Sunday, January 31, 2010
The stars
Last week, I bought a new game called Mass Effect 2, while playing i realized that while they were in space the mentioned little about earth. humans, who had lived on other planets for millions of years and have never seen or heard of earth. And i began to wonder, what will earths legacy be? If their are aliens out there how would they judge us for our wars and what little we have done for piece? And will we ever live t see a day when we all can truly get along or is that a myth?
Friday, January 29, 2010
My very first blog...Ex 1.1
Major writting accomplishments or failures, is what i was asked in my writting class. However not to sound cocky,I cant recall a time when I failed a paper,but my most memorable was one that i did in creative writting. For a big part of our fnal project we had to write a short story that we came up with completly on our own, from any genre and with any organizational structure. I faced alot of challenges with this story not grammatically, but story wise. I questioned the plot, character motives, the lenght of it, after all was said and done, I was very proud of my story,I hope you enjoy it aswell...
Scholarship Requirements:
Applicant must be willing to get it themselves.
Setting: Baltimore
“Ya’ll ready to do this.” Tayo said,
“Yeah I couldn’t sleep last night, I drunk about 10 cups of coffee, 3 energy drinks, and a whole box of sugar, I’m fired up!” Daytona said.
“Yo chill, if we get caught all because of you, I’ma shove this size 14 straight up-”
“Both of ya’ll chill for we get caught, if ya’ll focus then we could get outta here and disappear.” Tayo said has he cut Ratchet off.
“Ya’ll boys, are sad, we standing right outside of the gigantic bank, how suspicious you think we look at three o’clock in the morning, huh, I mean it aint like we making a deposit cause aint none of us got any money.” Tanya said
“Nah, we making a withdraw, Tanya go in and cut the security, take the vents down to the office, Ratchet follow me, Daytona you go with Tanya and cut around to the safe room so you can set up everything for when we get down their, aight lets get to work.” Tayo said.
“And don’t be looking at my butt neither stupid.” She said
“What butt?” Daytona said laughing the whole way through.
And the plan was in motion everybody knew exactly what they had to do. Tanya went to the security office and shut down the cameras and switched the tape to last week cameras; Daytona went down to the safe and set up his tools so he can rip open the safe door; Tayo and Ratchet came down to the basement to meet up with Daytona so that he could start.
To Daytona being a hustler taught him how to get money however. One day when he was shooting dice, he met Christian Smallwells, the most notorious thief ever known to Baltimore. Christian was responsible for the crash of over 30 banks in Maryland alone and had a hand in all of the illegal action, but cops could never get anything on him. When he met Daytona he saw the same instinct that he had and decided to teach a little bit to him. He told him like this…
“Yo, I’m telling, all you gotta do is spit on the handle of the safe just to let it know that it aint nothing to you, you know dehumanize it, but any way. Get a flame torch and drill though the door for about ten second or at least till you hear a snapping sound, then burn away the bar that you see in front of you and spin the handle three times, it should pop write open.” Christian said as he inhaled a bit of his Cuban cigar that he got imported about every four days.
And that’s what Daytona did exactly. But Tayo was a bit suspicious and brought something to blow the door right off the hinges. But suddenly a clicking sound came from behind him and as he turned a round the door swung wide open. Stunned by the fact that it worked Daytona stood there and embraced the fact that he should do this more often. But reality kicked in and he was about to walk in when the force of Ratchet’s hand nearly took his head of his shoulders.
“What was that for stupid?” Daytona said with a look of complete discontent with the fact that he just got slapped like he was some kind of punk or something.
“Yo, I told you, he stupid, he acts like he couldn’t see the lines man he almost got us got.” Ratchet said.
“What you talking about I ain’t do nothing I was about to start bagging the money up, put your hands on me one more time and I’ma show you how we do it over west aight.”
After five minutes of heated word, Tayo finally stepped in and told them to chill out, and then he got on the walkie talkie to tell Tonya to cut the security line so that they could get to the money. After a minute or two, Tanya opened the line and told them that they had exactly four minutes to hurry up for the security system kicked in again and with that said they began to load the bags. They rushed bags open arms out grabbing stack after stack. Tayo tried to put them in two or three at a time but the switched to the scooping and sliding method. Ratchet ripped whole shelves out the wall and dumped the money into the bags this way he could get done a lot fast. Daytona stood outside and loaded the bags on the cart so they can get out faster.
“We got all the money in here lets go before we set the alarm off.” Tayo said as he made his way for the opening tossing the bags that he had to Daytona. When they loaded all the bags, they got the elevator to come down so they could get to the car easer.
