False salesman

Taxi

Luckily for me the subway was running again, and the cabs were already emptier at that time as well as the other means of transportation.

So I just tried to take a cab that would take me to my destination as fast as possible. Although there were some that already had passengers on board.

So it took me a while to get one. It seemed rather complicated, but it was the only way to get to the city center safely and comfortably. Besides, I was too sweaty, and tired. I hadn't slept all night and I could rest for about five minutes there.

[...]

I was able to stop a cab and he took me to the center of the city. This was the busiest and somewhat dangerous place, because there were gangs that bothered the vendors, and organized to make significant robberies, also sold illicit substances and disputed the area. 

I looked at several hotels and one caught my attention, it was quite large, and had two security guards.

I went there, but I saw that they were looking at me from top to bottom because I was completely sweaty and disheveled. I walked up to the front desk and saw that there was a man who was manning the place. He was a bald, mature person with a beard.

-Excuse me, what do you need?

-I'm going to be here in a week... I work at night, so only in the morning I need you to clean early....

-Ya veo.... -Please give me your ID.

-Yes.

I took out my ID and handed it to the man. He saved the information in the computer.

I waited patiently for him to search me, even though he looked at me like a thief. It made me feel quite insecure, I thought the police would come at any moment. Until he finally spoke to me.

-Well, that's it, you'll go to floor number three. Room thirty-two. 

He handed me my room key and I received it. I felt a little calmer. So I went to the elevator. I felt a strange tingling, I had been in hotels before, but this time I finally felt like my life was really changing. I had to take care of this bill until I could cash it and put it on an account, but I couldn't leave it in this place. Even if I didn't want to I had to take it with me, or maybe look for Erick. I thought about a lot of things and it occurred to me to sign it and put my information on it. If someone stole it from me I couldn't cash it. 

So I could leave it in this hotel until tomorrow. 

[...]

I arrived at the apartment where I would be staying for a week, with my stay here at least I would be calmer and without so many problems in my head.

I looked for the room door down the corridor. The place was very nice, the eyes were made of wood, and the light bulbs were motion detectors. Unfortunately I couldn't stay here at night and I couldn't walk around the hotel. 

When I found the room I opened the door and walked right in. It was still quite clean and organized. The sheets were white and there were several closets to store clothes. I left my briefcase on the floor and went to take a shower right away. It was about one o'clock in the afternoon and I needed at least three hours of sleep. 

I went to the shower and took off my clothes. I was too sweaty, it was unbelievable what I went through, luckily the security guards didn't give me any problems to enter the hotel. I smelled bad, I sweated too much.

I turned on the faucet and started to shower, it was quite cold, although it was hot, I didn't like the water like that. I felt like I was freezing.

[...]

I spent almost five minutes showering and got out of there much better. Now I had to put on some clothes to go to work and the next day to collect the lottery prize. 

I decided to simply put on a white shirt and a white cap, plus a pair of black pants with white sneakers.

I lay down on the bed and tried to sleep as much as I could, I didn't worry too much about having lunch, since what I had for breakfast in the morning was enough, besides I wasn't a big fan of food.

I slowly closed my eyes and slowly fell asleep.

[...]

I woke up hours later, as I didn't have my cell phone I couldn't see the time, so I turned on the plasma TV of the place.

I started flipping through all the channels until I saw the time on one of them. It was four o'clock in the afternoon, I had enough time to go to the store and continue with my work, as if nothing had happened.

I got up and changed my clothes quickly. For safety's sake I would take a cab from now on. I was in enough trouble without being robbed again.

I turned off the TV and tried to leave the room.

The hallways of this hotel were lonely, as if no one else was in this place.

I made my way to the elevator to go down, I was too lazy to go to the stairs. 

I had to wait a few seconds until the elevator came down. The doors opened and there was only one person, a girl who looked like a journalist or something like that. I entered and got on the left side. It was a little uncomfortable, since she even had one of those cameras they use to broadcast the news.

I didn't say anything to her, I just waited for the elevator to get to the second floor and get out of here. 

[...]

I left the hotel almost five minutes later, at least people looked at me as if I was someone normal. I looked down the street to see if I could find a cab to take me to the store where I worked, but most of them were full. I could only wait patiently on the platform. At any moment one would pass by.

The weather was still a bit hot, but at least I was no longer walking like a madman through the streets with a broken heart and full of rage. I could take a cab with peace of mind and avoid the problems I usually had on the streets.

As I was thinking, I noticed a single cab coming and I put my hand on it to stop it. He stopped and headed towards me.

I jumped in and told him where to go.

-He took me to the front of Heart Sports Stadium.

-Okay, the man said.

He pulled up and sped off down the avenue and headed for the stadium. I was very calm. My problems had been solved, but the first thing I had to do was to buy a cell phone and look for an apartment to live in from now on and then buy the things I needed and send to my brothers from the orphanage, but I couldn't tell them that I won the lottery. Money changed people and brought out the worst in everyone. The best thing was that they didn't know.

[...]

I arrived almost an hour later, I stayed a few meters away from the store, I got off a little far away. I didn't want my boss to see me, he knew the route I always took to get here. He always monitored what I was doing to see if I had stolen anything from his store. He was quite a troubled man and even when he was drunk.

