The Frutas Y Verduras man
The best thing about living in the student barrio is the Frutas Y Verduras man. I'm ashamed to say that for nine months, four times a week, I glanced at him, smiled at the incongruity of his big blue van tootling around yuppified Boulder, emblazoned with a handpainted "FRUTAS Y VERDURAS" sagging in its painted banner above huge painted frutas y verduras. The man and his van were cool from a distance- after he parked on the street outside my apartment and rollled up his back door for business, he would be thronged with Mexican women, mostly from the apartment building across the street from mine. The one that's mostly big Spanish-speaking families spilling onto the outdoor hallways from their toosmall apartments. I, the non-Spanish-speaking pink-headed girl never considered trying to join the party.
In May, K's friend Ryan moved in for several days. He earned his keep by leading culinary adventures to corn-tortilla making and Brazilian fish stew. He saw the frutas y verduras man and came back with a load of way too many jalapenos, too many tomatoes... too much of everything. Because, as it turns out, too much is how much you get per dollar from the frutas y verduras man. From that time on, I too have looked eagerly for the F&V man, and his presence corresponded inversely to my interest. He disappeared. I managed to get to him a couple times, still feeling the shyness that kept from him before Ryan's visit, not able to ask in Spanish, not able to join in the friendly talk that the other women enjoy with the man and each other.
I finally resorted to writing on my white board every time I saw him, trying to map out a schedule to follow. The second time I went to buy from him by myself, he seemed stern; was he unhappy at my imposition into a routine patently not made for me? Wasn't that a little on the overly self-conscious side, considering my money must be as green as the next person's? The third time, he was friendly again. He speaks pretty good English, he's amused because I bring back the used plastic bags (all emblazoned with "Marco's Flour Tortillas" with red and green.) I don't aspire to achieve tab-status (as I've seen other people can buy and he merely writes the amounts in a steno notepad); I'm just pleased to be supporting him, and pleased that apples are three pounds per dollar, roma tomatos a pound and a half per dollar, jalapenos are as-many-as-he-can-fit-in-the-bag, limes 10 for a dollar, avocadoes a dollar apiece, mangoes two for a dollar, potatoes three pounds per dollar, peaches fifty cents...
In May, K's friend Ryan moved in for several days. He earned his keep by leading culinary adventures to corn-tortilla making and Brazilian fish stew. He saw the frutas y verduras man and came back with a load of way too many jalapenos, too many tomatoes... too much of everything. Because, as it turns out, too much is how much you get per dollar from the frutas y verduras man. From that time on, I too have looked eagerly for the F&V man, and his presence corresponded inversely to my interest. He disappeared. I managed to get to him a couple times, still feeling the shyness that kept from him before Ryan's visit, not able to ask in Spanish, not able to join in the friendly talk that the other women enjoy with the man and each other.
I finally resorted to writing on my white board every time I saw him, trying to map out a schedule to follow. The second time I went to buy from him by myself, he seemed stern; was he unhappy at my imposition into a routine patently not made for me? Wasn't that a little on the overly self-conscious side, considering my money must be as green as the next person's? The third time, he was friendly again. He speaks pretty good English, he's amused because I bring back the used plastic bags (all emblazoned with "Marco's Flour Tortillas" with red and green.) I don't aspire to achieve tab-status (as I've seen other people can buy and he merely writes the amounts in a steno notepad); I'm just pleased to be supporting him, and pleased that apples are three pounds per dollar, roma tomatos a pound and a half per dollar, jalapenos are as-many-as-he-can-fit-in-the-bag, limes 10 for a dollar, avocadoes a dollar apiece, mangoes two for a dollar, potatoes three pounds per dollar, peaches fifty cents...