homeless riders (or a short story about the time doing nothing)

8/20/2019 Homeless Riders (or a Short Story about the Time Doing Nothing)

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Homeless Riders

It all started one night when I was coming home from a party. It had been a dull

party and I was in bad mood. I had gone with some friends that I knew since

high school, who really didn´t like, but at the time, I really didn´t have anything

better to do, so I had joined up with them anyways. We got together and talked

about the good old days! and some other nonsensical stu". #t about one in

morning we left for the party. When we got there all the girls were taken, so we

just drank more beers until we got horny enough to look for prostitutes online.

$ut the prices where to high and we had wasted most our money on alcohol so

everyone decided it was time to go home. %ince I only had a couple of &uarters

I decided to walk from %ur&uillo, where the party was at, too my home district'

(ira)ores.

In the district of (ira)ores there is municipal ordinance that no alcohol can be

sold after **'++ pm. $ecause of this, there are various as %tations and

$odegas that sell the stu", under the police´s radar. (r. -antasy was one ofthese $odegas or at least, (r. -antasy what we called it. It got that name

because owner always seemed like he´d done four lines of cocaine in a row and

was over paranoid. Which was kinda understandable since there was very hefty

ne for what he was doing, but the guy looked like he was moving hard drugs

instead of li&uor.

It was around the corner of (r. -antasy that I found them. I was half a block

from the bodega when I heard someone yell' /amalloa0!

I turned around and there they were' 1eto2, 3ugene, Ho"a and (alaga, on

acid, drinking rum and smoking weed. Ho"a had told me to join up with themearlier, but I had been half way across the city by then. 4hat and I had asked

Ho"a´s girlfriend for blowjob a few days back, she had said no, then told Ho"a

and Ho"a in turn had told everyone, that made me look more the fool so I wasn

´t so sure if I wanted to see him that night. $ut nevertheless I found them. I

don´t know if it was dumb luck, coincidence or the hand of fate, but in the end

what most matters is outcome of that night.

I sat down ne2t to 3ugene. 4hey told me they had been on acid since 5'++

o6clock and had been skateboarding since then. 4hey had come down from

7ptown 8ima all the way to the 9illenas $ridge. 4here they had smoked some

weed and then had gone all the way gone to $arranco, to the park with thecross. #t the park they bought a bottle of rum, drank a few cups then

skateboarded all the way back to (ira)ores. 4ired they decided to rest around

the corner of (r. -antasy´s bodega, that is where I found them.

(ost of them just knew each other but they were talking like old friends. 4he

skateboarding and the acid had formed a bond between them. #nd I by

e2tension was now part of that bond.



We joked around a bit, drank some rum, and smoked some weed. #nd before

we knew it the sun was coming up and the bottle was empty. We knew it was

time to go home. 4hey all hugged each other, saying it was a great night and

then we parted ways. Ho"a came home with me, since he didn´t have any

place to crash.

4he ne2t morning 3ugene called up Ho"a to say that he was meeting up with

1eto2 and (alaga to do some skateboarding around %an Isidro. Ho"a grabbed

his longboard, I grabbed my bike and we rode all the way to #re&uipa with

:avier ;rado. 4heir 1eto2, 3ugene and (alaga where waiting. -rom there we

rode down the :avier ;rado, all the way to the %alavery #venue. 4here we

looped around and headed towards the pier. We rode through the pier all the

way back to (ira)ores. $y then night had fallen so we hit $onilla. We drank a

few bears, )irted with some of the girls, than drank some more bears. #t the

end of the night everyone had someone to go home with. %o we all went home.

32pect for Ho"a.

#fter that, every single day we would meet up either at my house or some

other centric point, buy a bottle of rum and ride until night came. #t night we´d

sometimes hit $onilla or if it was a slow night we´d settle in at the park with

the cross and drink until daybreak. 4hen we´d go to sleep, wake up and do it

all again.

