I had one last stop to make along my recalibration tour. It was another place I’d let fall by the wayside, but here, I knew I’d been missed.
As soon as I walked into the Pitkin Avenue barbershop, Osvald started shaking his head. I’d made sure to visit at a time I knew he’d be free to step away for a moment- we had a lot to get through and I didn’t want to speak in front of any potentially nosy customers.
Aside from two chairs towards the front, the shop was devoid of activity. Osvald got up from the couch at the back of the room and headed towards me. We met halfway and headed back to the couch.
“Diache, Hopeton… hacía tiempo que tú no pasabas por aquí,” he said as he shook my hand.
He scanned my appearance from neck up. “You must be hitting up the barber over on your side of town,” he remarked dryly.
“I just have had so much business going on I’ve barely had a minute to get away from Crown Heights,” I replied. “Things got hectic from last time I saw you.”
“You still mixing it up with those Panamanians?” Osvald threw back at me. “They must be keeping you busy!”
“Yeah,” I agreed, “but they're all getting ready to pull up stakes and head on back to their home country.”
Osvald nodded. He could read between the lines.
“Well, maybe you'll have some free time opening up. People have been asking where you've been. Everybody wants money. You still lending?”
“I am still lending,” I confirmed. “But from now, I'm only going to float sums to business owners. People who need capital to make improvements, to grow their business.”
“Stepping it up,” Osvald noted.
“Yes, I am,” I told him. “I’m able to lend real money now, so no small sums, no petty payday loans, and only people who are trustworthy. People who have collateral to put up.”
“How can I help?” Osvald asked, quietly.
“You can connect me to business owners who you trust, who you think deserve to have access to reliable capital, and who you know are a good risk. I'm looking at it more as an investor than as just a small-time loan shark.”
Osvald smiled.
“You’ve never been small-time,” he corrected me. “Even when you were a nobody around here, you were never small-time, hermano.”
