CUIDATE

I haven't seen him in about four years, and with the exception of the tan he's exactly the same, on speed, says he totaled the Benz, remember the white Benz? - totaled, man, haha! - he's being sued, and did some jail time, and got caught with some shit, intent to sell, and cops raided his house, and found some more shit, and had to sell his house, and made over $8,000 off of it but that didn't last a week, man, haha, and bought another house, and was followed and eventually chased by the police, and held up traffic for hours in Panorama City, and wouldn't come out, and called a lawyer, and eventually moved to Oildale right outside of Bakersfield, and befriended a 63-year old grandmother who didn't speak Spanish, and took her to Tijuana - her family shouting KIDNAPPING, and became a waiter earning 400 pesos a day (not including tips) doing private parties, and was arrested three times in one day, on his very first day, and partied for a few weeks, and successfully crossed the border without any papers (he is not a U.S. Citizen) and took the 63-year old grandmother back home to Oildale, and came back to Van Nuys to score some speed but everyone's dry right now, the economy, probably, I say, and the cops are still after him with warrants, and got his RN License taken away, and, man, haha, guess what? he says, gunna start a gay porn website, that's where the money's at, and well, cuidate, gotta run, and I tell him he needs to write a book, and he doesn't say anything but only thinks about it as he walks away.

Luis Rivas served as an international observer for the Presidential elections in El Salvador earlier this year, which was brilliantly chronicled in Unlikely Stories. (www.unlikelystories.org)