“How we gonna get the money and us on the elevator it’s only enough room for two of us and I ain’t racing up no steps to get it neither.” Daytona said in defense as he eased on to the elevator securing his position.
“I’ll walk up the steps, ya’ll just pray I survive if I ain’t up there just start loading the money up on to the truck and I’ll catch up then. Just pray I make it okay.” Tayo said
“And stop crying like a little girl yo, you act like you two or something grow up before you mess up, and if we get caught I SWEAR TO GOD IT’S YO HEAD BOY.”
Tayo left to get a head start. The whole way up he could hear them still arguing before the elevator doors shut or he had ran so fast the he couldn’t hear them anymore, either way they didn’t have a whole lot of time to be wasting on petty stuff and the more time they spent the less they would have to get away. Tayo ran up the step as though his life depended on it. He could still hear them to arguing about nothing and after a while, he heard nothing, he figured he either ran so fast that he couldn’t hear them no more or they closed the elevator and started to load the truck so they could just leave when he got up there.
Time kept passing as he raced all the way up the steps he legs and his arms felt like they were going to fail on him any minute. The track expertise he had was no use to him having to run up ten flights of steps. Being the star athlete on the track team didn’t pay off and he knew that after this he would quit so that he would never have to run again, not for the bus, not from the cops, not even for his life. t this point he felt that if someone was going to kill him, he wouldn’t even mind just so that he wouldn’t have to walk anymore. He reached the third floor and realized that he hadn’t stopped for not one break. He didn’t want them to leave him, and he definitely didn’t want the cops to catch him. His only option was to drag his carcass up the steps before either of those happened.
He saw an exit sign the gleam of hope that he had prayed for as he raced up the steps. He pushed through the door with all his strength only to stumble to the ground where he saw they had just put the last few bags on the truck. Everybody rushed over to see if he was okay and helped him up on his feet. They got in the van and drove off, not stopping till they reached Tanya aunt house in Hunt Valley.
Her Aunt Wauneta house was large, the house was incredibly luxurious. The Porte Cache in the front of the house, the two door Impala right next to the black on black Escalade, the garden in the front of the windows, and the gigantic fountain shooting water out like the fire hydrants do in the summer when the neighborhood kids bust them open. When he asked her why they was living in that house in Summerset Extensions, she told him that her mother didn’t get along with her aunt because she was always acting like she was super high and mighty and never tried to come around them unless she came to gloat about something, so her mother never took anything from her nor ever talked to her, but if the kids needed something Tanya knew that she could go to her and get it.
“You Okay?” Tanya said as if she could read the stress on his face from a mile away.
“Yeah I’m alright, I just thinking.” Tayo said
“Worried about us getting caught? I know I was.” she said trying to console me the best she could.
“Nah I was just thinking about whether we should have done it or not, you know, were we wrong for stealing something that ain’t belonged to us or was it okay to get revenge on those how did us wrong?” he said not sure of a answer
“I don’t know she said, but it’ll be okay.” she said with a smile that let me know she was right there by my side all the way.
“Do ya’ll two love bird want ya’ll cut or what, I don’t mind keeping ya’ll four million for me.” Daytona said
“Boy stop playing and give me my money for I kill you in here.” she said as she walked over to snatch up the money that he put in a bag for her.
“I still don’t know how you managed to walk up all those steps, I mean fourteen flights of steps and you ran up there like a pro. “ She said as she sat the money next to him.
Tayo didn’t even realize that the money was now sitting right beside him he just took the bag and laid down on the couch and watched the news. It was there he saw a little gleam of relief. The news reporter was standing outside of the bank they had just robbed and Tayo noticed that a man was standing next to her when the man started talking, everybody got quite; Daytona even looked like he wanted to start to cry a little by what the man was saying. Ratchet went to the window to see if anybody was coming up and then stationed himself there the rest of the night. The man was saying that they had begun an investigation of the robbery and so far had no leads. The robbers were highly skilled and must have been casing the bank for a few years now to have everything done perfectly. The work exemplified here must have been an inside job; there is no guarantee that the cops will ever be able to solve this anytime soon.
“Yes, I knew we could do it, man it took us a day to plan that and we got a way Scott free.” Daytona said
“Yeah but we still have to lay low for a while so just shut up and get some sleep, I’ma stay up and keep watch.” Tayo said knowing that he wouldn’t be able to sleep with the guilt on his mind.
