Stealing, Getting Arrested, and Breaking up the Partnership

Stealing, Getting Arrested, and Breaking up the Partnership.

Yesterday, I wandered pass the garage and “M” is sitting in a car at his shop. I walk over and try and jump into the front seat of the car when he yells, “Don’t you dare! The customer is about to get the car in a few minutes!” I laugh and pretend to lick the windows.  “NO!” I back off and try to do it again. “You’re crazy, I totally missed you.”

 

Missed me? It shocked me. I didn’t really think about him much while I was away, but I tried not to think of home when I am not here. It defeats the purpose as traveling is both an escape and a time to immerse yourself elsewhere.

 

But to be honest, I was glad to see him too.

He jumps out of the car and practically yell, “There is so much to tell you. You have no idea!” Again I am taken aback a little, but I suppose it’s a sign that he trusts me with the important stuff.

 “Hey, have you had lunch? Let’s grab something to eat. That’s what I am doing.”

He goes, “Can’t. Gotto be at the shop. There is only me left. W is gone. He and I parted ways.”

 

“Oh, why?”

”I told you there was a lot to tell you!”

“Okay, what do you want? I will grab food.”

 

“What are you having?”

 

“It’s always the same three places on the street, you know?”

”Fried Rice then” and I start walking away, “Plus a lemon tea!”

 

“No probs.”

 

I walk towards the usual Hole in the walls and settle for the place with the after lunchtime specials, HK$25 a dish with drinks. On my way back, I notice that some of my neighbors and shop keepers take a double look at me, coz I haven’t been around for a month. I wave at one or two and stop by the electric shop, where they have taken out the turtles in the tank to sun. I stare at them a little and they ignore me and continue to climb over each other or sun themselves. There are probably 5 or 6 the size of my hand in that fish tank, not really enough space. They probably been in there since they were the size of a thumb and just out grown the tank. I like turtles, I had them since I was a kid, but after the two I had for over 20 years died, I could never replace them.

 

As I walk pass one of the other garages I see “C,” which is a real bummer. I am trying to avoid her as is everybody else. I don’t know how to deal with her anymore. She’s starting to get extra annoying, ever since she either lost her job, or quit her job as a junior designer and started being an insurance sales person. She started asking really personal questions all the time and constantly trying to sell us insurance. The time that completely topped it was when she called me out of the blue and went,

”Yan, which doctor do you go to?”

 

And I reply, “An old doctor I have been going to since I was a kid on XXX road.”

”Do you pay for him?”

 

“Yeah, but not a lot.”

 

“What about your family?”

 

“I don’t know, anyway most of them don’t live in Hong Kong.”

 

“Are you okay? What’s wrong? Do you need a doctor?”

 

“No, No, I was just wondering who your family go to.”

”Is someone sick? Do you need a referral?”

and she goes in this totally pissy voice, “Oh my, of course not! Why are you saying such terrible stuff!” (In Chinese culture it’s pretty bad to talk about sickness and all that, especially when it’s not happening, kinda like asking for trouble.)

”Then what do you want?”

”Well we have this insurance and it helps you pay for your doctors, although you have to choose from our list and there is a premium.”

I just told her I wasn’t interested and hung up. And she did this a few times, until every time I see her, I just want to run. Which is a real pain because I used to ride with her boyfriend and his crew. Then again, that’s all dispersed pretty much.

I see her standing right in the middle of the pavement, so there is no avoiding her. I smile and she goes,

“My god, you’ve gained weight! You’re really fat!”

Nice seeing her too.

”Yeah, I know. American size portions you know.”

”You need to go on a diet now!”

”Oh look,” I pull down my sunglasses, “See my eyes they are all red.”

”Why is that?”

“Been away, from home, loads of dust has gathered in the house, and I am allergic to it.”

 

“You should just go home and get some rest then. Go to the doctor!”

”Okay!”

Home free.

 

The problem now is how to sneak into M’s garage so she doesn’t see and don’t bother to come in after me. I just keep walking hoping she would go away, if not I would have to walk right home and hide until she goes in and run in. I really can’t stand having her in the room, she over powers everyone’s conversation. And moreover I am sure what M is going to tell me has something to do with her and the horrible thing she’s done in the last month.

 

I walk in and go in the back room with the air-conditioning. M keeps working, and he will come in when he’s finished. I light a cigarette. It’s no wonder I smoke so much more ever since I started doing this, coz there is so much waiting around. Eventually he comes in and goes,

“It’s all over man. Me and W. He’s gone. The guy outside is my new partner.”

”Okay, so what went down then?”

“I haven’t paid the rent, I still haven’t paid the rent to this place, my place, the bills. It’s such a mess!”

”Oh.”

 

“He borrowed all this money from me!”

”You shouldn’t have lent it to him, I told you that a million times.”

”Well, he’s my partner you know.”

 

“Uhuh.”

”What could I do, take the money home every night? I mean he has access to the money here.”

”I would. But anyway.”

”He took all this money out to fuck pros, and just can’t pay it back.”

Sometimes it’s hard to keep a straight face. There I thought W was the nicest guy in the universe. He drives a family car instead of a racing car because he said it’s easier to carry his family around in. He’s been with the same girl forever, and he seems so nice and innocent.

 

“And then you know his brother, the one who drives the Mercedes.”

 

“He paid it back? You asked him?”

