One person's trash - part three

Listen to this.

Javier Escobedo pushes a gray, wooden-framed cart down a ramp from the loading dock to the parking lot. He has just left the auction floor where he paid $75 for the still mysterious contents of the cart. The cart is taller than he is, and evidently heavy as he struggles to maneuver it toward his pickup truck. He parks the cart behind his truck and kicks the lock tabs on the wheels. He walks around to the front and swings the hinged door open to reveal stacks of computer monitors, VCRs, and other electronic gear. “Nice.” Javier says, and gestures toward the stash. “Better than Tuesday.” He says.

Javier’s business partner is busy atop the ten-foot high pile of large appliances, furniture and boxes of clothing that are cradled tenuously between the home-made iron scaffolds welded to the frame of the 1974 Dodge D200. He’s stacking the merchandise for travel. Javier explains to me that there’s a technique to stacking all the goods so that they can achieve maximum height and still have a stable load. According to Javier, they are sometimes required to repack the trucks at the border as the highway bridges in Mexico don’t follow the clearance standards that we have here in the States. I asked him what happens to the items that still won’t fit in the truck after repacking. “We sell them there.” He says, and thrusts his index finger toward the ground indicating they set up shop on the side of the road, and sell what they can.

Javier starts sorting the goods from the bin, taking handfuls of computer cables, broken keyboards, and anything else that no longer holds any re-re-sale value to the dumpster in the middle of the lot. I turn back toward the loading dock in time to see two women arguing over a rolling cage of clothing. They’re standing in the middle of the dock, some five feet above the parking lot, yelling in Spanish, and pulling the cage back and forth between them. The argument intensifies, and catches Javier’s attention. He abandons his cart and jogs up the ramp toward the women. I move closer too, and witness the larger of the two women take a straight arm swing at Javier who absorbs the hit into his shoulder and back, then struggles to grab the woman’s arms to restrain her. By this time, two other men join the fray, and the scene playing out on the stage becomes part tragic, part comical as everyone grapples to control the two women who have long-since stopped fighting each other, and now just want to be released. Two of the thrift store employees, standing near the entrance of the lot begin walking toward the melee, but they obviously have no intention of getting involved. They walk several steps, then stop, apparently only to gain a better vantage on the theatrics. But by now, it’s all over. The group at the top of the ramp disperse, and the smaller of the two ladies, the victor, rolls the clothing cart down the ramp toward her husband who had been sitting on the tailgate of their truck watching the show. He has the look of someone who has seen the same play many times, knows the ending, and can't wait to get home.