Page 42 - North Star Magazine 2022

BOB
You remember an officer named Pablo Zapata? He was an
undercover cop, a Serpico type, real tough—truly one
of the finest of New York’s Finest. He was working a
major drug bust—heroin, I think—when he got shot up
real bad. Lost a kidney.
This was years ago, but I remember the papers all
reported he had a rare blood type and everyone was
worried about finding a match for the transplant Pablo
needed to stay alive.
RAY
I’m not sure I’m entirely following you...
BOB
I knew Pablo. He was one of my instructors at the
police academy, and he taught me a lot. I volunteered
to work the night shift at the hospital, and I was
there the morning they did the transplant. I got a
look at the donor. I remember thinking, “This little
mousey guy’s gonna give a kidney to the great Pablo
Zapata?”
I can’t be sure ‘cause it was so long ago, but I
think that little mousey guy was our Mr. Dreyfuss.
RAY
Noooo. That would be incredible. I mean, what are the
chances?
BOB
Pretty poor, I agree. But let’s just take a step back
and think about this for a second. Some little schnook
does just about the kindest, bravest thing a civilian
can do for anyone—and he does it for a buddy of ours.
But he does it anonymously, so he doesn’t get a shred
of credit for it.
Then one day, another little schnook named Albert
Dreyfuss walks in here and he fits the profile of the
first schnook and all this Albert guy is looking for
is a little recognition. You follow?
Ray nods, picks up the file
handed to him earlier, and
studies the photo of the
alleged protest leader.