 

“No, his car was here and there was a ring…”

“A ring??” I roll my eyes. This is really bad. “You didn’t take it did you?”

 

“Well I had to pay the rent. They called the cops on me!”

”You were arrested!!! You’re so stupid.”

”The cops came by and asked all these questions, and found…..”

 

Silence.

I am not sure what to say, except I know I am in foreign territory now, and its moments like this that I know as close as I am to these people they exist in a completely different world to me.

 

“How much was the food. Don’t say you forgot.”

 

Which I understand as my cue to say, “I forgot.” It’s kind of hard to ask someone to pay for lunch when you know they have bills they can’t pay.

 

“So when did you get back? Where did you go? Trouble with the family huh?”

 

“Pretty much. Needed to sort some stuff out.”

 

“Yeah, I gathered. I was wondering where you went, and they told me you went to the US.”

“I called you, Maybe you didn’t get the message??”

”No, I couldn’t believe you left without telling me.”

 

“I did, I am pretty sure.” I started telling him a little bit more but stopped myself. Not that I don’t trust him to listen, it just seem superfluous in terms of his at this point.

 

“So are you in trouble? As in you have to go to court?”

 

“Yeah. I am wondering if I need a lawyer. I just got out of debt. It’s such a fucker. I just got out of debt, just started to pay everything off anyway. I should call the public defense right?”

 

“You haven’t? I think you should. So what exactly happened?”

 

“The rent wasn’t paid, my apartment rent was not paid, and I was fixing up W’s brother’s car, I was just desperate you know? And there was this gold ring with rubies in it. On the dash board. I took it. And well, they called the cops and the cops came snooping around, asked me questions, and well… they found the pawn slip. So I was arrested.”

 

“Oh shit. Did you go down the station?”

 

He looks at me with the cheesiest grin and says, “The whole deal.”

 

“Fuck.” What else is there to say at this point? Do you need a lawyer? It’s just stealing right? I mean, that’s probation.”

 

”They are asking for $30 000, and if I have that, W’s mom will drop the charges.”

 

“W’s mom? What the hell!”

 

“They are black mailing me. They say if I pay then that much. Then they will say I never took it. They are saying that I took three rings! It was just one fucking dinky little ring. ONE!”

 

“Did you take three?”

”NO! but they are saying there were three.”

 

“But the cops can’t find it right? I mean they only have one slip for one ring in the pawn shop. They have no proof!”

 

“Try convincing the judge that!”

 

“That’s true, you pawn one, you give one to your wife and one to your mistress and that makes three.” My sarcasm can no longer be kept in check.

 

“So they are asking for $30 000 then. How much was the ring you stole! It must have been a lot.”

 

“$300” (USD40).

 

“300!!! The ring was only 300? They called the cops on you for three hundred dollars! Don’t the cops have better things to do? I mean, the court date would cost more than that itself.”

 

Sometimes I do wonder what trip I am on, when I hang out with these guys. It’s like at some point normalcy is thrown out the window and it seems just so wrong my friend is arrested over a 300 ring. And it doesn’t seem to flip back.

 

 

“You stole a $300 ring. That’s nothing. You got arrested for a $300 ring!!” And I start laughing.

 

He looks at me with disdain and said, “I knew you would laugh at me.”

 

“It’s three hundred dollars dude. Just 300. I just can’t help it! How much does W owe you anyway?”

 

“A few thousand dollars.”

 

“And you got 300 back. That sucks. How much do prostitutes costs anyway??”

“Like 400 hundred.”

 

“That’s all it costs?”

 

“Yeah, so if he went over the dozen times, you know it adds up.”

 

“Yeah, you should have asked his brother or his mother or someone you know. It’s not worth resorting to stealing was it?”

“You don’t understand! I was desperate!!”

 

All I can do is roll my eyes now. “No shit.”

 

“You’re not paying are you? They can’t ask for that much money over a little cheap thing like that!”

 

“I don’t have the money to pay. I just got out of debt.”

 

“I mean, shit man. I rather get done than pay that bitch all that money. I mean all you should get is probation right! You’ve been done for a lot worse!!” I have truly lost all sense of life.

His eyes light up and He grins. “I sure as hell been done for much more terrible things.”

 

“I know. I wouldn’t pay. And you should tell W’s mother he used all that money for fucking hos. Just tell them why you took the ring.”

 

“They won’t believe it! They think their son is such a good boy.”

 

“Yeah, but when you were discussing buying them off I would have thrown it out at them anyway, just so they know. Whether they believe it or not is another matter.”

 

“Yeah, talking about fights. My wife had a huge go at C. And she’s so stupid she doesn’t leave and still come over.

 

“So it finally blew up right?”

“Yeah. She went around telling everyone I stole the ring. How She “Just knew it was M” “It must be M” To everybody.”

 

“To whom?”

 

“Everybody we both know. I mean, I did take it” We laugh, “But she doesn’t have to tell it to the whole world behind my back. SO my wife told her to stop or she’s going to beat her up.”

 

“That’s a fight I would pay to see.”

 

“It won’t happen, you don’t want to piss of F you know. He’s helped us a lot.”

 

“So yelling at his girlfriend didn’t piss him off.”

 

“Well he said he wasn’t. You know he knows his woman and what she’s like.”

 

“Yeah. She’s annoying.”

 

*****