<f the ve of us, 3ugene was by far the smartest but you could never tell with

all the weed he smoked. He was the only guy I knew that came with catch

phrases, like whenever he thought something was really cool he said' 4hat´s

it0!, or every time he wanted to state an a=rmative he just said

aaaaaaaaaaa!. %ometimes me or Ho"a would respond with an aaaaaaaaaaa!and in turn 3ugene would respond with another aaaaaaaaaaa!. It would go

back and forth until we got bored. He would never talked much about his

political views or what he thought about the state the country was in, but if you

ever asked him about it he wouldn´t stop.

Ho"a was a degenerate, if he wasn´t riding his longboard he was fucking. 4hat

put him in a bad light with his stepfather, who was also his boss. #fter years of

getting into ghts, Ho"a nally got fed up and left. ;roblem was he had no

money when he left. %o he ended up crashing where ever he could,

sometimes at my place, sometimes at 3ugene´s, sometimes at -at #ldo´s.

1eto2 always had a new movie, book or song to tell you about. He loved nding

those pieces art that nobody had heard about and then sharing them with

everyone.

4hen there was (alaga. 3veryone always said that (alaga was cra>y and he

kind of was. He had $i?;olar disorder and he refused to take meds for it. I

respected that about him. It meant he wasn´t going to let society or anyone



dictate how he was going to live his life, it also meant he would sometimes go

berserk. $ut it never held him back with the ladies, if I didn´t know any better I

´d say it actually gave him an edge. #nother thing about (alaga is that he

loved cocaine@ I mean a lot, enough to always carry a bag with him. -or that we

called him' Ara>y $ags!.

#nd lastly there was me, and well, the less said about me the better.

4here were no leaders in our crew, we didn´t care for them. We didn´t want

some established hierarchy that predetermined how we did things. We didn´t

need it. When decision time came, we all said our piece, we all delegated, we

all decided. %ure 3ugene would sometimes give orders, we´d follow them when

it suited us and ignored them when it didn´t. 3ugene didn´t seem to mind, he

just liked giving orders.

%ince (alaga and Ho"a where always out of money they were always looking

for a place where they could bum some food. $ecause I had a lot of money

saved up from a job I did for the state I was happy to oblige. I never liked

seeing people starve, much less seeing a friend starve. 4hey would come over

and we would pitch in to make our meal. We always make either fried

vegetables with spaghetti or pasta with red sauce. We´d eat in big round bowls

and made sure they were lled up to the top. #fter we were done, we would all

smoke cigarettes and laughed about what had happened night before. 4hen

we would usually watch a movie, waiting till 1eto2 and 3ugene should up.

<ne day one us, I don´t remember who, had the idea to make video of our

e2ploits. We all got enthusiastic. I had recently borrowed a o ;ro from a friend

so I thought it was a good e2cuse to use it. 3ugene´s girlfriend, ;ilar, hadanother o ;ro. 4hat meant we had two cameras.

We got together at midday, somewhere around the %kate ;ark. I wore the

camera on my head, while the others took turns with the second camera. We

rode through the pier up to 8arco (ar, then then we turned on 8arco #v. and we

went up the bikeway. 1ow to understand what happened ne2t you need to

know a bit about Bennedy ;ark and a transnational conglomerate called' 8os

;ortales.

Bennedy ;ark is basically the center of (ira)ores, if you go out any given day

of the week and go to (ira)ores, chances are you´d end up at Bennedy ;ark. 4he problem was the parking, places to park circled the place, but it was still

very limited, taking in account how many people actually went a -riday or a

%aturday night. 8os ;ortales, that made most it´s money o" parking lots, saw

an opportunity in this. %o somehow they managed to appropriate a fraction of

the park for themselves and started building a parking lot. $ut that wasn´t

enough they needed to make sure they were the only source for parking

spaces. %o they made a deal with the municipality. 4he municipality would



make a bikeway, getting rid of the parking spaces that circled the. What the

municipality got out it wasn´t so clear, but I´m pretty sure that a big wad of

cash was involved. #nyways they made the bikeway, but like everything done

in 8ima it was done half?assed. When they painted it, they divided in two,

indicating that one half was for going in one direction and the other half for the

