THIRTY-EIGHT
IT IS AROUND ELEVEN-THIRTY A.M. Anij is sitting in the diner and waiting for James to arrive. A cigar is patiently burning along with the music from the radio on the counter. There are quite a lot of people in the diner. Some are just drinking coffee. Some are eating doughnuts. Some are reading newspapers. A typical scene. No sense of danger or ambush from James yet. Soon after, James and his gang are entering the front door. Anij puts his hand up. James takes a seat with Anij, and the bodyguards take seats next to their table. Anij opens up the conversation.
“Hello, James. Nice to see you again.”
“Okay, cut the crap. Let’s get down to the business, okay?”
“Wow! I wasn’t expecting that so soon. Do you really want to talk about business now? Why don’t we eat first then talk business a little later?”
“Hm . . . Okay. I am kind of hungry anyway.”
“Okay, that’s good.” Anij signals to a waitress. “Excuse me — ”
She says, “I will be there in just a sec.”
“What are you having?”
“I don’t know yet.”
The waitress comes to their table.
“Okay, I will have an omelette with ham and toast on the side, please.”
“Right. And you, sir?”
“Ah . . . I will just have an omelette and a cup of black coffee, please.”
“Okay, will that be all? Anything else?”
“No, thanks.”
“Okay, I will be back soon with the coffee first.”
“Thanks.”
As soon as the waitress moves away to take an order from the bodyguards, Anij starts the conversation again.
“So . . . How are you?”
“Well . . . not too bad. You?”
“Me? Pretty good, I guess, if I am talking to a great businessman like yourself.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, that means that I am happy to talk about my business with you. That is all.”
“Okay. What do you want?”
“Let’s slow down a little. I don’t particularly love talking about work at the table, as we agreed a moment ago.”
“O . . . kay . . . then.”
“Nice weather, ha?”
“Yeah. It is always pretty good in Hawaii anyway.”
“Yeah. That is true. Pretty much anytime is a good time on this island.”
“Yeah.”
“So . . . Got a family?”
James stares at Anij hard for some time with no answer. Anij awkwardly looks at James for a while and then speaks.
“Oh . . . You know . . . Just a friendly conversation. Don’t get me wrong. I am here with my girlfriend. So you don’t have to answer that.”
“I just don’t get this. This whole thing.”
“Trust me. You will like it.”
“So, why don’t you talk about it?”
“I will. But after my omelette.”
“Well, you better hurry ’cause I am a pretty busy man.”
“Oh, yes, I do know that. But I am giving you a little break from your busy schedule. So you can breathe a little at least. Isn’t that nice?”
“No. This is certainly not nice at all.”
“Okay. Then let me make it short.”
“You better.”
“So you carry stuff that we do as well. That is what I know.”
“What kind of stuff are you talking about exactly? If you know me well, I do carry a lot of different stuff all the time. So you’ve got to be a little more specific than that.”
“Well, I mean. As far as the drugs go, we also do carry lots of stuff.”
“And?”
“So we can work together and start to dominate our future markets in many cities, especially the big ones. For instance, Honolulu. You know it is a big market. Well, the biggest around here. And I got a plan.”
“Which is?”
“It is like a special propaganda, which is widely used by big-ass corporations around the world. First, we hire some cool people who have lots of other cool friends in that town. Not your boys. Hm . . . And supply them good stuff for free, which is actually expensive. So while they enjoy the free stuff, they will share it with their friends. So naturally they will bring the stuff to house parties and so on. Before they know, they will crave that shit every day just after a couple of weeks, because it is good. Then we make sure that the stuff spreads out through every inch and corner of the whole town like a plague.
“By then, we would slowly start to sell the stuff to the guys we hired at the first place. They won’t like that at first, because they used to get it for free and now they have to pay for it. But once they are hooked with that shit, they are in a very fast nosedive. So they will do anything to get the stuff from us. And their cool friends will do the same thing as well. And of course their friends’ friends, too.
“We will start this operation in the small towns close to the big cities first. So we know how things work for a while. But you know what? We can’t afford to do that in the big town now, since there are lots of other competitors on the streets and we might get burned. So we must start this operation quietly at first, so more and more people will start to hear about that shit. As soon as the big city guys know about it, then we go into the big cities and do the same thing. So the market is already established and it will be a hotcake on the shelves before your eyes blink.”
James is not saying anything. He is just pondering what Anij was saying. A total poker face on Anij. He is saying this like it’s nothing. And if James doesn’t bite, he will just leave right now. That is what his face is telling James. And it is never good to show too much to a client, even when things are going perfectly fine. Anij has to show that this is the only way to grow big, and something that he can’t do all by himself. So he needs James, who would be the partner and a catalyst to his formula. Not too risky, and big money for both. James seems to think about the plan for a while. Anij is patiently waiting for his answer.