Later as he watched some more TV he started to think about why his life had to come to this, all he wanted to do was go to college. Now he as a loose felon waiting to get caught…
II
“A Jamal, wake up…come on wake up so you can get ready for school. Get up before you make me late.” he said
“I’m up Tayo, dag, you act like I can’t get up with out you yelling in my ear to get me up. Just because I’m your little brother don’t mean you can push me around like I’m a little boy or something I‘m fourteen now and you act like I‘m three or four.” Jamal said in defense.
“You are, now get up for I bust you up side your head. Don’t take all day to get dressed neither.” Tayo said.
Tayo left the room and went to finish getting dressed his self. After he put breakfast on the table he went to his foster mother room and saw if she needed anything. Which she always didn’t or she wouldn’t let him help anyway. She adapted them seven years ago, their parents died in a car accident. Mrs. Porter had breast cancer for three years now, and never, not once since she found out, need for him to do anything for her. She was so used to doing for them that she never took care of her, and with the cancer it made her weak and now she let Tayo look after Jamal, but now after three peaceful years it got worse. The cancer started to spread and affected her immune system as a really rough start. About every two week she caught a cold and the doctor said that this rate the only hope is to get the surgery. Tayo tried everything, from working over time, double overtime on the weekends, selling DVD’s and CD’s in school, and running errands for the dealers around the way, but no matter how much closer he got to the amount for the surgery another bill came up or Jamal’s school wanted money for another trip or something, either way he knew that by living in Latrobe he would never have enough money to get her surgery done.
After Jamal finally got dressed, they left the house for school, this was about the only time him and Jamal ever got a chance to talk before they would see each other when he got off of work. In school Tayo had it easy, with the top grades and the best attitude he was able to get off the hook with missing a paper or an assignment or two. Later that day he had went to the college advising office to see if he needed to do anything else as far as college goes.
“Looky here, Mister Niccolian, the class superstar, the one person in this school that was able to pull off a perfect 4.0 GPA unweighted. How are you to day?” Mr. Hamilton said.
“Fine, I was wondering if there was any news about up coming scholarships that you might have come across. Other than that I’m just waiting for the acceptance letters to come back in, which has been nerve wrecking.” Tayo said.
“Don’t be coy; you know that all of those colleges are going to except you regardless of whatever unless it is of course because you are black or ghetto.” Mr. Hamilton said.
“Well seeing that you wrote one of my recommendations, I really need to pray on this hard. You probably said that I as a low class gutta bug that didn’t need college but a probation officer?!” he said with a look of complete grim.
“Something like that. Truth be told they would fire me if I told the truth about you, I mean that you are a low life gutter bug that need a probation officer. My job is to say nothing but the best to assure that all of you go to college or at least apply.” Mr. Hamilton said with that same sinister sneer that he always has.
“Riiiiight, so I guess you can’t wait see all the schools that I’ve been accepted to. I’ll tell you later on when they come until then I’ll see you tomorrow.” he said as he left out of the room.
After along day of school, Tayo caught the three to go pick up Jamal and get ready for work. He approached their building with care as they tried to come in with little attention as possible. He went to check the mail with all the hope in the world for some good news for once. Not all of that: YOU ARE BEHIND ON THIS BILL, or WE NEED THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY TO BEGIN ANOTHER TREATMENT, or something like that. He was tired of it and what he saw next was his biggest relief ever. There was a gigantic stack of mail in the box, as he locked in on the pieces of mail, he could hear the rush of the cars whizzing by, and he felt the sweat bead drip of his brow dragging down the side of his face on to the floor or his shirt. Tayo took the mail out of the box and raced up the steps not noticing the junkies sitting on the steps, nor the crack valves sitting on the floor bursting under his feet as he ran frantically up the steps. He even passed Jamal for a minute, once he realized that he took a break from search over each letter until he came to the letter from the doctors office reading: URGENT, MUST READ IMMEDIATELY AND RESPOND AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. After reading each of his acceptance letters this one letter tore all of his dreams away, his hope of going to college, moving his family out of the ghetto, seeing his foster mother able to move with out having to feel faint or weak. Then he just sat down, in the solitude of that part of the hallway, he sat on the step where he wouldn’t move from for the rest of the night…
Meanwhile, Ratchet was getting ready to go to work. He took up a night shift no since school started to get even more intense; he figured he would never be able to go to college so he started trapping. He didn’t want to but knew that that was the only way he could pay off his debt, to Big Slim before he broke both of his legs in four places. This was because Ratchet’s mother was a crack head, she would go out and get high and come in and take anything she could get her hands on. Every penny they ever got from the check she smoked it, the T.V., DVD player, everything from his shoes to the twin’s stroller. This all started because her ex-husband used to get high and when they got into an argument he would give her some weed to calm her down, when the weed wore off they started smoking crack. Ratchet finally got tired of this and with nowhere to turn him asked BIG SLIM FAST for a loan and the only way he could pay it back was to work of the debt. He took the twins to his uncle’s house so that they would get caught up in that mess or at least till he got the money to move him and his little brother and sister far away from their…
Tanya had the most tragic story of all, Tanya was the daughter of a retired vet., but he drinks his pain away. He got a dishonorable discharge and because of that he looked to Tanya for relief. After her mother died, he started to act really weird around her, it started with watching her constantly acting over protective like a boyfriend more than a father, then came the stalking, watching her every move around the house, waiting for her to let her guard down so that he could make his move. She always knew to leave the house before he got really drunk. He started to lock the doors with a lock that only he had the key to, then she had to start leaving out of the house through the window, until he bared them up. Then she got a boy around the way to chop the bars up but made it so that she could make it look like they was never touched.
