Rafael could feel the stack slipping out of his hands in slow motion. He pushed his weight into the middle of the stack, hoping at least part of it would stay together, but no, the whole thing imploded on itself and vegetables and produce rolled everywhere.
He turned bright red, and Santos came running. Mr. Drummel came out, but did nothing, just glared with fire burning in his eyes.
Santos was a wonder when it came to make everything okay. But he had to listen to everything Santos said and wait for everything to come out okay. In the heat of that moment, with produce flying into traffic and everything they did seemingly creating a new and unexpected panicked attempts to put everything back together in the perfect stack it had come in, the whole thing seemed impossible. It was impossible, but Santos had faith in himself. It had to work, and so it did.
"I'm sorry," Rafael said after the fact.
"It's okay, man, we made the best of it."
"No, Santos. You really saved the day."
"I guess I did, but don't think about it. We got too much to do to think about it."
Rafael stopped him. "No, you got to know it, man. You made it good. You made it okay."
Santos stopped 'Thank you," he said simply.
When Rafael thought about it, he realized he needed someone strong like Santos; he couldn't do it alone. He didn't always feel that way, but today he really did.
But there was nothing to worry about, because Santos would always be there. Day in, day out, he was like a rock, and out of his strength the whole business was precariously perched.
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