Shady business and a silent observer

Sergio's Shop was on a corner, a shop with a dark wooden sign above it that said "Lord" in small letters. "sergio" sat under it with three crowns on his right, soft white hair and a red complexion that filled him with dignity, looking down on the customers, like an extra who plays the role of a minister in a movie and after filming he gets paid the thirty euros and a meal, only to tell people afterwards that he shouted at Vincent Cassel... in front of the camera!

Before Lord became one of the most famous shops in its field, and before it became a destination for celebrities and community leaders, it was a modest supermarket. Sergio bought it in the late seventies after borrowing half of its money from louis Al-Zahar, his friend and neighbor in the Jewish Quarter. Everything went well until the mid-eighties, specifically when large supermarket chains began to appear. His shop was surrounded by food whales until his situation became difficult and he had to make a decision: either close the shop or change the activity.

The matter was not settled until a friend working as an employee in an french embassy offered him to buy the annual liquor grant received by the embassy, which the paralyzed ambassador preferred to reap the profit from rather than consume it at public relations parties. Sergio bought it... and bought others... Gradually, his merchandise began to change, as did the size of his wallet and the type of his customers. His skill in reading customers helped him.

At first, louis reprimanded him, scolding him so harshly that the street could hear him. Silently, Sergio shook his head in disapproval and promised to stop, until one day the latter could no longer bear the guardianship. He exploded, waving a bottle in his hand and years of companionship, pouring them on the ground and stamping his feet. That was their last meeting...

Louis boycotted him after that, contenting himself with watching him from the window... watching him and hardly believing that this was his childhood friend.. The days passed between them in estrangement.

"Sergio forgot... but louis didn't. And as his thriving trade and the widening circle of his acquaintances expanded, he entered the field of drugs and became, in the name of God, what God wills, a symbol of high in paris, Monaco and Marseille areas. The police would verbally lie in wait for him, but his generosity, his gifts and the quality of those who frequented him always kept him in the shadows, but not for louis Al-Zahar.

Lucas looked at Lord's shop for a few minutes. He didn't find anything different from what he had seen before. Sergio was sitting at his desk talking to a customer. He looked at his father:

- "I don't understand !!".

- "Focus."

After a minute the customer left. Sergio ducked under his desk, disappearing for a few seconds, then sat up, holding something that was not visible from that corner.

-"Did you notice?" Louis asked him.

-"What exactly did I notice?".

Lucas dodged a piece of bread that flew away with the letter S from his father's mouth as he spoke: "sergio stores the imported goods under the desk."

-" Under the desk!!".

-" A buried refrigerator. The imported goods can't get out on display. When the things calms down, he'll send one of his boys to the old Mercedes. That's the drug stash".

He said it while eating the sandwich and flipping through the papers beside him as if he were telling a story to a child. He seemed confident, which made lucas narrow his eyes in surprise: "And you knew all of this while you were sitting here?".

Louis shook his head, not knowing what to say.

-" May God have mercy on you.".

Louis was distracted by the window, so lucas smelled the approaching storm. He knew the beginning, so he tried to change the subject: "Did you take the medicine?".

He didn't answer him, he continued looking out the window, ignoring him, so lucas bit his lips: "Dad!!"

Louis interrupted him: "How are you, son?".

- "Fine thank you, you and I need to get married".

A smile escaped louis's lips, and lucas added, "I have a lady at my work that will take you back twenty years, it will make you like a horse."

-" You mean a donkey... Don't bother me with this marketing".

- "Just listen to me pops , We're selling the apartment to Margaret, the third-highest-ranking lady. She'd love it for a long time. We're going to buy two small apartments and new furniture. Besides, I'm sure you're still a demon. I'll get you some vitamins, what do you think?".

Louis interrupted him "The beautiful lady is like a watermelon... red... and squash like a turnip."

"Men in this country are so brainwashed that they are plagued by cancer. Life for them has become four things: football, mobile phone, full stomach, and the thing who is making them blind (he pointed to his crotch)."

-" Logical... sensitive... and purposeful..." then he stood up and kissed his father's head" May God grant you health, dad."

- "Lucas I want you to take me out tomorrow... Free up an hour for yourself."

- "where?"

-" Tomorrow I will tell you."

- "Okay, old man."

Louis grabbed the pen and started writing on the paper. Lucas carried the plate and went out quietly. On his way to the kitchen, a look of doubt called to him about what he had heard about Sergio. Without leaving the plate, he approached the window, pulled back the curtain and looked at the shop. Everything was as it was before Sergio's boy came out. He crossed the street, scanning the square with his eyes. He approached a dilapidated yellow Mercedes, parked there since lucas had been alive. He lifted the worn cover off an old lock that closed the back bag!!.

He put the key in, stuck his hand in and then pulled it out with something before quickly retreating. Lucas put the plate he was carrying on the table and returned to the window at the same moment.

A dark silver car with dark windows appeared, and the same young man who had come a little while ago got out. He entered the store, Sergio handed him the black bag and shook hands with him with something that was in the Mercedes bag.

Lucas hit his forehead:" wow what a smart man ,you're Louis ".

Lucas washed the dishes and put on heavy casual clothes suitable for an evening that would last until the morning. Out of the corner of his eye, he checked on his father from the crack in the door,he was writing like a crazy person,the fever of writing had possessed him ,He would remain hunched over for long hours writing.