I moved back outside like a politician working a crowd. Head nods, fist bumps, and greetings liberally applied to anyone who seemed halfway receptive. I wanted out of this neighborhood, it's why I worked my ass off in the classroom and on the wrestling mat, but until I was gone, I wanted to fit in. This wasn't the kind of place it was safe to be a loner.

I pressed the flesh till I hit the street, then jaywalked across the street. I did a little stutter step when it looked like a delivery van wasn't gonna slow down but I made it to the bodega across the way with only a couple of drivers swearing out their windows at me.

Javier was still behind the glass shield when I went inside. He had been 90 pounds and 90 years old for as long as I can remember with one of those oxygen tank bioinserts in his left side. Every time I walked into the place I expected him to have been replaced by his heirs, but he was always there chewing those nasty ass chili and tamarind suckers mean mugging potential shoplifters.

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"How's tricks, Javi?"

He just made that revolting slurping sound as he adjusted the candy in his mouth and I shivered as I moved forward to the ATM. With the same choreographed move everyone does beforehand, I checked both ways to make sure I wasn't getting my pin scoped or about to get jumped before I started to feed cash into my account.

The plan was to get everything on the card so I could order some shit on the internet, but the smell of deep fried heaven was calling my name. I kept out a hundred bucks and gave a 2 litter of coke, then headed back up to the front to get enough tamales I could share a couple with my mom and sister.

I was waiting for the geriatric counterman to wrap my order in foil when a low rumble rattled the glass in the window frame. Food immediately forgotten z I moved over to the newspaper rack to look between the bars and figure out what was going on.

There were dozens of people out in front of my building running around like chickens with their heads cut off, and I dated towards the door. Javier said something I didn't catch as I sprinted toward s where I'd left my little sister in the apartment.

I booked it, moving at the kind of speeds only a dedicated athlete can do on foot. I never even saw the car that hit me.