“Ali, we don’t have to do that. I got eight thousand dollars and a gold ring that I stolefrom Maria. I got a year left of school and you can get a job to help ends meet,” I said.
“Nelly, get your head out of the fucking clouds. I can’t get a job. I’m wanted formurder,” he said.
I stood and just blinked back my tears. Suddenly, I realized that my brother’s lifewas ruined. He was right, if the police ever caught hold of him he would go to jail for amurder that he didn’t even commit.
“Eight thousand dollars. That ain’t no money. You can’t do shit with eight thousanddollars,” he said.
I put my head down and looked at my feet. I wanted to say that I had eight thousanddollars and a gold ring. However, I knew that he was right. There was just no way for usto survive without Ali being able to secure some type of employment, and I would haveto drop out of school and work two jobs to support us both. I looked over at Ali, his headwas lowered and he looked dejected. I placed my hand on his arm.
“Ali, don’t worry about daddy, like you said. He’s not our real father and we’ve beengetting along just fine without him,” I said tenderly.
“No, we haven’t. Nelly, I’m nineteen years old, and I’m a convict, already. If he wasaround for us, I never would have gotten pulled into Nico’s shit, and you wouldn’t beliving with Maria.”
“And momma wouldn’t be dead,” I said with my voice cracking.
I knew that we both had to mourn the loss of our mother, but it seemed that we werejust focused on trying to get to the next day that we couldn’t bury the dead. I walked overand wrapped my arms around my brother. His body was as hard and cold as stone. I feltthat his heart had hardened and he was now incapable of showing any kind of emotion.
“And he is our real father. Did you see him?” Ali said.
I shook my head. There was a time when I had wanted his love more than anything.Now that I knew the truth, it just wasn’t important anymore. He was a stranger to me, abum who spent his days cleaning bathrooms and begging for change.
“We can go to the police and you can confess,” I said in a desperate attempt to tryand ease my brother’s pain.
“It ain’t the police I’m worried about. Shit. I’ll do the time. I just can’t live with thehell that Nico would put me through.”
“We can leave, we can go down South. Florida, where it’s always warm, nobody willbe able to find us there,” I said.
“Nico’s got boys down there too,” he said. “What do we do, Ali?” I said.
“I don’t know, just give me a few minutes to think,” he said. I smiled despite mydesire to be sad because for a brief second, I remembered the old Ali. The Ali that wasprotective and optimistic. The Ali that always had solutions. The Ali that was willing todo anything to make me feel safe.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he said.
“I know you won’t.”
Ali’s cell phone was ringing off the hook. He kept checking the number andgrimacing. “Who is it?” I asked.
“Who do you think it is?” He replied.
“What does he want?” I said.
“Diablo’s ass probably went to him whining like a little bitch cause I got in his face.”
“So.”
“So? He probably told Nico about you,” Ali said.
I looked at him in the darkness. I didn’t want to tell Ali all the awful things he mademe do. All the nights that he slipped into my room so we could travel together. What wasthat all about anyway? I didn’t know much, but whatever Nico was doing it wasn’t good.I certainly hoped that Nico wasn’t doing the same thing to my brother. Nobody deservesto go through that. Ali was a nervous wreck, like he would rather fry in an electric chairthan face Nico.
“Fuck it. Let’s go,” he said.
“Go where?”
“To see what this man wants, he ain’t going to leave me alone until he talks to me.”
“Ali, I don’t want to go anywhere near Nico,” I said.
He paused for a minute and looked at me.
“Okay, I’m going to take you to my boy’s apartment to chill for a little bit,” he said.
“Ali, what if you don’t come back?” I asked.
“I’m going to come back. Nico’s crazy, but he loves my ass. He seriously thinks thatI’m his son,” he said with a sideways smile. I placed my hands on my hips and looked athim skeptically. I didn’t trust Nico, and now that I had found Ali, I was terrified of losinghim again.
“Listen, I am going to work for Nico for two more months. This way I can savemoney for us to get hell out of this shithole city,” he said.
I smiled and flung my arms around his shoulders. He chuckled lightly and embracedme firmly. He was warming up, I was starting to melt the glacier that had frozen over hisheart.
“What are you going to tell him?” I said.
“That I saw you, I went and worked things out with Maria and everything is allgood,” he said.
“Do you really think that he’s going to believe that?” I said.
“It don’t really matter. As long as I can keep you hidden from him, he’ll never knowthe truth,” he said.
We walked into the building and there was a two-foot gap in the elevator shaft. Ihesitated; I didn’t want to use it. Ali stepped in and beckoned for me to follow. Theelevator sounded like an old man’s bones, cracking, and straining as it struggled to carryus up the shaft. It opened, and we walked into a hallway with green and
