A So-Called Vacation by Genaro González Page B

He’ll forgive and forget before you know it.”
    â€œWell, I won’t. And neither will he, not after he finds out what I’ve done.”
    Gabriel stiffened in his cot, anxious to know more, yet fearing what he might find out. Gus abruptly looked away, as though his confession had already gone too far.
    Their father suddenly said something in his sleep, unintelligible but loud enough to startle them. Gabriel monitored his breathing carefully to make sure he was indeed asleep. “What did you mean, Gus? What else have you done?”
    His brother would not elaborate beyond the obvious. “He thought he’d make a killing fixing cars. All of that backfired, and now we’re the whipping boys. He made fun of our wanting to go to Disneyland, but this whole trip of his was even crazier.”
    â€œWell, that’s his problem.”
    â€œNow it’s our problem too.”
    â€œOkay, but before you know it, we’ll be back home. It’ll be over then.”
    â€œIt’ll just be starting. Just wait till the other players check out my farmworker tan. Look.”
    Gabriel heard him turn in his cot, so he turned to look. But Gus blended so well in the darkness that his invisibility proved his point.
    â€œFine,” Gabriel conceded, anxious not to antagonize him further. “Only don’t leave.”
    After a long silence, Gus added: “Know what bothers me most? I promised my
morena
a little something from Disneyland.”
    Gabriel waited for a more compelling reason other than Gus losing face with his girlfriend, but that was it. As he wondered how mature the couple’s commitment was, he could only imagine them hand in hand, silhouetted in the sunset with matching mouse ears. But he kept the irreverent thought to himself, afraid it might push Gus over the edge.
    He stayed up for the longest time in case Gus tried to sneak away. For a time Señor Serenata’s domestic strife kept him tethered to the everyday world. But somewhere during the subsequent string of serenades, he drifted off, and the next thing he knew he was waking up to a new day, with a blur of noise and activity that seemed to originate in their shack and then spilled outside. He immediately glanced to his left to make sure his brother was still there.

10

    G us stayed, if for no other reason than to harass the Borrados and undermine their antlike industry. “We can’t beat those guys on the field, not physically,” he told Gabriel as they dressed. “So we need to use psy ops.” He did not give his kid brother time to either inquire or agree. “That’s military talk. It’s all about messing with your enemy’s head.”
    Gabriel nodded, thought for a moment, then said, “But it sounds like before you mess with his mind you have to make sure yours is screwed on straight.”
    Gus looked him straight in the eye. He continued staring without a word until Gabriel squirmed and looked down.
    â€œDamn straight,” Gus finally said. The moment he walked away, Gabriel realized he had already started rehearsing his resolve.
    Gabriel arrived at the edge of the field long before Gus, who took his time strolling from the van. On the way over, he offered a defiant power salute to his friend Victor, who returned the greeting along with a puzzled gaze.
    A few feet from Gabriel, the Borrados were going through an animated chatter that sounded like a code only they could decipher. They reminded Gabriel of cartoon chipmunks, with speedy, high-pitched voices that made their movements appear even more manic.
    Gus approached Gabriel with a supreme serenity that belied the previous night’s crisis. Yet underneath thatcalm self-assurance, he radiated an undercurrent of energy that rivaled the Borrados’ own. Gabriel, sensing that power, was convinced his brother could out-pick any of them hands down.
    â€œFrom now, on I’m coasting.” He pretended to talk to