Under Construction - II: The Palista

He rumbled in, backwards, the palista.

Four times he filled and hauled the
dumpster hitched to his tractor.

He took away the mountain of
construction rubble—the mangled
innards of the Cabaña—that for a
week had filled our patio.



He returned with loads of sand and
brick to fill up what had been torn away.

He managed his vehicle skillfully,
backing smoothly down the driveway,
navigating precisely up the snaky
curves leading away from the Molino.

Yet during one trip out he carelessly
scraped against the iron gate. His
tractor must have felt nothing more
than a ‘thump’ along its hip, but the
gate will no longer close.



When I asked José María, our
contractor, if I should avail myself
of the opportunity to rid the yard
of random detritus by tossing it
into the departing dumpster, he
told me not to worry: “He’ll be back.”