Savages

ponders.
    Fine, he can have it.
    Good luck to him.
    “To America?” Hernan asks. “What about the police? The DEA?”
    She smiles.
    Oh, my darling boy.

241
     
    Dear Mom-O
,
London is XQZT. And swings like a pendulum do. Did you know that Big Ben is the clock and not the tower? I didn’t. And the Tower of London is really interesting. A lot of people got their heads cut off there. Like, yech, right? Good thing they don’t do that anymore, except I guess they do in some Arab countries like Arabia. Anyway, it’s really cool here. Okay, it’s off to Trafalgar Square and later to the West End to see a play. I might even give Shakespere a try! Who’d a thunk, huh?
    Miss U
    143
,
    O (for short)
    When O and Esteban aren’t watching TV on Hulu, they’re on Google and Wikipedia looking up stuff on the cities that O is visiting on the European travels that she’s e-mailing Paqu about.
    “She’s, like, a detail freak,” O explains to Esteban, “so I have to get the little things right.”
    The crazy thing is that Paqu never writes her back.
    Too busy with Jesus, O guesses.

242
     
    Spin looks gloriously ridiculous this morning in a skintight Ferrari cycling suit with a Cinzano cap.
    The thing you gotta love about Spin is that he doesn’t even blink when Ben shows up with twenty mil in assets and cash and says it needs to go on the superfast cycle but come
back
as all cash, albeit squeaky clean.
    An IRS sort of thing—Ben might have to have a nice explanation as to how he got the money, something other than he took it from the same people he’s about to give it to. He doesn’t say this exactly to Spin, but he doesn’t need to.
    Spin sits down at his laptop and
    —sells Ben’s house to one of Ben’s own companies, then to a resident of Vanuatu who doesn’t exist, then—
    —off-loads a bunch of Ben’s stocks and bonds to a holding company Ben owns, then—
    —creates a small ranch in Argentina, puts cattle on it, sells the cattle, and—
    “Your cash is immaculate.”
    Spin gets back on his bike.
    Ben goes to see Jaime.

243
     
    “Where did you get it?”
    Jaime asks, looking at the briefcases full of cash.
    “What difference does it make?” Ben asks, figuring a lack of resistance might arouse suspicion.
    “We have some money missing.”
    “Gee, that’s too bad.”
    Ben explains that some of the cash came from the short money they’ve been paying him for his 420, the rest came from selling about everything he owns, thank you very much for that, BTW.
    “We’ll need documentation.”
    Ben gives him the computer-code keys to the kingdom and tells him to knock himself out.
    “I’m transparent,” he says.
    Just hurry it up.
    Jaime hurries it up.
    It all checks out.
    “Why didn’t you just do this before?” Jaime asks.
    “You tried selling a house these days?” Ben answers. “As it is, I took a thumping on it. Make the call, Jaime.”
    Jaime makes the call.
    Elena personally okays it.
    She’s glad, truly glad, that she can let the girl go.

244
     
    Esteban comes into O’s room looking almost sad.
    “They’re going to let you go,” he says.
    WDYS?
    “Your friends paid the money,” Esteban says. “We’re going to take you back.”
    O starts to cry.
    Esteban’s a little choked up, too.
    Summoning up his courage, he asks her to be his Facebook friend.

245
     
    They text the instructions:
    Be ready at 2PM. We’ll text you the location.
    “You trust these motherfuckers?” Chon asks.
    Jump—I’ll catch you.
    “No, but do we have a choice?”
    No.

246
     
    Dear Maternal Unit
,
I’m clicking my ruby slippers.
Europe is like, way cool and all that, but ‘there’s no place like home,’ right? Plus, I’m about out of money, but I guess you guessed that already.
Now Momzoid, when I say I’m coming home, I don’t mean home. Well, for a little bit, maybe, but then I’m going to moveout. About time, huh-duh? The thing of it is, I think I need to create a you know. (Sans coach, that is.) I’m not even sure yet what that really means, but it has to mean something. I might even go overseas (again) to do some humanatarian work. You know, like aid stuff. You remember my friend Ben? I might go with him and another friend, Chon, to do some useful type stuff in Indoneesia. Dig wells or something like that. CanU picture that? Your useless little girl with a shovel in her hands?
    Luv u
,
    O

247
     
    Gun shop Barney is an inveterate listener to right-wing talk-show radio.
    Anyway,