The following morning nothing was out of the ordinary at the kitchen table. Liz did have to cover some scratches and bruises in her wrist, neck and face. She did thank Grams for the dinner plate who did not ask too many questions during breakfast. After both Grams and Liz left, David waited around for Cheeto.

That morning was the day of Claudia's fundraiser. Cheeto was supposed to stop by and pick David up and head out to the University to help set up. David expected Cheeto around eight thirty in the morning, and knowing Cheeto, he would probably be late. So David figure he had time to relax and get ready. He headed back upstairs when he heard the loud muffler of Cheeto's old clunker.

"That's not him," said David to himself hoping more than anything.

The following honking and subtle call of,

"Let's go sunshine!" as Cheeto parked in the driveway indicated otherwise.

David headed back downstairs to greet Cheeto at the door who was already walking up the doorway.

"Wake up! You not ready yet?" said Cheeto in surprise.

"I told you to come at eight thirty!" said David clearly upset.

"Serio (really)? I thought we said seven thirty," rebuffed David.

David looked at Cheeto in bewilderment.

"Its six-forty-five!" said David.

"Oh pues (well)! I didn't want to be late," said Cheeto.

"I wanted to avoid traffic," replied Cheeto.

"You are almost two hours early. Even walking we'll make it on time. Which given your car, would probably be a safer bet," snarked David who was headed upstairs.

"Don't dish on my ride. Hey where you headed?" asked Cheeto.

"Back to bed!" said David.

"Ahh come on bro! Let's get going! There's a ton to do. Gonna be a busy morning. With all the senoritas (ladies) and the sun. Hmm gonna be a good day for Cheeto," he said to himself since David was gone now.

Fortunately for both, David was an early riser. He did not want to sit around and wait so he started to get ready. All the same, he was not as exited to go to the University and be around a bunch of presumptuous young people. But he did promise he'd help and so he would.

A few minutes later David headed back downstairs ready where Cheeto waited.

"Lla (Ready)? Pareces vieja (You're like a woman)," said Cheeto who was in a hurry.

"You're kidding me right? It was like ten minutes," replied David.

"Really? Well, it felt longer. As,i a lo bravo (Like this, raw)!" said Cheeto rushing David out the door.

"How do you get ready?" asked David.

"Just get up and go," said Cheeto.

"You don't shower? That's just gross," said David.

Cheetos car was completely different than Lolas or Briannas. His 1998 civic EX came with no fender or even clean interior. The red paint was faded and water marks were abundant. The tires were plain and possibly bald. There were no power windows but as Cheeto would often say,

"Aqui esta tu (Here's your) power!" pointing to his biceps.

The interior smelled dusty as well as manly. There were dirty clothes, plastic bags, and old discarded fast food wrappings and bottles of soda scattered through the back.

"Cheeto you haven't cleaned your car?" commented David having ridden a week before on the way back from the hospital.

"Sure I did. You can sit down now," replied Cheeto. Which to be fair was a true statement.

"Aren't you embarrassed to drive like this?" asked David.

"Que tiene (What wrong)? No te vas a morir (You not going to die)," said Cheeto.

"I guess not," said David realizing if that was Cheetos benchmark, he was right.

David found a pamphlet from the hospital that gave away how thorough Cheeto's cleaning was.

"I see you like mementos," said David as Cheeto started the car.

"No I don't smoke. It's a nasty habit," said Cheeto thinking David said menthols.

Riding with Cheeto and his 'nave' (ship) as he called it was an experience. He liked to blast the radio, changed lanes erratically, and the suspension was not that great, meaning you felt all the bumps and dips along the way. The bald tires and Cheetos heavy foot made it feel the car would spin out of control any moment. Though Cheeto had the car for a while, he did not use it often. Gas was expensive as well as maintenance, and since most people don't like to ride with him for some reason, he used the bus a lot or bummed rides.

The drive consisted of a lot of speeding, sudden stopping, Cheeto talking to David, hollering at the ladies, and David telling Cheeto to watch the road. Finally, after a harrowing thirty minutes' drive, they made it to the University. David got out of the car feeling nauseous, which was surprising given he had ridden ATV's and Jeeps in the desert with full combat gear in 120 degrees weather while being shot at.

"Woohoo! Let's go baby!" said Cheeto jumping out of the car.

"Let's go son! We gotta meet up with Claudia and get stuff up before all the honeys get here!" said Cheeto with a lack of concern for David.

"What's wrong?" asked Cheeto.

"Give me a minute. I'm dizzy?" said David confused.

"Huh? Must be your meds. Come on let's go. You gotta check out the promenade. All the gringitas (white girls) be walking there. It's awesome!" said Cheeto leaving David to figure his condition alone.

"I didn't take any meds," said David walking slowly.

Claudia was setting up along with some of her University friends. They were setting up a food stand along a grass field for a festival. Cheeto arrived first and greeted Claudia with David following behind. Cheeto was like a big dog that needed no introduction. As soon as he said hi to Claudia, he proceeded to mingle with the people and offering help, to the female students of course.

Claudia saw David walking slowly and went to him.

"Hi! Thank you so much for coming this early. I really appreciate it. Are you OK?" she asked.

"He's fine. Just being a baby," said Cheeto off to the side.

"I was fine, but I got out of Cheetos car and I felt dizzy," said David.

"Oh. You drove with Cheeto. Don't worry, it'll pass. I get that too. That's why I don't ride with him anymore," whispered Claudia to David.

"but I don't get like this. I'm a ranger," said David.

"Well Mr. Ranger, take this water and sit for a minute. You can help set up the cutting station," said Claudia guiding David to a shaded tree.