Finally, James asks, “So, that is your plan?”
“Yeah.”
“Hm . . . It sounds pretty good.”
“I told you that you would like it. Like I said, I am a man of my word.”
“Okay. When do I get to see Mario?”
“Hm. I knew you knew about me already.” Anij is a little surprised that James is already on top of the whole thing. But he has to play it cool throughout the deal.
James stares at Anij for a while and then starts to laugh.
Anij is suddenly very uneasy about his laugh. This kind of man is never predictable. Anij isn’t sure what he should do now. The uncertainty overrules his brain. When the laugh is done, James starts to talk. “Oh, that is funny.”
“Uh . . . What is so funny?”
“You really thought I wouldn’t know anything about you?”
“Well, yeah. But not like this.”
“Hm . . . I know so much more about you than you know about me. I had to do some research after you told me about this last week. I just wouldn’t trust anyone. So I dug up some stuff about you.”
“Okay. That is fine. So when do you want to see Mario?”
“Well, maybe next week? Tell Mario that I will call him.”
“Okay. Thanks very much. You made the right choice.”
“Okay. Just don’t try to mess things up with me. If you do or if I think you did something, I will bury you alive. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“I am very serious. I have done quite a lot of digging. You know . . . good exercise.”
“Okay. See you next week sometime?”
“Yeah. Why don’t you finish your omelette? It should be cold now.”
“I will. See you.”
“Okay. Let’s go, boys.”
As they go out, Anij starts to eat his cold omelette. A slight regret chills his body. He was maybe talking way too much about his plan. But at least James listened, and Anij is happy. At least his goal was somewhat achieved. Many thoughts spring to his mind. He thinks that maybe he is set for a while.
Many people had finished their meals and left while he was talking. It is deadly quiet now. He can almost hear what the waitresses are talking about over the counter. Then a waitress changes a station on the radio. She tunes it, and soon music plays. It is a station for old music. Songs from the radio are dampening the whole restaurant with many different emotions while the waitresses are wiping the tables. Anij and the waitresses are enjoying the music.
While he is finishing up his cold meal, a tune from the radio sounds a little familiar. The music suddenly sticks to his ears. It is too awfully familiar to miss. It is his mom’s favourite song,
“Summertime.” As the notes and words enchant his ears, his body becomes petrified. A big tsunami of mixed emotions bursts out abruptly. He is so not ready for this at this moment. His eyes are looking out the window without any focus. Tears are dripping down his cheeks. What an abrupt intrusion! Or is it an intervention? As a late twenty-year-old orphan, even melancholy becomes a luxury item. All the tough and rough days were intentionally buried deep down inside. But the song pulls them back out into the sunlight yet again.
Out on the street, a boy and his mom are holding hands with happy smiles on both faces. The boy is licking an ice cream like there is no tomorrow. Of course, the ice cream is all over his face. Anij can’t bear to look at their faces at all. So he turns to watch the other side of the street. Sadly, there is a bunch of kids playing ball. And, of course, again with happy faces. Anij just can’t take this anymore. His emotion-o-meter is about to implode. He quickly puts money on the table and storms out of the restaurant. Right after he leaves the diner, the song finishes and the radio DJ announces, “That was ‘Summertime,’ by Ella Fitzgerald.”
Anij doesn’t know what to think now. In his state of mind, nothing helps. He wipes his tears again then starts to run. He runs for what must have been an hour without any destination. He has been murmuring the same thing in his mind over and over: “Why that song? Why now? For what?”
His stamina finally gives out. He finds himself in front of a music shop. Somehow, he drags his body into the shop. He heads directly to the clerk at the counter and asks, “Do you have a record by Ella?”
“Ella? Ella who?”
“You know . . . It is kind of a sad song . . . And it is very old. Probably . . . at least twenty years old?”
“Hm . . . Oh! You mean Ella Fitzgerald?”
“Maybe. I don’t know the exact name. Can I listen?”
“Oh, yeah, sure. I will get it for you. Give me a sec, please. Do you have any specific song that you want to listen to first?”
“Ah . . . Yeah. You know the one . . . sounds very sad . . . I thinks she says something about daddy and mommy . . . and . . .”
“Oh. I think it is ‘Summertime.’ Let me get it for you.”
“Thanks.”
The clerk takes a few moments to find it.
“Here it is. Go to number three, please.”
“Number three?”
“Oh, you’ve never been to our shop before?”
“No.”
“Okay, then. Let me take this to the room and play it for you.”
“Okay.”
The clerk shows him the room and comes in with a vinyl record. Then he puts it on a turntable and selects the song.
“There you go. Enjoy it.”
“Thanks.”
