blurring_the_edges_33_jump_cuts birdmad The rest of December finds you mostly avoiding doing much of any business outside your straight job at the factory. Zoe hasn't called you and you are fine with that. MeeKrob gives you a message to carry to some cousins of the Ngo brothers out in Texas when you go. Whatever it is, he has sealed it in an envelope and written a phone number on the side with a 512 area code on it. "There's a thousand bucks in it for you if everything turns out cool, alright Alex?" "Just to deliver the envelope?" "Yeah, just to deliver it. No strings." "Cool." "The money will be here when you get back, so see you later and Merry Christmas." You are aware that MeeKrob has taken something of a liking to you. He seems to favor your approach to things better than he does Henry's or Billy's It's just as well you haven't been hanging around near Billy, because while he seems okay with you, his violent outbursts with the people he fucks have been inching closer and closer to being a real problem especially without Platte and his legal wranglings and thinly veiled blackmail schemes. The trip to visit your brother, his new family and the rest of your relatives is fun, if a little uneventful. It bothers you for a minute to realize that living in that small town with all of your older relatives has turned your brother into the mirror of your dad in terms of some of his ideas. When you get off the plane sporting your long hair and your earring, he looks over to your mom and asks, with some consternation in his voice: "You let him do that?" Hearing this, you remind him of the words he spoke upon finishing his stint in the Marines as you and your dad drove out to the base in Tustin to pick him up and bring his gear. "Hey bro, weren't you the one who told The Old Man that as soon as you got home, you were gonna grow your hair down to your ass and get an earring?" "Yeah, but i didn't really mean it." "Heh." Since the last time you saw her, your grandmother looks smaller than before, and thinner. Your dad's mother, you can see where he got a portion of the steeliness of his stare. When she concentrates on something she is doing, your grandmother has that same intent look. It is also fun to meet your newest nephew, six month old Andrew, Jr. The baby is very genial and not particularly shy. When you got off the plane, you motioned to him to see if he wanted you to carry him and he extended his arms right to you from in his mother's grasp. You realize a moment later that this is not only from a lack of shyness but because he wants to get your earring. While in Corpus Christi, wile your mom and your sister-in-law's mother and sisters are out with the kids and your brother is out working with your uncle Miguel, you take a bus over to Sunrise Mall and make the phone call that MeeKrob asked you to make. You picked the mall because only a real serious idiot would think to cause any serious trouble while you are here with all these shoppers. Apparently, they've been told to expect your call. "You Alex?" the voice on the other end of the phone asks, in a slightly sharp tone. "Yes, i have a small package from Sirithanong." "Wow, you said his real name the right way," the voice says, easing up a bit, "that's okay we call him MeeKrob too, where are you?" "Sunrise Mall, by the arcade." "I'll be there in about two hours, i have to go out of the way and make a stop in Robstown before i can come pick it up so you might wanna go catch a movie in the mall." Taking his advice, you scan the list of offerings in the theater and settle on the most intriguing of a meager selection. Candyman 2. While unimpressive, you are glad that at least it did not suck. Walking out of the theater, you see a slim Asian man with a ponytail in a grey dress shirt and black jeans pacing back and forth by the exit staircase. Bobby Vo paces by a planter near the theater exit staircase, he sees you and isn't sure until you walk over to him and set your pack down on the planter rail. "I brought something from MeeKrob, he said it was for you." "Do you know what it is?" Bobby asks, suspiciously. "Nah, i was just told to deliver it, i wasn't given permission to mess with it." "Hmm," he says, almost in a minor huff, his voice betraying more of an accent in person than over the phone, "so there actually can be honor among thieves." Vo opens the envelope and pulls out what appears to be a photograph. He lets out a grunt and slides it back into the envelope, which he then rolls up into a tube and stuffs in his left pants pocket. "Damn," he says, unnerved, "I was hoping Jones was wrong, hoped he was lying. Fuck." "About what?" "Shit, you really didn't look at it, then." "I told you i didn't." "It's my cousin Tran fucking MY WIFE!" "Oh, shit, dude, I'm sorry." "That little prick, just before he got sent up on that big possession charge, my wife and i went out there to help him with his legal fees, i guess my wife helped him a little more than that." "Nina fucks around all the time, that part doesn't bother me. The fact that she did it with that ignorant little low-life cousin of mine...that bothers me." "What are you gonna do?" you ask, unable to hide your curiousity. "He's family, so i can't kill him, but he's in prison and i have connections down in ADC Florence who can make sure he never sits down comfortably again anytime soon." "Ooh, harsh." "I gotta go now. I never thought i'd thank someone for ruining my day, but i guess i owe you one." He hands you a C-note and, hands in pockets, walks tensely out of the mall. Bored, you follow shortly after, taking the bus back to your brother's apartment, listening to your replacement copy of Public Enemy "Fear of a Black Planet" The rest of the stay in Texas is pleasant but a little bittersweet. It still seems odd to come here without your dad around. When you get home, Marisol calls a couple of days later and arranges to meet you at Patriot's Park on the following Saturday afternoon to make good on MeeKrob's payment promise. New Year's 1993 comes and goes and you meet Marisol at the park. Sitting on the of the front tier of the auditorium lawn in front of the stage, she looks different, dressed not in the baggy clothes of someone just showing up to kick ass or do other rough business, she looks, as you suspected she would, downright stunning. She is dressed in a tight black t-shirt and equally tight jeans and has bobbed her hair so short that a few millimeters more and she'd almost look a little bit butch, but with her dark eyes and the little bit of make-up she is wearing, you can understand why many of the men who pass by as you are approaching slow down to admire her. When you sit next to her, she palms you the ten bills that MeeKrob promised and leaves, barely saying more than a brief but friendly-sounding hello and goodbye. In amongst the bills, you spot a small creme-white piece of paper the size of a business card. You look at it and see it appears to be blank. Holding it up to a stray beam of sunlight coming through the canopy above the stage, you can make out a local number. Well, this is interesting? But what does it mean? 030508 what's it to you? who go blather from