After grabbing a twelve pack of Tecate and a pack of Camel's from Mama Ellerbee's grocery store in the Havest Quarter, Ramu and Gust walked on. A few turns through alleyways and over the railtracks dividing Harvest and Jinx Quarters they reached a building still in its incubation stage. In fact, the space remained clear for a whole block, but only a part of it still stood erect like the final piece of a giant birthday cake. The rest had been blown up or burned down.

"You live here?" Gust hid any judgement in his voice.

"Sure. Got no landlord. No rent."

"Looks condemned to me." Somehow Gust couldn't help that judgement.

A decrepit old man dragging a shopping cart with a dirty blanket and some dirty rags walked by without even noticing them.

"That's Harry I think. He lives in the ground floor. Mine is the penthouse upstairs, I got here before Harry." Ramu spoke with a gait that comes over laborers on payday.

"What happened to this building?"

"One of those Vegas moguls wanted to corner this market too. He started building before his permit came through. Some legal scuffle went on for awhile between him and the Indians, because this is legally Indian land and only they can open a casino here. Finally, the financiers backed out and the developer got sick of it and burned it down when the building was nearly built up."

"How come no one took up this area?"

"The Native Indians felt this area was cursed. They didn't want to build on cursed land."

"You don't believe in curses?"

"I'm living proof of a curse my friend. Watch your feet as you come up. The mortars and brick are scattered everywhere. Every now and then I hear a brick or some other part of the building drop."

Guided only by the moonlight, Gust made his way up the rubble following the driver. Suddenly light appeared in the middle of the room, if one could call it a room. The light came from a hurricane lamp hung from a steel hook off the ceiling. The evening breeze blew through the building sweeping up all the dust and howling in the empty halls and rooms before escaping through the gaping holes meant for windows and wide open roof where said things would have been if all had gone as per design.

A hammock extended from one of the iron bars sticking out of the wall and reached the pillar about six feet from it. A clothing line hung across the room in the opposite side where a pair of jeans, white underwear and a plain grey athletic sweatshirt hung.

"I, I'm sorry, I forget your name."

"Ramu. Pronounce it like you would Rommel+Camus, get it? Ramoo."

Ramu took of his shirt and hung it on a nail in the wall. His frail body with patches of curly black hair was barely hidden by a sweat drenched undershirt.

"See. That's the thing. I don't expect a bus driver to know about Camus and Rommel. What's your deal? Why the hell are you living here in this rodent haven?"

"There are no rodents here, I have no food lying around. If they are here they'll go about their business unthreatened because there's no blinding light to scare them. My life story is a long humorous tale that we can't get into unless you show some commitment here. The humor shows up only to inebriated souls."

Ramu threw a can of Tecate at Gust and eased into the hammock. Gust sat on the gaping window's sill. About a mile away he could see the railtracks they crossed earlier. Dimly lit with a yellow light beam highlighting just the middle of the room, the place almost looked charming to Gust. A few minutes went by while Ramu lit up a cigarette, puffed, and guzzled from the can on hand. He looked contemplative in his repose. He had the glassiest eye Gust had ever seen, like two black olives floating in milk.

"My family couldn't support me to go to college. In India, they don't have part time jobs or any jobs for students. That was reality you know; I dealt with it. So I became a truck driver, hauling produce and grain between the northern states of India. Wasn't bad you know good money in that. Drawback was you saw your family very little. Many drivers overworked themselves, drove up and down without sleep and fell asleep on the wheel. Then a lot of them blew their money just whoring and drinking. I did none of these things, see. I was considered top of the line for durability. They could rely on me, also I could read invoices since I was literate, nobody shorted my trucks. I was in demand for a few years there. How're you doing on the beer? Here catch. We have to get past three beers each before it starts to get warm. After three you won't complain about the temperature." Gust caught the can of beer and nodded for Ramu to continue.

"So you made a lot of money right?"

"Yeah, things were good, I was making a lot of money. So, naturally I got married and started saving for a home where my whole family would live. We lived in rented quarters, an overcrowded colony with severe water and power shortages. Sort of like this place except you paid rent there. I was saving to build a home from the ground up you know. For someone in my class that would've been a spectacular achievement."

"What happened then?"

"Life. Life happened, Gust. Life. I bought a piece of land in the outskirts of Madras, which is in the South where my family lived. I spent most of my four year earnings on that piece of land, but it was a good deal any way you looked at it. The area wasn't developed or anything when I bought it but I could tell that people were going to move there. When you spend a lot of time on the road you sort of see the trends, the way of the world, you know what I mean? How are you doing on beer?"

"Fine, fine. Go on." Gust didn't like the break in flow.

