Opposite Worlds

by Sasha Pop

  Rodrigo hated how the Doctor mechanically described the situation and referred to the lives of the patients, not sensing any real sympathy coming from him. Still, when he heard that an intervention could save his mother, he was delighted and ecstatic. Soon however, when Rodrigo found out the actual cost of this procedure, he was completely disheartened. But now, there was light at the end of the tunnel. In case his border-crossing mission would be successful, he would receive the money from Maestro already next week. He didn’t want to waste a single minute, so he decided to set up the operation in advance; after all he had saved enough money over the past few months to pay for the initial deposit.

  When he was finally called into the Doctor’s office, he saw the puny old man who had but a few hairs left on his head and a crooked nose sitting deep in his massive office chair behind the desk. The wall was decorated with countless awards he had received, with his Harvard MD degree being prominently displayed in the center on a golden frame.

  Possibly remembering that last time Rodrigo had no money to offer, the Doctor showed no intent to get up to greet Rodrigo as the boy had entered. Rodrigo just approached his desk, and not sitting down, said:

  “We will go ahead with the operation.”

  The Doctor’s left eyebrow twitched.

  “Please have a seat then,” he said, with all signs of boredom disappearing from his expression.

  As they discussed the details, it was agreed that Rodrigo would pay the first deposit the next day to get Rosalinda started on the initial portion of the treatment which would prepare her for the surgery to take place in ten days. Rodrigo’s hand was shaking with nervousness as he was signing off the paperwork, fully feeling the weight of the burden he had taken upon himself. It was nothing new, however; he had made the decision long ago and now he could only try to do his part as best as he could.

  He shook hands with the Doctor, who finally addressed him with Mister instead of “boy” and decided to drop by his mother’s room on the way out. He didn’t want to brag ahead of time, after all nothing was certain yet, but seeing her tired, empty look made him desperately want to instill some hope in her.

  “Good evening mother.”

  “Oh, hi sweetie. You don’t need to come visit me so often, I know you are busy with class…” Rosalinda spoke.

  “Actually you are right mother. Soon there will be no need for me to visit you anymore. You will be going home,” he said.

  His mother just looked at him in astonishment, not fully understanding.

  “That is right mother. Tomorrow Dr. Smith will begin the preparatory treatment, and next week you will have his surgery! Then you will be able to go back to the normal life again,” Rodrigo said, as cheerful as possible.

  “Sonny…you don’t have to do this…”Rosalinda stuttered. He could see the concern in his mother’s eyes. She imagined very well what he had to sacrifice to make this possible.

  “Mom, it is decided already,” he just said, reaching for her hands. “Nothing else matters without you.”

  Rosalinda let a tear fall down her cheek against her will, and he embraced her, both of them staying in silence for a few minutes. Finally the nurse came to announce that visiting hours were over.

  Telling his mother again that everything was going to be alright with a little more confidence this time around, Rodrigo headed to the car. He finally got the courage to do something he long wanted to try, but was paralyzed to try earlier, not fully ready to place his line on the line. Now that he had fully committed to his mother’s operation, he felt at ease to risk everything else he had left.

  Rolling down the windows and blasting the stereo to pump himself up, he started driving towards Docks.

  At the door he saw John and requested an audience with Maestro.

  “Did Juanito hit your head too hard? You are here three days early,” the British man said with a smirk, respecting though Rodrigo’s resolve.

  Down in the cold basement, the ambiance was just as dark and creepy as Rodrigo ever remembered.

  “Leave us,” Maestro ordered to the two gorilla-type tattooed men Rodrigo didn’t recognize from before. “To what do I owe the honor?” He asked, his eyes going through the Latino boy as an X-ray, as if trying to read his every thought and inner fear.

  “Sir, I am grateful for the opportunity you have given me,” Rodrigo said and bowed. “I will put my life on the line this weekend for you,” he continued, with his voice beginning to stutter but he clenched his fists, forcing himself to continue. “Even if I don’t return, please promise to take care of my mother.”

