He Was Wearing a Big Sombrero

I found myself working as a photographer in a very important and fancy party, hired by a very nice and outgoing young girl. I was to be given a VIP pass and my duties were to blend with everybody and take pictures of the whole event. There was this very famous singer of Rancheras who was driving around in a small golf cart and his Mariachi was following him on foot. As he drove around the whole property, singing, women of all ages were following him like crazy, hugging him and trying to kiss his hand and stuff.

One of the Mariachis was a girl I went to college with; back in those days I spoke to her a couple of times but never saw her again. Actually never thought about her until I saw her playing the violin in that party with a mini skirt.

I saw a lot of people with digital cameras, video cameras and with their own personal 3.2 megapixels camera taking pictures. Flashes were going off everywhere even though it was daylight and digital memories were made twice a second. I didn't take any pictures, even though I was in the middle of the action and saw a lot of things going on. This woman hugged the singer and he grabbed her butt; she gave her a grim look and then he turned to another lady who just wanted a picture with him but he said what her room number was and that he was gona be waiting for her later that night all naked and wearing only his big Sombrero.

I ran into the girl that hired me and she asked "How are the pictures going?" and I said great and she said that she couldn't wait to see them; she also asked me if I was having a great time and encourage me to go and get some drinks at the bar. I was using my Cannon Maxxum 50 which uses film and I had only two pictures left from previous shootings: with an 800 color film of twenty four expositions, the little screen was showing the number twenty two. I had taken zero during the party. But when she approached me I realized that if I was hired as a photographer my duty was to take picture regardless of all the other cameras.

Even though we were kind of outside, I somehow manage to go outside and took one picture, not before being interrupted by a guy in a business suit telling me that he was one of the architects that putted together that mall. That big Hacienda looked now like a shopping mall on a rainy Monday morning: empty. My parents came by and I asked them to please hold my camera while I rushed across the street to a bar to buy some film. It was night time and the bar's sign above the main entrance was turned off but there was plenty of people drinking and dancing inside.

As I approach the entrance a big Gorilla dressed all in black asked me for my pass. I remembered that I had it in my wallet, but when I reached for it, it wasn't there. The pass was a pun that had been written on a dollar bill that I used earlier that day to buy gum. Never chew it, but I remember I got it.

When I came back my parents weren't there waiting with the camera, they were gone. As I cross a door to one of the outer Patios I run into some friends that I haven't seen for ages, and they say that they were there for the funeral, that it was going to take place shortly, right at noon. As I turned my head around, the whole placed looked now like the club house of a cemetery. We hugged, chatted for a while, but then they just left without saying good bye. I felt kind of odd.

Down the hall the party was still going, outside was dark and there was plenty of young people with fancy clothes walking up and down, talking on their cell phones and holding little plastic glasses with cocktails. I saw the girl who hired me and I was afraid she would see me without the camera and she would ask me about the pictures. But she said that she was leaving in a couple of days and that she would've like to see me before that. The tone of her voice and the look in her eyes told me that she wanted something else than the pictures. She was very cute, but she felt lonely and I guess I came across as a nice guy to her. I thought about my schedule as pizza delivery guy and waiter and remember that all my days were full. I give her a wink, and told her that we could work something out. I left saying with my eyes that I had to take more pictures.

As I walked down the hall without camera, pictures, film, or my VIP pass, several ideas came crossing my mind on how to get my hands on some pictures. Maybe I'll get the e-mail address of everybody and would ask them to send me the pictures, maybe I'll speak to my Mariachi friend from college and will arrange a private session with the Singer himself, maybe. . .

I wake up from my nap and it was 5:51 PM. Instead of being all relaxed and stuff I was worried and confused, not knowing what to do. Then I decide to do what any fucked up person would do: I started blogging.