CHAPTER TWELVE
1999- Vitamin D
By the time November hit, we were all starting to feel exhausted. Ground down by the constant pressure to grow our market. To optimize our process. To increase profit. Investors back in Costa del Este were keeping a close eye on us. Or so I’d heard, via half-whispered rumors and innuendos. By this time, I’d confirmed to myself that Mundo was a much bigger player than I was used to dealing with, but the fact that I really had no idea of what he really had going on had me feeling extra unstable.
Meanwhile, the boiler was on the fritz at Garfield’s and his stingy ass was in no hurry to get it fixed, so we lugged in a couple of cheap propane heaters to keep the temperature above freezing- they would cause me to run out of that stifling little space with pounding migraines.
I needed a break. Some vitamin C would do the trick. And some vitamin D. Definitely some vitamin D.
Early one flatlined mid-week morning Mundo and I were driving from my crib to HQ. I had my usual burning hot bodega coffee- black with no cream or sugar- and Mundo was sipping from a bottle of Volvic spring water. He was a big believer in staying hydrated at all times.
I leaned over and turned down the Ghostface Killah CD that was cranking at top volume.
“Doe, what do you think we do something crazy and head to Santo Domingo for the weekend?” I’d recently gotten my first ever passport and Cabrón had mentioned to me in passing that he had the hookup if I ever wanted to check out the D.R.
“Santo Domingo?” Mundo briefly took his eyes off the road to give me a hard look. “Where’d you come up with that idea?”
I just shrugged and looked down at my coffee. Doe was not stupid. I knew he knew exactly where that idea came from. I prayed he didn’t question me further.
Mundo let it drop, then said, “I can’t. My uncle just put me on call for something he has going on in Honduras. It may or may not happen, but I can’t fuck around. When they need me, it’ll be last minute and I gotta be ready.”
He could see the disappointment in my eyes, even though I tried to hide it. I really needed to get away and spend some time with my man, and there would be no room for me if and when Tío Bolo beckoned. And if he was called away to some exotic country, I was pretty sure Doe would never return. At least not to me.
I felt weak for even thinking like this, but I wondered what it would like to really be Mundo’s girl. Would we travel the world together or would I be left behind to fend for myself?
Was Mundo capable of loving deeply?
Was I?
“Hey,” his voice broke through my thoughts. “I ran into one of my old partners from Cambria Heights the other day. He’s working for Chris Lighty now, heading up A&R, and he told me Chris and his brother, Dave, are throwing a loft party the day after Thanksgiving. It’s over by Flatbush Avenue, downtown right before the Manhattan Bridge. He gave me two invites- they have the address on them. Wanna go with me?”
“Like a date?” I asked.
He smiled and said, “Yeah, like a date. You get dressed up real nice and I slap on some cologne and a new pair of Clarks and we head out. Like civilians.”
Like civilians. I loved the way those two words sounded in my ear.
That weekend we were lazing around my bedroom, getting a slow start on the day. I went into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee and came back to find Mundo putting on his pants.
“You gotta go?” I asked, once again trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice. I really had to stop catching feelings.
“Yeah, I have some errands to run, but I’ll be back later on.”
I shrugged my shoulders up to my ears, pursed my lips and rapidly batted my eyes.
Mundo laughed. “No, really,” he said. “I promise. Oh, and here. Take this.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a thick knot of twenties.
“Go buy yourself a nice dress to wear to the Lighty party.”
He gently placed the bills in the palm of my outstretched hand.
I think that’s what people mean when they say “throw money at the problem.”