When she left, she would go down the street to see Tayo, they would sit on the patio and talk about anything and everything, or when they could get peace they would go down by the harbor and walk around. But tonight, she wanted to just settle for chilling on the steps and think up ways that both of them could get away from the harsh realities of their misfortunes.
Daytona was no different from the rest of them; he was born with a hunger for money. His father instead of coming to see him being born was getting arrested for attempted robbery to pay for the medical bill that would come when Daytona and his mother got out of the hospital. His father was like a King Pin for all of the Eastside of Baltimore. In fact, his name around the whole city was KING JULIUS, RULER OF ALL THE POVERTY, and OVERSEER OF THE PROJECTS. King Julius was one of Big Slims top dogs; he let Julius run the whole thing while he sat back and collected the profits. Until one day, when he got locked up and big slim bailed him out. Julius couldn’t find away to pay him back and Big Slim got his Henchmen to body him on Daytona twelfth birthday and since then they been in debt to him to cover the money that his father owed plus all other expenses o keep them alive. This is why Daytona had a hustle for everyday of the week, from movies, to drugs him and Ratchet was partners in the grind and even thought Ratchet always tried to overpower Daytona, neither wanted to stay in it much longer.
Later that night Daytona was thinking about his life and how screwed up it was. Then he knew that the only place he could turn to was his homeboy, Tayo. He and Tayo had been best friends since they got into that big fight in the fifth grade. Daytona and Ratchet got to thinking of a way to get money quick and suddenly they came up with a plan. But the plan was going to need a third man. They looked at each other thought about somebody they had knew really good and said
“Tayo”
Together they walked over to his house and decided to fill him in on the plan. Finally they got to his building, the same rundown building that he had been living in since he was ten. When they reached the floor where tayo lived they could see him sitting on the steps with Tonya the two of them with the same look of discontent that they felt.
Together they all sat, each telling their story, grieving over the fact that their poverty had got the best of them. Thinking it was the perfect time Daytona decided to tell them about the plan to rob the bank. At first Tanya was reluctant, though in the back of her mind she realized that it might not have been a bad idea. Tayo sat there silent, every body watching him; waiting for his answer like his was the only one that mattered. Finally he said yes and then told them that going in guns blazing were not the right way to do it.
“Sunday at 3:00 p.m., that’s when we hit the bank. No guns, no nothing just what we need to get the jobs done. Now we start here.” he pointed to the circle he made in the wall with the rock that was sitting by his foot. In his mind he knew that this was his only option now, he knew just like they all knew, that this had to work now or else…
III
One by one they all woke up; together they sat there and talked about what life is going to be like with this money in hand. Daytona knew that he was going to pay Big Slim back and him and his mother was going to move to Las Vegas and start a new life and a clean hustle. Ratchet wanted to do the same, pay Big Slim, then move him and the twins to a new house and open his painting studio in New York,. Come to find out that he was a very talented artist. Tayo and Tanya went off to college. Tayo at Harvard studying law, and Tanya at Harvard Medical. Tayo had sent in an anonymous check to pay for Ms. Porter’s surgery and later on she got better and they all moved to Atlanta after Tayo graduated. Few years after that he and Tanya had got married and was expecting their first child. No one every questioned why they suddenly had a spring of good luck but as long as no one knew, no one cared. Every now and then the four of them would come back to Baltimore and get a reminder of why they did what they did. This kept them humble and each of them lived happily, except Daytona who got arrested for acting up after he just won 17 billion in the casino. But he got out and went back to do it all again. He was so good that he had banks asking him for loans. Even the casino had to get a loan from him so that they could keep the business open after he left it dry. In the end they all got the one thing that was tough for them to have, happiness, peace, a loving family, and…A SCHOLORSHIP.
