Day CCVII

Da Land

     Chino made some very unique gold things: bangles, necklaces, earrings, and business got better for everybody. Then within the year, gold went up to three hundred and fifty dollars an ounce. It went up ten times what Jaime had paid for it, and Chino felt he deserved half the profit

because it was his idea, but Jaime always said it was his dough. So he didn’t give him anything, Chino got miffed, and left. Jaime turned the store into a cool, chic chick’s shop, and he was rolling in dough.

     Some peeps are blessed, jail turned him around, but he still had a little larceny in him. Like Red, when he went shopping, he managed to rip off his wholesalers. When Jaime still had his little sundry store, he bought a piece of land in New Jersey, and faithfully through the years he made his monthly payments. The thing that always got me, was that he never bothered to check it out. It was out of character for him, especially the way he looked into the gold. But, somebody in his family had told him that land was the way to go, and so he did.

     One day I walked into the store, he was sitting behind the register, a half pack of smokes on the counter, he was smoking away, and he looked like he was dying of some horrible disease.

    “Que pasa, bwa, I thought you dint smoke, man?”

    “Oh, man, I just found I’s bin bamboozled.”

    “How’s dat, musta bin some way out con tadoo ya, uh?”

    “Yea, a long time ago I bot a piece land out in Joisey, man. Bin paying fo it evy monf, too. My unk told me it was a good deal, cuz da land is da land, ya na. So I bot it, ya na...I twusted im.”