other direction. ;roblem was there wasn´t enough space for two bikes, so if youmet up with another biker that was going in the opposite direction. %omeone

had to stop and wait for the other person to pass. 8ater they painted it red and

e2panded it, but still you could see how badly organi>ed the endeavor was with

how they initially constructed it. ;lus there was something far worse than that

they never really 2ed. 4o separate the $ikeway and the road, they put a small,

yellow and black barrier, which was about two feet high. %ince most of the

drivers in 8ima think that they are staring in the ne2t -ast C -urious lm, it was

probable necessary. $ut again, it was half?assed. 4he $arrier was too high, to

close to the bikeway and worst of all@ it had several gaps, making it easy for

bike to get stuck. It was because of this barrier that I had my accident.

oing back to that day, we rode all the way up to Bennedy ;ark. %o I could lm

them, I was in back of everyone. <nce we reached the park I decided it be cool

for the video if I passed all at very high speed. I remember it clearly. I started to

peddle hard. I passed 1eto2, (alaga, 3ugene, ;ilar and just after passing Ho"a,

my foot slipped and I lost control of the bike. 4he bike shifted towards the

barrier, the right peddles found its way into one of the gaps and, thanks to how

fast I was going, the bike tripped forward, throwing me o". I landed face down,

putting my hands rst. %aying it was painful would be an understatement. I

heard a laugh coming from behind me. I turned my head to see that the

laughter was coming from my crew. #ll I did was get up, picked up the bike, goton it and kept riding.

I felt ne for two blocks, but then my wrist started to hurt when I grabbed the

break. 4hen I saw how swelled my nger was. I started going slower, my crew

noticed. 3ugene asked me if I wanted to go the clinic. We all hated doctors and

always avoided visiting them whenever possible. I said it was ne, that it was

probably just a bruise and would put ice on it when I got home. $ut the pain got

worse, so bad that I could barely grab the break. I decided it was too dangerous

to keep going. I told them that I was going home. 4hey said they would keep

going with the video and then come down to my place to see how I was doing.

<n the way home I accidentally ran over someone, I yelled that I was sorry as Ipeddled away but I don´t think it mattered much.

#t home I immediately put my wrist on ice. 4hen I lay down and started to

listen to some music. #fter a while the pain got too intense to ignore. %o I went

to the cabinet looking for painkillers, all I found was some ;anadol and sleeping

pills. I took two of each, then went to the frige and grabbed a bear. :ust as I

nished drinking it, the doorbell rang, it was my crew. 4hey asked me how I



was. I told them it hurt but I didn´t think that it was fractured. <f course, I was

lying I was pretty sure it was fractured I just didn´t want to go the doctor. 4hey

told me they were going to hit $onilla asked me if I was up for it. I told them I

was game.

$onilla´s ve bars were all packed, but for some reason we were all depressed.

We didn´t )irt with any girls, we hardly joke around, we just drank our beer and

took turns with (alaga´s bag of coke. I left early, knowing what was to come

the following day.

4he ne2t day I got up early and went to the clinic, (alaga came with me. 4he

clinic was full@ we had to wait three hours before I could nally see a doc, then

an hour more before I could get the 2?rays. When the results came, I went back

to the doctor6s o=ce, going in I knew it was going to be bad news. #nd I was

right@ I had fractured my wrist and my nger. 4o make matters worse both of

the fractures where on joints, so if they had to operate. 4he doctor put a cast

on me. 4hen I went back to (alaga. I told him the news. He said' %hit, takecare of yourself man.! 4hen he suggested we buy a bottle of rum. #nd we did,

or I did, (alaga was broke again, he had wasted all his money on coke.

