One shock, two shock, three shock, four… how many drinks do I have to pour?

How many walks have to be taken?

It feels like so much time has been wasted but hey it’s just another day.

I’m a waiter, but I do a handful of things from walking dogs too shining shoes too even working a boutique when the schedule fits. I hear my family every time I begin a job, “WHEN YOU GOING TO LOCK SOMEONE DOWN?” Or “ALL THAT WORK WHERE THE MONEY AT?”… and just a bunch of yap and cap they like to flush out. Not that it’s any of their business but 85% of my money is stored for emergency and future endeavors to set me up, you know my big break! I don’t like to do all of this work but I dislike sitting on my hands even more, so the choice is hustle or struggle? I choose hustle every time, but I can’t help but complain sometimes because it’s hard and my feet be tired ok.

January 9, 2014, just another day I said…another ridiculous rush hour Monday but everything was so copacetic and going how I planned until I had an unexpected guest called “Death” and I didn’t enjoy its company. My uncle, auntie, mother, and cousin all wiped out in an instant due to a malfunction in the families boat ultimately blowing it up leaving just my father Jorus and big brother Jory left since they stayed home. Us 3 being alive is ironic since we weren’t close before so it’s not like we’re gonna be close now…long story short guns were shot and knives were thrown way before their deaths. I deeply cared for my family and it grieved me more than I thought, more so for my mother because she truly was the heart of the family. Her death truly fractured all sense of strength I’ve built up over the years, for 2 months I couldn’t smile and for 5 I couldn’t even crack a laugh. I began to miss all their comments and petty remarks about my work and life, I realized with all this death we had no choice but to forgive and move on… little did I know how short lived our peace would be.

My passion is simply…thinking. Yeah yeah but I love to think, you know problem solving, getting creative and the whole shabang but a nice portion according to the doctors comes from a percentage of my brain being 15 rather than the standard 10 yet ever growing. Along with my upbringing in Manhattan, with the superficial abusive down playing dad, slave working mom (speaking metaphorically of course), and the toxic sibling rivalry and family so I had to branch out and think on my feet. I needed a work around my father without it resulting in me killing him, to get strategic so my mother can breathe and my brother can PISS OFF! But with this love for thinking came other issues because always having a solution and being a thinker can sometimes bring bigger dilemmas and ridiculous adventures.

I knew that and I dealt with that all my life, with the challenges and riddles of my life getting harder and harder but my ability and strength to solve them growing with it. But this time…this time was different… this time I couldn’t really think my way out of it, I couldn’t sweet talk and even propose a beneficiary alternative.

My brother being the high tempered guy he is, racks up enemies around the city with his drug operation and display of ruthlessness (you can clearly see who the sins of the father caught up with). It all worked for a while with him climbing to the top but whatever comes up has to come down at some point… all his enemies whined up scheming together to get rid of him and to keep what he’s built. I usually stay out of this type of mess especially since I’m not to fond of the guy but when it involves mutual family like in this case our father then I have to get involved. His enemies Savo, Dak, Wussle & Wewie kidnapped our father and some of the family members of Jory’s crew to give him an ultimatum. Of course Jory got his crew together and his soldiers to retaliate but with all his efforts they couldn’t retrieve them and they only had 2 days to decide. When idiotically capturing the enemies loved ones and turning the city upside down didn’t work, my brother came to me for help…to pick my brain to say the least.

My Tuesday afternoon quickly and swiftly ruined by a brute moron…but my brother is if not persistent, persuasive, and strategic which seems to run in our blood. He came to my house at 6 in the morning and informed me of the situation with 18 hours to spare and made a proposal but not before me slightly biting his head off. “Jory… YOU GOT TO BE THE MOST INCOMPETENT, MELON HEADED, POORLY DRESSED GANGSTER TO LIVE CUZ HOW, TELL ME HOW YOU LEAVE YOUR FATHER AND YOUR CREWS-“, Jory now yells “WEL ITS HARD TO MANAGE HALF OF MANHATTANS STREETS AND KEEP TABS ON EVERYBODY AT THE SAME TIME”. I say sarcastically, (my name is Jolo by the way) “oh right sorry running a huge drug operation can be difficult, so difficult that keeping an eye on the family can just *poof* slip the mind”. Jory now says frustratedly, “It’s no time for your childish sarcasm Jolo we need to fix this, we have 18 hours to save these people our father included and I came here for your help since…*whispers* you have the best wit in town”. I pause before I say anything else and think to myself “why do problems keep knocking on my door and why do they look so ugly?”, no seriously can I ever get a pretty problem wrapped in a nice dress or some grease.

