jaylar
Junior was taken to a housing scheme called Vanderveer. Bagga parked in a garage and they walked across the street, up steps, turned, along a walkway and into a six story building.
Bagga took him by elevator up to the sixth floor, then up a flight of stairs to the roof door. He opened it and began walking on snow going south until he reached a low wall. He swung over, Junior followed, they continued to walk to another roof door, then in and down a flight of stairs to an apartment.
“Ya wan see…” Bagga said, jumping into patwa as he began, then, into hard English; “Security is primary. Anyone follows me, they see me go into 1406. Maybe the watch the elevator to see which floor I get off at. So they can think, ‘oh, he lives on the 6th floor of 1406’. But this is 1414, and I kotch here, but there isn’t a spliff in this apartment.”
Junior nodded.
“You rest here, I know you need stuff and there’s a lot of stuff in the bathroom, new stuff like a toothbrush, soap, paper you can use. There’s food in the fridge. I’m going out, be back in a couple of hours. Don’t leave, don’t make noise. You want to watch the T.V. don’t make it loud.”
“Yea man.”
When Bagga left, Junior felt like dropping to his knees and praying, but he hadn’t prayed in a long time.
To him, this apartment was a mansion. To be inside, warm, alone, and safe.
