I’d been dead to the world, fighting demons in my dreams, and wasn’t ready to resurface. Endless corridors, a search for something that had been stolen from me and copious amounts of blood- my sleep had not been easy but I did not feel like facing my waking reality.
My room was dark, the old wooden shutters firmly closed. I had no idea what time it was.
I heard my name again.
“EUUUUUUULA!!!! YO! OPEN YOUR WINDOW!”
I slowly opened my eyes, crawled out of bed and shuffled to the window. Pushed the ancient, creaky shutters away, hauled the screechy, warped frame up, gripped the rotting windowsill and peered down into the blinding daylight.
Mundo.
Doe.
Standing on the sidewalk on Halsey Street, looking like he was ready to put in work. Definitely looking like he was wondering why I was nowhere near ready to do the same.
From the way the sun was hitting the street, I could tell it was somewhere around 2:30pm. It was an early summer day, but the humidity was already a physical presence. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to commit to waking up and getting on with it, but dealing with Mundo generally didn’t leave me with many options.
“Jesus, Doe,” I called down, “What time is it?”
“Time to get yourself out of bed and come do what needs to be done,” he shouted up at me.
"Okay, okay, gimme a minute!" I shouted back, my eye roll loud enough to hear.
Mundo had a set of keys to my apartment, but I didn’t bother asking him why he didn’t use them. He tended to prefer a dramatic gesture over convenience.
I backed away from the window slowly, careful not to hit my head. I knew I had to get moving- apparently there was shit that needed handling. And that was not surprising- there was always shit that needed handling.
It might’ve sounded like Doe was barking, but that was just how he was.
I didn’t take it personal and I wasn’t scared at all.
Mundo was my world.
“Jesus, Doe- what time is it?” I asked again, once I was standing in front of him. He pulled me into a brief hug. He smelled really fucking good- citrusy and woodsy. It was driving me crazy. And I may have been imagining it, but I could’ve sworn I felt his hard cock through his silky basketball shorts. “Strictly business, Eula,” I reminded myself as I pulled away.
“It’s minutes to three,” Mundo replied. “C’mon, we gotta go.”
He led me to his car, a cool, clean Volvo S40 double parked a few feet past my building’s front door. Cabrón was in the driver’s seat. Mundo slid into the passenger’s side and I climbed into the back. Mobb Deep was playing at very low volume on the CD player. I knew what that meant.
“What’s the haps?” I asked as I closed the door, taking great care not to slam it.
“We’re heading out to Far Rockaway,” Mundo replied. “One of my uncle’s old connects is in a cash crunch and he has some product he needs to offload. My uncle said he’d do him a solid and take it off his hands. It’s about three bricks. Cabrón’s gonna drive us out there to pick up, then take us back to your crib. You and I can bag up tonight. I gotta send Brón up to Mount Vernon to manage some other time sensitive business for me.” Cabrón nodded in agreement, his eyes glued to the road. He may have been a slick talker with asshole tendencies, but Brón did not play when he was behind the wheel for Mundo.
We were passing through central Brooklyn, heading towards the twisting, turning Jackie Robinson Parkway. That was most definitely the scenic route to Queens, but less cop-ridden than the Belt Parkway, especially for three kids riding in a tinted up black Volvo, one that would soon be carrying felony-grade weight.
I allowed my mind to wander as we made our way to Edgemere Houses, aka The Edge. The last half a year had been pretty intense. I was excessively proud of myself, the way I’d set it all up in Brooklyn and immediately started running with the big dogs.
I’d been spending a lot of time hustling with Mundo and his crew. Heirarchy still seemed pretty fluid, and we’d all took turns looking after HQ. That’s what we called the trap.
I did notice, however, that whenever I made my way over to Classon and Pacific, Mundo just so happened to be there too. And on nights when the other guys went to kick it with their many ladies, Mundo would come chill with me at my house. I’d order us some expensive Park Slope Chinese delivery and we’d watch movies on my expensive new DVD player. Now that my money was straight and my dope needs taken care of, I’d ditched the bootleg VHS tapes of yore and started to amass quite a collection of flicks to choose from.
Mundo hadn’t made any moves on me, and I was hoping that something might happen later that evening, once we were alone and the product was put to bed. But I wasn’t gonna push it.