As soon as the song starts, his dreadful and happy memories come alive in a most painful way. Twenty-eight years of his life unfold themselves so naturally. A room full of tears and silent cries are erupting like an avalanche on the Everest of his mind. In the tight, narrow booth, a massive number of flashbacks test him just to redefine his existence. It is funny that his current life is not even close to what he used to have. It all becomes so indescribable. When he was on Bikini Island, his life was too mundane and trivial to care about. (In fact, he couldn’t care because he was too young.) But after all these years with so much crap, there is no definite line for him to draw between happiness and sadness. He is not even sure what he feels anymore. Happiness seems to have become a floating cloud that he will never touch, ever again. He is desperately hunched up on a stool while the people in the other booths are having an orgasm from their love of music.
Anij wakes up in the morning. The sun is shining as usual, and the air is clear, as it usually is. He starts his day with Samantha, who is lying next to him. He looks at her and brushes her long blonde hair. Her hair is long enough to cover her body down to her waist. It is still a wonder for him to be in love with her. He looks at her with a smile on his face. He still can’t believe they are still together after so many ups and downs. This must be love! He keeps gazing at her for a while. Soon, she starts to wake up with some little twitches and bustles. Then she notices that he is awake already. She whispers, “Baby, you are not sleeping?”
“No. I was looking at you.”
“Oh . . . Come here, my hubby . . .”
She kisses him softly.
Then he tells her, “Today is my first day for a delivery in this town. And I must do it right.”
“Oh, is it already time?”
“Yeah, already.”
“I know you are good at your job. Of course it will be just fine — like you handled me.”
“Oh, I would do that better than this. Come on.”
“Oh . . . Maybe . . . Haha.”
“You cheeky little girl.”
“Woo . . .”
He grabs her and kisses her passionately. They still love each other very much.
“Oh . . . I have to get ready.”
“Isn’t that on around two p.m.?”
“Yeah. But I’ve got to make a few phone calls to make sure things are okay, you know. And call James, too. And maybe I should look around.”
“Wow. You are very cautious about this, ha?”
“Oh, yeah. I told you. It is my first delivery. I just have to do it right.”
“I understand. Okay. You want me to make some breakfast for you?”
“Sure.”
She gets up from the bed and leaves the room. Anij gets up as well and sits down on a little couch right beside the bed. He pulls out a cigarette and lights it up. There are many things on his mind for sure, even though it will be an easy job for him. He inhales one big breath then exhales deeply with a long pause at the end. This job is really taking a toll on his nerves. He is thinking about lots of things to do before the stuff gets there.
He glances out the window. As usual, there are no suspicious people walking around. A very quiet and serene neighbourhood, it is. Who would have thought that this town is becoming a high-traffic drug city? It seems like no one does drugs in this town. Even the word itself is rarely heard or mentioned. He wonders if people here would even know what drugs would look like. Or maybe Wesley didn’t tell him the whole truth some time ago when he asked him about this town.
With high hopes for today’s job, he heads to the kitchen and greets her with more passionate kisses. After they are finished with breakfast, he starts to make some phone calls.
“Hello, Mario?”
“Yeah, Anij, my boy. How are you?”
“Well, I am pretty nervous.”
“Haha. Don’t be. It is a very easy job as long as you keep things under control.”
“I know. I have seen this kind of thing many times, but I haven’t actually done it all by myself. So . . . you know . . .”
“I know. I know. Anyway, things are going good from here. We will ship them soon. So just hang tight. Okay?”
“Okay. I hope I won’t be stupid.”
“No. You’ll be just fine.”
“Okay, thanks. I will call you when I get my stuff; okay?”
“Okay. That sounds good. ’Bye.”
Anij is getting even more nervous. He rolls his eyeballs very often and keeps murmuring the same thing over and over to himself.
“I have to do this right. I shouldn’t screw up. I have to do this right . . .”
Samantha is smoking on a couch and is looking at him with much concern.
“Hey, baby. Don’t be too nervous. You have seen this many times. What is all this?”
“Well . . . like I said . . . I have never done it all by myself. So . . . you know . . . It is kind of nerve-wracking . . . quite a bit . . .”
“Come on, baby. I will give you a kiss and you will be just fine.”
Then she approaches him and kisses him gently. But still no change on him. Soon after, he makes a phone call to James.
“Hello, James?”
“Yes, Anij.”
“Things are going fine with Mario. So I will get the delivery soon and bring it to you right after. Okay?”
“Yeah, I know. We talked about this. What is the problem?”
“No problem. Just making sure, you know.”
“Oh, okay. It is not a whole big deal for me. So, you don’t have to check up on me, you know. I do know my business.”
“I know that. I am kind of nervous. That is what I am saying.”
“Oh. Don’t be. In fact, you are only getting the packages and delivering them to me. That is all you have to do anyway. So what is so hard about that?”