A STORY BY
PATRICK NOEL
Scholarship Requirements:
Applicant must be willing to get it themselves.
Setting: Baltimore
“Ya’ll ready to do this.” Tayo said,
“Yeah I couldn’t sleep last night, I drunk about 10 cups of coffee, 3 energy drinks, and a whole box of sugar, I’m fired up!” Daytona said.
“Yo chill, if we get caught all because of you, I’ma shove this size 14 straight up-”
“Both of ya’ll chill for we get caught, if ya’ll focus then we could get outta here and disappear.” Tayo said has he cut Ratchet off.
“Ya’ll boys, are sad, we standing right outside of the gigantic bank, how suspicious you think we look at three o’clock in the morning, huh, I mean it aint like we making a deposit cause aint none of us got any money.” Tanya said
“Nah, we making a withdraw, Tanya go in and cut the security, take the vents down to the office, Ratchet follow me, Daytona you go with Tanya and cut around to the safe room so you can set up everything for when we get down their, aight lets get to work.” Tayo said.
“And don’t be looking at my butt neither stupid.” She said
“What butt?” Daytona said laughing the whole way through.
And the plan was in motion everybody knew exactly what they had to do. Tanya went to the security office and shut down the cameras and switched the tape to last week cameras; Daytona went down to the safe and set up his tools so he can rip open the safe door; Tayo and Ratchet came down to the basement to meet up with Daytona so that he could start.
To Daytona being a hustler taught him how to get money however. One day when he was shooting dice, he met Christian Smallwells, the most notorious thief ever known to Baltimore. Christian was responsible for the crash of over 30 banks in Maryland alone and had a hand in all of the illegal action, but cops could never get anything on him. When he met Daytona he saw the same instinct that he had and decided to teach a little bit to him. He told him like this…
“Yo, I’m telling, all you gotta do is spit on the handle of the safe just to let it know that it aint nothing to you, you know dehumanize it, but any way. Get a flame torch and drill though the door for about ten second or at least till you hear a snapping sound, then burn away the bar that you see in front of you and spin the handle three times, it should pop write open.” Christian said as he inhaled a bit of his Cuban cigar that he got imported about every four days.
And that’s what Daytona did exactly. But Tayo was a bit suspicious and brought something to blow the door right off the hinges. But suddenly a clicking sound came from behind him and as he turned a round the door swung wide open. Stunned by the fact that it worked Daytona stood there and embraced the fact that he should do this more often. But reality kicked in and he was about to walk in when the force of Ratchet’s hand nearly took his head of his shoulders.
“What was that for stupid?” Daytona said with a look of complete discontent with the fact that he just got slapped like he was some kind of punk or something.
“Yo, I told you, he stupid, he acts like he couldn’t see the lines man he almost got us got.” Ratchet said.
“What you talking about I ain’t do nothing I was about to start bagging the money up, put your hands on me one more time and I’ma show you how we do it over west aight.”
After five minutes of heated word, Tayo finally stepped in and told them to chill out, and then he got on the walkie talkie to tell Tonya to cut the security line so that they could get to the money. After a minute or two, Tanya opened the line and told them that they had exactly four minutes to hurry up for the security system kicked in again and with that said they began to load the bags. They rushed bags open arms out grabbing stack after stack. Tayo tried to put them in two or three at a time but the switched to the scooping and sliding method. Ratchet ripped whole shelves out the wall and dumped the money into the bags this way he could get done a lot fast. Daytona stood outside and loaded the bags on the cart so they can get out faster.
“We got all the money in here lets go before we set the alarm off.” Tayo said as he made his way for the opening tossing the bags that he had to Daytona. When they loaded all the bags, they got the elevator to come down so they could get to the car easer.
“How we gonna get the money and us on the elevator it’s only enough room for two of us and I ain’t racing up no steps to get it neither.” Daytona said in defense as he eased on to the elevator securing his position.
“I’ll walk up the steps, ya’ll just pray I survive if I ain’t up there just start loading the money up on to the truck and I’ll catch up then. Just pray I make it okay.” Tayo said
“And stop crying like a little girl yo, you act like you two or something grow up before you mess up, and if we get caught I SWEAR TO GOD IT’S YO HEAD BOY.”
