Everyone on the block knew about the side hustle and looked the other way because he offered a joke when he handed out groceries across the counter, gave his mother money to split the bills, let the mothers on the block slide when their WIC checks didn’t last them the full month.

That’s going to be a sick scar, Pablo said. I wish I could get a scar like that.

With nothing to lose, and on a family friend’s recommendation, our long-divorced parents took Ike to see a curandera in New Mexico.