Taco Ballz Deep- Chapter Three: Lustin' Lunchin'

Una was working the cash register while Miro was on the fryer in the back. A few minutes just short of eleven, five men in Confederate attire came in to order. "we'll take 10 double orders of your Taco Ballz Packs," said a man with his musket shouldered to an intrigued Una. She had lived in this town her whole life and had never seen Civil War reenactment volunteers before this moment. Then again, Una had never been on this side of town before outside of when she was passing through to get to the airport on a couple of rare occasions. Typically those were trips made in the dead of night or early morning hours. She had also never noticed a strip club called the Tilted Beaver until she came into work that very morning and had seen it across the parking lot. "Well get to it girlie. We've gotta go here in a little," the man said rushing Una who was ringing up his order to pass onto Miro. Una handed them their cups to fill at the drinking fountain. The man paid with a hundred-dollar bill that must have been from the 80s because it was so outdated looking that Una used the special marker at the register to check if it was real. Una next went to give Miro a hand with the order. Once she had the hang of it, Miro went to the restaurant lobby to chat with the men.

"I see it's that time of year again," Miro grinned as he shook each of their hands. "Oh you know I wouldn't miss it for the world. Say how's your uncle holding up? He always talked about selling up, I never thought he'd do it," the reenactment actor with extra brass on his uniform asked. Miro responded, "He would have kept the place open forever, but you know he's on to bigger and better things." This made the group roar in laughter. A man with a missing saber slapped Miro on the back, "So he is marrying old hairy Sherry after all?!" They all howled so hard that they had tears coming down their faces.

Una came with their order not much later while they were still chatting. Miro introduced each of them, "This is my assistant manager, Una. Una this is Bill, Joe, Lou, Duke, and Gene." Una set down their tray and smiled, "Nice to meet you." Miro explained, "They reenact the Battle of Gin Berry Field every year at the park a few blocks from here." Una who was not too familiar with Civil War history asked, "Gin Berry Field? I've never heard of it." Miro chuckled, "You wouldn't have. It's a reimagining of an event that didn't happen." Lou spoke up, "It would have if Custer had lived. That was the name that was supposed to be given to this town had the war not gone the way that it did." Una now starting to see the picture, let out a friendly, "oh," in acknowledgment before going back into the kitchen to keep an eye on the drive-thru.

She could hear Miro over the street traffic caution them not to go into the Tilted Beaver as his uncle had. This had the men in stitches again with Bill saying, "No need to fear there, I've already got enough heifers on my ranch!" The men laughed so heartily that they struggled to catch their breath. Not much later they all went on with their day leaving the restaurant silent. Miro put on an old Journey playlist connected to speakers on top of the cooler. Una gave into her intrusive thought and asked Miro, "Why is it called the Tilted Beaver?" What's tilted?" Miro laughed quietly at the silliness of the answer, "Because the building has a bad foundation and Eddy who owns it has never fixed it properly. It's held up by car jacks." Una snickered at this answer, not sure how the owner Eddy was skirting the building inspectors.

Chris and Pete came into the restaurant lobby not too much later. Pete went into the restroom while Chris asked for two free glasses of water. Una politely obliged. Chris looked over Una and asked Miro who was at the drive-through behind her, "Was that Duke and the gang here earlier?" Miro who was reading over old receipts replied, "Yup, it sure was. You should head over to the park. I bet you'll meet a lot of interested folks." By then Pete was finished and yelled over Una to Miro, "I thought you called the police about those two hobos earlier? They're back at it again behind the dumpsters." Una feeling uncomfortable being a physical block to the conversation went to wipe down the tables even though they did not need to be. Miro lying to them said, "Oh they must have come back after they left. I'll call again." The missionaries walked out ignoring Una who waved at them a shy goodbye.

Once they were out of sight Una asked Miro if he was going to call the police this time because she was almost sure the two fornicators had never stopped since Chris and Pete had pointed them out hours ago. Miro sticking with his established plan told her, "No let's leave it alone. Seriously, how long can two hobos have sex? They've got to be finished soon."