Illegal Tender Page #4

Well, as fine as she

can be, considering.

What's this all about, Mom?

Over 20 years ago, right?

Mom,

why is this beef with you?

Because to them

I'm just a policy.

I know who they are, Wilson.

They murdered your father.

And while I'm still alive,

no one feels safe,

as far as they're concerned.

''They''?

Well, you know,

I say ''they'', but not really.

It's...

It's one guy.

Who?

A guy.

Who?

His name is Javier Cordero.

He lives in Puerto Rico.

When's the last time

you seen him?

You know,

I don't want to talk

about this anymore.

You look tired.

Mom, there's ways to deal

with this kind of thing.

No, you need to get to bed.

Listen to me.

I'm not getting

into this with you

right now, Wilson.

There's Witness

Protection Program.

Enough, already!

Don't you think I've

tried that, Wilson?

There is no

Witness Protection

Program for us.

We're not very high

on their

priority list, Wilson.

You know how

much the government

is willing to

spend to relocate us

and keep us on the DL?

You, me and Randy

are not worth

the expense to them,

because they told me

all they'll have

is a small-time

gangster named Cordero.

Now, why don't you

download that

into your brain?

We're alone on this one.

There will be no help.

And the sooner

you realize that,

the sooner you're gonna

help me keep

this family alive.

ANA:
Miss DeLeon,

can I ask you something?

That depends.

On what?

On how long you plan

to stick around.

Hey, I'm here.

I love Wilson, Miss DeLeon.

I know you do, Ana.

That's not what

I'm referring to.

I know what

you're referring to.

And if he was someone else,

I would have been

gone a long time ago.

I don't know.

I don't know what's going on.

And I don't know

if I want to know.

Ana, what I think

you should know

is that when

you love someone,

their journey becomes yours,

just as much as theirs.

Yeah.

Miss DeLeon,

no disrespect,

but what is it

that you wanna know?

You're so young.

You got your whole

life ahead of you.

I know.

Why do you want

to complicate it?

Maybe this isn't

the right time

for you to commit.

I don't... I don't

have the answer you want.

And I don't know how

far I'm willing to go

with all this.

The only thing I'm sure of is

that I'm not going

anywhere today.

Okay.

RANDY:
Got you!

In!

Go get it.

RANDY:
Why can't

you get it?

Thank you. You know I...

Huh?

Right here.

Can I have the ball,

please?

Come on. Come on.

Come on.

Randy, stand behind me.

WILSON:
What are you

trying to say?

ANA:
No!

It's 20 years

it's been happening!

This is my mom

I'm talking about.

This isn't about your mother,

it's about you!

Could you stop?

This isn't a good idea,

Wilson. It's not.

How long am I supposed

to let this go on?

It's not up to you.

It is.

It's not...

You saw the look

in her eyes

when she saw

that man. Right?

We both saw that.

Who was he?

Doesn't matter.

It does matter!

It doesn't matter.

It's like she saw

the Devil himself.

What am I supposed to do?

I don't know, baby,

I don't know.

This is the best you

could come up with?

Listen to me!

This is the way, ma.

I gotta do this this way.

She's not gonna

tell me anything,

so I gotta go over

there and find out.

This is

the first time in my life

I look in my mom's eyes

and she don't

know what to do.

And I've never

seen her like that.

I gotta do this.

Okay? I gotta do this.

Who do you think you are?

Her son.

Hey, taxi?

Yeah.

Bag? Throw it in.

I'm Solomon!

Welcome to my cab!

How you doing?

Talk to you in English

'cause I know you are

from New York. Right?

SOLOMON:
Where we going?

WILSON:
Isla Verde.

Isla Verde.

Hey!

My name is really Manuel.

But people call me Solomon!

Okay.

Why?

'Cause I got the answers.

Any problems

in Puerto Rico,

you talk to Solomon.

Oh. What a beautiful sight,

huh?

Nothing more beautiful

on this island

than our women!

Tigers are beautiful.

And they have teeth,

also, like women.

Can't be that bad.

What did I tell you?

I'm Solomon, pueta!

Gracias. Bye.

Strawberry Icy.

(SPEAKING SPANISH)

Okay.

All right.

Enough of the tour.

I gotta go see

somebody in Ocean Park.

Oh, my God!

Hey, Aunt Jessie.

Oh, my goodness!

(SPEAKING SPANISH)

I'm good, I'm good.

How are you?

Ah, you know.

You look good.

Thank you! Look at you!

You're not

a little boy anymore, huh?

You know.

Come in.

Oh, my God.

Wow!

Thank you.

You're welcome.

So...

What are you doing here?

Just taking

a break from school.

Oh, really?

Where you staying?

This small hotel

in Isla Verde.

No, you can't stay at a hotel.

Look.

You can stay here,

I have plenty of room.

No, no.

I don't want to impose.

You're not imposing.

I know, but that's

not why I came here.

I just wanted to

ask you a few things.

Oh, yeah? Like what?

About my father.

What beef did he have

with a man named

Javier Cordero?

What's the matter?

Nothing.

Relax.

I know he was a drug dealer,

and the whole bit.

Okay.

I'm gonna tell you

this one thing.

And then I don't want

to talk about it any more.

Okay.

You said that you know

that your father

was in that business, right?

Yeah.

I never knew anyone

that hung out

with the real dogs,

like Javier Cordero,

that lasted longer

than five years.

He's not bad news, Wilson.

He's the worst news there is.

Okay.

So whatever

happened to Cordero?

I don't know.

Last I heard,

he owned a club

in Old San Juan.

Mora's.

Sweetie, do me a favor?

Don't ask

anybody that question

on this island.

What question?

As far as our family

is concerned,

Javier Cordero

is dead. Okay?

(SPANISH HIP-HOP MUSIC

PLAYING)

Oh, yeah.

(PHONE RINGING)

Hello.

Hey. It's me.

Hey, Mom.

Are you all right?

I'm good, I'm good.

Everything okay over there?

Yeah, everything's fine.

Where are you?

I'm at a friend's place

till I figure things out.

There's nothing

to figure out, Son.

You got a family.

Come home.

I will, soon.

You sure you're all right?

Yeah.

Okay. You know,

Randy wants to talk to you.

Here he is.

Hello?

Hey.

Where are you?

I'm nearby.

I'm gonna see you soon.

My school told mom

I'm so smart for my grade.

I told you

you were smarter than me.

Nobody's smarter

than you, Wil.

I miss you. Come home.

I miss you too.

Put Mommy on, okay?

I love you.

I love you too.

Bye.

Bye.

Take care of yourself, son.

I will.

Wilson.

Yeah.

I love you, Son.

I love you too, Mom.

It's you.

It's always me.

I told you so.

Where are we going, sir?

Viejo San Juan.

(SPEAKS SPANISH)

We're good right here.

(GREETS IN SPANISH)

Hey, hey, kid!

Yeah.

Remember.

Tigers with teeth.

(ROARS)

Gotcha.

(HIP-HOP MUSIC PLAYING)

(SPEAKING SPANISH)

Come and drink.

(CHATTERING)

(SPEAKING SPANISH)

Sh*t. Wilson DeLeon, Jr.

Wilson DeLeon, Jr.

I'd ask you to sit down,

but as you can see,

there's only one chair.

Mine.

(LAUGHING) Goddamn.

How's your mother?

Alive.

And you come here to find out

why I'd like to change that.

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