Too many people knew both Carlotta and me in Josies where we both hung out...Too many ears would be listening to whatever was said..So We went to Roxys and sat in a booth...
To my surprise..both Rodriguez sisters ordered Puerto Rican Rum.....
"Okay ladies...Let's do this." I laughed as we toasted and drank...
Carmen got quiet as she sipped and began to tell her story...
II-
I smiled wryly...Just wait until I see FBI Special Agent Sharon Ferrell....She was a dancer for a rapper at one time?? Oh My God...I couldn't stop laughing at the thought of that...Now she was an FBI Agent and Carlotta was a Homicide Detective...Who woulda thunk it? I mused...she wasn't going to hear the end of it! Carmen continued...
"My sister was always late for dinner and Mami or Papi would always send me to go get her and Sharon...Carlotta and Sharon were about to graduate from High School....They both had plans to go to college...Me? I had been out of High School for three years and was just kind of spinnin my wheels..I was working at the cosmetics counter downtown at John Wanamakers..Still living at home...It was going on three years...My parents were getting a little worried that I wasn't going to amount to much...Ambitious ,I was not..
Anyway...I went to pick my sister up one day and Spanish Fly caught my eye...He was gorgeous...Had the prettiest smile....The prettiest eyes..and he had this big old gaudy chain on...You remember those?...Anyway, I was star struck....So was he...
Carlotta told him that I was her sister , but it didn't matter to him..She could have said that I was an axe murderer...He wanted me...and I wanted him too...We began talking and it was as if I had known him all my life...We just clicked...He found out I could dance...and that was it...He had me and Carlotta dancing with him all the time...Sharon wasn't that into it and she soon dropped out...
No one outside of the hood had heard of him yet, but he was starting to make a little noise..It was kind of weird back then...A Dominican and a Puerto Rican going together...The two tribes didn't exactly mix back then..But we didn't care about none of that...
Once I became his girl...He took me to New York with him where he hawked his mix tapes and his demos and he began to make a little noise...Puffy and some of his guys gave him a holler, but they never called back...Andre Harrell said he was going to give him an audition, but he never heard from him...He recorded a few remixes with Heavy D, Tupac, Biggie and Mary J....but they were never released... Fat Joe and Manny Fresh gave him their cards...but he never heard back from any of them.
I was just happy to be his girl... There were times when me and Fly and Carlotta and Mickey Lolo used to double date..It was wonderful...those were high times...And then he met a producer named Bernie Soros.
Bernie had just arrived in Philadelphia from Puerto Rico...He heard Spanish Fly and produced his first CD...
Remember his hit "Schoolin the boyz on the block?" My sister and I were in the video...It was a huge regional hit...
Spanish Fly began making a little money, He and I lived the high life in New York ,Boston,New Haven, Deleware and as far down as Baltimore and D.C. It was around this time he asked me to move in with him...
My parents were dead set against it...Oh we had horrible fights about it..But I was 23 and grown by then....Even Carlotta cried ,saying that she didn't want me to go..." said Carmen...
"So what happened?" I asked..
"Sexi Mami is what happened." said Carlotta laughing a little bit.
"Yeah, well neither of you had a shot at her." said Carlotta.
"Oh of course not...I mean she was a big time rapper..." I said.
"No..that's not what she means..Sexi Mami didn't swing that way..She liked girls.." said Carmen...
Carmen continued..
"I'll explain..but let me finish... Sexi Mami was recording her second album...If you recall, her first album had been a nationwide hit...nominated for a grammy....She was also being produced by Berny Soros...He put Spanish Fly on the break of one of her songs and it went through the ceiling...We were all out celebrating one night...and Fly asked me..
"So Carmen...What do you plan to do with your life?? I'm on my way to being a big star...Where do you see yourself? And like a dummy I said- "I'm just happy being your girlfriend..." He said- "No..No..You should want to do something amazing for yourself...Who knows if we'll be together forever...I'll be on the road and I can't take you with me once I become a star....I'll have groupies and what not..and I'll have to appear single for my image..you know...You can' live off of me...You have to have something planned for yourself.' he said." I felt like the biggest fool....I had invested close to two years of my life to this guy and he was in effect, breaking up with me..."
"It was damn good advice...but when he said it...I didn't want to hear it...I was soo hurt...and what happened next was the coupe de gras...Sexi Mami was caught in bed with her Physical Trainer...a woman....This was a little before the internet....The scandal would have destroyed her image as a sex symbol and her career..so her handlers came up with a crazy idea...Get her married...She and Spanish Fly got married..We had broken up by then and they moved out to L.A. I was devestated...But I took Fly's advice.."
"I did four years at Temple and graduated with honors...Then I got my Masters at Temple...I supported myself by working at Temple as an Administrative Assistant... Ernesto was starting to make big money as a fighter by then and he put me through law school....By this time, both Carlotta and Mercedes had graduated from Community...Carlotta had gone to the academy and was a policeman and had her own place and so had Mercedes...Our mother had gotten sick by then, but she was so happy to see me get my J.D...So was Papi" said Carmen...
"We had a big party Kevin...When She graduated from Law school, Mercedes was there, Mickey Lolo and I were engaged then and we were there...Ernesto was there too..It was great." said Carlotta.
"So you never saw Spanish Fly again?" I asked Carmen.
"No...His second album did good, but not as good as the first one and his third album flopped, so did his ep...Sexy Mami got caught in a cab with another woman...They lost their home in L.A. and moved to New York...Where they both got caught with different women...Finally their sham marriage ended and the record company dropped both of them...That was years ago." said Carmen.
"Kevin...I asked her the same thing..."said Carlotta.
"That's the best revenge Carm."said Carlotta.
Carm smiled...
"I love you guys.." she said.
"Kevin...Will you help me take her to my house?...She's a little under."said Carlotta..
"Sure doll." I said.
Carmen kissed me on my cheek and hugged Carlotta tight...
"Little Sis, you have a great husband in Keith and a good friend in Kevin..." she said..
Carlotta looked at me...
"He is an amazing friend." she said.
I smiled and the three of us walked out of the bar into the Philadelphia night!
(TO BE CONTINUED...)
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