In the days to come we acted like nothing had happened. 4he crew would ride

in the mornings then come visit me after lunch. 4hen we´d walk from my house

to the park with the cross. 4here we´d drink rum and smoke weed until

evening. #fter that it be $onilla or my place to watch movies. We were still the

same crew, just one us couldn´t ride.

I started drinking like never before. I knew it wasn´t good for the fractured

bones but after my accident I had sunk into depression. I had already beensomewhat depressed before, but the accident threw me o" the edge. Riding

made me forget all the other fucked up shit that was going on with my life.

When I couldn´t ride all the shit came creeping back.

<ne night, coming home from $onilla, Ho"a said to me' If you don´t take care

of yourself that hand is going to rot and fall o".! I just laughed, but I knew that

he was telling the truth.

We continued with the video. %ince I couldn´t ride we made up other things we

could throw in. 8ike Ho"a telling about time he fucked -at #ldo´s girlfriend in

-at #ldo´s bed while -at #ldo was with his kids downstairs or 3ugene sayingaaaaaaaaaaa! to the camera. <ne day (alaga was at my place and he

decided that him throwing up should be part of the video. I agreed.

We called up the rest and told them to come down, but only Ho"a could make

it, he brought along %ara. Ho"a´s girlfriend had broken up with him because he

fucked everything with two legs. %o in his depression, he had decided that the

best solution was to keep fucking everything with two legs.



We all got together and walked all the way down to the park with the cross. <n

our way (alaga got himself drunk with a bottle of rum that he had stolen,

which he drank it mostly by himself. It was somewhere around mid?day when

we got there. (alaga was already taking incoherently. While Ho"a made out

with %ara, (alaga and I planed the shot. I wanted to do a low angle close up,

while (alaga wanted the shot to entail him coming skating down the ramp,then he would reach cross and he would throw up. 4his would mean the camera

would be from war away, I didn´t like that. 4he only thing we really agreed

upon was the cross. In the end (alaga decided he was ready to throw up, I

decided that my left hand would be too shaky, so I gave the camera to Ho"a

and he told (alaga to just throw up in front of the cross. %o (alaga got in front

of the cross, he stuck his nger up his throat and the vomit poured out. #fter

he was done he took another drink and did it again. 4hen he went to where

%ara was and started )irting with her, while Ho"a swirled the camera around

the vomit.

We went back to my place to check the material we had just lmed. When Iopened the %D card, I found that for some reason the camera hadn´t lmed

anything. I looked for about an hour it just wasn´t there. (alaga got depressed

and threw himself to the )oor, saying he wasn´t going to move. I had to go do

some things, so told (alaga to get up.

(alaga just responded' 1o man, I throw up for nothing.!

I need to leave, you need to get up.!

:ust ignore him,! Ho"a suggested.

I can´t ignore him, I´m not going leave him lying around in my house.!

#t the end, 1eto2 showed up and convinced (alaga to steal some more rum.

(alaga got up saying' <k, only for the rum.!

4hey went o" to keep drinking@ I went o" to do my things.

While all this was happening I was getting ready for my operation, with whole

array of test, e2amines and appointments, which I will not list here. I was nally

ready for it about one week after the accident.

$efore going to the clinic I was at my house, lying in bed, dreading what was

come@ Ho"a was there too, sitting at the computer looking for some chick to

bang. I didn´t e2pect Ho"a to come to the clinic with me, he hated clinics, his

daughter had died in a clinic a few years back because she was allergic to a

drug they gave her.

I looked at the time.



It´s time I get going!, I said.

Ho"a shut his -acebook and stood up. He suddenly said' I´m getting

depressed.!

WhyE!

He just came to where I was, kissed me on the forehead and said' 3verything

is going to be alright.!