Tayo left to get a head start. The whole way up he could hear them still arguing before the elevator doors shut or he had ran so fast the he couldn’t hear them anymore, either way they didn’t have a whole lot of time to be wasting on petty stuff and the more time they spent the less they would have to get away. Tayo ran up the step as though his life depended on it. He could still hear them to arguing about nothing and after a while, he heard nothing, he figured he either ran so fast that he couldn’t hear them no more or they closed the elevator and started to load the truck so they could just leave when he got up there.
Time kept passing as he raced all the way up the steps he legs and his arms felt like they were going to fail on him any minute. The track expertise he had was no use to him having to run up ten flights of steps. Being the star athlete on the track team didn’t pay off and he knew that after this he would quit so that he would never have to run again, not for the bus, not from the cops, not even for his life. t this point he felt that if someone was going to kill him, he wouldn’t even mind just so that he wouldn’t have to walk anymore. He reached the third floor and realized that he hadn’t stopped for not one break. He didn’t want them to leave him, and he definitely didn’t want the cops to catch him. His only option was to drag his carcass up the steps before either of those happened.
He saw an exit sign the gleam of hope that he had prayed for as he raced up the steps. He pushed through the door with all his strength only to stumble to the ground where he saw they had just put the last few bags on the truck. Everybody rushed over to see if he was okay and helped him up on his feet. They got in the van and drove off, not stopping till they reached Tanya aunt house in Hunt Valley.
Her Aunt Wauneta house was large, the house was incredibly luxurious. The Porte Cache in the front of the house, the two door Impala right next to the black on black Escalade, the garden in the front of the windows, and the gigantic fountain shooting water out like the fire hydrants do in the summer when the neighborhood kids bust them open. When he asked her why they was living in that house in Summerset Extensions, she told him that her mother didn’t get along with her aunt because she was always acting like she was super high and mighty and never tried to come around them unless she came to gloat about something, so her mother never took anything from her nor ever talked to her, but if the kids needed something Tanya knew that she could go to her and get it.
“You Okay?” Tanya said as if she could read the stress on his face from a mile away.
“Yeah I’m alright, I just thinking.” Tayo said
“Worried about us getting caught? I know I was.” she said trying to console me the best she could.
“Nah I was just thinking about whether we should have done it or not, you know, were we wrong for stealing something that ain’t belonged to us or was it okay to get revenge on those how did us wrong?” he said not sure of a answer
“I don’t know she said, but it’ll be okay.” she said with a smile that let me know she was right there by my side all the way.
“Do ya’ll two love bird want ya’ll cut or what, I don’t mind keeping ya’ll four million for me.” Daytona said
“Boy stop playing and give me my money for I kill you in here.” she said as she walked over to snatch up the money that he put in a bag for her.
“I still don’t know how you managed to walk up all those steps, I mean fourteen flights of steps and you ran up there like a pro. “ She said as she sat the money next to him.
Tayo didn’t even realize that the money was now sitting right beside him he just took the bag and laid down on the couch and watched the news. It was there he saw a little gleam of relief. The news reporter was standing outside of the bank they had just robbed and Tayo noticed that a man was standing next to her when the man started talking, everybody got quite; Daytona even looked like he wanted to start to cry a little by what the man was saying. Ratchet went to the window to see if anybody was coming up and then stationed himself there the rest of the night. The man was saying that they had begun an investigation of the robbery and so far had no leads. The robbers were highly skilled and must have been casing the bank for a few years now to have everything done perfectly. The work exemplified here must have been an inside job; there is no guarantee that the cops will ever be able to solve this anytime soon.
“Yes, I knew we could do it, man it took us a day to plan that and we got a way Scott free.” Daytona said
“Yeah but we still have to lay low for a while so just shut up and get some sleep, I’ma stay up and keep watch.” Tayo said knowing that he wouldn’t be able to sleep with the guilt on his mind.
Later as he watched some more TV he started to think about why his life had to come to this, all he wanted to do was go to college. Now he as a loose felon waiting to get caught…
II
“A Jamal, wake up…come on wake up so you can get ready for school. Get up before you make me late.” he said
“I’m up Tayo, dag, you act like I can’t get up with out you yelling in my ear to get me up. Just because I’m your little brother don’t mean you can push me around like I’m a little boy or something I‘m fourteen now and you act like I‘m three or four.” Jamal said in defense.
