chapter 11a 

(The Loot) 

Moïse Berri 

and the Reconstruction of the Haitian 

Space Agency 

by Jude Jarda 

11a
The Loot 

Georgelina Veriquin just obtained her MBA with an honourable mention. Her penchant for delinquency stopped evolving right after her last crime, perpetrated at the age of eight; a jellybean stolen from Ming Li's convenience store in Kirkland. That's why she called Emerson Fournier to back her up and help her cool down and relax. Increased stress is the last feeling she needs to experience right now. Emerson is the boldest young man of her small entourage. He was that masked individual, seen in many news special reports, nagging the riot police during the Montreal student protests of 2012; the elusive demonstrator who allegedly used spray paint to mark shops and business establishments his friends would be free to rampage at sundown, after he cleverly sent half the cops of the city to a fake bomb threat location. Emerson is also the guy who knows where to find booze when all the liquor stores and nightclubs are closed; undisciplined sophomore, anarchy instructor. Emerson and Georgelina are waiting for Minerva Veriquin, Georgelina's mother, hoping to borrow her car so they can put their elaborate plan into action. Minerva is unusually late: ninety eight minutes exactly. That delay opened the door to fear and doubt in Georgelina’s mind, making her shaky and dreamy. Chuck Three-Brothers promised to his young sister that the coast would be completely clear in Saint-Basile. He invited all members of the SSG Crew to a video meeting, twenty miles away, in a Longueuil apartment. Even if Chuck's bungalow is supposed to be empty, Georgelina is still afraid something might go wrong. 

Emerson has no clue about the destination or the real goal behind the escapade. Georgelina kept it as short and simple as possible. She didn't want to scare him off or make him greedy. In Emerson's head, they are going to Chuck Veriquin's old address to check and empty his mailbox, so he doesn't get in trouble with his creditors. Emerson was willing to help for free, but Georgelina is not fully aware of his devotion to her. She hired him for the price of a bottle of Amaretto and two fruit-flavoured cigarillos. After the money is recovered from Chuck's reclining chair, Georgelina will grant Emerson a thousand dollars, no questions asked. That should be enough of a surprise to shut his mouth and move on. 

The Veriquins live in a split level on a quiet cul-de-sac, near the river in Pierrefonds-Roxboro. The Malibu of Minerva Veriquin appears at the corner. Part of the exhaust pipe of the car is dragging on the ground and the noise coming out of its muffler is deafening. A windscreen wiper blade is missing and the cracked windshield is covered with a red aqueous liquid. Georgelina runs to her mother's vehicle way before it reaches the garage entrance. Her aunt, Monique, is on the passenger's side. Monique’s right eye is swollen and her upper lip is bleeding. 

“Good Lord!” Georgelina cries out. “What happened to you, mom, where you involved in a crash? Is that blood all over the car?” 
“Spaghetti sauce,” Minerva Veriquin says on a reassuring tone. 
“But… Tatie Monique's face, don't tell me that's pasta sauce also.” 
“Go put some water in the boiler, Georgie. Break some cinnamon sticks, add some clove oil and some thyme honey… bring the hot water rubber bag and all the ice you can find. It's less serious than it looks, my angel.” 

As they savor their tasty aromatic potion, reputed to be an effective remedy for the treatment of emotional trauma, Minerva and Monique recount their recent adventure to a mildly annoyed Georgelina and a very pumped up Emerson. Early this morning, Hilaire Veriquin called his wife and told her he'd be back home for supper. Tatie Monique's husband swore that nothing would keep him away from her, that everything was just going to be fine from now on, and that his gambling problem was dealt with and cured. Monique was, however, very suspicious. While speaking over the phone with Hilaire, she could hear the echoes of that typical hypnotizing music usually associated with slot machines in the background. So around three p.m., at the end of her nursing shift, Tatie Monique urged Minerva to accompany her at the Montreal Casino, so they could catch her lying spouse in the act. But when they arrived on Notre-Dame Island, they quickly understood that the place was way too big, and that there were too many hiding spots for a man eluding his wife. Fortunately, Monique and Minerva met a taxi driver who worked for the same company as Hilaire outside a restroom. The cabman told them about the existence of an illegal game room, which Hilaire frequented from time to time, located in Cartierville, in the north of Montreal, just past the Lachapelle Bridge. 

So Monique and Minerva went over there, hoping to surprise Hilaire. When they rang the bell of what seemed to be an abandoned house, they found themselves face to face with a scatterbrained woman smelling Vicks VapoRub and hair iron. As soon as she opened the door of the house, the angry housewife started to insult them, casting Minerva and Monique as home wreckers, bimbos and sluts, pushing and tempting her man to fall into highly deviant behavior. The situation quickly deteriorated. Monique completely lost it when the hostile lady suddenly began to rap and beatbox, rhyming about how that pig named, Hilaire, was spreading his genital warts all around town. The consequences of that spiteful woman's irreverence were dire. Her wig was violently pulled off from her skull and a large number of objects automatically became projectiles thrown in her direction. The fake nails were quickly removed and the heels put aside. Punches and slaps were distributed equally between the three fighters in an atmosphere of general hysteria. The name of God was mentioned twice, so was the name of his main foe. An extremely irked neighbor who had enough of that turmoil came out of his house to impose himself has a mediator. After the man was bitten, scratched near the eyes and hit in the testicles, he forfeited, wondering what kind of disease he might just have caught, when he saw the color of his own blood under the street lights. Minerva and Monique fled the scene when they heard the police sirens. Hilaire Veriquin has not called his wife back. Monique only hopes that he is not tied up to a chair, alone in the hands of a violent moneylender that won't let him go in one piece until he pays him back. 

After listening to that stirring story. Now comes the delicate moment where Georgelina must ask her mom for the keys of the Chevrolet. Georgelina certainly doesn't want to be labelled selfish and insensitive to the pain of others, but Chuck Three-Brothers made it clear: everything he planned from his pit-hole in Mizerikod was closely timed. The gang members of the SSG were not going to be kept away from the bungalow for the rest of the day. Running late two hours on the initial plan, Chuck's little sister cannot afford to lose another precious minute to explain the reason why she needs to borrow her mother's vehicle so badly. “Will you bring the Malibu to the car wash before or after your short spin?” Minerva might inquire. “Is it safe to drive on Highway 13 with a single wiper and a cracked windshield? And who will drop Tatie Monique back to her place in Lachine?” Georgelina can't take the risk of being interrogated. She remembers what her older brother said about Pyram Malvenu, the psychotic cop that wants him dead, and makes a move that shocks her poor mom. Without saying a single word, Georgelina communicates the urgency of the situation to Minerva in non-verbal language. She grabs her purse, pulls Emerson by the collar and rushes to the front door. Minutes later, they're on the road with the spaghetti sauce spattered mid-size sedan.