Téofilo and I got together to talk about the garage, the kids, the whole mess.
Once again, I was bringing a problem that he’d much rather pretend didn’t concern him. But by this point, Téo had surrendered to the fact that his life was no longer unimpeachable, and it was his own son who was responsible for the change in status.
“Okay, Hopeton, what is it this time?” Téo asked, as he poured me a scotch, neat. We were seated in his sun room. Lali, per usual, was nowhere to be found.
I kept information about Eula’s arrest to a bare minimum- for all intents and purposes, that situation had nothing to do with Mundo, so Téo didn’t have to worry about any direct blow-back to his family. But the EBT scheme as a whole originated with Mundo, and it was another mess that he’d left Pierre to manage, so I had to flag something to Téo, even if it was only a vague part of the true story.
“How much more shit can my kid possibly stir up from so far away?” Téo asked, rhetorically. “Every time I think it’s finally done, you come here with more news about things I would never even dream I’d have to think about!”
I sighed inwardly, wondering what my friend would say if he ever found out the unsanitized version of the havoc Mundo had wreaked from afar.
“Well, on the good side, I have a buyer lined up for the garage,” I said.
“At least something is going right,” Téo muttered.
“Yes, we’ll get it taken care of as quickly as possible,” I replied. “I’ll let you know once it’s done, so you can get Pierre paid out and we can call it a day on this part, at least.”
“And what about Pierre?” Téo asked. “I got my kid out of town. What do you think we need to do with Pierre? He can’t be up to much good out here, especially with Olmando gone.”
“Pierre’s a good kid,” I said. “He's up his ass a little bit too much, but he really does know what's going on.”
Téo nodded in agreement. I’d known for a while that Téo had a soft spot for his son’s best friend.
“But I’m not his parents,” I reminded him. “You might want to check in with them to see what they think. He keeps on talking about grad school, which seems to be the smartest option for him at this point. But I also think if he doesn't do it quickly, he's going to find himself in trouble here in New York.”
“So, maybe Panama?” Téo suggested. “Team him back up with Olmando out there and see if the two of them could make a success at something together?”
That didn’t sound like the best solution to me, but I kept my opinion to myself.
“What do you think Bolo has going on in Panama?” I asked. “Does he have any projects in the works separate from what Mundo’s dealing with that we could shuttle Pierre over to?”
“I'm going to invite Pierre over once the garage is sold,” Téo said. “I'll just give him the check, say it's from Mundo, and then I'll try to see where his head's at.”
“You might want to talk to his parents first,” I suggested. “They may have no idea what’s going on, and you should probably give them a heads up before you try to ship him out to Bolo.”
