10 Minute Writing #3 Marc

 10 Minute Writing Exercise #3    by Marc

“God damn it, these illegal immigrants are killing our business,” Luis yelled.

Marisol had heard this rant many times before. They owned the Te Amo Bodega on the corner of 113th Street and Arlington Ave. in the Bronx. Six months ago, the immigrants, or as Luis like to call them, the illegal cockroaches had started to arrive. At first, it was mostly women and young children, and Marisol helped these poor, lost families with food when she could.

But these had been placed in housing in Manhattan, replaced by restless, young single men. There was no place for the men, and many of them were sleeping on the sidewalks at night, and simply hanging out in front of storefronts during the day. Marisol remembered what her mother had said to her years back;

“Men, without women to civilize them, will always end up in trouble.”

The relationship between Luis and the crowd camping out in front of the Bodega had deteriorated, and Marisol was concerned.

The sound of shouting awakened her from her daydreaming, and she rushed to the sidewalk, where Luis and a group of men were arguing.

“Luis,” she cried, 

“Come inside.”

But it was too late, as the shovel crashed into Luis’s head, and the men rushed the store.