ATONEMENT (18 page)

Nico however would hear their movements. He was not concerned with
anything other than w
hat she was about to tell him, “What did you almost do Selange?”

“
A month ago
I
went to a clinic, I got there and I couldn’t do it. No matter
what the consequences
I c
a
n’t
terminate my unborn bab
y. I won’t do it!”

“
That isn’t what I meant.”
He was talking about whether she
decided to tell
Alfonzo
about the
ir
affair and
the possibility he may
be the father or
whether
she plan
ned
to
eliminate his role
altogether
?
Eventually, she
’d begin to show
.  

Selange
confessed
her torment
. The weight of
deception extremely heavy
and
breathing the truth
seemed
light as air. Her
carefully guarded
secret
came crashing at her feet.
S
he
could
conceal the truth about the affair,
have
the child
, live this uncertainty,
let Alfonzo believe what any husband would reasonably assume
,
but what if
the child turned out to be Nico’s and
Alfonzo
found out,
what then?

She
felt
tortured
and f
rightened
by the unknown
.
It was like being c
aught in a web of deception
and not being able to escape
. She never wanted to crush her husband, he deserved far better than a lying, adulterous wife. Depressed by it all she simply wanted to dis
solve and not think anymore
.

Nico hadn’t said anything more. The woman was a
mess,
apparently she hadn’t considered much of anything that night. He
told
her
to leave
and she failed to heed his advice.
He gave her what she asked for and then
she wanted more.
Greedy seductress!

If th
e child
turned out to be his
then following a
demand to stay away or engage in pretense
wasn’t an order he’d obey
.
Or could he?
He hadn’t thought
either,
it seemed
. This changed everything
,
didn’t it?

                            
CHAPTER SIX

Alfonzo walked
leisurely
out the deli,
gulping the
liquefied dark
roast
coffee
beans
. The brew was
void of sugar
and the high caloric creams f
ound in t
hose over-priced coffee chains
. He needed loads of the stuff to get through the day. He
didn’t sleep at all last night. Once he got off the phone with Selange s
leep dodged him
.
He
felt
antsy
an
d
on edge
. There was a
sort of
hyper sensitivity
at the follicles of his
skin. It occurred frequently
and
s
ometimes the intensity varied from low to strong. This
one was a ten on the
human
Richter
scale
.

The body’s intuitiveness is remarkable.
There are sensors that pick-up minute things in the environment, about people, detects danger and sometimes the receiver doesn’t listen to it.
Alfonzo always listened
, even when he didn’t know exactly which direction the potential threat came
from
. He guessed it was easier for some to ignore, they didn’t have to live their lives on edge every hour of the day, but Alfonzo had no such luxury. He was a man with enemies, quietly waiting for the chance to put him six feet under. He learned that lesson the hard way!

This morning he had to get to the construction site
b
efore the inspectors
despite
his
fatigue. He
skipped breakfast
to get an
early start and made a quick stop to the office
to grab some documents
then
came
here to the deli for a large espresso.
Vincent wa
lked
at his side as usual, his hulking frame keeping pace with the younger man’s
lethargic gait
.

Alfonzo loved Puerto Rico
. He loved the
scenery
with its g
orgeous greenery and lively tropical plants
. It was a
nice backdrop for a man with a hectic
and precarious life
. New
York only
hardened
him
like
cement
. The place wasn’t conducive for raising kids. The people were self-absorbed, stressed to death and working to pay exorbitant living costs. Shit, if crime didn’t kill you, stressing over bills certainly would. Then
,
there
were
the
annoyances
of
incompetent
government
.
Potholes
,
rabid traffic agents shoving parking tickets at you like crack fiends
looking
for a fix
, unfriendly civil servants with scowls on their faces and
a hostile a
ttitude to match. Even more egregious, the obnoxious policemen and their guerilla tactics along with a billionaire Mayor who was so damn arrogant he bought himself another term while telling the cities inhabitants he took weekends off. A Mayoralty is a 24/7 job
–
g
o figure!

But that’s abuse of power with
a
shield of legitimacy.
Corruption and entitlement
exists
;
it’s only covered up
by one’s influential
position
and unfortunately the hue of one’s skin.
His
secondary
mission in life
centered
on making changes where other good-intentioned politicians and businessman failed. He wanted a balanced system for his kids. A sense of fair-play regardless of ethnicity, religion, and all the things the constitution promised its citizens but racist
s,
greedy government and businesses failed to deliver.
One of the changes he w
anted to institute would
begin
right in New York City
’s
police department
and the
residency requirements for recruits.
The minute the elected officials he supported were in office
, the
y’d revamp
these guidelines. C
andidates from the
inner
boroughs would receive p
reference
over those out of the district.
Nassau and Suffolk counties did it, why the hell didn’t N-Y-C?
You’d think the
department
would want officers who resided in the five boroughs
who’d
understand the communities
they policed. Maybe, they
wouldn’t be so damn quick to shoot some
innocent
kid because he
looked suspicious
. What the hell is suspicious about a teenager walking
down the street minding his own business?
Oh,
he forgot,
suspicion only gets assigned to Latinos and Blacks. Yeah, they’re all criminals…so who gives a fuck
about their civil rights? Was America so damn crazy they actually believed someone’s complexion
automatically
made them
a criminal or less valuable
? Didn’t the nut-jobs who thought this way realize they’re ancestrally African
and those they seek to oppress and abuse are their brethren
?

G
eez, the hypocrisy
and ignorance
of
racist
America
ns
!

Alfonzo snorted, he cared because he had children and he didn’t want them growing up in a
sucky
world where their skin color was
seen as
a detriment. He’d crush legs and break every goddamn rule to prevent his children from
enduring it.
He wasn’t foolish to think he could eradicate racism altogether, some people were simply
loco
. He wasn’t an idealist; he was only a man seeking
justice!

The time for temperance passed. Adherence to the Constitution and strict enforcement of it was long overdue. He’d
dismantle
government from inside,
revise the old boy’s club for the betterment of society and not a self-entitled few.
Either, government
abides
by its promises for equality or he’d bring it crashing down with a bulldozer!