In Combes, Sadness Sets In...

By RICARDO KLEMENT
The Paz Files

COMBES, Texas - He was Junior Bonner's neighbor and best friend, a drinking and partying buddy who saw it all from across the street. Arnoldo "El Soquete" Lara, shown in photo above, does not want to let go of the friendship. Now, following Junior's death on Saturday, Lara wants to bury him here, in town.

"They say he's being taken back to Colorado, where he was born, but Junior's from Combes," Lara said as he cleared brush from a section behind his mobile home, where he hopes to provide Bonner a neat final resting place. "Junior used to sit here with me under these trees and drink beer. This is his land, too. You can't ignore that."

Bonner, 44, died of a heart attack while making love to his latest squeeze, the Harlingen bar waitress Inez Jeantete, who told police the two were "mixing it up nicely" when Junior gasped in pain and reached for his chest.

"I don't know that gal," Lara went on. "But when Junior was with Cylantra, his steady woman of many months, he was a blackout drinker. This Inez I had never seen before, but, lately, after Cylantra left him, that wasn't out of the ordinary for Junior. He was the last playboy here in Combes."

As the sun fell late Sunday, he was hauling big rocks to the site he hopes will be Junior Bonner's Rio Grande Valley shrine, a place where his fans can come and toast to the old goat. "I have an idea for a headstone, but maybe I should run it by his family," Lara said, as he cleared his brow of perspiration. "I know Junior would have liked it. He'd have done it for me, yes sir."

Lara said a small admission fee will be asked of all visitors. "To help maintain the site," he noted, smiling the smile of a neighbor who's lost a friend, but can'tquite let go yet...

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