At the store the sky was beginning to darken a little, it would be a little before nightfall, so I was starting the routine of my work that in a short time would be over.

Today was Saturday and the day was worse than yesterday. Basically it was like that every weekend or when there was a concert. Everything was getting worse and more stressful. I knew I would find it a mess my partner must have been completely bored. I suggested to the store owner that he should have more workers for the weekends and I had to hire another employee, but he didn't want to pay anyone else. 

[...]

I arrived at the store and saw a mess in the store. There were several shelves on the floor and my poor co-worker was attending the store like that. There were a lot of people standing in line. 

I decided to pick up the stuff and the shelf while he was busy. I noticed that the products on the floor were dog and cat food. It was obvious that someone had let their pets in here and they had made this mess.

I started to pick them up and noticed that several were broken. This would be deducted from my partner. They were our boss's policies, so there was nothing we could do. 

I went to the cashier to talk to my co-worker, but I noticed that he had a smack on his face. He looked at me and spoke to me.

-Two guys came looking for you and brought their dogs. They say you have something that belongs to them, plus they said they killed an old man because of you...so you know what happened.

I stopped looking at him and preferred to go and pick up the mess in the area and then talk to him. I never thought this could get so complicated. You were giving me some fear, I thought about calling the police to help me, but I thought better of it and today would be the last day I would work here, I didn't need any more money from this job.

[...]

Luckily for me, my partner, I helped him take care of the boxes and cleaned the place.

There were only a few people shopping, but they were in a few aisles away from here.

Carlos, now calmer, told me everything that happened.

-They say that you stole a lottery ticket from them. And they will kill you for it, but don't give it to them. Keep it and give me something to get out of this damn job.

-Yeah...yeah, today will be the last day I'm on the job. The problem is they'll come looking for me here and they might kill you.

-Don't worry I'm quitting today too. I'm going to call the manager and tell him you won the lottery.

I was a bit terrified by his attitude, he was too happy, because I would help him, but he had to calm down. I couldn't tell everyone.

-Carlos, calm down. No one else can know about this. They will kill us both. I have to go. I don't have a family, but you do. They will hunt you down and go after your loved ones. You only have to be here for a few months and be in this job. 

He started to think about it and he could understand. Luckily he was not going to do something rash that would cost him his life.

-All right, I'll stay for a month and then I'll leave...just promise me you'll help me.

-Yes, don't worry, the ticket has my name and information on it. No one besides me can charge it to me.

-Okay, I'll keep it a secret.

He arranged his things and left the store. I was left attending to her, a little scared, but at least I could be calmer. They had already come in the afternoon, so they wouldn't be coming back here again.

[...]

The last night of my job was one of the most stressful things in my life, but at least I wouldn't come back here. I was just waiting for my partner to come back so I wouldn't come back here anymore. I regretted coming today, but I had to clear everything up, as I had no cell phone and it would be a problem to communicate with them.

The morning was my hope for freedom and my rest. I had high expectations, hey I would go to claim my prize. One of my problems was that they usually took pictures of the people who won. I had to buy something to go unnoticed so no one would know who I was, but the main thing was to see my partner and talk to him, but he surprised me. While I was organizing the shelves he arrived early. He looked very happy, he looked better than the previous days, he no longer had the pressure to work two jobs and sleep less than four hours. I just hoped he knew how to invest the money I was going to give him.

He spoke to me without hesitation.

-I already talked to the boss, so he's going to get someone else for the night. Ah... I got you this cell phone. In a panela, but you can call me here, no one would be stupid enough to steal it.

-Ah... that... don't worry, I know where you live, I'll send you something in a week.

My partner was somewhat happy to hear that I would help him.

[...]

I left the store a bit calmer, I just walked down the street and went to the avenue. I would go straight to collect the reward and save it in a bank account I would make. I planned to buy stores and stores so that the money would not run out in unnecessary expenses. I didn't want to get carried away by the amount of money I would have, I just wanted to do things right.

I looked around and saw a cab. I didn't hesitate to hail it to take me there right away. That was close enough, so I had to be cautious. It occurred to me to ask the cab driver to wait for me and I would pay him for the time I was here. 

As I got into the cab I spoke to the driver.

-Will you take me to Royal Avenue?

-Yes, no problem. 

-I also need you to wait for me, I'll pay you for everything.

-Ok...I see you are going to charge lottery, maybe it's too much or too little, well...give me 500 dollars and if it's more than 10 hours I'll wait for you.

-What?

-I see that you have never cashed a lottery. There are hundreds of people there, there are small prizes of thousands of dollars. So a lot of people are going to claim them, and there are people who are hanging around that place to rob the other people. 

I didn't know whether to get off or not, but it was obvious he wasn't stupid. I could be in a gang and they could rob me, but I wasn't a pacifier, I wanted to show that I was someone very intelligent.

-I'm going to write to a friend. I'm going to send him your badge number, if anything happens to me the police will come after you, so you're going to have to be careful what you do. I'll pay you half of what you asked for here and then the other half.

-Okay, I don't have a problem with that.

I felt a little intimidated, but I was already in here and he was a somewhat calculating cab driver.