Nobody could tell me when Don Pedro's opened
One guy just said "soon" and pointed at the sun
Got a table by the railing, fan clicking crooked overhead
Dogs asleep on the boards where the shade had come undone
Carlos sat down uninvited with a jar of something red
I asked what time they'd open up; he grinned at me instead —
"You already missed it, friend, or it hasn't begun"
Said "taste this first; the plan can wait till we're done"
Old border patrol badge on a keychain
Job title crossed out careful with a pen
Said "nothing patrols Carlos anymore, my friend"
And poured the mezcal without asking me when
No hay prisa, he keeps telling my watch
Which doesn't know what to do with that
Sayulita's on some other calendar
Where Tuesday comes twice if you need it
No hay prisa, no hay plan
Carlos grins like that's the plan
Twenty-eight years on the line out near El Paso
Paperwork and radios and heat he couldn't ignore
Said "I was good at it — efficient, dependable"
Said it like a shirt that didn't fit him anymore
His wife left first — "she was faster," Carlos said
Labels every bottle with a different ex-wife's name
"This one burns, but she gives you hope"
Grows his chiles, sleeps past the bells, and likes it just the same
I asked him once if he missed the old life
Carlos stared at me like a bad tattoo
Then shook one red bottle over fish tacos
Said "brother, look what I don't have to do"
He's not bitter about the border or the years it ate
Says some things you serve and some you leave on the plate
Said "twenty-eight years staring hard at one line
Till I couldn't see the one running straight"
No hay prisa, he keeps telling my watch
Which doesn't know what to do with that
Sayulita's on some other calendar
Where Tuesday comes twice if you need it
No hay prisa, no hay plan
Carlos grins like that's the plan
Carlos tapped my watch with one brown finger
Said "that thing ever bring you anything?"
Fan clicked crooked, nobody answered
Dogs still asleep — the afternoon doing its thing
Said "the chiles tell me when they're ready
The mezcal tells me when I'm not
The only thing I ever needed a watch for
Was a job that I forgot"
No hay prisa, he keeps telling my watch
Which doesn't know what to do with that
Sayulita's on some other calendar
Where Tuesday comes twice if you need it
No hay prisa, no hay plan
Carlos grins like that's the plan
Kitchen opened sometime after sunset
Or maybe it had been open all along
Carlos sold three bottles to a honeymoon couple
Named one sauce "Jimmy Was Wrong"
I took my watch off near the hot sauce
Set it face down by the lime
Carlos didn't smile exactly —
Said "now you're getting close to time"