“Sorry I didn’t get back to you yesterday. Caryn said you had some concerns about Laurent Vance. I’ve made some calls, and it sounds like this might be an ongoing issue with him, but no one wants to confront it.”
“I understand you have some of your own issues.”
“Let me worry about that. I have a new cell phone. Call me on that,” he said and gave me the number.
“This deal with Laurent has me more than a little freaked out. I understand that shouting from the rooftops is probably not the best tactic, but I can’t let it go, either. I won’t stand by and let him take advantage of others like that.”
“Look, I said some things to Caryn, but she deserved it. Ignore her and me bickering; that’s between us. I have your back on this. I’ll talk to Gabe Francis about it,” Saul assured me.
“Alright, you do what you need to do, and I’ll keep my head down for now.”
“Oh, and tell Thelma Yates to suck my balls the next time you talk to her.”
I about dropped the phone. There was the Saul I was used to.
◊◊◊
Today was a light day for me on set, so I planned to go to the baseball game the guys I practiced with were playing. I drew Paul as my babysitter. Fritz had a ‘date’ with his new Cuban girlfriend. Paul and I joked around about it, and Paul advised that I not knock it until I tried it. I won’t go into details, but it sounded like they were having fun.
We caught a cab to
When we walked into the stadium, it wasn’t even close to being full. But all the same, it had to be a rush for the youth teams to play on this field. Paul and I were making our way to our seats when a police officer stopped us.
“
While I wasn’t expecting to be shaken down in Cuba, I guess I wasn’t shocked, either. I translated for Paul, and he gave me a pained look. I just shrugged. We’d been told not to carry much cash or anything of value. We both pulled out our tourist money and handed it over. Some of the fans yelled at the police officer, but he took our money and left us alone.
“Did you get that?” Paul asked.
“Yes.”
I’d worn my bodycam glasses, but Paul had forgotten his. We would worry about money after the game. I figured it would be more trouble than it was worth to do anything about it.
The game was hard fought. The teams were evenly matched, and there was a lot of emotion from the fans. It reminded me of when we played Eastside. In the end, the good guys lost, but they had nothing to be ashamed of. It was just the way the ball bounces some days. A seeing-eye grounder slipped through to cost them the game.
We made our way to the players’ entrance so we could congratulate the team when they left. When they finally came out, Coach Conde, Tony, and Luis came over to say ‘hi.’ Luis wanted to introduce me to his family.
“My sister wants to meet you,” Luis said.
“Didn’t you guys warn me about this?” I asked Tony, who smiled.
I explained to Coach Conde and Paul about the dangers of family and their setting you up with their girls. Luis turned a shade of red I hadn’t seen in a while, but he wasn’t to be deterred.
“It’s not like that. Sarita said you were a big movie star, and I had to introduce you to her,” he explained.
I think even he heard how bad that sounded.
“Okay, you might want to worry about her a little,” Luis admitted.
“Is she here? I’d love to meet her.”
We said goodbye to everyone else, and Luis took us to meet his family. Sarita was a few years older than me. She was currently going to college to study to be a doctor. She was also tongue-tied around me, which amused Luis to no end.
We told them about being robbed by the police, so they gave us a ride to the hotel. As I was getting out, I think Sarita realized she might never see me again.
“David!” she blurted.
I paused.
“Uh … would you like to go to church with me tomorrow?” she asked.
“Should I meet you there, or can you pick me up?” I asked.
“I’ll pick you up.”
Sarita told me the time she’d come by, and I got out of the car and smiled.
“Looks like you have more skills than Fritz and I,” Paul teased.
“It’s just church. How much trouble could I get into there?” I asked.
◊◊◊
After the game, I found Caryn to get a report on the grand opening.
“Mary and Granny thought it went well overall. They had some mix-ups, but that’s to be expected with new staff. They loved Mary’s cooking and liked the comfortable atmosphere. In exchange for their free meal, we had them fill out a survey.”
“How many people showed up?” I asked.
“The final head count was 423.”
“I thought only a couple hundred confirmed.”
