The Dead and the Living Never Meet Eye To Eye

Mateo brought carefully steered the double cab pick- up truck to a smooth halt in front of Mr. Ray's house. He honked softly and waited in the vehicle until the door to the main entrance swung open. Mr. Ray stepped out beaming with a smile. Mateo stepped out of the car and extended the keys to him, "good as new." Mr. Ray took the keys and sped around to the driver's seat. Excitement was written all over his face. Closing the door, he yelled to Mateo, "Hop in! Let's take her for a spin!" The mechanic's apprentice hopped in and the duo sped away.

After the test- driver around town, Mr. Ray brought the vehicle to a halt by a prestigious boutique. He fetched three hundred dollars from his breast pocket and gave the money to Mateo. Mateo counted the money and remarked before tucking it away in his pocket, "It's complete. Thank you, sir." Mateo stepped out of the truck and waved at Mr. Ray as he drove away. Turning to walk away, Mateo bumped into Wayne. Both men startled and stood looking at each other in the eyes. Wayne discontinued his walk into the boutique and retreated to his fancy car. He sped off. Mateo remained rooted on the spot. Pedestrians meandered around him and went about their business.

It had been three months since the bloody robbery that had claimed seven lives. All the stones and jewelries were sold on the black market. Deacon and his men had managed to set up business systems that slowly but surely placed the money in strategic but hidden points that allowed a steady reflow into the economy. Thanks to Crystal. The chief master minder who continued with her work at the headquarters of EMC Bank. Of course, the police had been on her tail twenty- seven, but she was too slippery and cunning. No one suspected her. As for Mateo – he was just another loser. Still wanted by the police and the least amid the poor. Life had swung from bad to worse for him.

A few hours later, dusk was upon the earth. Wayne sat in the VIP lounge taking shots in a liquor store. He was wasted already, but he kept drinking the alcohol. Deacon and Sam were seen wading through the sea of patrons who danced the day away. They marched to the table Wayne sat alone. As soon as the duo sat, Wayne yelled, "He's alive!" Deacon and Sam looked at him in awe. "What are you talking about?" Sam asked. "Becho is alive. I saw him today!" Deacon smiled and probed further, "Have you been taking that stuff again?" Wayne shook his head. His eyes gaped wide and true, "No! I know that motherfucker! I saw him! He's alive!"

Deacon sunk back in the sofa. "Why are the hell are you yelling?" Wayne poured the alcohol in the small glass and took in all at once. "I know what am talking about. The dead don't meet the living, don't they?" Deacon and Sam laughed their lungs out before the latter remarked, "He's fucked." The duo laughed out aloud. But Wayne insisted, "I saw that sucker. He wore a big ass t- shirt, an old work suit and some cheap black sunglasses." Deacon and Sam burst out even louder in laughter. Much to the surprise of Wayne. "You mean to tell me that Mateo whom I shot twice, knocked out and ran over by a vehicle is alive and now he's a mechanic?" The duo chuckled and broke into laughter. It was loud and uncontrollable.

But of a truth, Wayne told them. Becho was alive. And, on the other side of the picture, he sat quietly on the tail gate of Ruti's van. The stars gazed at him. They all seemed to sympathize with him. But that is all they could do. Nothing more. Ruti walked out of the garage and joined in the back of the Van. She dipped in her breast pocket and gave Mateo One hundred and twenty dollars, "He's your cut from the job we did for Mr. Ray." Mateo looked at her, took her hand and clutched the money therein. He smiled and said, "We need to bring the boy home. Please keep it." Ruti took a deep breath and sought clarity, "are you sure?"

Mateo nodded looking at Ruti. "Thank you," She said. Mateo retracted his hand and looked up. "I bumped into one of the boys. I just can't believe they took all the money and still wanted me dead."

"What is the plan?" Ruti inquired. "Is that the reason you look disturbed – lost in thought?"

"I mean," Mateo answered. "It would have been better if they had let me go or take the money. One of the two. Not neither."

Ruti smiled and placed emphasis on the subject. "You still haven't answered. What are you going to do about it?"

Mateo stood up and dictated, "Let's go for a ride."

Ruti, without questioning her apprentice nodded and the duo jumped out of the van's back. Mateo took the wheel and Ruti joined him on the passenger's seat. The ignition was turned on and the fairly old van's engine was kicking with life. They drove off.

The road stretched long in the dark of the night until Mateo brought the vehicle to stop in the ghetto. It was a not the best neighborhood that one would be raised from, but Mateo was forged from there. Across the street, as he looked at his house, his mind was quick to remind him that he once had a dream. A dream to become a King of tracking bank fund transfers both local and foreign. But the dream went to the drain when he his thesis was squashed and could not graduate from university.

A moment had passed after he had stopped the open van. Ruti looked at Mateo who kept silent. "What now?" Mateo replied, "I need to pick the laptop in my former house. I stashed it somewhere." He thus opened the door to the car and stepped out, "Keep vigil. Seat behind the wheel." Mateo stealthily marched into the house and after a few minutes he emerged out of the house with an old laptop. No sooner than Mateo got in the van than Ruti drove off hastily. And after they had covered a few meters, she burst out with another question, "What next?" Mateo, keeping a stern face and without looking at Ruti, "Patching my life up and getting my lot. All of it."