Free Kung Fu High School by Ryan Gattis Page B

I said, so cute.
    I always make my dad's mom's tamale recipe for Mrs. Rodriguez when we come to visit. I know that she doesn't eat too good with Remo always cooking. Sometimes I bring over two meals a week, but usually at least one. Tamales are one of the only things I can do well though, so I've had to be good with experimenting or else it would get too boring. I made tuna tamales once but that was a disaster. I mostly just stick to ground beef or chicken, but I make pork when we can afford it.
    Remo's mom has early onset Alzheimer's. She'd be asking me who I was in ten minutes. You get used to it eventually. Her condition is why Remo lived at home still. He was probably twenty-six when she got diagnosed. He'd definitely be married and super rich and successful by now if he didn't insist on staying at the free clinic and taking care of his mom.
    "So I hear there's a guy
en el hospital
who needed some real TLSC." Remo was looking right at Cue. "Tender loving sternum care."
    "Really?" Give Cue credit. He genuinely sounded surprised.
    "Dr. Vanez got called in. Saved the kid's life, as per usual." Remo looked at Jimmy, who was sitting down on the arm of the chair I was sitting in.
    "That's good. I've heard of Vanez. He's the best supposedly." Cue knew Vanez real well. The guy was an orthopedic surgeon and a legend. When we still had a mom and a family insurance policy because of her teaching job, Vanez rebuilt Cue's shoulder. He did an amazing job too. Unless I'm a foot or two away from his skin, I can't see the scars. They blend real well.
    "Indeed he is," Remo said, "indeed he is."
    He made me soak my hands in the hot water. It was almost too hot. Then he took out his tools and sterilized one of the needles before picking out the splinters. Total: five, but one big one underneath a fingernail. That hurt, but as far as splinters went, it was pretty good for me. Last time it was seven. Remo didn't stop with just the removal though. He dried my palms with a towel and then rubbed this real dark brown stuff on my hands. It smelled like tequila and evergreen trees but it looked like mud.
    "What the hell is this?" I asked. He'd picked splinters out of my hands before but never used brown stuff to salve it.
    "Good Mexican medicine, just keep your palms up until they dry. Then rinse it off" Remo went to put his tools away.
    "Just as long as it isn't shit," I said, and I heard Remo laugh from down the hall but he didn't contradict me. Great. It probably was shit, part of it anyway.
    We said goodnight to Mrs. Rodriguez as she got shepherded back to her own room to watch the rest of her show. I did always wonder if she could keep up with those mysteries. I mean,
Matlock
was an hour long so I'm sure she'd forgotten everybody by the time they figured out who the killer was.
    "So, what did you bring for me today? Jeunet
y
Caro? A little
Delicatessen?
" Remo was anxious but probably because he thought we forgot to bring a video again.
    "Warm. Better than that though." Cue pulled a video out of his back pocket. It was wrapped in brown paper. Jimmy and I moved over to the couch and just waited for their little dance to end. Disappointingly, he didn't smell like licorice anymore. I brushed by him to check, dragged the flat of my knee across his, not too slowly, just as I sat down next to him but made real sure to leave a few inches in between in case he thought I was doing it on purpose.
    "
Dogme 95?
" Remo shouted it from the kitchen. He had put popcorn on the stovetop.
    "Colder. Better than that crap." Cue squeezed in between Jimmy and me. Bastard.
    "What is it, man? Just tell me."
    Pop.
    "
Hate.
"
    Pop. Pop.
    "Hater?"
    Pop.
    "Yeah,
La Haine.
It's French."
    Pop. Pop. Pop.
    "Is it any good?"
    Pop. Pop.
    I could hear Remo pull his popcorn off the burner early. He was a weird guy. For some reason he liked his popcorn really underdone and he'd eat the kernels all the time, real loudly, always during the most tense moments in the movie