Téo asked me if I wanted to stay for dinner, but I declined the offer- I needed to get back to Crown Heights to do some serious thinking.
I came upon Téo’s son, Olmando, and his friend, Pierre, on the sidewalk. Olmando was dribbling a basketball. Pierre was carrying a midsized boombox, Buju Banton streaming from the speakers.
Olmando smirked and said, “We live in Brooklyn, baby.”
Pierre gave me a small wave as he passed by.
My car was on the next block over. I climbed inside and gunned it back to my side of town.
I let my mind roam as I drove the straightforward route home from Clinton Hill. On the one hand, I was very clear on the front half of Bolo’s supply chain workflow- I was embedded in it. But from there, the vision was cloudy. I had a general idea of what the process had to be once product left Panamanian Star, but I couldn’t say for certain. And with something like this, I’d have to be one hundred percent sure.
And then there was the money factor- who paid what? When did they pay and how? Again, all things I could make educated guesses about, but still, there was no way I could spell out the process without fail.
The final consideration had the biggest potential for error- personnel. It caused me anxiety even thinking about it. I already knew that I’d have to find someone I could consult on the matter. At that time in my life, I wasn’t equipped to solve that problem on my own.
After my mental inventory was completed, I switched on 1010 WINS and let my thoughts power down.
Then I was back at Nostrand and St. John's, in front of Panamanian Star, or PanStar as we’d all taken to calling it.
At the sidewalk, I started to head upstairs to my little monk's cell, but realized that I really wouldn't be able to think up there - too confined, too claustrophobic. And since this was a PanStar problem, I figured, may as well try to reason it out at the source.
I let myself into my shop and headed to the backroom. I grabbed a legal pad and a felt-tip pen, turned on some Gregory Isaacs, and got to plugging holes. Next time I looked up, it was three in the morning, and the only firm decision I’d come to was that eventually I’d have to ask Prentiss for his input. But I wanted to wait a little longer until it was closer to decision time.
