by Joshua Klein
"Hell yeah" laughed Cessus. "After all this is over we've got to take you to a Fat Burger joint, man."
"Fat Burger?" asked Poulpe "Are you for serious? There is a place called 'Fat Burger'?"
Fede almost shot coke out his nose, he laughed so hard.
"It is a strange country I've come to" said Poulpe.
"Yeah, the irony's heavy" said Cessus.
"Besides, you're not in the U.S., you're in Mexico. And you're about to be in China" said Marcus. He raised a finger to signal their waiter.
"Indeed. We are jet-setting, no?" asked Poulpe. "Like rock stars."
"Except for the people trying to kill us, yeah" said Fed.
"Come on now" said Cessus. "Man's got a point. Didn't you ever want to go to China?"
Fede raised his eyebrows and shoveled more fries into his mouth.
"Uno more Sunrise Special" said Marcus to their waiter.
"Yes sir, right away" he replied.
"Fucking English all over the world" said Marcus.
"This is your global economy" said Poulpe. "Are you not pleased?"
Marcus grunted. "I like the prices, but the deculturization is crap. I want to live a quality life as much as the next guy, and can understand the mechanisms that get people to sell out their heritage for it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."
Baby came in the front door, caught sight of them. His tan had faded somewhat and he looked less like a raccoon; Esco had insisted he rub in some tanning lotion before they left the beach. His eyes shifted nervously back and forth across the restaurant, and when the waiter approached he almost jumped through the window.
"How was your drive?" asked Cessus as he skittered over to their table. "Everything go okay?"
"Yeah, yeah" said Baby. "I just don't like it down here. Mexicans don't go much for Puerto Ricans, you know?"
"Why?" asked Poulpe.
"Puerto Rican's get U.S. citizenship automatically" said Cessus. "The Mexican's just get shipped around as labor. Unequal opportunity."
"Why is this?" asked Poulpe. "You are such charming people."
"Puerto Rico is part of the U.S., officially. Means we got U.S. passports real easy" said Baby. "Mexicans don't, even though they're right next door and always getting used for labor. We competed for a lot of the same jobs, except we had the obvious advantage. After the deregulation of the border it got worse. Listen, it's a long story. It doesn't matter" He pushed his bag under the table. "I'm going to take a piss. Order me a burger, okay? No onions."
After Baby had had his dinner they sat, waiting. Baby kept ducking under the table to pull on his oversized headset, waiting for messages. Poulpe ordered an ice cream but announced that it was disgustingly sweet as soon as it arrived, and left it on the table to melt.
Fede was stuffed. He leaned back and pulled on his soda, waiting. He didn't know what was coming next, kept telling himself it was out of his hands. He thought about what Cessus had said, tried to think of it as an adventure, but it wasn't working.
"China's not known for its human rights, is it?" he asked.
"Not known for their human rights violations, either" said Marcus. "Not anymore, anyway. They're still gunning to get their currency established as the international standard."
"Where the fuck are they?" asked Baby. "Esco's supposed to comm me as soon as they get on the flight."
"Probably got delayed" said Cessus. "This is Mexico, after all."
"That's not protocol" fretted Baby. "He's not responding, either."
"Don't worry about it" said Marcus, his voice heavy. He glanced up at the clock. "Cessus?"
Cessus smiled wide, big white teeth glimmering. He stood, shouldered his bag.
"Yep. I reckon it's time to go. Poulpe, Fed, if you'll follow me?"
He gestured towards the exit.
"What the fuck?" asked Baby. He reached for his pocket, started to stand.
Marcus's arm fell around his shoulders like a weight and he crashed back into his chair.
"Let's have a coffee, shall we?" Marcus asked Baby.
"Sorry, man" said Cessus. "That's business. Tonx's orders."
"But we got no comm from them" protested Baby.
"You got no comm from anybody" said Cessus. He jerked a thumb over Baby's head at the wall behind him. "Men's room, taped under the sink. Jammer, paired with a fake signal. Gave your comm something to talk to. But your messages aren't going anywhere. Tonx's girl worked it up in-between sets out at the beach."
Baby blinked widely, twice.
"You can keep it" said Cessus. "Some pretty neat wiring in there. The girl's got mad skills with a soldering iron."