  As he finished his request, he saw Maestro slowly begin to rise from the throne chair. Rodrigo suddenly realized he had never seen the old man standing up before. His black robe began to weave on the floor, as he slowly walked towards Rodrigo, supported by a silver-colored walking cane. Despite his short stature, Rodrigo felt as if a mountain was approaching him, so powerful was his presence. The few seconds it took for Maestro to cross the distance between them felt like an eternity; this man moved with a grace that seemed to command time itself. Rodrigo didn’t dare to breathe, much less move in anticipation.

  When there were just two feet separating them, the bearded man paused, observing Rodrigo as a rattlesnake did during the last instants before moving on her prey. Before Rodrigo could react or say anything, Maestro with the agility and precision of a samurai pulled out the top of his cane which turned out to conceal a sword-like blade and held the cold metal against Rodrigo’s throat. Gulping in terror, Rodrigo couldn’t move his eyes away from Maestro’s, so full of fury and killing intent were they. What this man must have gone through was beyond his wildest imagination.

  “It doesn’t seem you realize…that you are putting your life on the line right now,” Maestro spoke, grabbing his shirt with an iron-like grip. “And you don’t understand that there is no room for failure here.” The sharp metal began piercing slightly Rodrigo’s skin, letting the first drops of blood fall. Rodrigo clenched his teeth as the pain intensified but he would not let a noise come out, nor would he turn away. He would not give the sadistic man the satisfaction.

  Finally having enough, Maestro lowered the blade, throwing the boy hard against the wall with the other hand. “You got admirable courage boy. And a lot of insolence too,” he added with an unreadable expression. “Normally, you would be drowning in Miami bay by now. But I owe your father a favor… and I hate leaving favors unreturned,” Maestro said, spitting on the ground. “Go patch yourself up, we will take care of your mother.”

  Rodrigo got out of Docks almost with the speed of the Ferrari, feeling on cloud nine and throwing fists in the air past John, who just watched him storm by with a puzzled expression. “Mother will live!” was the only thought on his mind. “And I will live too,” he said to himself, tightening his fists. Once inside the car, he realized that his shirt was stained with blood running from his neck. With the adrenaline of the situation, he couldn’t feel anything but an invincible rush taking over his body. He reached in the trunk to get a first aid kit to patch the wound up. It wasn’t deep, but it would still leave a mark on his neck for a couple days at the least.

  As he stopped the blood, his phone rang, and he instinctively could feel who it was. Nobody else called him this late anyway, he thought, smiling.

  “Hey…” Jessica said, always having a hard time starting a conversation with him, no matter how comfortable she got with him. “You didn’t come by today…”

  “I am sorry,” Rodrigo said. “It was a tough day…”

  “I understand, I don’t blame you. Is just that…Mickey, he missed you, you know,” Jessica stuttered as if she had wanted to say something else. “He looks up to you like to an older brother now.”

  “Tell him I will show him a new soccer move next time I am around,” Rodrigo laughed.

  “And when will it be… next time?” Jessica asked.

  With all his senses Rodrigo wanted to scream “right now”, hang up and go
see her. The blood he could see on his shirt in the rear mirror told him that was not an option. There is no way he could explain the truth to her, and he didn’t want to worry her by saying he had an accident.

  “Tonight is not good…and tomorrow too, I guess,” Rodrigo said, trying to gain some time for the wound to heal. Realizing though that his last chance to see her was on Thursday, he knew that he had no way to push it further. On the other end, he could only hear silence – Jessica was probably disappointed.

  “But if you can, I would really like to see you on Thursday.”

  “Sure.” Jessica beamed, but tried not to show too much enthusiasm.

  “Great! I will pick you up at seven. Good night…”He said softly, leaving much to imagination with his tone.

  “Good night. I hope everything is ok with you.” Jessica said. She had an uneasy feeling about all of this.