I went to the clinic@ he went to screw some girl. I had to wait three hours before

I could get into the operation room. I te2ted the others while I waited. (alaga

asked if I was scared. I responded that only a little. 4hat was understatement, I

was freaking out inside. 4he truth was anything could go wrong in that

operating table. 3ven the anesthesia could kill me or worse leave me like a

fucking vegetable. Fet I found a way to calm down, telling myself that if I didn´t

go through with the operation I might lose movement in my nger and my

wrist.

4he nurse nally came and took me to the operating room. I was pushed there

in moveable bed, when I reached it they passed me to operating table. -rom

there I saw them pass knives, scalpels and other things. 4hey talked in medical

gibberish. 4he anesthesiologist came and injected me with some very potent

stu" and in a few minutes I was asleep.

When I woke up the pain was e2cruciating. 4hey gave me painkillers, a lot of

painkillers, but it still hurt like hell. I asked for morphine, but they didn´t have

any.

When I came out of intensive cares my mother told me that 3ugene and ;ilar

had come to visit me while I was on the operating table. 4hey had left after

they had reali>ed it would take some time for me to come out.

<nce I got back to my room the whole crew te2ted me to see how the

operation had gone. Ho"a apologi>ed that he couldn´t call, since he had used

all his phone credits on pussy. (alaga told me steal some (orphine, so we

could all have some when we got out the clinic. I told him there wasn´t any.

4hen he suggested that I take dump in the middle of doctor´s o=ce. I just

laughed. 1eto2 told me about movie he had just watched. It was about this

#merican drug dealer that lives in 4hailand. He runs the business with hisbrother, who is bat?shit cra>y. <ne night his bother murders a young prostitute

and police lieutenant convinces the father of the prostitute to kill the drug

dealer´s brother. When the drug dealer nds out he decides the killing was

justied. $ut everything gets complicated when the drug dealer´s mother

arrives and she wants him to kill both the cop and the prostitute´s father. #nd



that´s just about all 1eto2 told me about the movie. I never came around to

see it.

I spent the ne2t few days I spent in the clinic, mostly alone. %ome other friends

would come and visit, but the crew never came, they were too busy riding. I

guess they all hated modern medicine so much that they were afraid to come.

When I got home I invited the crew over to have some beers. 4hey all came@

%ara and her bise2ual lover, #na, came too. 4hey told me they we´re glad I was

alright. We went to the store to buy some alcohol, smoking weed on the way.

We bought the beers and went to pier. 4here we played I never! and Ho"a

admitted that he loved fucking travesties.

4he doctor had prescribed a blister of painkillers and I had eaten three of them,

so most of what I was speaking was incoherent. I spoke a bit with #na, but she

couldn´t understand what I was talking, so she went to %ara saying was cra>y.

%ara just laughed' His alright, his just on painkillers.!

#fter we nished the beers at the pier, we bought a bottle of rum and went

back to my place. We spent the night drinking, talking, laughing, taking turns at

making out with %ara and #na. When day broke, they went on their ways.

Ho"a left with both %ara and #na. $efore they left, we all hugged each outside

my house. I was back with my crew, everything was good.

In the following days I got addicted to painkillers. I would take one ever

morning, after walking up and one in the evening, after dinner. $ecause of this I

ran out of painkillers really fast. I told (alaga about my shortage of pills and

the ne2t they he appeared with blister of something called Aelebre2.

Here try this stu"@ they give it to people who are dying of Aancer.!

%o I did. 4hen drank a &uarter bottle of rum and went straight to heaven. 4he

cocktail left me da>ed state and was so numb that I couldn´t feel any pain

anymore. I didn´t know how (alaga got the pills but was damn glad that he

did.

4hat day I was trying out my new phone and I took a picture of (alaga sitting

on my bed. He looked like a strung?out junkie in the photo. We both laughed at

it. 4hen (alaga left and I had an idea. 8ooking back it was a very dumb ideabut I implemented it just the same. I posted the picture on -acebook with the

hashtags' Gpostcoke, Gpostparty. We hadn´t done any coke at the time but I

thought it would be funny to mock how people believed everything they saw in

social media. ;lus I was depressed again and I needed a laugh.