"Que tanto resan (what's all the fuss)?" asked Cheeto.

"Nothing," said Claudia as she smiled and walked David.

The fundraiser was a festival put on by the University to allow students organizations the opportunity to put on stands and sell whatever they wanted to the public at large. Claudia was a member of some of the organizations, Latina women in business, teaching and learning club, Hispanic math and science club and the social science club which was her major. She was also part of the committee in charge of putting on the fundraiser. That is why she had asked Cheeto and David for help. She would not be able to help on the social science club because of her role in the festival and needed someone to take her place.

Claudia went to David and introduced him to the team. Cheeto needed no help with that so Claudia did not worry about him.

"Guys, let me introduce you to my friends. This is David and well you know Cheeto there. They'll be helping the stand today. David, this is the Social Science Club. That's Joan, Cynthia, Francisco and Kelly," said Claudia.

"OK, you guys. I'll let you get to it. If you need anything I'll be around or you can go to the main table and they can call me on the radio. Good luck! I'll stop by later!" said Claudia as she rushed off.

"Get to what? What are we doing?" asked David feeling better now.

"Pues a trabaja (Well to work)!" said Cheeto who was bringing in chairs and a table.

Everyone smiles as Joan went to explain to David the work break down.

"We are going to be selling fruit cups. So we need to cut all the fruit, set up a stand to order and pay and then one to pick up. Nothing difficult," said Joan.

"Are you going to be able to cut fruit with your hand?" she asked in regards to the cast.

"Yes, that won't be a problem. I cut fruit with my right hand," said David.

The group set up the tent and the stations and David helped Joan cut up the fruit. Not used to cutting fruit, Joan's pieces were large and chunky, whereas David's were more uniform and smaller.

"Whoa you are so much better at this than me," said Joan surprised given David's cast.

"I used to cut up large amounts of fruit," he said.

"Where did you learn?" she asked.

"Military school," he replied.

"You went to military school?" she asked again surprised not having met anyone who had before.

"Yes, I went to military school and then I served for a few years," said David casually.

"Oh I see," said Joan followed by an uncomfortable silence.

The support of the war had faded over the last few years as the fever of the attacks faded away. A possibly explosive subject, that David had been in more frequently, was avoided when Joan finally broke the silence.

"Well, you're still better at it than me," she said politely and smiled.

Everything was set up and ready to go. It was around ten thirty in the morning and few people were beginning to show. The majority of the students, not used to sales in public, awkwardly advertised and called for customer's attention.

Despite popular belief, most college students are not confident public speaker, and specially at selling. It's not their fault. Most people in general are not.

Some of the students would brave the scene and yell out to ramp up business, but only did so in spurts and would fade back into the scenery. Just like a small child braving the water for the first time at the beach and then quietly retreat back to the shore.

Cheeto however was not like most people. He loved attention and people; especially young people. As soon as the club was ready to sell, he was on.

"Frutas (Fruits)! Narajas (Oranges)! Manzanas (Apples)! Fresas (Strawberries)! Pina (Pineapple)!" he yelled out at the top of his lungs.

"Fruta fresca con limon y chilito (Fresh fruit with lime and chilli)! Agarre so vaso (Grab your cup)!" he continued unabashed.

He stood in the walkway and tried to persuade passerby's to the stand, who would politely smile and walk away. Given the diversity of the crowd he also advertised in English. Unlike some students who would try to mimic him, get a few rejections and give up, Cheeto was relentless. He must have been rejected thirty times in a row before he got his first sale.

A fact that was not lost on some of the students since David overheard some of them say,

"All that work for one cup?", "I would never do that. So embarrassing."

David also saw some people pointing and laughing at Cheeto. To their credit, the members of the Social Science Club were very appreciative and cheering their first sale. David couldn't tell if Cheeto noticed people laughing at him but it didn't seem to matter. The sales only encouraged him more as he continued his one man show. He even started walking up to people and walking with them to get them to his station. Eventually he brought in a group of ten visiting freshmen who found him funny enough to order.

As is typical, a crowd started to attract more people. So now there were fifteen people waiting to buy their fruit cups. Feeling the tide turning Cheeto advised the students to raise the price.

"You should be charging $3!" said Cheeto since they had been charging $1.

"No we can't do that. It's too greedy," said one of the girls.

"Look, use the bigger cup. Give them one third more and charge them $3. Then ask if they want to donate to the club," he suggested.

"I don't know. What if they don't sell?" asked Kelly.

"Don't worry. I'll make 'em sell!" said Cheeto confidently. The group reluctantly agreed and did as Cheeto suggested.

At first it looked like the move backfired as people started to thin out. Cheeto remained undeterred and continued to chase people around. Eventually he disappeared in the crowd.

"This isn't working. I'm going to change it back," said Cynthia after only a few minutes.

Suddenly a crowd of girls laughing could be heard with Cheeto leading them back to the stand. He went up to cashier and told Joan,

"Charge them $2."

"What? Why not full price?" she rebuffed.

"I gave them a deal," explained Cheeto.

Just as the girls waited to get their cups a crowd started to form again, this time consisting mainly of guys. They were charged full price and encouraged to make a donation to the club. Not being able to refuse in front of the girls, they complied. This was repeated and in about an hour all of the cups had been sold. It also helped that it was a hot day.

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Hello everyone!!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Hope it's a fun break from the serious stuff. I always love writing about Cheeto so I hope you all enjoy him. 

What do you think about his strategy? You think he's found his calling as a salesman? And how about that car of his? How many of the ladies would like to go for a ride with him? Haha. 

Please remember to vote and comment. :)  

Well, thank you for reading and stay tuned for another chapter of Viper!!!! 

Yours truly, 

Roge.