Scandinavian Tequila
By Paul Haedo
Chapter One — selected excerpt

Chapter One

"Look at this, Diego!" Javier remarked out of the blue.

"What do you want now?"

"The chassis metal feels more like plastic than metal. What's going on?"

"The American company is saving money per unit; what else do you think is going on?"

"True," Javier said, "but plastic does not feel right."

"Neither do your words in the middle of our shift!"

The summer heat blared across the factory floor. The San Luis Potosí Assembly was a decent factory, and Diego was thankful that he and his brother had been given the opportunity to work there. Still, the Mexican summer was a force of nature that was not easily countered. The heat of the thousands of welders and other car assembly machines did not help matters either.

"Where do you want to eat later?"

"Let's do Alejandro's," Diego said almost immediately.

"That's what we did yesterday . . ."

"And it's something we can do again!"

"Fine, Alejandro's it is then."

© Paul Haedo. All rights reserved.
Author-supplied manuscript; opening selection beginning at paragraph 1. Paragraph numbering follows non-empty body paragraphs in the supplied file. Authorized short excerpt; full manuscript is not exposed.