but even so he stood a long time, downhearted before the ark. The
ineluctable mortality of the physical. This was for Izzy an
unacceptable outrage.
“Where’s Bennie?” Colin said as the ceremony drew to a close.
“He never showed up,” Izzy said.
“Look,” Yak pointed to the street, “There he is.”
A tricked-out Camaro rumbled up to the curb, Bennie jumped
out and sprinted over to the casket. “Am I late?” he said. They were
already lowering the coffin into the grave. “Shit!” he yelled, “Hold
on.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out an assortment of
bones, branches, and polished stones. Tossing them into the grave,
he executed a streetwise salute, clenched his fist and shook it firmly
in the air. “Hermano,” he said.
“Where were you?” Colin said, “You missed the whole
ceremony.”
“Sorry, my mom called from Tijuana with good news. She found
a way we can get a lot of money really fast. If it works, we can pay off
the bank tomorrow and save Undergrounds. We’ve got to go now.”
“Tijuana?”
“Vegas.”
“Nobody gets hurt?” Sprout prodded.
He confessed, “Maybe some small animals.”
Bennie’s mother had yet again been kicked out of the U.S. but she
would be back soon. Money always made it easier to return, and now
Señora Pantera was well on her way to accumulating a small fortune.
In Tijuana she discovered a simple ritual that promised the
practitioner easy wealth. After performing a spell to contact her dead
grandfather, he unexpectedly instructed her which numbers to
choose in the local lottery.
“I heard your grandfather’s voice in my ear, telling me which
number to pick,” she said over the staticky line, “The dead, they know
numbers. Math is the universal language. It’s what they speak in
heaven.”
She had been betting on cockfights and jai alai and making a
killing. The downside was that in between telling her how to bet, the
spirits of her ancestors scolded her incessantly. “Try to contact
someone dead who isn’t too annoying,” his mother suggested, “Like
maybe your aunt Rosa.” After quickly explaining the ritual she hung
up the phone, eager to recommence betting.
ABYSSINIA
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