"Just stay cool and you'll do okay" said Marcus. "We're going to sit here for a little while longer while they get on their flight, and then you're going to go on a sightseeing cab ride. Don't piss anyone off and I won't have to explain how a Puerto Rican is trying to rip off a Mexican Denny's. You follow?"
Baby just nodded, dumbly. Poulpe suddenly made that huffing sound that Fede recognized as laughter.
"Baby" said Cessus, leaning over towards the man. "You're a good guy, you know? Maybe next time we can work on the same side of a contract." Baby nodded again, took a deep breath. He shrugged.
"That's biz."
Cessus smiled a lopsided grin and turned, ushering Poulpe and Fede out ahead of him.
Chapter 42
They made it to the airport in no time, the filthy cab Cessus hailed outside tearing through side streets and around traffic. Cessus gave the man a big tip and walked through the revolving gates, Fede and Poulpe right behind. He waved their IDs over the auto-teller and folded the paper receipts into his pocket. They moved on.
"We got an extra half hour before our flight. Let's use the time to get dressed for China, because this Hawaiian bullshit isn't going to fly, not to mention it'll be cold there. Poulpe, you can dress yourself, but Feed and I aren't going to pass for bizmen. Here's a cred card. We'll hit Nike town and meet you at the food court, okay? Be there in 45 minutes. No less. You got me?"
"Yes, Cessus. I have got you" replied Poulpe, his rosy cheeks puckering a little as he said the words. Cessus began to walk away, and as Fede turned to follow him he saw Poulpe pull out his little tin. He palmed the lid and gently laid a small red candy on his tongue. His pale gray eyes slowly raised to meet Fed's, and he reached the tin towards him. Fede discovered, suddenly, that he did want one. He wanted one very much.
Then Cessus was there, his long fingers wrapped tightly around Poulpe's hand, hissing something fierce at the smaller man. He pulled the tin away and casually lobbed it into the trash bin of a passing service cart. Fede could barely see Poulpe's face through the forest of dreadlocks as Cessus whispered in his ear. He was smiling, grinning like a naughty schoolboy who knew he wasn't really going to get into trouble, but who would bear the teacher's lecture anyway. Cessus threw Poulpe's hand down and spun around, wrapped his arm over Fed's shoulders, led him briskly away.
"Don't fucking pull that shit on me" he said, anger hissing under his quiet voice. "You want to play around on the beach, okay. But you take candy from that motherfucker piece of shit you going to be flat out when we need you most."
"It's okay" said Fed.
"No, dude, it is not okay. You know what you took the other day?"
"No."
"Me neither. That's means neither one of us knows what you got floating around in your blood right now, how addictive it is, what the long term affects are. Nothing. We don't know shit, which means we got to trust that slimy motherfucker."
Fede stumbled a little, Cessus's long arm propelling him down the arcade past tall thin mannequins wearing sequined skintights.
"You know what that fucker did for a living, Fed?"
Fede nodded, but Cessus continued anyway.
"That guy designed biological pharmaceuticals for Disney."
Cessus pulled him in-between two stores, in front of an unmarked metal door, spun him around to face him.
; "That's not the kind of guy you want to take drugs from."
Fede felt a hot flash of anger.
"I fucking get it, Cessus" he said, pushing the larger man's hand off his shoulder. "I fucked up. Once. Don't worry, I'm not going to do it again."
"I got to trust you, Fed" said Cessus.
"Damn straight" said Fed. "You do. Now help me find something to wear in China."
Cessus got himself with a pair of nylon camo pants and a bunch of skater shirts. The pants had the Nike swoosh stitched through the fabric in reflective thread, multicolored bits of light reflecting off him as he moved. He topped it off with an enormously oversized red hoody, plastic fibers sewn in to poof it out. He wanted the bright white sneakers they had in the window but they didn't have them in his size, so he settled for the tanned leather hightops.
"Okay" he said after his unmarked cred card slid through. "Now we get to dress you up."
"Tell me I don't have to look like you" said Fed.
"No sir, you do not. You could not, in all fairness" said Cessus "I would have set you up like this, but it's my only choice and there's no way they're going to believe you're a U.S. rapper in China."
