I walked up to the fence, looked them dogs in the eye, gave em that look said I was in charge. They kept barking, but I held it a few more seconds, spoke to em like they was kids, told em everything was gonna be OK, we were gonna be friends.
They barked less, sprayed less, finally just laid back down. I opened the gate, petted them, walked to the door [He can barely talk to me, yet he gets these dogs to roll over and eat out of his hand. Amazing. -Dara].
Some kid answered, wearing slacks, button down blue shirt, a navy blue sweater with some fancy symbol. Hair parted to the right. Spoke all polite. Didn't matter, cause you can't just step into a new body. Skinny body, a little too skinny. I looked at his hips, and they definitely couldnt'a held up size 50 pants for too long. Told him I had his jeans. Didn't fit me, so I asked if he wanted them back.
Give him credit, he didn't run. Then again, where was he gonna go, behind mommy's apron? Kid flushed, told me to keep it down. I asked him what his game was. He told me to hush. Yelled back inside to his mother, said his tutor was here, and we was gonna study calculus. Kid's mom yelled back to have fun.
Kid laid his eyes on Dara, got that stupid moonfaced look. I put my hand on his shoulder, squeezed, told him he didn't have a chance. Pointed him outside, and we went for a little walk.
Ramon, he was real composed. No matter what I said, he just kept calm, always waited a few seconds before he answered. Didn't slouch over, walked real straight, like he knew he was king, just didn't have to show it off. I asked about the money, he paused like he did, then said he's been saving his allowance, money from odd jobs. Told him it was real unusual, getting that sort of flush. Ramon, he just stared into my eyes, said he could account for every last bit.
I asked what he was doing, why he was trying to ruin such a good thing. He didn't need the money. He paused again, and then told me if he had to explain, I wouldn't understand. I told him I knew what it was like to trust people, know that they got my back. Know what it was to walk through fire for someone, turn around and do it again.
Dara walked real close, batted her eyes, started going all dame on him. Said she'd be real grateful if he helped us, and she said it kinda slow. Kid stumbled, but I gotta give him credit, he kept walking. Swallowed real hard. She touched his shoulder, and he damn near fell over. Also said we could stop, there wasn't anything we could do to make him give up his source. We could tell his parents, tell the whole world what he did, and it wouldn't matter.
About this time, we looped around the housing complex. Back at the gate, he smiled real big, teeth all white and straight. Looked like he coulda come from a clothing catalog. All preppy and clean and perfect. That's when I knew what he wanted.
Told Dara to stall Ramon while I went back to the car [I asked him what he was studying, and even though he actually tried to name a subject, it was clear all he was interested in were my breasts. -Dara]. Came back with my camera, started snapping shots of him. Finally broke his cool, and he started going full-on dame, hollering up a storm and trying to grab the camera. I tossed it to Dara and she clicked off a few more shots. Then, before he could do anything else, she slipped the memory card into her bra. He tried to grab for it, but I put my hand on his shoulder, shook my head no. Told him I was gonna make some fliers, post them pictures of him being a rich kid, slumming it. He mighta stayed a Diablo, but ain't no way anyone was gonna respect him. We got his attention.
Ramon's mom came out, holding her hands over her head and yelling at us, trying to get us to tell her what we were doing to her baby. Ramon put his arm around my shoulders, I did the same. Ramon told his mom he was just embarrassed to take pictures.
Wouldn't you know it, she saw the camera, her eyes get real bright. Introduced herself as Rose. She asked Dara to take everyone's picture, cause he wouldn't never sit for them. She slipped the memory card back in the camera, and Rose gave her a funny look, but went with it. If that kid smiled any faker, his face woulda cracked open.
We promised we'd give her the digital copies once we got some touchup on them, and she stepped light going back inside. I turned to Ramon, asked him one more time what he knew about the money.
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