DUANE
In this life, I'd say you're guaranteed with only two things.
The first is poverty, and the second is poverty.
I mean we do try to make the most of it all.
Hang around out in the parks with friends and all. Those kinds of things. But I feel like there's a bit more stuff that I can do out there.
BEEP!
BEEP!
My alarm went off to the point that it was so loud that I thought my ears were going to pop off.
Maybe, just maybe I would sleep in for today.
"Duane!" Mum yelled out from across the room.
Great, sleep was not an option.
I rose up from my bed, rubbing my eyes in pure lack of energy dragging myself to the other side.
My mother, who people would take a good look at her and would say that she was the fiercest woman that they ever encountered. I could vouch for that statement.
She was the most strongest and hardworking person I had ever known. She had a backbone made out of steel. It was always incredible to see it in action.
Though I'd say her curly black hair was what I knew her for. It was the best thing about her. You could spot her from a mile away.
My mother was cooking something up for today and it smelt delicious. Even from here, the food was ever so fierce just like my mother.
"When did you draw this painting?" She pointed over at the corner of the kitchen while she was stirring the pot.
I looked over at the painting feeling a sense of pride in my work. The vibrant colours appealed to my eyes, each stroke and brush was a representation of my hard work.
"Last night, while I had some time." I continued to smile at my painting.
"It's good." My mother said doing her last touches of the meal. "You should sell it."
I waved my hand in dismissal at the thought of that.
"I barely sold any money for my last painting and I thought that was good." I sighed picking up my recent artwork.
She served the ribs that she had just made on the table. In an instant, I sat myself down chowing down on the food.
It was that damn delicious. I needed more of all.
"You found any work?" I asked my mother became a bit tense after hearing that.
"Yeah, I did. . ."
"That's good." I finished the plate clean. "Anyways I should head off for work, see you later."
"Bye." She gave me her usual hug. "Hope you get some more sales."
"I hope so too," I muttered breaking out of the hug and leaving the house.
It wasn't too far of a walk at all. My workplace was quite close to me.
I like to say the community was alright while others would say otherwise.
Floods of rubbish would sometimes be scattered onto the streets, rotting.
It was smelly, even intoxicating.
Every once and a while, rats would be scampering around the place. Thankfully, I managed to make it my way to my little business that I had saved up a while back.
It wasn't the best place but it did the job. The ceiling was leaking from time to time making a puddle on the ground but I was used to it. It was just a normal weekday to me.
I began setting up my countless artworks in hopes that I would get a few sales or two. Last week I had made a good ten bucks barely enough to even scrap a living.
"Toussiat!" Lewis roared entering the store. "If it isn't the artist!" He jokingly bowed down to me.
Jase laughter crackled across the room. I was afraid that his laughter was going to break the damn ceiling.
"Very funny." I rolled my eyes snapping my fingers at them. "Help me set up the place."
"You think we're your slave?" Lewis declared but they were literally doing what I requested of them.
Jase was poking my art and inspecting every bit of my paintings.
"Come on don't touch them, man!" I playfully pushed him on the shoulder.
"What?" He chuckled shrugging his shoulders, "Why are you even trying to get the money for." He gestured out to the workplace.
"Welcome to the shittiest suburb in America."
Well, he wasn't wrong about that. I didn't know too much of the history of where we lived, but I did know that before WW2 this place was prosperous where businesses were everywhere.
After WW2, it was a different story in itself.
Rich to drastically poor.
"Well, I'm trying to make it out of here," I said with determination putting my artwork on display.
"What? So you can go to all that old money stuff?" Lewis asked.
That was exactly what I wanted to do. Old money was rich money and that meant good money.
I would choose any day of the week to make it to that level of money.
"I know your artwork is amazing. . . But you rarely get any sales with them." A serious tone shift was heard in Lewis's voice.
"Patience."
That was all I needed to say.
It might not come today, might not come tomorrow hell might not come in a while, but I knew my hard work would pay off.
Like that, everything was set up and ready.
A couple of hours had passed and the store was coming to a close. A couple of people had gone bypassing the store. Even fewer people went inside to check the artwork.
Until I hit the jackpot.
It was on this day that my luck turned around for good. I was not expecting it to happen so soon.
A man whom I had never seen from the area, specifically I don't think anyone has seen, arrived on the doorstep of my art store. He wore a sense of professionalism to himself.
His eyes told that of the great experience of journeys he must have been in. His shoulders were broad enough to think that he had trained for years.
He gave me a gentle nod as his eyes scanned the room.
I waited patiently my hands behind his back as he walked around the place.
The aura he gave was nothing but dominating. Every step he took was filled with purpose, filled with power.
Even I felt a bit uncomfortable to be in a presence like this.
Until he laid his eyes on one of them.
"How much is this one?" He had a smile on his face as he inspected the artwork.
This artwork was one of my prized possessions.
I had to work day and night to make sure the brushes were perfect. Every minute detail had to be amazing or else I wouldn't call it my own.
"It's $10," I said cheerfully.
"$10?" He raised his eyebrows as he pulled out a $20 bill. "Have this."
I shook my head, "I can't take that, it's too much."
