Free The Journey Prize Stories 22 by Various

money?” said Leo.
    â€œWhat you packing in that case?” said Ramon, and Leo did not reply.
    â€œShow me,” said Ramon. Ramon reached for the croquet set then, and Leo pulled away, though he knew it was pointless to resist. Ramon placed his hand upon Leo’s wrist and wrenched the handle from him while Leo forced himself not to cry out in pain. Then Ramon knelt down on the sidewalk, held the case against his bent leg, and opened the latches. “What the fuck,” he said, as he looked inside, and then he turned the case upside down, dumping its contents onto the sidewalk. The mallet heads and the shafts and wickets and balls all fell onto the cement and the balls started to roll away. He took off his ball cap and held it in his hand and ran his fingers through his short, slick hair and stood there, surveying the pile at his feet. Then he put his hat back on and reached down and picked up one of the shafts and the green ball. He threw the ball up in the air and swung at it like it was a baseball. He missed and the ball rolled into the gutter and Leo chased after it. He heard a cracking sound behind him and when he turned he saw Ramon holding half of a broken shaft in each hand, his right knee still raised in the air.
    â€œWe had a deal,” said Ramon.
    â€œWe never had a deal,” said Leo. He felt anger well within him, his cheeks growing red and hot with a deep hatred, as much for his uncle as for Ramon. He reached down and picked up the green ball then, felt the cold, heavy roundness of it in his hand, and he threw it at Ramon with all his force. The ball hit the tarmac fifteen feet from its target, rolled offthe street and came to rest in a curb-side storm drain. Ramon stood there and smiled, just as he had done earlier that afternoon. He looked down again at the wickets and shafts and mallet heads on the sidewalk before him, nudged the pile of equipment with the toe of his sneaker. He crouched down and picked up another shaft and a mallet head and examined them closely.
    â€œI see how this shit goes together,” he said, and he twisted the mallet head onto the end of the shaft. Then he lifted the mallet high in the air, as if to pound a stake into the ground, and when he brought it down upon the lid of the case Leo heard something snap.
    â€œFuck off,” Leo screamed.
    â€œI’ll take whatever you got on you,” said Ramon, “and we’ll call it even.” Leo’s chest constricted and he felt the hotness of tears running down his cheeks. He reached into his pocket for his puffer, but it wasn’t there. Instead he felt the crispness of the two twenty dollar bills and he didn’t know what else to do so he went up to Ramon and handed them to him. Ramon took the bills and slid them into his pocket without looking at them, and then he dropped the mallet on the ground. Leo watched him for a moment, and struggled to breathe deeply and slowly. Ramon looked back at him, impassive, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. It occurred to Leo that he had not been given anything in exchange for his $40 and it was clear to him then that Ramon had never intended to sell him anything. He knew his mother would ask him how he’d spent the money, and he did not know what he’d say.
    Gradually, his panic receded and he bent down and turned over the case and started to pick up the scattered wickets andhe tried to forget about his anger and his shame so that he could focus on the task at hand. He was conscious of Ramon standing over him, watching him, and he wondered how his actions could be of any interest to Ramon, now that Ramon had taken what he wanted. He looked up at Ramon then, as if daring him to speak, knowing that whatever Ramon could possibly say would only cause greater humiliation. Ramon said nothing. Instead he turned from Leo and went over to the storm drain and stooped to pick up the green ball and came back and handed it to him. Then Ramon went