“Where do you wanna go, ese?” Tudy asked Boy.
Boy, who’d just gotten come home from college, had lost the lay of the land in the Southside. He wanted to go where he would run into his old high school friends, but the old hang outs had shifted.
The old drive-in where he used to hang out had become a Mexa watering hole. And the alternative, Big Ben’s Diner, had closed.
“Pos let’s go to the Frost Stop, ese,” he replied to Tudy.
“Chale, ese. It’s a dompe. We go there and everybody sees us, we’ll get burned,” Tudy said.
“It’s a dompe?” Boy asked.
“Simón. It’s a pinche dompe sura. All the vatos there are still in their dirty work clothes. And nothing to do but pistear birria, and only one kind of birria. Always mas dark que la fregada, like you’re in a cave bien gatcho. And no rucas, just vatos locos,” Tudy said.
“Pos sounds interesting, ese. I remember it used to be a hamburger joint,” Boy said.
“Pos it still is, but nel, I ain’t eating anything they serve at that dompe,” Tudy said.
“Then where does the raza hang out these days?” Boy asked, in disbelief that a popular family take out had fall so far from grace.
“Depends on what raza you’re talking about, ese. Raza that have something going on go across town. The dompes, they go there,” said Tudy.
“Where do you think we’ll run into El Low Rider?” asked Boy.
Tudy hesitated.
“Pos he might be there,” Tudy said.
A short while later, they were standing in the Frost Top waiting for their eyes to adjust to the darkness in the bar.
“You see El Low Rider?” Boy asked Tudy.
“Who’s asking?” a stout man in sunglasses and black fedora asked.
Boy jumped back. Tudy wasn’t startled.
“Hey, ese. You remember Boy?” Tudy asked El Low Rider.
“Oh, simón. Flaco’s carnalito. Where you been, ese?” El Low Rider asked.
“College,” Boy said.
“College? Then why are you here in this dompe,” El Low Rider said.
“Came to see if I recognize any old faces,” Boy said.
“Pos if you’re looking for dompes, they’re here. But if you hang around too much, you’re gonna get burned around the barrio,” El Low Rider said.
