"'Drought, no drought, makes no difference. The aqueduct was built with tax money, yes? The aqueduct brings the water, yes? So everybody should have it, right? But this is water for Mr. Resnick. Not the people. When it doesn’t come, he finds a way to make it come.' He spits tobacco juice into the empty can of Rockstar. 'The checks the workers bring in here from Mr. Resnick are the same checks they bring in for years. I cash them the same. Nothing changes. Big fish eat the small fish here. Anything else I can help you with?'
He seems in a hurry. He guides me back into the main store with its displays of fresh fruit and vegetables, meats, cold cuts, and baked goods. The shelves spill piñatas, gloves, hats, pruning shears, and loaves of Bimbo white bread. The wall of Pacifico and 16-ounce cans of Bud is rebuilt daily. Vicente Fernández, the king of Ranchera music, is crooning to no one, but it won’t be this way in 30 minutes, Hussein tells me. Today is quincena day, twice-a-month payday, and he needs me to scram because the workers coming in to cash their checks and wire 25 percent back across the border to families in Guanajuato and Guerrero will wonder if I’m with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. If that happens, they’ll go down the highway, and he’ll lose the $1 he takes for every $100 worth of their checks. 'It’s a bad day,' he says, shooing me out. 'You look like Border Patrol undercover.'"
~ Mark Arax
"A Kingdom from Dust" — The California Sunday Magazine
https://story.californiasunday.com/resnick-a-kingdom-from-dust
Radiohead – "Optimistic Lyrics" | Genius Lyrics
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