"That's crazy talk, Cessus. You couldn't rap your way out of a paper bag."
"Yeah, but you got to play to the stereotypes, you know? I'm a black man with dreadlocks and expensive implants; what do you want me to pass for when we get there?"
Fede shrugged. "Okay, but what about me?"
Cessus smiled. "You get to be a businessman's son. Think you can handle that?"
Something about the way he smiled put Fed's teeth on edge.
"What do you mean?"
It turned out Cessus meant for Fede to wear a pressed white polo shirt with the alligator logo on the cuffs, slightly tight wool pants cut a little bit short. Stiff black leather shoes matched a suit coat that forced Fed's shoulder's back. Fede was willing to put up with it until Cessus came back with a beige knit vest and a little plastic box of hair wax.
"Fuck you" said Fede as Cessus cornered him in the dressing room.
"Dude, we all have to do our part. Once we get out of there you can do whatever you want. But for now it's my call, and I want you looking as innocent as possible."
"Absolutely fuck you" said Fed. "I'm not wearing that vest and I'm not wearing that sick fucking wax."
Fifteen minutes later they were walking swiftly down the walkway, Fed's face pulled tight against his skull by the rapidly hardening shell of his waxed-down hair. He was carrying his jacket, and had stuffed his goggles and chord into its pockets. They didn't fit in his pants.
Poulpe was standing by a fountain, gently smoking a long white cigarette. He was wearing a neat black suit with miniscule grey stripes and had a long tan overcoat thrown over one arm. His hair was pulled back in gentle waves, and as he caught sight of them he cocked his head and waved.
"My my, you are looking very nicely, Fed" he said as they walked up.
"Don't fuck with me" said Fed.
"I'm not" said Poulpe. He seemed genuinely puzzled at Fed's reaction. Fede snorted and rolled his eyes, disgusted at this whole affair.
"Listen up, kids" said Cessus. "We can't go strolling on there together. You two go on ahead and I'll tail you. We're all sitting next to each other on the plane, but for gods sakes don't start chatting as soon as we get on. Poulpe, you get your headphones on as soon as sit down and space out for the rest of the trip. Fede here will play your useless son. Fed, I'll start up a conversation once we get going. Follow my lead."
Cessus looked them both up and down.
"Okay, we're good. One last thing. Poulpe, you offer Fede anything and I'll see to it you die good and slow. Fed, I find out you asked him and I'm going to tell your brother about this plus what happened on the beach. We clear, gentlemen?"
They both nodded.
"Good. Now move your ass and I'll see you two on the plane. Here are your tickets."
Cessus handed them their papers and strolled off towards a bookstore, waiting for them to get ahead of him.
Poulpe waited until they had strolled a ways down the arcade before he reached out one white hand and rested it on Fed's shoulder.
"You had a good time on the beach the other day, yes?" he asked.
"It was interesting" said Fed. He walked slightly apart from Poulpe, let his hand fall off his shoulder.
"I am very glad. I feel a kindred spirit in you, Feed. We are both… apart from the others. Not the same, you see?"
"They're my friends" said Fed.
"Of course. And Tonx, he is your brother. But you are not the same. This is difficult, yes?"
"Poulpe, I don't need this bullshit. I appreciate the hook up the other day but we're not bosom buddies, you got me?"
Poulpe stopped, reached over and slowly stubbed out the butt of his cigarette in an ashtray.
"Of course, Feed. I am not a bosom buddy."
He reached into his jacket pocket. Fede looked around, but he couldn't see Cessus anywhere.
Poulpe pulled out another cigarette. He lit it with a cream-colored wooden cube, exhaled slowly.
"But who is?" he asked.
Chapter 43
The flight attendant read them a security warning and emergency checklist in one long singsong breath. Fede didn't understand any of it. Soon after they were taking off, had taken off. The lights dimmed. He'd never flown internationally before, he realized. He decided he didn't like it.