(alaga later te2ted me, saying he had gotten in a ght with his mother

because of the picture. I burst out laughing, I kept laughing for about ten



minutes straight, then I apologi>ed. (alaga said it was ok, but I could tell he

was pissed. #fter that he would be a little more reluctant to come to my house.

We still got together whenever the crew got together, but he preferred to keep

me at a distance. He knew that however cra>y he was, I was cra>ier.

# month went by, my hand got better. I stared to ride again. #nd suddenly it

was just like old times. I would meet the crew in the morning@ we would ride all

day, then get drunk and high at night. It felt good to be cycling again. It felt

good to feel the bree>e as I hit the peddles. It felt good to be riding with my

crew once more.

I was still addicted to painkillers, but since the doctor didn´t have any reason to

prescribe them anymore, he didn´t give me any. %o I so got some morphine

through one of 1eto2´s contacts. I had never tried morphine before, but damn

was it good. I liked it so much that I started taking ve pills a day, two in the

morning, one in the afternoon and two at night. I would go riding in my

painkiller ha>e, it be di"erent perspective, I would be active, yet I would neverbe tense, on the contrary I felt wholly rela2ed.

4he others would notice and say' Hey, /amalloa´s on painkiller´s again.! #nd,

don´t keep all for yourself man, share.!

#fter I had outed (alaga as cokehead, the obvious happened' everyone started

treating him like a cokehead. ;eople would gesture like he was snorting blow

as he passed by, then they laughed. #nd everyone asked him for the stu". <ne

time we´re drinking at $onilla and I asked (alaga for some blow. He said sure,

and we went to the bathroom. #s we went inside, two guys appeared and came

in with us. We both knew what they wanted. (y arm was still kind of healingand (alaga is small, so we couldn´t pick a ght. We just did our lines and they

went on their way.

8ater I asked, (alaga' Did you know themE!

I have fucking no idea who they were.!

4hat happen oftenE!

1ow it does.!

#nd then just like our little crew had gotten together out of nothing, it justbroke apart. 4here was no specic reason for that@ there were just things we

were all neglecting too much, for too much time. -at #ldo had nally noticed

that Ho"a was fucking his girlfriend and didn´t let him stay over anymore. ;lus

3ugene and I were pretty much sick of Ho"a´s constant bumming. %o Ho"a had

no choice but to go back his house and work for his father again. During the

months we hung out together, it had been slow season for 3ugene´s family

business. %o he had had a lot of time spend with the crew. <nce things started



moving again he had to go back to work. 1eto2 got a girlfriend and went back

to school to nish up his major. %ince (alaga mother wasn´t giving him any

money anymore because of my post, he had to look for job. He ended up as a

receptionist in a hostel. I had run out of money, so I cut down on the morphine

and started looking for freelancer jobs online. #fter a few days I found some

and I was working again. #nd that was that.

We´d still crossed each other6s paths once in while whenever we´d go to

$onilla. We´d have a few beers, reminisce about old times and then go back to

whoever we came with. $ut we knew it wasn´t the same. We had all gone our

separate paths and it had to be that way. I still rode every day. I missed the

crew, but still I knew it was time to move on.

%ometimes I found myself staring into nothingness, thinking about those days

when all we cared about was riding, drugs and girls. It wasn´t that everything

was ok when we were together, far from it, but that was the point, it didn´t

matter. When we rode we didn´t care about anything else, we just did it.1othing else mattered, just us, our vehicle of choice and the road.

(aybe one day when I manage to save up some money again, we´ll get

together and hit the road once more. <r maybe our time as crew will just be

memory, ready to fade away like dust shifting in the wind at a cool desert

sunset.

:ackie Aoogan

<ctober rd, +JJ

homeless riders (or a short story about the time doing nothing)

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