Something Authentic | Part 6

Something Authentic is Season 1 of Kid8 Podcast. You can listen to Something Authentic on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Something Authentic Episode 6 is also available for purchase as an NFT on OpenSea. You can also support Kid8 Podcast by making a donation here.

Read Part 5 of Something Authentic.

I go out to the dusty parking lot and feel like kicking a hole in the sun. Is something worth anything if it hasn’t got any dreams in it? I don’t know and that’s probably why I’m poor.

I see the Mexican. He’s about to drive away in an immaculate, cobalt blue Impala. A ’77. I flag him down and walk over. He’s got the windows down.

Yo creo, I tell him. Yo creo.

He smiles. He’s got a few gold teeth and he studs a Marlboro between them and lights up.

¿Te gustaría ver?

Absolutamente.

He blows some smoke and puts those precious coins into my hand and I can feel the heat of an ancient sun in them. Flint knives and human sacrifices for the harvest. I can see technicolor ancient mysteries. And you know what else? I can see pride. Pride. Craftsmanship. I can hear stories—stories well told. Stories that people remember and tell and remember and tell again.

Dime, I tell ‘em. Por favor.

No señor. He says. La magia se pierde en la narración.

I hand them back and as I’m doing it, I hear the McCormick sputter to life.

That a ’50?, I call out to the old-timer driver.

Forty-six, he calls back. He lumbers toward us through the smoke. The Mexican climbs out of the Chevy and takes off his hat. He’s got his long, black hair tied up behind his head and I know now that he’s una indígena. He’s got the earth in him and he’s the kind of man who can love a tractor. I grab the mandolin and without thinking, both of us climb aboard.

I straddle the frame like a horse and the codger drives. The Mexican he stands on the side rail and holds on. I start playing Goin’ to Acapulco and the Mexican whistles a melody of his own creation. Something ancient to him and new to us. The churning knobby tires on the McCormick, they’re the rhythm section. Clack-clack-clack-crunch. Clack-clack-clack-crunch.

I can see the TV lights again and the woman with the Singer, its wheel still spinning. The little barker is undressing her. Another mass-produced nothing. He sees the tractor.

A hundred feet to go.

The producers get jumpy. The fat one who spoke Spanish whispers to his compañeros.

Seventy-five feet to go.

Little barker waves the old lady away. She exits stage right.

Fifty feet to go.

The McCormick is under the tent and people are parting like we’re pulling a plow.

Twenty-five feet to go.

The producers bolt.

Fifteen feet to go.

The cameras go under the wheels and the lens glass shatters like a cymbal crash. Clack-clack-clack-crunch. Clack-clack-clack-crunch-SPLASH.

Five feet to go.

Little barker decides what he’s seeing is real.

Thank you for reading Something Authentic, Part 6. If you enjoyed the story, you can support Kid8 Podcast by purchasing the NFT of Something Authentic Episode 6 on OpenSea, or by making a donation at venmo.com/kid8creative.

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You can learn more about Something Authentic here. You can also follow me on Instagram: @jhannan86 and @the_k1d_8

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