Rusty's Tacos
It was pretty difficult trying to find a job here in Los Angeles. A fresh adult, just getting out of college; I didn't have much of a degree. I couldn't decide what I ever wanted to be when I grew up, so here I was in California looking for a job and I see a sign that said "Looking for workers!" I guess I was too eager to get into a job and didn't think this one through. Now I'm stuck working on a food truck that sells tacos and I make barely any money.
I guess I can't complain though, it isn't the worst job I could get; hell, some people don't even have jobs. The hours aren't that bad, I guess; I only have to work in the afternoons. Most of my shifts were normal; however, on the 12th day of me working there, my life changed forever.
I was serving tacos as per usual, and it was rush hour (I could tell by the size of the line). As I was making some fish tacos for a customer, I noticed that the line started to form a circle and I heard the people fawning over something. After I served the customer, a dog came out of the crowd and approached the truck. It was a golden retriever with no collar. It didn't look like anyone owned it, and it sure as hell looked hungry, so I figured I would grab one of the pre-made tacos we had and give it to him. I bent over and handed him the taco. He grabbed it with his mouth and ran off down the sidewalk until I lost sight of him. Ever since that day the dog kept coming back for his taco.
The dog was a business maker! Every day at 2:30 p.m. the dog would show up and everyone wanted to pet him. He was super friendly and he was a crowd favorite. After he was done greeting all the customers, he would walk up to the truck, I would hand him the taco, and he scampered off down the sidewalk. I decided that if this was going to be a daily thing, I might as well give him a name. I wasn't good at naming anything, so I decided to stick with the first thing that came to my head. Rusty, his name will be Rusty.
I was always curious where Rusty went after I gave him the taco. He would always dash off in the same path until he would turn and I would lose sight of him. I decided I would take break a little early one day and I would follow him. He showed up at 2:30 p.m. to get his taco, I gave it to him, he began his journey down the sidewalk, and I closed shop for a while and followed him through the crowds. We must've walked for a few minutes, taking turns into alleys and using different shortcuts. Finally he got to one street where he walked under a blue awning. It had a cardboard box under it with some blankets covering an old man with a full beard of grey hair. Rusty bowed his head down and placed the taco on the man's lap and laid down next to him. The old man sat up and tore a piece off of the taco and handed it to Rusty and ate the rest for himself. All this time, all these days, Rusty has been coming to get food for his owner, a homeless man living on the streets.
It must've been almost 4 months now and for the following days I decided to give Rusty two tacos; one for the man, and one for Rusty. Now that I knew that Rusty was more than just any ordinary street dog, I was excited to see him every day. I decided I would spice up the tacos a little bit and change them up. I put guacamole on some of them, some I put chicken; I decided I would try to make it different every day. I even made a special taco that the customers could order called "The Rusty Taco." It was basically a loaded taco with meat, guacamole, lettuce, and cheese. I decided I would let Rusty try it out one day so I gave him two. Every day, Rusty kept coming for his tacos, and the new customers loved to pet him when he arrived.
Well, except, one day... 2:30 p.m. arrived and there was no sign of Rusty. The regular customers were confused and I was extremely worried. I began thinking of the worst. I decided to close the shop early that day and I began to search for Rusty. I remembered the path that I had once followed Rusty down, so I continued down the streets calling for him. There was no sight of him, and people began to look at me like I was some lunatic. I began to run down the streets until I finally came upon it. I got to the awning where I previously saw the old man with Rusty. Rusty sat there letting out a slight wail, his head down on the ground next to the old man's cold lifeless body. People took out their umbrellas as it started to rain, passing his body, not even acknowledging the tragedy that has happened. In distraught, I decided to call 911 and tell them there was a body of a homeless man at the corner Silver St. under the blue awning.
I walked up to Rusty and hugged him. Tears started pouring from my eyes, not only for Rusty, but for the fact that no one cares enough to notice the calamity that has taken place. I sat under an umbrella with Rusty, and the coroners eventually arrived to take the body away. I didn't return to the taco truck that day. I decided I would take Rusty to my home and let him stay there. Rusty seemed to like it there; he got his own bed, he got to take baths, and he got tons of food. So, I decided I would adopt him permenantly. From then on, Rusty would wake me up everyday at 11:30 a.m. to get ready to work in the taco truck, and he would come along too! He became the mascot of the food truck and the customers loved him. And every day, at 2:30 p.m. while I was making tacos, he would remind me that it was time for him to have a little treat too.
The End
Its not a goodbye, but a thank you.