“Well, I know that, too. It is just my first delivery to you. So it is kind of big . . . to me.”
“Okay. Well, see you later.”
“Okay. ’Bye.”
Anij looks at Samantha with big relief as he hangs up the phone.
She says, “See? He told you not to worry, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then don’t worry so much. You are only driving. That is it. So?”
“I should get calm, right?”
“Oh, hell, yeah. Duh?”
“It is just about the same sensation and agitation when I first stole some candy from a store a long time ago.”
“Yeah? Well, you were very young, then, right?”
“Yeah. I was so shaky. I couldn’t do it at the first try. But I did good on a second try.”
“Yeah, you will be just fine. Have a drink of scotch, then.”
“Okay.”
After four long, tedious hours of emptiness, the phone rings. Anij immediately jumps to the phone and answers.
“Yes?”
“I got the stuff. Come down. I am in a black Cadillac.”
“Okay. I will be right there.”
Then he hangs up the phone and rushes to the front door. There is the black Cadillac. A guy is getting out from the driver’s side, and another guy is emerging from the passenger’s side. The trunk is slightly open. Both guys look so not like dealers at all — they look quite innocent, like young boys from next door.
The passenger says to Anij, “Hi, I’m Fred.”
“I’m Anij.”
The driver says, “I am Richard.”
“Nice meeting you both.”
“Mario told me to tell you that you should take care of these babies well.”
“Oh, yes. I will. Thanks very much for coming down.”
“Okay, take these and put them in your car.”
“Okay. It is parked right there.”
Anij takes two suitcases from the Cadillac and puts them into his trunk. The two guys get back in their car and leave. The biggest burden on his shoulder has just dropped. Anij looks at the Cadillac till it vanishes and sees Samantha watching at the window. He sends her a big smile of triumph. It was so abrupt, quick, and easy. Nothing like Anij’s expectation. As long as it went well, he doesn’t care. Now he just has to drive his car to James, and that will be all. What a relief.
Anij is tapping his fingers on a fancy glass table continuously. The beat is getting faster and faster every second. He is nervously looking around the shop again. It must have been at least the tenth time he has done this. He pulls out another cigarette and lights it up. There are a few cigarette butts already in the ashtray.
He yells out to Samantha, “Why is it taking so long?”
“Just a few minutes.”
“Come on! That is what you told me like . . . five times for the last half an hour. Just come out, will you?”
“Just wait, I said. You want me to look like white trash?”
“But it is just taking so goddamn long!”
“Okay; just a few more minutes, okay?”
“Whatever . . .”
He violently smokes another cigarette and looks at the clerk with a pissed-off face. The female clerk says, “She will be coming out very soon and will be very beautiful. Don’t worry.”
“Okay . . .”
Anij is in a boutique clothing store to buy a nice dress for Samantha. Everything in the store just looks so exquisite and expensive. Even the interior looks very modern and stylish. He has been sitting on the chair in front of the fitting room for at least half an hour. While he is restlessly waiting, she finally comes out. She is absolutely fabulous from head to toe. She looks like a winner of a beauty pageant. He can’t close his eyes. He is about to drool all over the place.
She gets excited. “Voila! You like it, Anij?”
“Wow! Oh, my God. You really are a beauty. Holy . . .”
“Well, so now you can wait for me, ha?”
“Anytime in the world, baby.”
“Are you sure you really are buying this for me?”
“Oh yeah. Why are you asking me again?”
“Well, it is pretty expensive, you know . . .”
“Don’t worry about it. For you, anything. Okay?”
“Are you sure?”
“Sure to the bone. Okay?”
“Thanks so much!”
“Excuse me? Can you pack this up for her, please?”
“Right away, sir.”
“Thanks.”
“Thanks so much, Anij. But you told me that Mario isn’t giving you enough.”
“Well . . . not quite enough. But I will get more next time.”
“Oh, thank you so much.”
“My pleasure, baby.”
She had never looked so happy. She is like a baby with a candy bar in each hand. The dress is put into the shopping bag. She keeps looking at the dress. Her smile is about to last a long time and he is happy to make her happy. He gets closer to her and gives her a kiss. They walk out of the store and get into their car.
Anij says, “The day isn’t over yet, baby. I got another surprise for you.”
“Really? Oh . . . You shouldn’t have. What is it?”
“We’ve got a reservation at the Le Chateau.”
“Wow. The super-fancy restaurant? Really?”
“I told you we would have a dinner there soon. Remember?”
“Oh. Come here, baby. I can’t wait.”
“Let’s go.”
“But I have to put this on first. Then we can go to the restaurant. Okay?”
“Okay. Whatever you say, my princess.”
“Let’s go. I can’t wait to wear my new dress!”
He puts his foot down and heads home.