And he’s been down on crank ever since.

Paul holds up a hand.

– OK, man, whatever.

Through the garage door they hear a car pull into the driveway, the sound of Fernando screaming at his younger brothers, then the two of them screaming back at him as “Beat It” blares from the Impala’s stereo.

Paul makes a face.

– Fucking Michael Jackson.

By the time the Arroyos are coming in the front door the guys have run out the back with their bikes, thrown them over the rear neighbor’s fence, and gone over after them. Their pockets crammed with the money, jewelry, a bag of loose joints from Timo’s stash, a pearl handled switchblade, a box of Trojans, and a few copies of Oui. Paul with the bag of crank he’s taken from Andy shoved down the back of his pants.

By the time the Arroyos have stopped screaming at each other and Fernando has broken Timo’s nose for being a smartass and squared off with Ramon in a no holds barred fistfight that has Timo hiding behind the legless couch, by the time the fight is over and Timo has gone for a doobie to kill the pain of his throbbing nose and found everything trashed and told his brothers and they’ve run to the garage and found that a half kilo of crank is missing and Ramon has gone for his little chrome.22 automatic, by that time the guys have cleared the neighbor’s yard, ridden to the Senior Taco in the P amp;X shopping center, and ordered sixteen tacos with fries and milkshakes.

They know being a rat sucks, but the Arroyos are gonna know who robbed them and if they don’t do something those crazy fuckers will. Paul’s ready to do it. It was his idea they rob the place, if someone has to rat the Arroyos, it’s him.