The outside had completely darkened by then. Gust looked out and only saw street lamps in the distant and a few spots of yellow from mansions in the far off hills. The light inside gained more prominence. The room looked very familiar and personal to Gust. Ramu's hospitality proved genuine, if anything he may have starved some conversation, thought Gust. He felt exhilarated to be in a completely new atmosphere from the boxed-in campus.

"You sure paying the price for free beer listening to me." Ramu chuckled as his body heaved in the hammock.

"Hey, if you would feel better I can pay for it."

"No, Gust, I was just kidding. It's a real treat to me to have you over, to get to talk to someone who isn't drunk or lost all his money on poker."

"You go to the casino a lot?"

"Look around, what else is there to do in this town? There is a library twenty minutes from here. I go there often but casino's are great to feel alive, you know. They remind me of the marketplace in India."

"Why don't you just go back to India? If you miss it so much. You probably make the same kind of money there right? I mean proportionately."

"There's nobody there for me. My mom's nearly senile, she lives with my brother. I send them money every month, they're doing all right. My father passed away long time ago."

"What about your wife? Divorced?"

Ramu gets up and adjusts the length of the wick to dim the light somewhat.

"No, she, she took her life. Jumped from a bridge."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. . ."

"It's only natural for you to ask."

"What happened?"

"About the time I applied for a building permit, I was told that the land was government property. Truth was that the land was sold again to a millionaire who wanted to build a factory to take advantage of the tax structure in the outskirts, also lower wages. Can't really blame him for wanting to build there, perfectly good land."

"But you got there first. I mean you paid for it, right?" An indignant Gust.

"I was told to appeal it. The official said, almost sympathetically, to not waste my time and money, he said it was a losing proposition. The industrialist had tremendous influence in the government."

"Unbelievable. Did they at least pay you for the land?"

"I was offered in cash, ten percent of what I paid. I took it knowing that's the most I would ever see from it. I was so heartbroken I just went back to work more vigorously than ever. My family tried to console me but I wouldn't hear of it. It went downhill from there on. I never went home for the holidays, ceremonies; just kept working. My wife thought I had totally abandoned her and. . ." Ramu drew on the cigarette and made a motion with his smoking hand to finish his words.

"God, I don't know what to say. I've never heard anything so cruel. I'm sorry, man."

Gust let out a huge sigh and paced near the window. He then helped himself to a beer and handed one to Ramu.

"I'm sorry, Gust. Didn't mean to be a downer. I'm usually in better spirits. It's the fall. I came to this country in the fall five years ago. Every fall takes me back to that experience. I spend it in gloom, it seems. Of course, usually I wouldn't know the difference. But with company you really see the shape you're in by the damage you've done to someone else's spirit."

"Hey, I don't know how you guys relate in India but I'm very glad you opened up to me. You did no damage to me. If anything you helped me get my head out of my ass. I've been so hung up on my decisions. It's been a crucial day for me. I started it wishing there was more to life than getting a lucrative internship. But now those concerns seem irrelevant, thanks in large part to you."

"What are you going to do now?" Ramu, with renewed spirit for a new topic.

"I know I don't belong in school. I'm going to take some time off. Maybe work in that casino here."

"Easy partner, maybe you should make these decisions when you are more sober, huh?"

Ramu took the empty can from Gust's hand and tossed it in a brown box in the corner of the room. Gust showed no signs of having heard him.

"Maybe I can check into the executive suite next to you, if you don't mind. I can take the bus with you in the morning and come back from the casino in the last bus. It's going to work, what do you say?"

"I got no problem with it but I think you should seriously think about it. There's no power here, you can't cook. Gets pretty damn cold in the winter. No tv. Harry downstairs gets into his schizophrenic fits now and then. This is not Club Med, okay? Maybe this hammock is giving you romantic illusions. Think about it. I would love your company but, think about it, there's no hurry."

"If you want I'll repeat myself in the morning, but my mind is set."

"I don't know if you should work in the casino. They got training and everything but seeing all that money is going to be unsettling, especially compared to your personal money situation."

"All right, I will work at the library as well. How about that?" Gust, like a kid making a deal with a parent.

"Gust, go to sleep. I think that Mexican beer's gone to your head." Ramu laughed as he threw the cigarette out the window.

"Well, can you bring your lamp over to my suite? I want to set up shop."

"Damn American, already running me like a coolie." Grunted Ramu with a laugh. He grabbed a dirty sleeping bag bundled up in the corner and the hurricane light.

"You got a sleeping bag? I thought you were a simple man."

"Hey, I get lucky once in awhile at the casino."

"So I'm going to sleep with all your unborn children then. Get it?"

"Yes, I got it. You got a foul mouth on you. I have a feeling I'm going to regret this arrangement."

But Gust could tell otherwise from the splendid set of white teeth that shone through the semi darkness.