Primo

“You quiet today, man.”

“Not quiet. Just not talking.”

“Exactly, man, too quiet.”

“I can talk Pri, just nothin’ to say.”

“You wanna drive?”

“You want me to drive?”

“Nah man, forget it.”

“I mean, I can drive.”

“Nah, I said forget it, let’s go. Get this over with. I just need to change the seat and mirrors from your midget settings. Gimme a minute.”

“‘Gimme a minute.’ I’m not going anywhere, my midget ass. Stop trying to piss me off, sayin’ things like that.”

“Like what?”

“Oh fuck off.”

“Alright. Are you ready, man?”

“Just sitting here waiting for you Pri, your slow baboso ass. I’ve got it, I been ready. Let’s go take care of this kid.”

“You brought—”

“Yeah, I said I’ve got it.”

“And Tito isn’t coming to—”

“They said just us.”

“So Tito isn’t—”

“Just. Us.”

“Alright, alright. You just normally don’t—”

“I know, but I got this this time.”

“Oh allathesudden yous a big jefe, man, run us poppin’ some kid now.”

“Not my first time, Pri. You tryna drive or you tryna talk like you know anything about anything?”

“I know somethings about somethings. See, I got you talking, not so quiet now, eh man? I’m tryna make sure we got a plan, is all.”

“How about you drive and I do the thinking this time: that’s our plan.”

“Real talk, though? Every time we drive by Don Julio’s spot all closed and boarded up now I get, like, mad cravings for them pajetas, man.”

“You got nothing to say about that, man?”

What do you want me to say, Pri?”

“Man, you know what I was just thinking?”

“You gonna tell me anyways.”

“You know we aren’t the ones doing no thinking, callin’ no shots, out here.”

“That’s true cause it’s funny.”

“Wait. You mean that’s funny because it’s true?”

“Eh, oh yeah. Backwards. I don’t really know. Maybe.”

“It’s all kinda backwards and shit, no? I thought we’d be out of here or dead by now, my brother still here I guess, and I would’ve never come for Don Julio and his family like that, hard to know what’s funny or true no more. Shit's sad. You know what I’m saying, man?”

“Hell yeah, Pri. See we out here, ‘mi vida loca’ and shit, but when I was a kid, I figured by now I’d be like, in college or some shit. That’s backwards. And I miss Don Julio’s shop too, Pri.”

“See, got you talking now. Yo. You’d be a dad to all those babies working a job selling SIM cards or pupusas, man. Have a straight ass jefe tells you close up shop real nice and you be all, ‘Si, señor.’”

“Those ain’t my kids, Pri.”

“Sure, sure.”

“I’m not like that, you know that, why would you even say that.”

“Nah my bad, sure sure. I just… can I tell you something, or ask you, I mean?”

“They not my kids, Pri.”

“Not about that my bad, mea culpa, I know. Something else I wanted—”

“Take a left here Pri, you gonna miss the… Yeah, what’s up?”

“You ever been with a girl when she’s on her period?”

“I mean— that’s they nature, Pri, it happens. Why?”

“Last night, Yes and I almost… but she said she was on her period and I, I was scared of the blood, man. I’m just being honest here. Why you laughing like that?”

“Primo, you a mother fucking gangster done killed and jumped people like you all machismo and shit— you cut a kid’s finger off to get initiated when you was still a baby, cousin. And, aha. We like, juuuust helped Dante dump that body he cut up last month, Pri, and the bags was leaking and you ain’t said nothing, what do you even mean right now.”

“I really don’t like blood, man.”

“Bro.”

“Stop laughing, man! I was trying to be serious contig why you gotta—”

“I hear you, I’ll stop, I’ll stop.”

“I just, no man. I don’t know. That’s what I mean about all this, right? Como… what would we be doing if we wasn’t out here collecting rent and jumping these kids, like I sure as hell wouldn’t be touching no bodies or dealing with no blood. Maybe I’d even be a school teacher or some shit, help kids—”

“Not a phlebotomist, eh?”

