I pick the small transportable water tank, full of barely-born sea turtles and head back across the windy beach towards the lab, when the bellhop from my Casa Magna Marriot hotel happens to walk my way. He still has his uniform on, and seems to be smoking a self-rolled cigarette.
"Whatcha got there amigo?" he asks.
"Sea turtles." I respond as I passed by, smiling politely.
He looks at the turtles and then up at me.
"You a scientist?"
I stop. "Volunteer. Scientist. Yeah."
"A volunteer scientist? And you come to my country to look at those things?"
I look at the bucket of sea turtles.
"Yep!"
"The fuck?!" he mutters, taking a drag.
My heart gives a jump. "Huh?"
"You gonna be doctor and you volunteer here to look at those little shitty things swimming around instead of helping my wife who is dying of AIDs because of our terrible health care system?"
"Uh.. no, it's just that-"
"Or my brother's son who was kidnapped for a ransom he can't pay?"
"...See the thing of it is is I'm in vet school. Study animals. Animales. Not... people."
"You pay money to fly here and help out, and you help out those little faggots," pointing at the sea turtles.
"The thing is, they're suffering too," I explain, as I squashed my toes into the sand. "Right now they're almost extinct because of this new microbiotic infection that's causing some of them to go blind and become easy pray. If the sea turtles die out, you're going to have an out of control jellyfish population around here. Hate to step on one of those guys, they're a shocker, am I right?" I ask, going out of pitch.
He skull-fucks my eyes. "I can handle jellyfish."
My big toe was fully buried in the sand. "You know what!" I say. "I have a couple hours free tomorrow, I'll stop by somewhere and give your wife some antibiotics, or - help you look in the jungles for your kidnapped nephew, err... Put up posters, what do you do about that exactly?"
"We have to pay eight hundred thousand pesos. He cut hair for living."
"Hm..." I blink. "Could he use an assistant?"
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