“You are, now get up for I bust you up side your head. Don’t take all day to get dressed neither.” Tayo said.
Tayo left the room and went to finish getting dressed his self. After he put breakfast on the table he went to his foster mother room and saw if she needed anything. Which she always didn’t or she wouldn’t let him help anyway. She adapted them seven years ago, their parents died in a car accident. Mrs. Porter had breast cancer for three years now, and never, not once since she found out, need for him to do anything for her. She was so used to doing for them that she never took care of her, and with the cancer it made her weak and now she let Tayo look after Jamal, but now after three peaceful years it got worse. The cancer started to spread and affected her immune system as a really rough start. About every two week she caught a cold and the doctor said that this rate the only hope is to get the surgery. Tayo tried everything, from working over time, double overtime on the weekends, selling DVD’s and CD’s in school, and running errands for the dealers around the way, but no matter how much closer he got to the amount for the surgery another bill came up or Jamal’s school wanted money for another trip or something, either way he knew that by living in Latrobe he would never have enough money to get her surgery done.
After Jamal finally got dressed, they left the house for school, this was about the only time him and Jamal ever got a chance to talk before they would see each other when he got off of work. In school Tayo had it easy, with the top grades and the best attitude he was able to get off the hook with missing a paper or an assignment or two. Later that day he had went to the college advising office to see if he needed to do anything else as far as college goes.
“Looky here, Mister Niccolian, the class superstar, the one person in this school that was able to pull off a perfect 4.0 GPA unweighted. How are you to day?” Mr. Hamilton said.
“Fine, I was wondering if there was any news about up coming scholarships that you might have come across. Other than that I’m just waiting for the acceptance letters to come back in, which has been nerve wrecking.” Tayo said.
“Don’t be coy; you know that all of those colleges are going to except you regardless of whatever unless it is of course because you are black or ghetto.” Mr. Hamilton said.
“Well seeing that you wrote one of my recommendations, I really need to pray on this hard. You probably said that I as a low class gutta bug that didn’t need college but a probation officer?!” he said with a look of complete grim.
“Something like that. Truth be told they would fire me if I told the truth about you, I mean that you are a low life gutter bug that need a probation officer. My job is to say nothing but the best to assure that all of you go to college or at least apply.” Mr. Hamilton said with that same sinister sneer that he always has.
“Riiiiight, so I guess you can’t wait see all the schools that I’ve been accepted to. I’ll tell you later on when they come until then I’ll see you tomorrow.” he said as he left out of the room.
After along day of school, Tayo caught the three to go pick up Jamal and get ready for work. He approached their building with care as they tried to come in with little attention as possible. He went to check the mail with all the hope in the world for some good news for once. Not all of that: YOU ARE BEHIND ON THIS BILL, or WE NEED THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY TO BEGIN ANOTHER TREATMENT, or something like that. He was tired of it and what he saw next was his biggest relief ever. There was a gigantic stack of mail in the box, as he locked in on the pieces of mail, he could hear the rush of the cars whizzing by, and he felt the sweat bead drip of his brow dragging down the side of his face on to the floor or his shirt. Tayo took the mail out of the box and raced up the steps not noticing the junkies sitting on the steps, nor the crack valves sitting on the floor bursting under his feet as he ran frantically up the steps. He even passed Jamal for a minute, once he realized that he took a break from search over each letter until he came to the letter from the doctors office reading: URGENT, MUST READ IMMEDIATELY AND RESPOND AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. After reading each of his acceptance letters this one letter tore all of his dreams away, his hope of going to college, moving his family out of the ghetto, seeing his foster mother able to move with out having to feel faint or weak. Then he just sat down, in the solitude of that part of the hallway, he sat on the step where he wouldn’t move from for the rest of the night…
Meanwhile, Ratchet was getting ready to go to work. He took up a night shift no since school started to get even more intense; he figured he would never be able to go to college so he started trapping. He didn’t want to but knew that that was the only way he could pay off his debt, to Big Slim before he broke both of his legs in four places. This was because Ratchet’s mother was a crack head, she would go out and get high and come in and take anything she could get her hands on. Every penny they ever got from the check she smoked it, the T.V., DVD player, everything from his shoes to the twin’s stroller. This all started because her ex-husband used to get high and when they got into an argument he would give her some weed to calm her down, when the weed wore off they started smoking crack. Ratchet finally got tired of this and with nowhere to turn him asked BIG SLIM FAST for a loan and the only way he could pay it back was to work of the debt. He took the twins to his uncle’s house so that they would get caught up in that mess or at least till he got the money to move him and his little brother and sister far away from their…
Tanya had the most tragic story of all, Tanya was the daughter of a retired vet., but he drinks his pain away. He got a dishonorable discharge and because of that he looked to Tanya for relief. After her mother died, he started to act really weird around her, it started with watching her constantly acting over protective like a boyfriend more than a father, then came the stalking, watching her every move around the house, waiting for her to let her guard down so that he could make his move. She always knew to leave the house before he got really drunk. He started to lock the doors with a lock that only he had the key to, then she had to start leaving out of the house through the window, until he bared them up. Then she got a boy around the way to chop the bars up but made it so that she could make it look like they was never touched.
