Chapter 36

7:15 a.m. Tuesday

Andy expected Lupe to be waiting for him in the entryway again but instead Rico stood there. He gestured for Andy to follow him into the laundry room. Andy steeled himself for what was about to transpire. He wondered what story Lupe had concocted if Rico had caught her coming down the stairs.

"I hear you had a visitor last night," Rico said without preamble.

Andy only frowned and nodded.

"I also hear that you handled things pretty well," Rico continued. "Thanks for that. Most guys would have had her bent over before the last word was out of her mouth."

"That's not who I am," Andy said.

"No, it's not," Rico confirmed. "But you also could have crushed her, mano. I heard what she looked like when she came to visit. I hate to say it but I might have laughed at her."

"I really didn't find anything funny about it," Andy said with a shrug. "I told her I look at her as a cute young woman not a 20-year-old."

"I know," Rico said with a wave of his hand. "I got most of the conversation passed along to me."

"Lupe?" Andy wondered.

"Get real," Rico said, shaking his head. "I got that old woman beside you looking after you. If she hears any strange noises, she lets me know and I send someone to check it out. She waited until you sent Lupe on her way to call and let me know. She said you were a perfect gentleman. Of course, she likes you so it's no surprise that she would think that."

"I tried to be nice to her," Andy replied. Rico didn't know if Andy was talking about Lupe or his elderly neighbor but he decided it didn't matter.

"That's the thing about you," Rico said. "I almost wish you'd have agreed to spread Lupe for the first time. She needs to know that there are good guys out there. That's the problem with this place. All these people know are people like me and my old man. There are so few guys like you around these places that no one really knows they're out there. Man, when you first showed up, you could have had your pick of any woman from 12 to 52 in this building. A few of them saw that you were white and they thought that meant money."

Andy snorted.

"Yeah, we have some really dumb people living here," Rico agreed. "But I think a few of them saw the goodness in you, Man. Like with Lupe, I almost wish you'd have taken a few of them up on their offer. Bonita Cruz might not have hooked up with that asshole that killed her baby if she would have known guys like you were around. I'm not saying it's your fault. I'm just saying that Lupe might do a lot worse than hooking up with you."

"Not going to happen, Rico," Andy said firmly.

"Nah," Rico said with a wave of his hand. "At least not right now. I wouldn't be surprised if you get an invitation to her graduation though. One thing about that girl, if she sets her mind to something, she usually gets it. I thought about what you told me yesterday. I don't think I did her any favors by looking after her so closely."

"You didn't hurt her any," Andy said. "She reminds me a lot of Regan, I guess. Regan's family shielded her from anything that might cause her harm. The problem was that they also shielded her from all the things that interest young girls: boys, fun ... boys. Lupe is in the same boat. You know, Mom always told me that kids are supposed to do stupid things. It's what helps them learn and grow. Lupe hasn't had a chance to make mistakes. She's smart as hell but, emotionally, she's still a little girl."

"I know it," Rico said, shaking his head in frustration. "But I can't just turn her loose. She'd be chum for some of these fucking sharks. She'd wind up losing her cherry in a gangbang or something. She'd end up shacking up with 30-year-old dude or some shit. I just don't know what to do."

"I thought about after she left last night," Andy admitted. "One of my friends has a brother her age. I was thinking about organizing some group dates. Me and Regan would go out with a few of our friends and invite Lupe and a boy her age with us. It will give her a chance to interact with guys a little and it will also give her a chance to get used to the sort of girls she's going to find at C-B."

"You'd do that?" Rico asked.

"Hey, if you're my brother that makes her my little sister, too," Andy said. "That means I'll look out for just like you would."

"Yeah, you do," Rico said with a nod. "That sounds good."

"You can join us, too," Andy offered.

"Nah," Rico told him. "There is no way I'm going do that. I saw Regan giving me the eye when she was here. I'd steal her way and make an enemy for life. Seriously, man, can you see some of these low-grade whores hanging out with you guys? It might be fun to watch – until she offered to blow one of your friends for crack money. Then I'm guessing the fun would be over for everyone."

"Did you know Lupe's mom once offered to do that for me?" Andy asked.

"Not until last night," Rico said. "It doesn't surprise me. That's the thing, Andy. Lupe hasn't got much of a shot with that mom of hers. You know I got two kids and I know your mom looks at me like some asshole for running out on them. But I care about Lupe and I care about my boys. It's why I look after Lupe so closely and why I stay away from the little ones."

"I went without a father for 18 years," Andy said. "You're not doing them any favors by waiting to get to know them."

"See, that's what you're missing," Rico confided. "I'll never know them. Man, you got to understand, I'll be dead before I'm 25. The sort of life I lead doesn't end in a nursing home. I'm going to cross someone tougher than me one day and he'll kill me. That day is probably soon. I don't want my boys to have to get over losing me. It's better that they never even know I exist. I take care of them, though. I moved them out to the suburbs. I got their moms good jobs. I pay them money every single month. I haven't forgotten about them."

"Why don't you just get the hell out of here?" Andy asked, looking around at the dingy laundry room.

"I can't," Rico said. "I got to look after the people here."

