A Boy, a Bike, and a Pound of Coke

My parents were far from happy when they came and got me. There was no surprise there, though. They lectured me for hours and kept me in my room while my parents talked about what to do with me. They had no clue considering this was second time doing anything remotely wrong. The first time was back in 6th grade when a bunch of kids kept teasing me by calling me my middle name, Ant, which I always hated. I ended up kicking the shit out of all of them. Mostly just bumps and bruises but nonetheless, it sent a message to everyone. No one ever called me Ant again in school. My punishment was no television after dinner.

My parents finally came up with something for me. They decided to ground me for a month. Considering that was half of my summer before school, I was pretty pissed. Then again, I had just committed a felony and gotten off easy. I pouted in my room and stomped around all day. After they went to bed I had thought about that guy from the cell. I was trying to remember his name. Was it Jim Mattlock? Or could it have been Jim Mattel? I remember Jim and him telling me to call him Jimmy for sure but the last name was gone. That’s the thing about me; I’m only good with nicknames. I guess Jimmy would have to do till I had found him.

I made sure my parents were fast asleep and snuck out the back door. I’m sure my bike had been smashed or kept in the city lockup. It looked like I was on foot for this one. The real question remained though, how the hell do I find this guy? I was trying to think of places I’d go at night if I was wise guy or a gangster of sorts. Obviously a bar or a club is a good place to start as any.

What they don’t tell you about New York is that it’s actually much safer at night than it is in day time. It’s a lot busier in day time and you could easily get lost in the crowd and lose the cops. Traffic jams like no one’s business and rude people galore. At night, there are more cops on patrol, less people to monitor so it’s easier to pick out the bad ones. So the bad guys tend to avoid night jobs unless they’re breaking into places. Thankfully that is stuff I prefer to avoid.

I walked a few blocks and went into the first bar I saw. They instantly turned me out. I didn’t even get a chance to ask anyone anything. I walked up another block and found another bar and managed to convince someone to let me in cause I said my dad was in there. I looked for anyone that looked on the, well, criminal side. I found one guy sitting at the bar and I sat next to him. He glanced over at me and I saw he had a couple of visible tattoos’. One was a four leaf clover and it was on his neck and the other was a small hatchet underneath his right eye. I could never tell if it was scar or a part of a tattoo but I could swear it looked like the hatchet had blood on it.

I nudged him slightly with my arm and he looked over me, “What the hell kid? Can’t you see I’m busy drink?” I looked over to him and asked, “Do you know a guy named Jim? Big and wears a pinstripe suit?” He took a sip of his, what I believe to be, beer, “Never heard of him. Now go home kid, it’s late.” I grunted and got frustrated, “Does Jimmy ring a bell?” He instantly pointed to the back door next to the restroom. I got up and looked back at him, “Thank you.” I walked to the door and remember it being the heaviest door I ever tried to open ever. I pushed it open and I was in an alleyway. The door shut behind me and I heard a lock. I tried opening it and I heard mild laughter through the door. I kicked the door twice. Don’t know if I was mad that he tricked me or that I had to keep searching. I like to think that guy was trying to tell me to leave and get me to give up so I wouldn’t go down this path. But the world doesn’t work like that. It seems I was going down this road no matter what.

I put my hands in my pockets and started walking up the block. I was tired and kind of just wanted to go home. But I got this far, right? I saw a neon sign in the distance. I started walking to it till I could read it. It was blue and pink and read “The Itch”. I found the door and opened it and there was a guard standing by some circular stairs there who tried to stop me. I tried to convince him my parents were up there but he wasn’t buying it. I was desperate and tried something in hoping it would work. “Jimmy said he wanted to see me.” I said. He looked me, “Go on up.”

I remember the stairs being what seemed like the longest flight of stairs ever. My legs were like jelly at the end. I remember some time later being told it was just two flights. At the top, I looked around and saw some rooms with cloth covering the doorways and one open door and the end of the hallway. I started walking to the open doorway and looked into the other doorways as I passed. I saw other people in these rooms. I saw what looked like candy and fooling around to me at the time but now I know it was all types of drugs and sex. I heard loud techno sounding music as I approached the doorway and started to see bright lights flashing all around. People were all in the middle of a large room dancing. Some were sitting at tables having drinks. I saw a second floor with more tables and a roped area. If Jimmy was here, he had to be there.

I pushed through all the people on the floor as best I could. My best wasn’t very good considering I was only 14 but still. People kept jumping up and down and bumping into me while the music blared. I remember the music just being annoying and hurting my ears. I almost got knocked down a few times but nothing I couldn’t handle. I pushed through the crowd me and suddenly a girl just grabbed my face and just kissed me. I remember it being really long and extremely wet. I probably remember it because it was my first kiss, too. I finally got out of the crowd and was able to breathe. I was hung up on the random girl that kissed me. Not the way I wanted my first kiss to go at all.

I found the stairs and got up them quickly. I saw the roped off area being guarded by two guards. I regained my composure and confidence and approached them. “Jimmy wants to see me.” I said. “No one get in. Ever.” He snapped back. “He wants to see me!” I said as I started charging to get in. They grabbed me and started to pull me back. I saw him slightly and started screaming for him. “Jimmy! Jimmy, it’s me, Bram!” Jimmy looked all around till he got up and saw what was going on. The guards almost had me down the stairs before Jimmy yelled, “Hey, guys! He’s cool. Let him in.” I shook the guards’ hands off of me and readjusted my shirt. I started walking to the roped area as Jimmy put his arm around my shoulder.

“See? I told ya’ that ya' were a smart kid. Ya’ came to see me.“he said with a smile as we both walked back into the room.