Money & Brotherhood By Masanobu Iwakura

There were 4 men in Cali, Colombia. Pablo is the leader of their group and everyone trusts him. Carlos is a funny man, Diego is a rich man, Martine is serious, but he can’t speak Spanish. Diego got money from their boss because he worked very well. He said “Let’s go out and eat! I’ll treat you!” Everyone agreed and accepted his invitation. But Pablo said “You did a good job, so I’ll treat you. You’re my good brother!” Diego was moved, and said “Thank you brother! I look up to you.” They went out to a restaurant. A man was watching them. About 2 minutes later Diego noticed he forgot his cigarettes. He is heavy smoker, so he went back to their hideout. A man looked around and broke into the hideout. He looked for their baggage. His name was Javier. He was a member of another group. He had a very serious problem, so he needed a lot of money. He stole Diego’s money and ran away from there.

Then Diego came back and saw a strange car, but he didn’t care about it. He found his cigarettes. Then he remembered what Pablo said “I’ll treat you.” But I have a lot of money now, and I can invite them. I should pay. He looked for his wallet, but it never turned up. He couldn’t believe it. “Nothing!” His wallet was stolen by Javier. Diego thought for a few seconds, and remembered the strange car that he saw. He called Carlos up, and told him about this trouble. He explained about the strange car. Three men waited near the hideout. Then a silver sedan passed by in front of them. Martine sat by it. Carlos spoke to Pablo about the problem. Then Martine said “Follow the car!” They began to follow him. Diego left the hideout by motorcycle.
They cut around Javier’s car, but he drove very well. They couldn’t stop him. Carlos and Diego had called. So Diego knew where they were. He waited for the silver sedan on the corner. A few minutes later the car came out from around the

corner. Diego threw a grenade into the car. The engine blew up. They caught him.
They took Javier to their hideout. A guy saw them. It was Andreas. He was playing a guitar on the road.
In the hideout, Javier’s hands and feet were bound. He sat down on a chair. Carlos and Diego were slapping his face and asking “Who are you? Why did you steal our money?” But his answer was only “I don’t know!” They slapped him again. Then Javier spitted in Carlos face. He was angry and kicked the chair into a scrap machine. Then Andreas came into the hideout calling out “Javier!!” He flew at Carlos and went to help Javier. Then Javier called out to him “Get out of here!” But the three men had already closed in on him and they came at him. He was taken by surprise, and passed out. His hands and feet were bound to the chair.

Javier shouted Pablo “Stop! Stop! He has nothing to do with me! ” Pablo said Javier “Listen up! If you say nothing, he will surely die.” He answered “I’ll tell you everything, so stop the machine!” “But Pablo”, said Carlos “Turn on the machine.” He carried out his boss’s instructions. The machine began to move. Javier said “he is my brother!” Pablo stopped the machine.

Javier started to explain about Andreas “He is my brother Andreas, he has a very serious sickness. If he can’t have an operation, he will die. The operation is very expensive, but we don’t have enough money. So I stole your money, I apologize. I’ll do anything. So please help him! He has a dream, to become a good musician! Please help him! Please! Please!”
The four men spoke on about it. After few minutes, Pablo got some money for him, and said “keep it until you succeed.” Diego said “your brother can live his dream. I’ll give money to the musician.” Carlos said sorry. They went back to their hideout.

After Andreas came to, he learned everything. Javier said “we got the money, you can live your dream, and you don’t have to die!” They were moved to tears and thanked the four men. About an hour later, Andreas noticed something missing, “Where is my guitar?”
The End