Juan’s push broom made a rhythmic sound every time it moved across the floor of the FedExForum. It collected wrappers, soda cups and beer cans.
He and a team of other Hispanics were on clean-up duty after Gold Strike 7 concluded. He was thankful for the extra work outside of wrestling for GPW, and he still hoped that his family from Chihuahua could join him soon.
Of course, his time in GPW hadn’t gone perfectly smoothly. He had only two matches under his belt, which were both losses to the Draconian and Fuse Makoto. The result was that he depended on his work with the FedExForum more than ever.
He quietly teamed up with another undocumented Mexican to collect the trash and place it in a large, plastic garbage can. The can, which was now full, required being tied up and tossed away. It was Juan’s job, and he took no issue with it. He had learned long ago that work was not always glamorous, but it was his inner strength and work ethic that mattered most.
Juan pushed the garbage can down the concourse of the FedExForum but began to feel uneasy.
As if someone was watching him.
When he reached the exit doors to the large dumpsters for disposal of his payload, he finally turned around and saw a head peeking out from around a hallway corner.
The head quickly disappeared, but Juan was pretty sure he knew who it was.
The large crazy man.
Juan held no fearful feelings, and carefully walked back down the concourse to the hallway. When he peered around, he saw the large crazy man walk around another corner.
Juan followed.
After a few more moments, he found the large crazy man stuck at a dead end, unable to open any doors and go any further.
The large crazy man looked back at Juan with sad, desperate eyes. It was obvious that the large crazy man had been hiding in the FedExForum for quite some time and was perhaps hungry and thirsty.
Juan motioned with his open palms to stay calm and wait, which the large crazy man seemed to understand.
The lucha libre from Mexico quickly left and returned with some items from his garbage can: a half-full bottle of water, and several pieces of uneaten hot dog. He carefully approached and held out the items to the large crazy man.
The large crazy man looked at the food, then looked back at Juan. The large crazy man took the food and nodded in appreciation and quickly walked past Juan and down the hall to a different direction.
Juan was unsure of the large crazy man’s future, but he felt good to know that he had helped.
All illustrations from the talented David G.