  Chapter XVI

  The next day Rodrigo let himself sleep in, finally restoring some soon to be much-needed energy. As he woke up, he went to check himself in the small mirror in the bathroom. Tearing off the bandage he made last night, he cringed. The cut was very obvious stretching a good four inches under his Adam’s apple, and it would be hard to disguise. Being hit by a flash of brilliance, Rodrigo went to his mother’s room to find her bag of cosmetics inside the rusty drawer. He never really paid attention to how women applied make-up, but he thought that maybe he could find something helpful in there. Finding a cream that appeared to be of skin tonality, Rodrigo started rubbing it all over his neck. The result was less than stellar – he thought he looked like a wannabe drag queen.

  “This time she will really think I am gay.”

  Washing it all off, he pondered about when he started to care so much. He remembered how he instantly shivered these days whenever his phone rang, hoping it was her. “A date, huh.” There was no way around it, he had invited her on a date. The last time he had been on a real date was over six years ago with Neri, when things already were less than stellar between them. It had been a fancy restaurant; Rodrigo had taken her to many fancy places while they were together, but this time he had no idea where to go. He didn’t want to bring her anywhere he had been with Neri before; Jessica still reminded him of her somehow so he felt it would be a cruel thing to do. He decided he would ask Juanito for advice – over the last few weeks his childhood friend had been the only person he could honestly talk to, as he always had things to hide from Jessica and his mother.

  Phoning him without response, Rodrigo decided to pay him a visit, since he lived right on the next street in an inconspicuous studio, despite being able to afford a much better place. “It keeps my hunger alive,” he had explained.

  Knocking on the door, Rodrigo saw it was actually left open. Slowly going inside, he carefully stepped over the mess of clothes, food and unidentifiable objects lying on the ground.

  “Juanito?”

  Rodrigo only heard deep breathing and exclamations of “Ah! Ah!” and “Take me harder!” coming from the main room. Realizing what was going on, he turned around with a mix of laughter and disgust. That Juanito never changed.

  “Rod, my boy, where you going?”

  Rodrigo froze in his tracks.

  “Come here, I got Marlene hot and ready waiting for you!”

  “Um thanks… I didn’t come here for that,” he said, slightly embarrassed.

  “Alright girls, it is time for you to go,” Juanito said, getting up and wrapping a towel around his waist.

  “Marlene” and her companion frowned and sighed in disappointment.

  “But Juan, we missed you so much,” he first girl said, rubbing her palm against his chest. “Please let us stay.”

  “Come by this evening,” he ordered, unfazed. “And bring me some more flash.”

  Still in shock over the scene, Rodrigo dared to look at the floor and saw what his friend meant by “flash”. He was no drug expert, but it didn’t take a detective to figure out it was coke.

  Reluctantly, the two girls dressed up and walked out, throwing menacing glances at Rodrigo.

  “Alright my boy, sit down,” Juanito said while pointing his hand at the couch, clearly high.

  “Sorry I interrupted you…but you can at least get your pants on.”

  “So what’s up?” the suggestion went by Juanito unnoticed.

  As Rodrigo explained the situation, his friend started laughing hysterically.

  “You came by and kicked out my two hot girls…. for this?” he uttered, literally rolling on the floor from laughter. “Alright, alright, “ he calmed down, noticing Rodrigo’s mean look. “Oh young love. How beautiful. I am glad to see you are finally looking at somebody else; that girl…Neri, was it her name… she was getting on my nerves… I still remember you whining about it all those years ago.”

  Finally with a serious expression, Juanito told him of a secret spot he took only the most special ladies to cause the right impression. Rodrigo feared that by “special ladies” Juanito meant the strippers he often picked up at the club, and doubted that he had the same “right impression” in mind.