When she left, she would go down the street to see Tayo, they would sit on the patio and talk about anything and everything, or when they could get peace they would go down by the harbor and walk around. But tonight, she wanted to just settle for chilling on the steps and think up ways that both of them could get away from the harsh realities of their misfortunes.
Daytona was no different from the rest of them; he was born with a hunger for money. His father instead of coming to see him being born was getting arrested for attempted robbery to pay for the medical bill that would come when Daytona and his mother got out of the hospital. His father was like a King Pin for all of the Eastside of Baltimore. In fact, his name around the whole city was KING JULIUS, RULER OF ALL THE POVERTY, and OVERSEER OF THE PROJECTS. King Julius was one of Big Slims top dogs; he let Julius run the whole thing while he sat back and collected the profits. Until one day, when he got locked up and big slim bailed him out. Julius couldn’t find away to pay him back and Big Slim got his Henchmen to body him on Daytona twelfth birthday and since then they been in debt to him to cover the money that his father owed plus all other expenses o keep them alive. This is why Daytona had a hustle for everyday of the week, from movies, to drugs him and Ratchet was partners in the grind and even thought Ratchet always tried to overpower Daytona, neither wanted to stay in it much longer.
Later that night Daytona was thinking about his life and how screwed up it was. Then he knew that the only place he could turn to was his homeboy, Tayo. He and Tayo had been best friends since they got into that big fight in the fifth grade. Daytona and Ratchet got to thinking of a way to get money quick and suddenly they came up with a plan. But the plan was going to need a third man. They looked at each other thought about somebody they had knew really good and said
“Tayo”
Together they walked over to his house and decided to fill him in on the plan. Finally they got to his building, the same rundown building that he had been living in since he was ten. When they reached the floor where tayo lived they could see him sitting on the steps with Tonya the two of them with the same look of discontent that they felt.
Together they all sat, each telling their story, grieving over the fact that their poverty had got the best of them. Thinking it was the perfect time Daytona decided to tell them about the plan to rob the bank. At first Tanya was reluctant, though in the back of her mind she realized that it might not have been a bad idea. Tayo sat there silent, every body watching him; waiting for his answer like his was the only one that mattered. Finally he said yes and then told them that going in guns blazing were not the right way to do it.
“Sunday at 3:00 p.m., that’s when we hit the bank. No guns, no nothing just what we need to get the jobs done. Now we start here.” he pointed to the circle he made in the wall with the rock that was sitting by his foot. In his mind he knew that this was his only option now, he knew just like they all knew, that this had to work now or else…
III
One by one they all woke up; together they sat there and talked about what life is going to be like with this money in hand. Daytona knew that he was going to pay Big Slim back and him and his mother was going to move to Las Vegas and start a new life and a clean hustle. Ratchet wanted to do the same, pay Big Slim, then move him and the twins to a new house and open his painting studio in New York,. Come to find out that he was a very talented artist. Tayo and Tanya went off to college. Tayo at Harvard studying law, and Tanya at Harvard Medical. Tayo had sent in an anonymous check to pay for Ms. Porter’s surgery and later on she got better and they all moved to Atlanta after Tayo graduated. Few years after that he and Tanya had got married and was expecting their first child. No one every questioned why they suddenly had a spring of good luck but as long as no one knew, no one cared. Every now and then the four of them would come back to Baltimore and get a reminder of why they did what they did. This kept them humble and each of them lived happily, except Daytona who got arrested for acting up after he just won 17 billion in the casino. But he got out and went back to do it all again. He was so good that he had banks asking him for loans. Even the casino had to get a loan from him so that they could keep the business open after he left it dry. In the end they all got the one thing that was tough for them to have, happiness, peace, a loving family, and…A SCHOLORSHIP.
A STORY BY
PATRICK NOEL
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