Once You Go Back. 17
Previously. Buckey and Wilfredo’s stories of the wild enticed their conservative, fatherly friend to join them on a trip to visit the below-sea-level lake. He hurriedly fixed some issues with his old Scout, and the three hit the road to try to recapture the romance of the first trip. Read Other Chapters Here.
“Can we all sit in the front?” I opened the door to Andréas’s antique truck. He rolled his eyes at me and told Wilfredo to get in the back.
“It’s a classic, you know, International Scout,” Andréas said proudly. “They made tractors and only one truck, this one. It's a ‘79.”
The way he talked about this vehicle, Andréas, reminded me of Kenny, back home, who loved his Bronco.
My road trip stories inspired him, so he spent the week tweaking the Scout, assessed the roads, and decided that Wilfredo was a hardy young farm helper who wouldn't mind sitting on a legless desk chair strapped to the floor behind the seat. He’d decided that we could take it to Lake Enriquillo.
Alfredo’s wife and daughter watched us load. They were excited, too, but Alfredo had no trouble leaving them behind.
“It’s a trip for men,” he told the little girl. “We’ll bring you a crocodile.”
His wife said something in what I'd learned was Haitian Creole, and Wilfredo laughed. He whispered to me, “She says we won’t make it to the roundabout.”
At the edge of town, where boys hawked cell phones, peanuts, and parakeets, I bought limoncellos. Andreas complained, “That is jungle food for children and savages.”
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