Carlos Gutierrez
Carlos had been up at 5 o'clock in the morning, to his dismay, to help out his mother with prepping at La Panaderia. It was the summer; he was supposed to be sleeping in late and staying up all night like a normal teenager. But of course with a business only run by two people, these were sacrifices he had to make. Since school was out, there wasn't anything left to do than to work at the bakery or hang out with his friends. After all it was Red Lake. There was literally
nothing to do. With Carlos being easily bored, it prompted him to get into trouble which included playing pranks on people or just doing mischievous behavior. Even though he was technically an adult as of last month, he was still a kid at heart and no one was safe from his wrath.
Carlos and his mother Angie were in the back kitchens kneading and baking bread like their lives depended on it. The young Hispanic boy was covered in flower as he took freshly baked cookies and sweat bread to the front of the shop, placing them in their respective shelves. The smell of freshly baked sweets filled the entire bakery, an aroma that never got old with the many years this shop had been open. Carlos wiped the sweat off of his forehead with his arm as he glanced at a few customers already waiting outside the doors for them to open. They had their usual everyday early birds who loved to be the first ones to get their sweets fresh out of the oven with their coffee. Carlos headed back into the kitchen to finish helping his mother when he grabbed a handful of flower and blew it in his mom's face. She froze and closed her eyes as the white flour landed on her face, finally opening her eyes and glaring at her son. Carlos puckered his lips together to keep himself from laughing.
"Carlos Enrique you are not too old for a butt whooping. Don't make me take off my chancla and beat you with it, pendejo," Angie said assertively. None of them had Hispanic accents since they were both born in the states. But they both knew Spanish fluently despite their use of Spanglish. Carlos couldn't help but bust out laughing. His mother always had a thing for empty threats and it made it that much fun to mess with her. He almost felt sorry for his mother since she was the one that was the victim of most of his pranks. But it was all in love and she secretly loved it. "Now get back to work, there's a lot that we have to do."
"Our usuals are already waiting outside. And plus I told you I was going on a trip for a few days with my friends. So you're gonna have to bust your ass by yourself in the meantime," Carlos said while doing a little dance.
"Watch your mouth," Angie said with pursed lips while whacking him with a towel. "Dios mio I totally forgot about that. What am I supposed to do, there's so much work. Ugggghhh!" Angie banged her head lightly against the wall in frustration.
"Mom, there's always a lot of work no matter what time of the day it is. You seem to handle it just fine when I'm at school. I think you're just spoiled having me home now so you've gotten lazy," he said teasingly.
"Watch it boy," his mother said trying to hold back a smirk. She put her hand through her apron and pulled out her phone to check the time. "Well if you're gonna leave, do it now. You still need to take a shower and change your clothes unless you wanna leave looking like that," she said pointing at Carlos' flour ridden apron and clothes.
"Oh you don't have to worry about me. I always look good." Carlos smiled and leaned in to kiss his mother on the cheek. "I'll call you when we're on the road."
"You better! The last time you went on one of your little trips, I barely heard from you. Casi me da un ataque al corazón," she said clutching her heart, saying she almost had a heart attack.
"Aye ma you're so dramatic. I promise I'll call you," Carlos said as he took off his apron and headed out the back. "See you soon madre, te amo!"
"I love you too honey, stay safe. AND YOU BETTER NOT TAKE ANYTHING FROM MY LIQUOR CABINET, MUGROSO," his mother called out as he left out the back. Carlos snickered and grabbed his skateboard, riding down the sidewalk until he got to his house. They only lived a block from their business. Living in a small town, it didn't take long at all to get anywhere.
He finally made his way home and wasted no time hopping in the shower and putting on fresh clothes. He had packed his bag the night before so he could just grab it and head out. He wore a black tank top with some skinny jeans cut off at the knee and some converse. He threw on his cap backwards on his wet hair and put on his sunglasses before grabbing his bag to head downstairs. In just the nick of time, he received the text message from Riley saying she was already at the school waiting with her RV. Why she decided to meet at the school was beyond him, but it didn't matter. This was going to be a kick ass trip. Right before he headed out the door, a devilish grin appeared on his face. He dropped his bag at the door and headed to his kitchen to the liquor cabinet. He knew someone from the crew was probably bringing some already but you could never have enough alcohol. Carlos opened the cabinet and grabbed a bottle of Patron Tequila that hadn't been opened yet.
"Sorry ma, you're just gonna have to be mad," he said to himself. He grabbed some freshly made churros that he made early and carried his things to his bag, leaving his house and riding on his skateboard to school. When he arrived, a good amount of his friends had already arrived. Damn that was quick, he thought to himself. He rode up to the RV and flipped his skateboard up to catch it.
"Just to let you gringos know, none of you are safe," he said mischievously. Carlos knew they knew what he meant. None of them were safe from his pranks and he knew they were probably plotting to get his ass in the near future. But he was too good to fall for any of it. He was the king of pranks. "So I hope y'all learned to sleep with your eyes open. But until then...churros and tequila anyone?" He said waving the items in front of everyone.
