing them both back on the wall rack a few paces away. “Hopefully before they cut your lights or water off,” he added, smirking.

“Pfah,” she scoffed. “Even if they did, the stupid puto would be too damn stubborn to admit it.”

Rodrigo chuckled again, and slapped her lightly on the upper arm. “Don’t worry about it for now, mija,” he told her, and shoved his hand beneath his coveralls into one of his pockets, fishing about for something. He produced a set of keys and without hesitation offered them to her. “Chastain and Byrnes, sixth floor, apartment 4B.”

Carina stared blankly at the keys for a moment, then looked back up at him. “You mean—?”

“It ain’t high class and I probably have a few leftovers sitting out to rot,” he said, “but te lo juro que it’s clean enough to live in for a few days while things between you and your dad cool down.”

“I dunno, Rodrigo,” she replied hesitantly. “It’d be weird. I don’t wanna impose.”

“There ain’t no hookers hangin’ around the place, and there’s a clean bed and food in the fridge,” he insisted. “You’ll have the place to yourself at least till three. You gonna take the damn keys or make me keep holding ‘em out like an idiot?”

She reached up and took the keys from him, still a bit reluctant. “You sure it’s not a bother?” she asked. “I can afford a motel for a day or two.”

He snorted. “I won’t let ya piss that money away on those dumps,” he told her. “Save your cash for the family. You’re staying at my place. Don’t make such a damn big deal about it, it’s only temporary anyway, right?”

“Yeah,” she said, and couldn’t help a little half-smile. “Guess you’re right.”

The loudspeaker roared over the din. “First shift to your stations!”

“I’ll catch you when I get off work, Lauchita,” Rodrigo said, slapping her upper arm again. “Get on outta here, go take a bath and get some rest.”

Carina nodded, still smirking a bit. She wasn’t much on hugs, but she did at that moment feel just a little like throwing her arms around the big gorilla’s neck/head, if even for just a fleeting moment. “Right,” she said, turning to go. She made it just a few paces before she looked back over her shoulder, still with her backside to him. “Rodrigo?” she called to him.

He looked up at her, hunched over as he bent down to retrieve a pair of tongs, his eyebrows raised in question.

“This doesn’t mean I’m gonna sleep with you or anything.”

Rodrigo laughed hard, and feigned throwing the tongs at her head. “Go on, get!” he yelled. “Before I give you a REAL knock upside the head, niña!”

Despite everything, Carina laughed and made her way to the locker room to grab her things, and by the looks of it, head on to Rodrigo’s apartment. He was right—there’d be time to handle this whole mess later. For now, it was best to just wait it out.

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