“What the fuck is that?”

“Haha my Tia up in the states is one, I loved when she told me that wo— hey hey! Turn man— dude why you driving, Pri, if you not paying any attention?”

“I got you, man, I don’t need to pay attention.”

“Stop smiling. You gotta pay attention, Pri, don’t want nothing bad to happen.”

“Man, the bad gonna happen when we get where we going no matter my driving. I probably should take a wrong turn, get us outta here.”

“Wouldn’t be mad about that.”

“Man. Should we do it?”

“Do what?”

“Like, take a wrong turn and just drive off, away from all this?”

“You know we ain’t getting nowhere in this world no more, no matter the turns you tryna take, Pri.”

“People get out, man.”

“Not walking, Primo. Not with these numbers on us. We all dying out here, you tryna take a wrong turn and—”

“Alright, alright. Forget I said anything.”

“Nothing wrong with you saying it to me, Pri.”

“You know you miss those pajetas too though, man.”

“What do you want me to say, Pri?”

“I don’t know, it was fucked up how that all went down. And now we ain’t got no place that has pajetas like that no more in the barrio. That was real stupid.”

“...Man you all quiet again. Like, kids can deal with a lot of fucked up shit, you know? All I’m tryna say is we shoulda saved the pajeta place, kids should have a place to get some popsicles, man.”

“Es lo que hay, Pri.”

“I don’t know, man. What’d this kid even do anyway?”

“Why you wanna know?”

“Just asking.”

“You don’t wanna know.”

“He ain’t do shit, did he. Man…”

“It’s not our call.”

“We getting kinda far from our territory, though. Didn’t realize how far it was, did you?”

“Yeah, you know how it is.”

“But this seems extra far for one kid, for only us two.”

“They sending two of us for one kid, that’s pretty norm—”

“I just prefer when they three or four of us when we going this far, is all.”

“We got each other, don’t trip, Pri. Quick and easy.”

“Motherfucker. You see that?”

“See what?”

“They still got pajetas over here! Man, we should switch sides, eh?”

“Maldito baboso…”

“Should we stop though? For some?”

“Keep driving, Pri.”

“What if we say we didn’t find the kid?”

“Pri. What is with you today?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know.”

“Nobody wants to do anything they do, Pri. You gotta put it in perspective. Even a, like a fuckin’ phlebotomist hates going to work too.”

“You should go back to being all silent. Sound real stupid sometimes when you do talk.”

“Turn here, last turn, Pri. Go slow.”

“Hey what—”

“I said go slow.”

“No I am, I am, but you see that?”

“Yeah, I see. Just keep driving slow and normal, maybe they—”

“Their car is full, man.”

“No I see, I see just— lemme think a second.”

“They’re coming for us, man. Thatsa eme ese car, we not in our territory—”

“Just be cool Pri, keep driving, we can take the next turn. If they keep following, we can try to punch it—”

“Shit man, I knew I shouldnta driven today. I had a bad feeling about alls this.”

“You’re good Pri, you’re good. This our plan, right? You drive, I take care of— turn turn turn.”

“They’re following us man, they’re following us.”

“Look, you just drive, Primo. I’ll take care of them, you just watch the road. I got you.”

“We’re gonna get popped today, man.”

“Maybe not, maybe not. Can always give them some rent, eh?”

“That’s so stupid, man. Not if we race out and they shoot us dead we can’t, they take rent off our corpses and it’s…. it’s bounty, man.”

“No it’s… yeah Pri, they coming, this might be it.”

“Fuuuuuuuck, Jaim. Fuuck man.”

“But no listen, listen for a sec. Pri, you know what?”

“What?”

“If this is it, we don’t have to go do nothing to that kid now. It’s like you got your wish.”

“Oh shit. That’s funny.”

“Hella funny. Good knowing you, Pri. Ah shit yeah, they coming, I got you, I got you.”

“Jaim, vaya con dios, man, sorry it went down like this, you ain't stupid, and my driving, my—”

“Primo. Kid, we all dying out here. Was only a matter of—”