The next eight hours were interminable. Poulpe had politely requested a blanket and pillow as soon as they were in the air, tilting his chair back and relaxing into a gentle sleep. Fede was sure he had managed to take some kind of drug because he stayed that way the entire flight, seemingly refreshed when he woke. Fede and Cessus played the ancient video games on the consoles mounted on the seat in front of him, all seventeen of them. They couldn't plug into them "for security reasons" so they had to use the cheap square plastic controllers that extended on retractable wires from the seat handles, thumbs cramping from the constant, repetitive button mashing. The hours passed, slowly. Cessus tried to sleep and so did Fed, a restless, sweaty, chilled imitation of sleep where his head kept snapping forward off the seatback, jerking him awake again and again. They were served, and ate, some kind of soy-based meat analog in a tomato sauce. Eventually he slipped into a semi-awake zombie state, the stale air crusting the exhaled breath of a hundred other people in sharp spikes on the inside of his nostrils.
They arrived. As they stood to exit Fede realized he was as tall or taller than most of the people on the plane. Why hadn't he noticed it in Mexico City? And so many people were Asian…
Fede crammed a palm of one hand into his eyes and rubbed them until lights shown. He was sleepy, wasn't thinking right. He was in China. Poulpe ushered him off the plane and they followed Cessus a short distance behind. The terminal was a massive crush of people. Fede found himself getting claustrophobic. There were so many bodies, so many people pushing against him, jostling his ribs, brushing his thighs. And everyone looked the same, a huge sea of people spilling everywhere.
They emerged outside, joined a long line waiting in the rain for taxis. The shadows of the city sprawled overhead, lights upon lights upon lights. A sea of lights glimmered out of a seamless bank of buildings, a solid wall ahead of them. Cessus got a cab, made a show of inviting them to join him. Poulpe generously accepted. Nobody watching looked twice. Fede felt lost in Beijing, like the city was swallowing him whole, like a drop of rain hitting the ocean.
The cab drove. Fede fell asleep. Cessus woke him up when they got to the hotel, a huge posh building with a separate entrance for the cab. When the door opened the smell hit him like a hot wet blanket, the air soiled with the scent of petrochemicals, food, people, old wet dust… And so many people, still more people than at the airport, running at a trot everywhere. And neon glimmering everywhere. Real old fashioned neon. Fede smiled, impulsively. The stuff was rare in the U.S. now that electroluminescents were avail
able, but here you saw it everywhere. "I'm in China" Fede suddenly realized, and he smiled, took a hesitant breath. Disgusting. But new.
He followed Poulpe into the hotel. Sitting in the lobby like a pair of rich tourists were Tonx and Cass, dressed in eveningwear and swirling fancy looking drinks in thick glasses. Cass almost spilled hers as they entered the main doors, started laughing so hard Fede thought she must be pissing herself.
"Looking good there, Fed" said Tonx.
"Yeah fuck all y'all" said Fed, putting his hand on his head before remembering the wax. He was just about to wipe his palm on his pants when Poulpe caught his wrist, raised on eyebrow in stern disappointment. He produced a handkerchief from his breast pocket with a flourish and dropped it into Fed's palm.
"Jesus Christ" muttered Fed.
"I think we done good here, folks" said Cessus. "I'm sticking out like a sore thumb, so I'm going to grab a drink in the bar and see what I can do with the hotel's network. Ya'll enjoy your drinks and let me know when Marcus gets here, yeah?"
"Good thinking" said Tonx. "Poulpe, Fede - care for a seat?"
They sat, Poulpe ordering a warm sake from the young woman who appeared at his elbow as soon as his ass hit the plush chair. She seemed delighted at the request, bowing obsessively as she backed away towards the bar.
"Warm?" asked Fed.
"That is the proper way to drink this brand" said Poulpe. "And from a wooden box. From this you may determine the caliber of the establishment and their perception of you."
"Thanks for the advice" Fede sighed. "Look, are we going to get a room? I'm exhausted."
"In this place?" asked Tonx. "Not a chance. I got some backing money, but it's not enough for us to sleep here. I've already booked a place a little ways away. Once Marcus arrives we can sync up and take off. Until then, get some coffee."
"I don't drink coffee" mumbled Fed. When the woman returned with Poulpe's sake he ordered a coke. As she left he looked over, noticed the sake had come in an open plastic box.
"Guess they don't like you" said Fed. Poulpe smiled serenely and sipped his drink.
