of the way,” he continued, “Are you gon’ help me get out of here?”
“Do I have a choice?” I asked because truth be told, I ain’t feeling him or this conversation at all.
“Look Kira, don’t play no fucking games with me. Now, are you gon’ help me or not?”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Well, I’m gon’ give you the number to Papi’s store, ‘cause I want you to call him on three-way. Now I’m gon’ do all the talking, so just sit back and listen. Because I’m gon’ set everything up. A’ight?”
“A’ight,” I told him, which of course gave him the green light to continue on with what he had to say. Almost instantly after he gave me the number, I called Papi and got him on the line.
“What’s good, Pop?” was Ricky’s way of greeting Papi. He does this because Papi has always been like a father figure to him ever since he came on to the scene.
“Oh, my God! Ricky, is this you?” Papi asked him in his thick Hispanic accent.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“Well, tell me what’s going on? Because I had some of my people out trying to find out what went down out there in Virginia. But nobody ever gave me no straight answers. So, are you all right?”
Ricky sighed heavily and said, “Nah, I ain’t all right. Them crackers got me tied to a murder beef. They gave me a life sentence for it.”
“Ahh, Ricky! That’s not good.”
“I know. That’s why I’m getting my lawyer to straighten things out. And to make sure it’s done right, I’m gon’ need some serious dough.”
“How much do you need?”
“For now, I’m gon’ need around $150K.”
“Wow! That’s a lot of money, amigo. And I would love to help you, but business here at the store hasn’t been that good lately. It seems like no one has moneda to buy food anymore,” Papi commented and then chuckled.
Now, I’m guessing he did this to bring a little humor to their conversation. Then Ricky said, “Well, I already got a little something put up. But if you can help me on the other end, I can get the rest up myself.”
“Who would you get to do the shopping for you?” Papi wanted to know.
“My wife, Kira.”
“Well, have her call me.”
“She’s on the phone with us right now. I got her to call you on three-way.”
“Hola, mi amor.”
“How are you doing, Mr. Papi?” I said in a respectful tone.
“Well, I’m not doing too great. Seeing my son in trouble like this really upsets me.”
“I’ll be a’ight, Pop,” Ricky interjected. “Just as long as I can get shit popping.”
“Well, Kira, call me because Sosa and my nephew Miguel are back in Costa Rica, working. But, they’ll be back within two weeks. So, I will prepare something really nice for the both of you when they return.”
“Okay. That sounds good. But when is the last time you talked to Russ?” Ricky added.
“He came by here yesterday with his fiancée, Jessica. You know, they just had a little girl?”
“Nah. I didn’t know that she was pregnant.”
“Yeah, she was. The baby is hermosa , so beautiful. And they made me the padrino, the godfather,” Papi continued as his accent got thicker.
“That’s wassup! Well, when you see him again, tell him I said to get at me. ‘Cause I’m gon’ need a favor from him, too.”
“Okay. I’ll let him know.”
“Well, a’ight, Pop. I’m gon’ bounce right now, so I can holler at my wife before the time on my call runs out. But I’ll be getting back witcha before she comes up there to see you.”
“Okay. Yeah. Call me.”
“A’ight. Thanks.”
“No problem. And I’ll talk to you soon,” Papi replied and then hung up.
***
Immediately after I clicked Papi’s line off, Ricky wasted little or no time to say,
“Did you hear that Kira? We got less than two weeks to get shit popping! I’m gon’ get Burgess to call you back so y’all can set up a day when you can go out and meet with them other people.”
“What other people?”
“Stop playing stupid! You
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