  “No man, this place is legit. I only took Rita there, you know,” Juanito said with some sadness and pride. Rita was a cheerleader at the school they had attended, and the only girl Rodrigo knew he had been serious with. Rumor had it that Juanito dropping out of school was related to their break-up. Either way, Juanito was living the wild life ever since.

  “Thank you… I will try. Also, you got to snap out of it man,” Rodrigo said with harshness, looking at the coke spread over the floor. “And not just because of the mission. It is your life at stake here.”

  Juanito got suddenly angry and stood up.

  “So you think you know it all, huh. You are now man enough to lecture other people since you are hanging out with the big boys.”

  “It is not that. You are my friend.”

  “Your friend, your ass!” Juanito threw a fist that took Rodrigo by surprise, landing right under the left eye. “Where were you over the past six years? Even though you are acting all high and mighty, you were looking down on me all this time!”

  The words hurt more than the punch, as Rodrigo realized it was partially true. Not knowing what else to say, he made a step forward.

  “Hit me all you want. But you are my friend, and I will make you stop.” Just as he finished his sentence, another punch landed on his face, packing less power this time. A flurry of punches followed, falling over his chest, each one weaker than the last one. As he saw one more punch coming slow enough for him to catch, Rodrigo stopped it with his palm, looking at Juanito like a mountain that would not bulge. He could feel that Juanito’s palm was relaxing, and his resolve was wavering.

  “Shit man, shit!” Juanito cursed. “What am I doing? What has my life become?” he looked like he was about to start pulling his hair out. “I am sorry…” he said, looking at Rodrigo’s bruised face and bleeding lip. “Please hit me. Hit me hard,” he continued, resigned to suffering.

  Rodrigo made a step forward and as Juanito was cringing to prepare for the impact of the incoming punch, he pulled him into an embrace instead.

  “I can’t hit you. You gave my life new hope to live for. And I have to give you hope to,” Rodrigo said.

  Silently, as if understanding each other’s thoughts, they grabbed a few towels that were spread around the room and started wiping the white powder from the ground. It took maybe twenty, thirty minutes, but neither of them would say a word nor stop until the last bit of powder was flushed down the toilet and the floor was shining.

  When they were done, Rodrigo headed for the door, afraid that saying something would ruin his friend’s resolve.

  “Wait!” Juanito called. He approached and extended his hand for a handshake, as a man who acknowledged somebody who had rescued him from the depths of hell. “I will not do stupid shit anymore.”

  Rodrigo returned the handshake, hoping it would last. Juanito was an impulsive kid and what was tru
e today could be the biggest lie tomorrow. Time will tell, Rodrigo concluded to himself, nodding.

  Once he was back home, he looked again in the mirror in despair. Old ladies had given him weird looks when he was crossing the street, even though seeing beat up people was a normal occurrence in their neighborhood. His left cheek was already getting inflated, and he knew there would be a black eye tomorrow decorating his face. Plus, his lower lip was swollen as if he had done Botox.

  Getting ice from the fridge, he spent a good hour icing the affected spots. It did help somewhat, but nowhere near enough for people not to notice. Visiting his mother was not an option anymore before the mission, so he phoned in the hospital and asked them to connect to the room. He assured her gently that he was in the library studying hard for the upcoming anatomy exam that would take place on Sunday. For realism’s sake, he complained about how they had to take exams on weekends these days and promised to come visit her early next week.

  He spent that evening packing his bag for the upcoming “Physics convention” that he would be attending with Juanito in Chihuahua, double-checking his paperwork and rehearsing his story for the thousandth time. The next day came up quickly and he was fully ready – now the only thing left was his date with Jessica. He wasn’t sure whether the anxious feeling in his gut he had was because he was flying out to Mexico tomorrow, or meeting with Jessica tonight. He had trouble sleeping that night, restlessly awaiting the coming events of the next few days. Watching himself in the mirror, he was glad he had spent time icing yesterday; the swell was still noticeable, but at least his face didn’t look like an oversized balloon anymore.