“I trusted you to take care of my son, not corrupt him!”
“What are you talking about? We just got back from the water park,” Dad replied, shaking his head. “I told you I was taking him. Why are you tripping?”
“You told me you were taking him—not him and a bunch of half-naked whores,” she hissed at my dad angrily. “Those women were all over my child.”
“Stop right there, Consuela,” Dad shouted back in warning. “First, he’s not a child. He’s a young man. Second, no one was half naked or all over Nevada. You’re out of line.”
“No, Vegas, you’re the one out of line and out of touch. I told you to keep that whore and her tramps away from my child! And your brother had the nerve to put it on his Instagram page?”
Damn. Uncle Rio must have put that picture of Danielle lying on my lap on his Insta.
“They’re wearing bathing suits, Consuela. We were at a water park. You’re being ridiculous.” I could see Dad trying to hold his ground, but he didn’t have much ammunition. Best thing he could do was shut up and let her shout until she was burned out, and not take it personally. I knew this from experience.
“No, ridiculous was me even bringing my son around you. This is what I get for thinking you would be a good father to him.” Mom shook her head in frustration, but it wasn’t her I was worried about. I could see my dad was hurt by her comment.
“I am a good father, Consuela.” Dad’s voice remained calm.
Mom stood with her hands on her hips, her face full of doubt.
“I love my son more than anything in this world. I would never do anything to hurt him.”
“Is that why you bring him around whores and prostitutes?”
Okay, it was time for me to intervene. This was getting a little too emotional. I touched my mother’s arm to defuse the situation. “Mom, you’re overreacting. He’s a good father, and you know it. He’s everything you told me he was, and he’s teaching me to be the man you want me to be.” I stared at her, putting on my “cute and loving son” face that always won her over. But of course, that’s when the condom fell out of my pocket.
Oh, crap. I looked up at my mother then down at the condom. The three of us stared at it for what seemed like an eternity before I reluctantly reached down and picked it up.
“What’s that?” my mother asked rhetorically, snatching it from my grasp.
It took me a while to answer, but I finally did, trying to sound grown. “A condom.”
“I can see that,” she said between gritted teeth. “Now can you tell me why you have a condom in your bathing suit? Is that required equipment along with goggles and swim shoes at the water park?”
Once again, there was silence for a while, but this time Dad threw himself under the bus and came to my rescue. “He has it because I gave it to him, Consuela. He’s a young man—”
Dad couldn’t finish his sentence before my mom started cursing him out in Spanish. She was using profanity and slang in ways I’d never even heard before, and I spoke Spanish fluently. At one point, I tuned her out until she switched back to English and said, “Nevada, get in the car. We’re leaving. I’m taking you back to California.”
“What? No!” I yelled a little louder than I expected, surprising all three of us. I rarely, if ever, spoke back to mother, and I never raised my voice—until then. “You’re not taking me from my family and throwing me in some boarding school! I have a family now, a family that loves me, and I love them. Why can’t you understand that?”
“Lower your voice, young man. Now, you heard what I said. Get in the car!” She turned to my dad, fuming. “This is all your fault. You have no one to blame but yourself.”
“Consuela, don’t do this,” Dad pleaded.
“You think I’m going to leave my son here with you and that whore and her mini thots? Nevada, come. Get in the car.”
“Mom, don’t do this, please.” I tried to reason with her. I couldn’t believe this was happening. “What about the rest of the family? Can I at least say goodbye?”
“Súbete al carro inmediatamente. No juegues conmigo,” she yelled in Spanish, letting me know she was not to be played with. “Your father will say goodbye for you.”
I gave my father a hug and slowly walked toward the black SUV. This wasn’t a bad dream; it was a nightmare.
“I love you, son.”
“Love you too,” I replied, feeling totally dejected.
“Don’t worry. We’ll work this all out,” Dad said.
“I can’t believe you’re doing this,” I murmured under my breath to Mom, heading to the car.
“You will understand when you’re older,” she said. “It’s for your own good.”
Roman
4
It was a well-known fact in the South Bronx that Lex Diamond had the ability to find anything you wanted, no matter what it was—appliances, electronics, steaks, cell phones, guns, you name it. Hell, he was even known to get green cards and Social Security cards if you had enough money. Yep, ol’ Lex was the guy you went to when you needed something, and he was also the person you went to when you needed to unload shit; hence the reason he was the first person Denny and I sought out when we needed to fence our stolen goods.
“Whatcha got going on, fellas?” Lex, an Israeli immigrant in his forties, asked when we showed up at the counter of his Boston Road hardware store.
“We got some primo goods for you, Lex, my man,” Denny bragged.
Lex’s lips twisted into a sarcastic smirk, and his brow furrowed. “Is that so?”
“You damn right. Best shit you’ve seen in a long time,” I replied, making Lex raise an eyebrow.
“All right, then let’s
