CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
2008 - The End Is Nearly Near
There was a certain built-in level of comedy to Hopeton’s driving my drunk, tired ass back to Flatbush in my gigantic Land Cruiser, then parking it in his driveway, as I staggered around the corner to my apartment.
Just as I was about to head out of his yard, Hopeton called me back.
“You forgot your keys!” he called, and threw them to me. I caught them with my left hand.
That dinner marked the beginning of my farewell tour of Brooklyn. It had been made clear to me that I was gonna be sent to Panama at some point, even if it were against my will. But I’d already decided that if I were forced to move there, they’d all have to wait until the lease was up on my Flatbush apartment. So, that gave me a little over a year before I would allow myself to be remanded to my best friend’s side. And until then, I was decided it was time to let loose and have a little fun for a change. But I wasn’t exactly sure what that really meant.
In between trying to figure out how to get my head out of my ass and relax, I spent the rest of the summer working my policy analyst job. Mr. Henriques has started inviting me to accompany him to meetings, ostensibly to take notes, but I knew he wanted to expose me to the next level of work I could be doing. I really appreciated it. He was a good guy.
My weekends were spent project managing a ton of stuff we had going on with ST Real Estate Group. Hopeton kept on making noises about how all of this work would be great experience for my future in Panama, and I finally had to tell him to shut the fuck up. He did.
Biz and I would get up every once in a while, for a few drinks after work was done. He had three kids now and was always tired. Every time he tried to beg off hanging with me, I reminded him it was good for company morale.
I kept insisting on beating him in the head that he should be going to college, and he finally told me that he enrolled in some classes at Medgar Evers, “just to shut your ass up, ‘Brón.”
“That’s great!” I said. “I’m right down the road from there. Let me know if you ever need anything.” I tried to get Biz to join me in a toast and he gave me the finger and told me to cut the shit.
So, I was keeping myself busy on all fronts, waiting until my conditional release was lifted in January.
And then when that date finally came around, I started looking for a girl- or girls.
