Celso opened the big door to the building and, guided by the daylight coming in from a lone ceiling window, went straight to a square windowless booth raised up in the middle of the cavernous warehouse. Once there, he flipped a light switch and pressed the voicemail button on the telephone. A long series of messages followed. Ervey walked around the crowded warehouse pining away time until Celso took down all of the messages. He could hear each message and tried to ignore them all. Towards the very end he heard Chonito´s message from Saturday evening.
The warehouse stocked mostly office furniture for wholesale. The hauling business that kept Ervey employed had built up over the past year as Celso and his brother had found they could offer a hauling service for half price on deliveries coming back to Chihuahua or between deliveries of their own stock. For the Abeytas, it was income in replacement of the cost of hauling back air in an empty truck. The demand had been growing steadily when Ervey came on board ten months earlier. Now the Kodiak mostly hauled other stores'' merchandise, with the Abeytias office furniture occupying a smaller and smaller part of its hold. It was Celso's job to handle all the logistics.
I took a while for Celso to jot everything down and organize a delivery list for Ervey.
"Ervey," he called out without looking up, "here's the day's deliveries. It's only two deliveries and one pickup and delivery."
He paused a long while with his hand on his head.
"The question is where are we going to get somebody to help you load and unload," he said partly to himself."
"Maybe there will be somebody there who will help," suggested Ervey.
"Maybe, but not likely at all of the places you're going," said Celso, "I can help here, but if you get caught short-handed somewhere, you'll spend too much time figuring it out, and my brother will get the complaints."
They both kept silent as they pondered what to do.
"Wait a minute, you're right about getting some help on the other end," said Celso, "on the way out, go by the maintenance garage in Colonia Villa and ask about a certain Lilo, the main guy who works on our trucks. He used to work here as a maintenance man on both the truck and building when my father ran the place. He's in his forties, but tall and strong. A little dumb because he never says anything, but very dependable. We arranged for the garage to take him when we contracted them to do our maintenance. I'll call ahead and tell them we need him and we'll pay him for the day. You just ask for Lilo, and it'll all be worked out when you get there."
"OK," said Ervey.
"Alright, now for the day's haul. The only thing you're taking from here is a metal safe box. It goes to a office supply store in Ojinaga. On the way, you stop by an other office supply store twenty-five minutes away from here in downtown Aldama, where pick up half a truck load of stuff, I don't know exactly what it is. That stuff and the safe go to the same place in Ojinaga. At that place, they'll tell you where to go in town to pick up some pottery that you'll bring back to Aldama," instructed Celso, "good thing you're taking Lilo because he's from that land and can help you find your way."
"Wait a second," he added, "I'm forgetting something. What is it?"
"How about why Chonito quit," suggested Ervey.
"No. That's not it. But yes, it's related," said Celso, "it's about Juan Jose's call on Saturday. What was going on that he had to call me on the road? He sounded like it was important."
"Oh, that," said Ervey, "it was nothing. Chonito was getting lonely on the highway."
"And weren't you there with him," asked Celso.
"Yeah, but he had already dialed by the time I was able to sooth him," said Ervey.
"That spoiled brat. He knows he can just quit like that because if should ever need to get back in, all he needs to do is cry to his mother, who will cry to my uncle, who will tell my father to tell my brother Apolonio to take him in," said Celso, "all because he's the only boy in a big family of five beautiful girls."
"But didn't he say why he was quitting?" asked Ervey.
"No, and I didn't to ask him. As soon as he came into my living room, I wanted him out because he was clearly drunk and didn't seem to care about anything except getting paid for the week," said Celso, "clearly the idiot had been drinking all night."
Ervey did not say anything. He took in the news with no reaction.
"Now let's get that safe on the truck," ordered Celso.
It did not take long for Ervey to get loaded and ready to depart. As a last exercise before he drove off, he went up to the office booth and handed Celso the receipts from the hotel in Torreon and gasoline stop on the way back.
"Ah, that reminds me," said Celso," here's the cell phone. I got it from Juan Jose when he gave me the keys. You still have your gasoline card, and it works?"
"Yeah, the card worked fine the last time I used it," said Ervey, hesitating, "the cell is your's, not Chonitos?"
"Pfff, that güey has never owned a phone," said Celso, "we gave him this one to coordinate our work and stay in touch while he's traveling, but he used more to call everybody in Chihuahua than me or Apolonio. You take it now. There's a monthly time allowance, so watch the minutes. Don't run over like your partner."
"OK," said Ervey, weighing the heavy, badly scuffed apparatus in his hand.
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