“You and Kenny will be able to take a breather from school, while I have many more years ahead of me before I’ll be able to add Ramon Torres, MD as my signature.”
“Dial back the bullshit, Ray,” Frankie drawled. “In another ten years, me and Kenny will be bringing our kids to your office for medical checkups for school and sleepaway camps.”
“I don’t remember telling you yokels that I was going to specialize in pediatrics.”
“Yes, you did,” Frankie said.
“I did?” Ray asked, looking confused. “I was sure I mentioned gynecology.”
“Forget about that, Ray,” Kenny said, grinning. “Being around that much snatch will only get you in more trouble than you are now.”
“That’s not funny, my brother,” Ray snapped.
Kenny’s expression changed, becoming serious. “What you’re now facing isn’t funny. So, it’s time you get ready for the fallout. And whatever the outcome, remember me and Frankie are your brothers. We’ll always be here for you.”
Ray nodded. “Same here.” He placed his hand palm down on the table. Kenny placed his hand over his, and then Frankie did the same with Kenny’s. “Brothers for life,” he said in a hushed whisper.
“Brothers for life,” Kenny and Frankie repeated.
CHAPTER27
The incessant ringing shattered Kenny’s sleep, and he reached over to the bedside table to answer the phone. He’d gone out to a bar with several of his classmates to celebrate the end of their undergraduate education, and against his better judgment had drunk more than he should have, and was forced to hail a taxi to bring him home.
“Hello.”
“Kenny, it’s Frankie.”
He was suddenly alert when he heard the panic in Frankie’s voice. “What’s up?”
“Ray is in Lincoln Hospital. Someone beat the shit out of him, and right now it’s touch and go with him.”
“Come and pick me up. I’ll be downstairs when you get here.” He slammed down the receiver, not giving Frankie the chance to accept or reject his command.
Getting out of bed, he raced to the bathroom to brush his teeth and shower. Twenty minutes later, he stood on the corner, waiting for Frankie to drive up. He and Frankie had attended Ray’s graduation commencement two weeks before, and Ray had accompanied him when they went to Frankie’s.It would be another three days before he would walk across the stage to receive his own degree. He scribbled a note for his mother, leaving it on the kitchen table to let her know he had to leave in the middle of the night to go the hospital because Ray had been in an accident. But Ramon Torres didn’t have an accident. Frankie said someone had assaulted him, and Kenny did something he hadn’t done in years. He prayed.
He spied Frankie’s dark blue Mustang when it skidded to a stop, and within seconds of Kenny getting into the car, Frankie executed a perfect U-turn and headed uptown. It had only been months before that they’d talked about getting haircuts and shaving beards. As it came closer to graduation, they visited their respective barbershops to cut off the hair they’d coveted during their college years.
“How did you find out that he’d been beaten?” Kenny asked Frankie.
“His sister Delores, who is a nurse at Lincoln Hospital, called me, saying the police had brought her brother in after they found him on a corner in Hunts Point.”
“What the hell was he doing in Hunts Point?”
Frankie shook his head. “I don’t know.” A beat passed. “Do you know what I think?”
Kenny stared at his friend’s distinctive profile. “What?”
“It had to do with a woman.”
“No, Frankie. Don’t say that, man.”
“What else could it be, Kenny? We both know Ray can’t stay away from the ladies, so maybe he was trolling the area looking to pick up a whore, and if he got into it with one of the girls, then her pimp probably kicked his ass to teach him a lesson.”
“I hope you’re wrong.”
“So do I,” Frankie agreed.
Kenny stared out the windshield trying to process that a boy he’d known from grade school was in a hospital fighting for his life when his dream was to save lives. It was only weeksago he’d graduated cum laude, and in the coming months would enroll in medical school to train to become a doctor.
