"Hey, güey, wake up," Chonito said "Seriously, Ervey, wake up," he plead, now shaking his friend's shoulder.
"What, güey?" asked Ervey in a whine, "I had just fallen into a good sleep." He rubbed his eyes, sat up in his seat, and stretched his arms. "Where are we at?" he asked.
"Just a little out of Jimenez," Chonito answered
"Huh?" Ervey said yawning. He looked around and frowned. "We're not a little ways. We're still quite away, güey. There's not even any...."
"What?" Ervey aked incredulously and looked over at the big side view mirror just outside his window. Far off in the distance was a small object on the road, but it was too far to discern. He studied it a few seconds and asked, "That? It's to far away to tell what it is or what it's doing. How can you tell its following us?"
"Because semetimes it gets closer before it drops back," answered Chonito, "they've been doing it for a some time. They seem to have stayed back since we climbed out of the silencio."
"They?" Asked Ervey, "more than one car?"
"It's a yellow Ford Lobo with a cabin and a half. Dark tinted windows, of course," said Chonito, "when we were climing up the ridge, it came close enough that I could see there were at least there were at least two guys sitting in the front seat. I couldn't tell if there were more or if there's another truck backing them up."
"How do you know they're following us?" Ervey questioned, "it could be they just don't want to get around this old fat ass truck."
"Because they could have passed me anywhere they would have wanted since there's not a lot of traffic on the highway right now," said Chonito, "also, I think I saw them pass us the other way when we got on the highway after we stopped at the gas station outside of Gomez Palacio."
"And you've been flooring the gas pedal like a scared fool all the way since you saw them?" Ervey said, still studying the far off object in the mirror.
"What are you saying?" Chonito asked with a scowl.
"Well, güey, it could be you're going so fast they can't pass you," Ervey explained, "or it could be that they can now tell you noticed them and are running scared and they want to see if you drive the truck off the road in panic."
Chonito screwed up his face. "So what do we do?" he implored.
"At the next rise, ease up a little on the gas pedal and let them catch us, then move over a little so they can pass without moving much into the other lane," Ervey instructed, "we'll see what happens then."
"And if they're highway robbers and armed and now we let them get too close to us," Chonito asked.
"No, no, if they're in something no bigger than a Lobo like you said, they won't be able to go anything to this Kodiak, which is at least four times bigger and heavier," Ervey argued. "In any case, call Celso on the cell phone and tell him what's happening and keep the phone up to your ear so they can see we're communicated with somebody. As far as they know, we're related to half of Jimenez and can call a whole bunch of cousins to come out and help us if we're threatened."
"OK. Good idea," Chonito said, "give me the cell phone."
Ervey handed him the battered Nokia. Chonito took it and quickly speed-dialed the home base. No answer. He re-dialed. Same result. Again. Still now answer.
"Nobody's picking up," Chonito complained.
"So leave a message, güey," Ervey told him, "just make sure to keep the phone up to your ear so they can clearly see what you're doing."
"OK. I'll try it again," said Chonito. Many seconds pass. "Hey Celso. It's Chonito and Ervey coming back form Gomez Palacio. It's about 8 in the afternoon. We're about an half hour south of Jimenez. Call me when you get this."
"Half hour, güey,?" Ervey asked in a start, "you said we were a little ways away."
Chonito did not respond. He looked back and forth between the the rear view mirror in the cabin and the side view mirror outside his window.
"Here comes a little bit of a rise, but not very steep," Chonito said.
"Remember to let the incline slow us down enough so they catch us," Ervey reminded Chonito.
Chonito kept silent.
The Kodiak slowed only slightly with the slow upward grade of land. The rise quickly flattened out, however, and they were soon heading downhill again.
"Not much of a hill. They gained on us some, but not too much. Now they're just holding steady," Chonito told Ervey.
"Just wait for the next one and try it again," Ervey said.
The minutes passed slowly. The road flattened again, giving them hope that they would soon approach another hill. But instead they went over the end of a plateau and went into a long downhill incline. The horizon opened up, and just over it arose the telltale sign of a cloud of dust indicating the presence of an urban center.
Soon they began to pass things that confirmed that they were getting close to a settlement. Dirt roads leading away from the highway. A pile of construction debris. A pile of litter under a rare stand of trees alongside the highway where the locals would gather to drink beer and party next to their pickups.
Ervey took his eyes off the side mirror, where the Lobo looked to be a couple of kilometers behind them. He turned to look at Chonito, who was sitting up in his seat with his hands riveted to the steering wheel. Chonito clearly looked spooked.The sight was funny to Ervey. He tried to contain himself.
"Ay, ay, güey, here they come," Ervey said, his voice rising, "get ready to run, blondie!"
Chonito's eyes darted from mirror to mirror then to the highway. He saw that the Lobo had not made any move at all. Then he looked over at Ervey and saw he had on a wide grin.
"It's not funny, güey," Chonito said.
Ervey now roared with laughter. "Now you see, güey? It's nothing. It was just your imagination. What were you thinking? That they were going to ram their shiny Lobo into this big old dented up truck. For what? The box is clearly empty. No tarp on top, and the back gates are off and lying flat on the bed." He kept laughing.
Finally he stopped laughing, but only briefly, "I know what you were saying to yourself: they're thinking there goes a pretty güerito with a mommy and daddy who'll pay a nice ransom and be fun to give kisses to while we wait," he said and burst out laughing again.
Chonito did not answer. He kept his eyes on the road and left hand up to his ear. A couple of minutes later, the outskirts of Jimenez came into view, and he let his hand drop to his side.
"Hey, güey, Celso never called back," Chonito said.
"Well, you didn't tell him it was an emergency or anything at all about the Lobo," Ervey said.
"No. Just that he should call back," Chonito said, now losing sight of the Lobo in the city traffic. "Let's drop it," he said.
"Good idea," Ervey said, "or else Celso is going to think we're coming up with excuses for getting in late or something."
A minute passed in silence.
"Let's stop at the Pascualeño a little bit. We'll see what's new. And I'll drive from there."
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