Nicolas: A MissTaken Story - Ch3

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Chapter 3

“Good morning, Sancho.” Luis greeted the shopkeeper with a broad grin. “How are you this morning?”

“Good, thank you, and you?” The shopkeeper returned the warm greeting, as he reached into a drawer and withdrew an envelope. He turned and offered it to Luis.

“Very good,” Luis responded, reaching to take the envelope. “Everything is well, I trust. Any concerns to report?”

“Nothing to report.”

“Excellent.” Luis pocketed the envelope, then gestured to Nicolas. “Allow me to introduce my new associate, Nicolas.”

“Nicolas,” the shopkeeper repeated, extending a hand in greeting. “Pleasure to meet you.”

“And you.” Nicolas shook Sancho’s hand.

“Nicolas will be taking over responsibility for collections on this street.” Luis placed a hand affectionately on Nicolas’s shoulder.

“Diego?” the shopkeeper questioned.

“New assignments.”

“Ah, well. Diego is a good man.” Sancho examined Nicolas closely.

“Yes, yes, he is a good man,” Luis agreed, “as I am sure you will find Nicolas to be as well.”

“Of course.” Sancho inclined his head, smiling.

 “Have a wonderful day, my friend.”

“You as well.” Sancho waved and returned to his work in the shop.

Nicolas followed Luis in silence until they were out of earshot of the shopkeeper.

“That’s it?” Nicolas murmured.

“That’s it,” Luis replied, the corners of his mouth turning up in amusement. “You were expecting something else?”

“Well …” Nicolas searched for words.

“You were expecting perhaps that I would bully him? Make threats? That he would cower, or resist?” Luis chuckled. “You watch too much American TV, Nicolas. We are businessmen, not robbers.”

Nicolas frowned.

“I don’t understand.”

“We keep crime under control in this city. We keep it away from the businesses the tourists frequent.” Luis gestured to the shops around them. “This means more profit for the businesses for two reasons: first, they don’t experience losses from theft, and second, since the city is safe, more tourists come here and purchase from the shops.”

The two crossed the street to the next block and Luis continued, “Naturally it makes sense, if we provide this service to the shopkeepers, they should compensate us, no?”

“Isn’t that what the police are for?”

Luis chuckled.

“The police are the government’s enforcers. Now you want to talk about criminals, the government officials rob everyone. They lie, they take bribes, they live in luxury they haven’t earned. The police pretend to control crime, but they don’t, not really. There is no benefit for them. They make more money taking bribes than they do stopping thieves, and more safely, and for less work.”

“But, you do make the shopkeepers pay.”

“Naturally.” Luis spread his hands. “The service we provide is not like an orange, where one person pays and then eats it. What we do benefits all the businesses. So, it is only fair that all the businesses pay their fair share.”

The conversation paused as Luis greeted another shopkeeper and received an envelope from him.

“You skipped a bunch of shops,” Nicolas said.

“Yes. For each block, we designate one shopkeeper who is responsible for collections for the entire block. It’s more efficient that way. He collects from the block and we collect from him. He will let us know if there are any concerns that need to be addressed, and we take care of them appropriately.”

“So, you do use force sometimes then?”

“Yes,” Luis conceded, “but very rarely. We don’t demand an unfair payment for our services, so most shopkeepers are willing to pay without complaint. Occasionally, there will be a greedy shopkeeper who wants to enjoy the benefits of our service without paying, and so we must—of necessity—take measures to ensure payment is exacted. It wouldn’t be fair to the other shopkeepers if we didn’t, would it?”

Nicolas mulled over Luis’s explanation. His logic seemed sound.

“Yes, I suppose, but isn’t that why people vote for government officials? So they can choose the services they want?”

Luis chucked again.

“Oh, Nicolas, so much to learn, but I suspect you already realize; people don’t really get to choose what they want, do they? They have the illusion of choice, but no real choice. They get to choose between a small handful of candidates, carefully curated by the political parties. The candidates might be opposing sides, but it is still the same coin.”

Another pause for an interaction with a shopkeeper. Luis’s arguments really did seem reasonable, and crime was more controlled in Ixtapa than in the villages elsewhere, where the Templarios didn’t have business interests.

“What about the villages?” Nicolas raised the question once they were walking again.

“What about them?” Luis stopped and gave his full attention to Nicolas.

“They don’t get help from you.”

“Not so, my young friend.” Luis wagged a finger. “Some do, and some do not. Again, I reiterate, this is the nature of business. The villages that produce for us receive services from us. The villages that don’t, don’t.”

“That doesn’t seem fair.”

“What doesn’t seem fair––that those who don’t pay for services don’t get services? You think the government is fairer? They take from everyone and give nothing in return. Is that better?”

“They build stuff,” Nicolas disagreed.

“For themselves, and for their friends. El Presidente for instance, he lives in a very nice home, goes on vacations to exotic countries, drives his cars on paved streets—are the streets in front of your home paved, Nicolas?”

Luis already knew Nicolas lived on a packed dirt road. There was no need to respond to the question.

“No, Nicolas, we at least operate on principles of sound business. We do that which improves profitability, not that which buys votes.”

Nicolas was silent. Luis made sense. Maybe everyone was better off with the Templarios in charge, or at least more people were better off.

“That’s the end of this street,” Luis announced. “You remember the shops we collected from?”

Nicolas bobbed his head affirmatively.

“Good, I will walk with you next week, but you will take the collections. After that, this street will be your responsibility. Here is your payment.” Luis extracted a few bills and offered them to Nicolas.

“So that’s it then?” Nicolas asked. “That’s all I have to do?”

“For now.” Luis nodded. “You will be given other responsibilities in the future, but for now, collect this street each weekend, deliver it to me—I’ll show you where next week––and collect your earnings.”

Luis’ SUV pulled to the curb and stopped. One of the thugs from before, sitting in the passenger seat, got out and opened the rear door for him.

Luis stepped one foot into the SUV, then paused, turning his head to look at Nicolas.

“Did any of your friends wish to work for us as well?”

“Some might. I haven’t checked for sure.”

“Well, if they decide, let me know and we will find work for them.”

Luis climbed into the SUV. The thug closed the door, then got back into the passenger seat.

As the SUV pulled away, Nicolas stared at the money in his hand; he had made close to half as much in an afternoon as his father made working all week.

Glancing around nervously, he slipped the money into his pocket. He pulled out his phone and dialed Oscar’s number as he fairly skipped back down the street to his scooter.

“Yeah,” Oscar grunted.

“Oscar, where you at?”

“With Gaspar, at his dad’s shop.”

“Javier with you?”

“No, he’s running a few errands for one of the other shopkeepers.”

“Call him for me and figure out when we can all get together for lunch. We’re going someplace nice. I’m buying.”

Nicolas ended the call without waiting for a response.