"No offense, Rico, but fuck the people here," Andy replied.

"That's part of the problem," Rico said. "You take a look at any kid in this building from age 12 to age 20 and there is a chance my dad is their father. You take a look at half the women in this building from 25 to 45 and there's a good chance my old man raped them when they were teenagers. He was big on that shit. He called it a Tribute. He liked to be the first one to fuck all the girls. He would get them when they were 12 or 13 years old and make their parents give their permission for it. That's how I came along. My mom was a 14-year-old virgin when the old man stuck it to her. She had no idea of birth control. We're all Catholics and they didn't permit that shit. She got knocked up. Abortion was out because of the priests, too. So she popped me out. Then she popped out a bunch more because she thought that was all she was worth.

"That's the legacy my pops left behind – a bunch of women with no way to support themselves except welfare and food stamps. Most of them didn't get past eighth or ninth grade so it isn't like NASA is looking for them. They don't work. Instead, they sit around all day drinking their life away, fucking anything with a dick and making up shit about their neighbors. That's no way to live."

"It's not your fault," Andy said.

"It's my responsibility," Rico asserted. "If I don't look after them no one will. If I told Tomas to run through that wall, he'd do his best but he can't look after people. Right now, you and your mom are getting out. Lupe will be out next. After that, what do we have? The rest of these bastards will be right here in 10 years. You know what I saw right over there last month?"

Rico gestured to a makeshift table that people used for folding laundry. Andy shook his head.

"I saw an 11-year-old boy fucking a nine-year-old girl," Rico said with disgust. "I raised hell and threatened to kick his ass. You know what she told me? She told me if I was going to kick his ass I'd have to do it to every boy in the building because she'd fucked them all. Every little boy, as soon as he could get a boner stuck it in that skanky twat. She told me that if I stopped the boys from here, she'd go to other buildings to fuck. Can you believe that shit?"

Andy's mouth dropped at the description.

"Nine?" he asked.

"Nine," Rico said. "She got boned for the first time when she was seven. Her fucking 12-year-old cousin stuck it in her and popped her cherry. She decided that she liked it and kept doing it. What the fuck is she going to be like at 14? She'll either be pulling trains at a bar somewhere or she'll have some nasty disease that will kill her. Or maybe she'll find some sick fuck that likes to do little kids and move in with him. She can pop out a baby that will be just about the right age for the asshole when she's started to get hair on her pussy."

"What are you going to do about her?" Andy asked.

"I don't have a fucking clue," Rico admitted. "I keep hoping that she'll go back to visit her cousin this summer and just stay there and fuck the little prick to death. For now, I'm just keeping the older kids away from her. She can bang the ass off all the 10-year-olds she wants but anyone shooting real bullets has to stay away."

"Fuck, Rico," Andy said.

"It isn't like anyone else would even care about her," Rico said in a low voice. "Her mother doesn't give a shit. Her father hasn't been seen in five years. No one knows where he ran off to. The schools here are so fucked up that none of the kids have a chance to learn anything so it's left to me."

"We're looking to change things at the schools," Andy said. "I've talked to Regan a little bit about how the private schools look for poor students. They're going to start trying to get kids in first or second grade, I think. That means more and more kids from this neighborhood will have a fighting chance. Yeah, today it's just me and Lupe. Next year it might be two or three others. In five years, you might have 10 or 12 kids going to school somewhere good. And maybe, just maybe, the school district will see that they're losing all their best students and change the way they operate. But I doubt it."

"No," Rico said. "They don't give a shit about the kids here. But you do. I can see that – I could always see that. And it's a good start. Maybe in a few years I won't have to be around and I can look for a place of my own. Would you and Regan hire me as your gardener?"

"No," Andy said with a laugh. "But if they have any apartment buildings, I'd recommend you as resident manager in a heartbeat. Deep inside, you like taking care of people."

"Maybe," Rico said. "I might just take it so I can see the white people in those ritzy places hide the silverware when I go to fix something. You better get moving. Lupe is going to think you left her behind."

"It's probably best if we leave Lupe's behind out of any future conversation," Andy joked.

Rico exhaled noisily and nodded.

"At least until you pop her cherry in four years," he said with a wink.

Andy walked out the laundry room and saw Lupe waiting for him. She was dressed in a nice skirt and a pullover. Andy looked over his shoulder for Rico but the man had disappeared.

"Are you ready?" Andy asked.

"Just waiting for you," Lupe replied shyly.

"Just wait here until I see what's out there," Andy said. He opened the door and stepped out into the sunshine. There were no strange cars idling nearby and the usual group was on the corner. He saw Rico walk up and take his customary spot. Andy realized he must have gone out the emergency exit that was supposed to be alarmed but obviously wasn't. Rico offered a nod and Andy ushered Lupe from the building.

The football players were waiting beside Andy's car – along with Elizabeth Pena.

"I'm riding with you today," she said brightly.

"The fuck you are," Andy said. He took her arm and pulled her aside. "When we roll past the Kings' building, they might start shooting. Those little bastards know my car but they don't know any of the others. You get your ass in one of them. Lupe is going to ride with Carl today."