Buche y Lengua

Buche y Lengua

I work in a medical building on the corner of Wilshire and Alvarado Streets in downtown Los Angeles.  I love the area.  It is very Mexican and the streets are alive with people.

And street vendors.

Down the block from where I work a guy sets up a grill and sells tacos.  They are delicious.  He grills several types of meat and heats up corn tortillas.  Alongside his grill he has containers with chopped onions, cilantro, radishes, salsa.  Build your own taco style.  It's great.

The other night after work I stopped by to get my dinner.  There was a bit of a crowd so I took my place in line and waited my turn.  Next to me there was a guy quietly looking down at the meats cooking on the grill.

"Have you eaten here before?" he asked me.  He didn't sound too comfortable about this.

"Yah," I said, "The tacos are delicious."  Then I regretted saying anything.

"Really?" his face brightened, "Which meat do you get?"

I hesitated.  I could see where this was heading but the truth was..

"Buche." I said.

That made him stop.  "Buche?" he asked, "What's buche?"

Damn, I knew he would ask that. 

"I don't know." I confessed.

Dear reader, I'm from the school that says if it taste good don't ask questions.

"You don't kno..."  he said letting the sentence trail off unfinished.  His eyes showed a trace of horror."

"Well," I tried to explain, "It's some kind of cooked meat and it taste great."  He rocked back and forth like he was about to go down.

"Ok, wait." I called out to the taco vendor, "Que is buche?" I asked.

"Buche?" he replied, "Buche es stomach." he explained, "Pig stomach." he clarified.

Ah, that's right.  I turned back to my new friend, "It's stomach." I said with a smile, "Pig stomach."  I added like yummy it's good!  But he was turning green.

"Next!" the taco vendor called out.

My new friend stepped forward and said, "Give me a chicken taco."  Then he looked back at me and said, "I'm just getting a chicken taco."  He grinned sheepishly.

"Hey, that's cool." I replied, "It's all good here.  Try the buche next time.  It's great, really."

A moment later the taco vendor gave my new friend his chicken taco.  He grabbed it and walked over to the side.  In the evening light I saw the silhouette of his head making a rendezvous with the taco.

"Next!"

I stepped forward and ordered two buche tacos.... and one lengua taco.  I know what lengua is.  It's tongue.  Pig tongue.  Hahahaha.  It's good too.

A few moments later I was plowing through a taco when my new friend came up to me with a big grin.  "Hey, these tacos really are good!"  he said.  I guess I had been redeemed.

"I love 'em." I said back and considered saying, "try the lengua next time" but thought better of it.

"See you around." he said and headed off.

"Yah, see ya." I called back and returned to my dinner.

I took a bite from my taco and leaned up against the fence and chewed.  Above me I could see Jupiter in the sky next to the moon.  It was a lovely night.

As I sat there eating my taco I began to imagine the evening as a science fiction story.

In the story I'm a doctor working in downtown Los Angeles in the year 2115.  By 2115 humanity had spread throughout the solar system.  Mars and the moons of Jupiter have large human populations.  String theory has led to the development of tacyon drive systems.  Interstellar flight is a reality.  Several alien races now live with us here on Earth.

We had gone to the stars, so the aliens had come here.  Or, as was the case with the Zarcons, we had brought them here.

It was raining and I had just gotten off work.  In 2115, Los Angeles is drenched in rain.  I was standing under a plastic awning.  A street vendor had set up a large grill and he was grilling meats of various types.  The enclosure was filled with smoke and the smell of cooking meat.  Rain, smoke, cooking meat and the sound of sirens.  Los Angeles 2115.

Standing next to me was a Zarcon.  I could smell the Zarcon as much as see it but I didn't dare think that.  The Zarcon's head was barely as high as the grill but its compound eyes, on their stocks, extended upward over the grill and were looking down at the cooking meat.

It turns out that carbon DNA based life forms are spread throughout the galaxy.  There are silica based life forms as well but the Zarcons are definitely DNA based.  And they love meat.

Standing in back of the Zarcon was its buddy.  I looked at the buddy.  He was a tall blonde haired young man, quietly waiting on the Zarcon.

The blonde haired buddy turned to me and asked, "Have you eaten animal forms here?"

I knew it wasn't the human speaking.  It was the Zarcon talking through the human body.  His buddy.  Mind control.  Zarcons, while in human territory, are allowed to have one buddy, by treaty, so that they can communicate.  It's their right.

The blonde buddy looked at me waiting for a reply.  I looked at the buddy and I did not feel sorry for him because I knew the human that used to be him was no longer there.  Just the flesh.  Now a buddy.  The Zarcon would hear my answer through his buddy's ears.

"Yah, I've eaten here." I said.

"Which one is monkey meat?"  The buddy asked me.

I clenched my teeth and controlled myself.  We all knew about the Zarcons taste for primate meat.  I looked nervously at the Zarcon.  It did not move.

"They don't sell monkey meat here." I said and steadied my voice.  The Zarcon was playing with me.  I wanted to show him I was calm.  "Try the buche," I said, "similar taste."  And then I caught myself and started to worry.

"What is buche?" the buddy asked me while the Zarcon continued to eye the meats.  Rain, smoke, the meat sizzling and distant sirens..

Damn.

"I don't know." I confessed.

I heard clicking sounds from the Zarcon's proboscis.  Zarcon anger.  I broke into a sweat.

"Que es buche?"  I called out to the man behind the grill.

"Buche es stomach." the man at the grill replied without looking up.  "Pig stomach."

I looked back at the blonde buddy and then down at the Zarcon.  The clicking sounds had stopped and I felt relief.

"Is it good?" The buddy asked.

"I like it." I replied.

The blonde buddy stepped forward and said to the vendor, "Give me a bowl of buche."

The meat vendor filled a bowl up with all the remaining buche and handed it to the blonde buddy.

The buddy took the bowl of meat and followed the Zarcon over to the side of the enclosure.  Through the smokey haze I could see the buddy quietly holding the bowl for the Zarcon to feed from.  The Zarcon moved in and extended its proboscis into the pile of meat.  I remembered the images we all saw of the Zarcons in New York with their mind control powers on full blast.

I shuddered.

"Next!"

I stepped forward and told the vendor I'd have chicken.  Whatever.

I got my bowl of chicken and walked over to the other side of the enclosure to eat.

In the sky the clouds were breaking.  I could see Jupiter next to the moon.

We should have stayed on Earth, I thought.  My eyes welled with tears.

Los Angeles   2015

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