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extending his arm out his car window and snapping at Looney Tunes. “Puh-leeeze.”
    Chin-Chin nudged Davey. “Yo, Puti’s window is low and she gonna hear you and start shit with you, too, Davey.”
    “I got no beef with Puti. Maybe we should invite her to the club to celebrate your birthday, Chulito,” Davey joked.
    “Men only!” Papo said.
    “So that’s why we left Tunes out,” Davey said. They all laughed.
    “Technically, Puti is still a man, right?” Davey asked.
    They considered the thought as Chulito noticed Brick from the travel agency coming down the block. Brick looked up at the azure sky and squinted to see the first few twinkling stars before continuing down Hunts Point Avenue.
    Chulito knew Brick wasn’t coming down to join the party posse because he wasn’t down with Kamikaze and especially because he was carrying Crystal, his three-year-old daughter, on his shoulders like she was a princess riding a float at the Puerto Rican Day Parade. Chulito couldn’t see where he held onto her slim white stockinged legs because they were covered by the mucho ruffles of her soft pink dress. She waved with small, strong arms and blew a kiss with both her hands to Gil who sat on a white plastic chair in front of his liquor store.
    “Hola, mamita.” Gil waved to Crystal. Her Shirley Temple curls bounced wildly as Brick walked over to Gil. “¿Qué pasa, bro?”
    “Nothing, just going to meet Jennifer’s mother at the train station,” Brick responded.
    “Oooi, la Sueeeegraaaaa.” Gil shivered.
    “No doubt. That’s why I got some protection right up here on my shoulders. She don’t start no shit with me as long as I got this sweetie with me. Right, mamita?”
    Crystal kissed the top of her daddy’s head.
    “Need a light?” Gil asked, nodding to the unlit cigarette that dangled from Brick’s lips.
    “Nahhh, nigga, you crazy.” Brick looked up to Crystal.
    “Oh shit, sorry, bro. So, you going out with the fellas to celebrate Chulito’s birthday?”
    Brick looked down at Chulito and the fellas on the corner. “Nah, I stay away from Kamikaze. I had my days of dealing drugs and dodging bullets. I got more important things to do.” Brick kissed Crystal’s ankle.
    “I hear you. I’ll probably pass through after I lock up. They expect to go all night.”
    “Well, I’s gots to be moving ‘cause la suegra don’t like walking alone.” He said good-bye with an upward flick of his chin. “Say bye to Gil, mamita.”
    “Bye, Gil.”
    “Bye, mamita,” Gil said.
    “Yo, Majora!” Brick shouted to a Black woman with a vibrant tangle of dreads. Majora grew up in the ’hood and formed the local environmental group that rented a storefront next to the liquor store. Brick was placed in her program where he got paid to clean up the Bronx River and take tour groups canoeing.
    “Hey Brick, you’re working next Saturday, right?”
    “Word!”
    “See you then. Hi, sweetie,” she said to Crystal.
    “Hi, Majora,” Crystal responded as Majora stepped behind her agency’s glass doors.
    “Look, Daddy!” Crystal pointed to Julio who owned the travel agency where Brick worked part-time cleaning up and delivering plane tickets to the old folks.
    Julio came to the door. “Oh my God, who is that big, beautiful young lady on Daddy’s shoulders?”
    “Hi, Julio, you got lollipop?” Crystal asked.
    “Yes, mamita, right here.” He handed her a red lollipop.
    “Eat it later, ma,” Brick warned Crystal. “I don’t want you to get dirty before Grandma sees you.”
    “Oh, so grandma is coming to visit?”
    Brick rolled his eyes. “Yeah, so do you need any help?”
    “I’m closing soon, but you can work a couple of hours later tonight organizing that mess in the back. I’ll leave you the keys to lock up.”
    “Definitely! Anything to get out of my house. I’ll build the shelves for the supplies.”
    Chulito was intrigued by Brick and Julio’s friendship because Brick was über macho and Julio was