I wanted to show Hetty and Yasmin a good time for their first ever Labor Day weekend, without having to deal with the West Indian Day Parade and all its potential fuckery. So, I decided to throw a barbecue, the first proper gathering hosted at my Lincoln Road house.
Hetty and Yasmin had both made friends in the neighborhood, and their people stopped through. Our next-door neighbor, Miss Sonia, now a close friend, brought a big platter of stamp and go. Her son, Junior, volunteered his DJ services. My security provider, Ever, brought his wife and kids. Prentiss showed up with half of his extended family trailing behind him.
It was a massive success.
The party broke up sometime after two in the morning. I asked Prentis if he could hang back.
“Give me a minute,” Prentiss said. “Let me have my nephew drive the wife home.”
He came back about twenty minutes later, a fifth of Wray & Nephew in hand.
We sat in the backyard, passing the bottle between us and listening to the sound of a crate full of bottle rockets being set off down the block. I was in a mellow mood, but something in the back of my mind was nagging at me.
“Let me ask you something,” I started. “If you had around $300,000 and half of that was from legitimate business and the other half was cash money, what would you do with it?”
“Is this fantasy money or do you need actual advice?”
I told Prentiss about my failed move to buy the PanStar building from Bolo.
Prentiss started laughing so hard, I was afraid he’d choke.
“You’ve been up under that white man for so long, I don’t even know if you’d know what to do if you were able to move in the bright light of day.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, sounding slightly peevish.
I’d had too much rum to drink, but I thought I understood what Prentiss was driving at.
“You’ve built an entire system under and around this man, so what does it matter that he won’t let you free?” Prentiss explained. “PanStar is just a building. You’re already free. Stay within his system while you keep building your own. The white man can’t keep you forever.”
“True that,” I agreed. “I told you years ago, this isn’t a forever thing and I was serious about that. I just thought this was going to be my opportunity to get out cleanly. The kid is about to be sent away, the white man has other things on his mind. What does he even want from me at this point?”
“Money,” Prentiss told me. “You’re his main earner. Do you really think he’s gonna let you go that easy?”
“Apparently not,” I replied. “But at some point, he’ll get tired.”
Prentiss nodded, but kept his tongue.
“Rum finish,” I said, and tossed the spent bottle into a nearby trash can.
“You know what I would do if I were you?” Prentiss asked, as he pulled a bottle of Heineken from the cooler at his feet.
“Buy the building across the street from PanStar and call fi war?” I laughed.
“No, sah,” Prentiss smiled. “Mi too old fi such foolishness. I’d take that money and I’d spend half of it on a beautiful plot of land back home. Then I’d take the rest of my cash, sell off those fucking parking lots and invest in a real building.”
“Where, in Park Slope?” I smirked.
“Red Hook,” Prentiss replied. “Gowanus. Sunset Park. Anywhere people are scared of. Dem likkle tourist folk, yuh know they love that shit. Once one a dem move in, dem all ah follow.”
‘You serious?” I asked.
“Yeah, man,” Prentiss said. “Serious!”
“It does make sense,” I admitted.
“And I’d say Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill- but you know none of them people are gonna sell to the likes of us,” Prentiss continued.
“So, why are you not doing it?” I asked.
“Me?” Prentiss laughed. “I’m too old and lazy. That’s a younger man’s game.”
“What if someone showed up and invited you to be a silent partner?” I asked.
“I’d say yes,” Prentiss replied. “As long as we could unload those wutless parking lots Lloydie saddled us with.”