As much as I wanted to snatch that money away and add it to my collections of savings, it was just too much money that someone would give me for my artwork.
"It's a little tip." He chuckled winking over at me. "Besides for something like that, it's worth a bit more."
I hesitated looking at the money that he handed over to me. I had never gotten this much money for a single artwork.
It was a bit weird for me to even see it in person but eventually, I took the money accepting it gracefully.
Now that's what I like to call a successful day at work.
Soon enough, the sun had begun to lower its warmth and was no longer with us anymore. Its comfort was no longer with us anymore.
I went back home as quickly as possible. Nighttime was not a place you wanted to be out and about.
The streets were a whole different type of place at night. I didn't want to explain it any further than that.
The house was a haven at night and I was glad that I was able to make it one piece. However, the house was shrouded in silence.
It was dead.
The lights were off, everything was off. To my surprise, my mother wasn't to be seen anyway.
Her comfort and her warm presence were nowhere to be seen. She must have been still at her new workplace.
I was too tired to think about anything but sleep as I plopped myself down on the bed, simply smiling at my ceiling.
I had just made the most money ever and I had a feeling there was more to come.
CLOVER
Everything had been up to this moment.
I had worked my ass to get to this moment. All those training sessions, all those different types of dietary sessions, it had been for this one singular moment.
"Welcome Rookie." He smiled at me handing over a badge.
A cop.
We at least a rookie cop that had entered fresh from the scenes of America. I knew that I was a small person living in a big world.
The first thing I wanted to do was head back home and that was what exactly I intended to do.
"Look who it is!" Antoine wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "Now it's alright give us the bad news did you fail?" He chuckled slapping the back of my shoulder.
Little did he know what I was going to show him was going to change his whole demeanour.
I pulled out my badge from my pocket showing it to his face.
All he could do was nothing but clap in amazement. He had no snarky comeback of his to make towards me.
My brother knew that this was a dream that I had a long time coming.
I had trained my body to the absolute best of my abilities.
I trained and trained.
I studied and studied, to get to this stage of the playing field. I was grateful for the opportunity.
"I still can't believe that Mum gave you a free ride to Harvard and you rejected her offer."
I shrugged my shoulder in rejection, "Harvard was never for me."
Look I know that it sounded crazy that I didn't take up the offer that my mother gave me about Harvard, but it was never for me.
I never had any interest in being there. Sure I would have gotten a great education but even without Harvard, I wouldn't even have to worry about all that.
"Even being allowed to work as a lawyer wasn't good enough?"
I shook my head.
Antoine on the other hand was on his way with a full ride to Harvard becoming a lawyer.
His path was set by Father and Mother since the day he was born.
When I was born, my father and mother had plans for me, a great big future that would earn me loads of money. Even if we didn't need it.
We already had enough.
As the youngest in the family of course I had to be the rebellious child. The one who had to ruin their plans for me.
So when I told them about my dream, about what I wanted to do.
They couldn't even look me in the eyes hearing those words.
My dream was to become a police officer.
They thought that it was too little for me and that I had too much potential and it would simply be a waste.
I was still fixated on this dream of mine as much as they hated it, the loving parents that they were, the least they could do was hook me up with a few connections or two.
Everything after that I had to do everything on my own. Surprisingly, it was what I wanted and needed for myself. It was great having to do something by myself without anyone having to help.
Now that was what I called true freedom.
"I still can't believe you choose to be a cop." He poured us a glass of red wine. "Why?"
"I want to help out the community."
Antoine chuckled hysterically at the thought of that and slapped me even harder than me on the back.
"Serve justice?" He looked at me with an amused grin. "That's the shit they say in the movies man." He pushed my shoulder.
"Maybe I want to be living in those movies." I pushed him on the shoulder back.
"Should've been a movie star then." He grinned as he took a sip of his drink. "Speaking of which there's a party that Rivele is throwing."
"Rivele?"
He was one of our closest friends and he was known for one thing. He was known for throwing the coolest and best parties around the area.
It wasn't those types of parties you were expecting.
It was the old money parties. The parties that you wished to get invited to when you were younger.
But believe me, those parties weren't ever so interesting to me. What interested me was doing my job.
My job was to become a cop which had now been achieved. My dream had been achieved.
All my life I didn't know why but I wanted to be one. It was just something that I always wanted to do.
As corny as it sounds to protect and serve justice for everyone.
It's all I ever imagined wanting to do with my life.
"Yeah, Rivele!" He chuckled, "We haven't seen him in for ages. We should definitely go."
"No can do." I chuckled shaking my head.
"What?" His face dropped to another level not expecting my answer. "You haven't been on duty yet and you're already acting like a cop. Lighten up a bit."
I shook my head once more in rejection. "Got to study the textbook." I pulled out the book on the table that labelled every single detail of the law enforcement rules that I had to follow.
I knew I was going to have a long day reading this book.
Antoine grinned raising his hand in the air, "Whatever floats your boat."
With that, I was left to myself.
———
That is a wrap for the first chapter!
This is a lot more different than all the other stuff I usually do here.
I'd like to say that I'm going to be a bit more experimental here.
All I can say now is that I hope you enjoy the next chapter!
Comments (0)
See all