Two hours passed with me and my brother putting our thick strategic heads together to make a plan to not only save everyone but also satisfy his enemies, and keep some of his territory. So I get my things, we make all the preparations throughout the day and night fall arises with everyone in position. Me and Jory together for negotiations, his main crew spread out with 2 being at Savo & Dak’s base of operations with soldiers to blow some stuff up and the other two doing the same at Wussle and Wewie’s spot. We have a hacker in the background far away from the noise collecting all of their legitimate business finances to mix them with the dirty business to corrupt their cover up and get the feds on them with us not having a trace to it. The cherry on top, is I found all of their child hood homes to buy them with their money and destroy them for some neighborhood renovations… and who said you couldn’t find a needle in a hay stack. It’s 7 p.m but before we get out the car my brother speaks in a way I’ve never heard before, timidly and he says “you remember the night me, you, and dad got into a huge fight over mom and whos the one who truly takes care of her?”. I say a bit confusingly “yeah I do why?” and he replies “that night, I was agreed with you in heart because out of everyone you were the one to really hold it together and solve our intoxicated families problems…that night seeing you get so enraged to point that you started throwing knives to kill us while me and dad started shooting at each other to kill each other and him shooting at you honestly changed me…I felt guilty for tampering with your purity, being a bad influence on you so that’s why I left and stayed gone.” He proceeds to say “I know you haven’t heard this in a while especially from me but…Jolo…I love you, I respect you and have been looking out for you more than you know. Those times you found random $50 bills and groceries sitting on your door step was me and I always kept an eye on you, dad didnt just slip my mind I chose to kick him out of it…I was so angry with him I stopped keeping tabs on him and now he’s captured.” *Tears running down both of our faces*

Jory says with a crackle in his voice “whatever happens in here, I just need you to know that it wasn’t all bad and being with you again even if it’s for the last ride is one of the best moments of my life.” I speak confidently but with sincerity in my voice “Jory you may have grinder gears I didn’t know I had but your my brother and you never stopped. I love you too, I respect you despite all the comments and jokes I truly do, so let’s do it and no matter what happens we’re in this and we’re gonna finish it.” A fist bump and a nod is given, we step out the car and make it to the meeting grounds in this hideous garage by the water. Our enemies there lined up with the hostages in chains tied in electric cables, thus begins the decision…

Savo speaks with a rasp “well well if it isn’t nap and nappier…you ready to hand it all over or hand them to death.” Their henchmen on the side with their thumbs ready to mash the kill button, Jory says “if it isn’t the four dumbmen and their dumber troopers…let’s get this ball rolling and send everyone on their merry way.” Savo says “agreed” and proceeds to pull out a piece of paper and pen for Jory to write down his connects, drop spots, and to sign a little letter agreeing to forfeit it all to them. Jory gets to writing and I get to speaking, “ you know for a bunch of criminals you guys had pretty wholesome childhood homes, I mean Wussle you had a freaking tree house and for crying out loud Dak your house is pink *chuckles a bit”. They all pull their guns out thrown off gaudy by my knowledge of their past, Wewie says “OK HOW THI- THI- THIS KID KNOW ABOUT US” and I say “ok buddy I see why your not the talker here”. Wewie says “ OH YOU GOT JO-JO-JOKES I SEE, LETS SSE IF YOU FEEL-FEEL-FEELING JOKY AFTER THIS “, he aims his gun and shoots but Savo knocks his hand over causing Wewie to shoot the generator making it get smoky. All of them start arguing and Jory gives the signal to the crew to blow it up, now all you hear is in the back ground of the city is *BOOK* *CRACKOOM* and just a bunch of explosions. Our enemies run out to the side to check and they see the areas of their base in flames, they come back inside enraged with all guns pointing at us. “WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS” Savo says, Jory says “well you didn’t think I was actually going to hand it over did you”. “KILL THEM!!” But then all their soldiers get electrocuted instead…”take a breath, smell your leverage going up in flames”.

It’s an all out war, everybody shooting but also…getting up out of there to retreat. The hostages scatter to our side but Savo still angry gets the cables and throws them at our father… then in a blink of an eye I just pushed him out the way with me protecting the hit. “I know the consequences for this is gonna SSSS-SSS-UUUUUUCCCCCC- *sound of Jolo being electrified*. Hospital I wake, having forfeited what I love for family.