– Jaime, Im not saying I want to call the FBI. Im saying I will call them if you dont help me.

He took another bite of the crappy diner burrito one should expect when one orders Mexican food at a place called Jims Burgers.

– Fuck should I help you? Youre threatening to call the cops on me.

– Other than the brotherly desire to help your sister?

I poked at my own burrito with the plastic fork.

– Theres the added incentive that Ill still give you the money.

His ears jumped up a half inch and rotated slightly in my direction.

– Money?

– Help me with this, and Ill still give it to you.

He stuffed the last bite of greasy burrito in his mouth.

– Come on, man, there was never any question about me helping out. I mean, you want to give me the cash, Ill take it, but its not like I was gonna let Soledad be fucked up or anything.

I nodded.

– Naturally. How could there be any question of that.

I got up from the table.

– Im gonna make a call.

He wiped his mouth and got up.

– Take your time, Im gonna get some of that action.

He headed for the aging Mortal Kombat machine at the back of the diner, and I headed for the door and out to the parking lot.

If not for the cranes on the skyline, the corner of Anaheim and North Henry Ford could be in any corroding stretch of the rustbelt. I stood in the middle of the lot and watched a driver pull his truck into one of the stalls at the wash and start hosing the road film off his Peterbilt. Another driver, done with the wash, ambled across the lot to Dreams, the obligatory strip club. I wondered if the same hooker thatd serviced L.L. still worked this spot. Shed be long in the tooth, but that wasnt much of an impairment in this locale. It would likely take a head-to-toe outer coat of leprosy to keep a working girl from scoring a date here at the northeastern rim of the Port.

And more than that to keep L.L. from giving her a try.

The hinterlands of the far western edge of the world, Web. I tell you, if Id been on my toes, those years I wasted teaching I would have spent here learning something about myself. This is a place to test the limits of a man. His endurance and fortitude, his ability to stare into the abyss and have it stare back into him. Look at it, grotesque and magnificenti A paved waste of trade and industry. The end of the road for America, Web. The jumping point to other, older cultures. Inhale. Breathe deep. Smell that? Smell the sea air tainted by oil and gas fumes? Thats what the world smelled like when life was first being formed. A place for new beginnings, son, a place to find out who you are. Here, pass me another of those Lцwenbrдus.

The edge of the world.

What better place to try and turn yourself around?

So I began trying to execute a U-turn at a very narrow part of the road, with oncoming traffic.

I took the phone Harris had given me from my pocket and dialed.

– Clean Team.

– Hey Po Sin, its me.

– Young Web. It seems like only yesterday you were falling asleep on the job and letting my van be stolen. Wait, it was only yesterday. My, how time does fly. What can I do for you today?

I scuffed at some gravel, looked around at one of the garden spots of my childhood in L.L.s care, thought about the casual damage we inflict on each other by waking up and being ourselves.

– Po Sin.

– Still here.

– Po Sin. I left the office. I was back at the office when the van was stolen. But I lied about leaving.

Po Sin is a vast man, capable of vast silences. He put one on display for me. I waited for it to drift past, but didnt have the time.

– Po Sin?

– Im here.

– Im sorry, man. Im sorry I didnt do my job.

There followed a sigh I thought might go on forever.

Eventually it ended.

– My kids, Web.

– Yeah.

– They need a lot of help. Yong, well, what can I say. Thats going to be our whole lives, helping him. And Xing? Its impossible to give her the attention she deserves because of Yong. So she tries to get it other ways.

– I know.

– And theyre expensive as hell. Kids always are. Care for Yong, therapy, the tutors, Jesus, you have no clue.

– Sure.

– Sure. Web. Thanks for the apology.

– I. Please dont thank me.

– Web. I said, Thanks for the cifology. And now you say?

– Youre welcome?

– Something like that. So, my kids are expensive and hard work. So, I dont have time for another one. Especially not one who costs me more money by fucking up. Understand?

– Yeah.

– Time to grow up, man. Yeah?

– Yeah. I seem to be hearing that from a lot of people lately.

– Could be theres a reason for that.

– Yeah.

– OK. Well, one way or another, well deal with the van. After the little errand you and Gabe did last night, I dont think Ill be talking Morton into returning it, but it was insured. In the end, itll cost me some hassle and a little higher premium. And better to bring the shit with Morton to a head now than later. Not that any of that is meant to make you feel better, but thats about how it sizes up. That it? Got it all off your chest?

I looked around me, saw the horizon, the place where the ocean spilled over the sharp edge of a flat world, the sucking drain that flood would draw me into if I didnt get turned about soon.

And I cranked the wheel hard over.

– Its not just that I left the office. I left the office and got into some stupid shit. And thats why the van was stolen. Morton didnt steal it. Some other guys did. Some really dangerous guys. They have it.

No pause this time.

– Motherfucker!

– They have it and they have something else.

– Motherfucker! -They have the girl.

– Motherfucker what?

– Po Sin, they have Soledad. And I want to help her. And.

– Motherfucker.

– And I need your help.

Which, when you think about it, wasnt the kind of request youd expect would make him pause again, as opposed to continuing to say his favorite word when called upon to express how near he was to a stroke.

But it did.

And we had a conversation. And I promised to call again soon. And then I made another call, this one yet more pleasant. If you can imagine bliss.

– Hi, is Soledad there?

– What?

– Can I talk to Soledad, please?

– Who is this?

– Its the guy you sent to get your almonds.

– The what? Oh, right. Hey Harris, its the guy.

The phone on the other end was fumbled around.

– You got my can?

A tricky question given the circumstances, but I was prepared.

– Were ready to make the swap.

– Whos we?

– Me and Jaime.

– That jackass? Didnt say a word about that jackass bein’ involved.

– No, you didnt, but you did tell me to get you your can and your almonds, and seeing as I had no clue what you were talking about, I thought it best I involve someone with some expertise on the subject.

– Hn. Funny.

I watched Jaime through the smeared window glass of Jims, as his Mortal Kombat fighter pulled out the spine of its opponent.

– Whats funny?

– Funny you didnt mouth off like that when you were in the same room with me.

– Well, I can explain that. See, you were in the same room with me, and you had a gun, that inspired me to pretty much keep my mouth shut. Now, in this case, Im on a phone, so its a slightly different situation and Im feeling less inclined to worry about you shooting me if I say the wrong thing. Seeing as you cant and all.

– Hn. Yeah, mouthin’ off. OK, well, youre right, cant do nothin’ ‘bout that over this phone. Not to you anyway. If you can follow that without it bein’ spelled for you.

Having been a teacher, I didnt need it spelled for me.

– I understand.

– Good, ‘cause without you here in person for me to take my aggression out on, I might need to settle for whats at hand.