Page 5 of Malverde 5
“We can talk about it over dinner tonight,” Hondo stated.Then he looked around at the people listening to this tale of insta-love.“I truly felt like that had been the day my dream had come to me.I still live that dream and I am blessed everyday to have the family I gained from seeing that beautiful girl in the flower shop.”
The room had gone silent as this beautiful story had affected all of them.
The girls at the table who had been staring at the older couple, all ooohed and ahhed.A few of them even swiped the tears from their eyes.
Misha lifted his wine glass.“We are honored that you shared this wonderful story with us.And it is more than an honor to sit at the dinner table with your family.”
Sergi gave his son a nod as he raised his glass.
Everyone at the long table lifted theirs in a toast.
An hour later...
After dinner, the men were quietly enjoying a drink with Hondo in the den.The subject of different factions in New York City had come up again when Sergi referred to Andriea’s comments about that.
It was Felix who asked Hondo how he had gotten involved with the cartel.
Sergi sternly shook his head at him.“That is none of our business, Felix.”
Hondo chuckled.“It is all bueno.It is a good story.I have never felt ashamed of my beginnings.And I do not feel any now, after I left that work either.The job I ended up with turned out to be the best thing for me.”
Hondo's thoughts flipped back to forty four years ago.When he was a young man, just getting settled in New York.He was all of twenty years old and it had been the first time for him to be in a big city...New York.“I’d grown up in Poughkeepsie and I heard story after story about New York City.For years as a boy, I watched my father get up and go to work every day of the week.He would drag his tired and sore body home after twelve hours of working forthe man.As they call it.It wasn’t much better for mi madre...my mother.She kept the house while her esposo...husband, worked the fields.My poor madre did the best she could and so did my padre.They raised us three boys in that small house.Me and my brothers always had a hot meal and a clean home.We might not have had much else but we had that much.”
The men in the room all listened intently to Hondo Meran’s humble beginnings.
“As was the custom,” Hondo continued.“At about fourteen years old, I went to work with my father and I worked hard for maybe five years, but I hated every damn minute of it.Most of all, I hated all the hard work my father did six days a week, year after year for mere pennies really to provide for his family.”Hondo paused and shook his head.“Then I was there the day mi padre died in the fields.His heart finally gave out.The man in charge hauled his body out and then told the people working there to finish their work.He had no regard for my father's passing.He acted like mi padre was just an animal on a farm and he treated him as such.I cannot tell you how angry I felt.”He raised his saddened gaze to the men in the room.
Sergi, Misha and Felix all shook their heads as they seemed to understand his story too well.
Chapter Four
Looking saddened bythe bad memory, Hondo let out a long breath and went on, “I admit I was enraged and what happened next wasn’t kind or pretty but the man got what was coming to him.And I got fair justice for the years of disrespect and mistreatment my padre had suffered under just to feed his family.The manwas bloody and unconscious but he was alive when I left him on the ground after telling him that he was the one who meant nothing in this world.I had saved half of my wages for four years to get the hell out of there when I had the chance.So I used those funds to make sure my mother and my little brothers had what they needed to start over.I knew I would never follow the path my father went down.I had witnessed firsthand what that would do.I took off on my own as I ended up leaving town under suspicious circumstances.But I wasn’t running from the law like you might be thinking.The man had no memory of who attacked him due to head injuries.And the other men working in that field all refused to say what they really saw that day.They knew it was justice and I believe they felt like I had done it for all of them as well.”
“Wow,” Felix whispered.
“When I walked away to jump onto that greyhound bus, I vowed that I would make my mark in this world somehow, someway.When I arrived in New York City, the sounds, the crowds, and the cars filling the streets were quite overwhelming.It took me days to adjust...I loved it though.”He grinned at a smiling Sergi.“It sparked my blood and it told me this was where I was meant to be.My drive to do well was spurred on by the very energy the city pulsed with.I just somehow knew then that I would make it.Within a week, I met a man who had work for me to do, if I didn’t mind bending the law a bit.So I became a runner for the cartel.But I did not know yet what exactly the cartel was really.So one night, I had been tasked as a driver and was told all I had to do was show up at a certain street at an exact time.I drove there in a sedan and parked on a corner.A man came up to the driver’s side and aimed a gun at me.He demanded that I give him my wallet.”
