Chicago,1990

Chapter 5: The Job That Just Can’t Be Done

“Hey! Hey!”

Turns out a gun really does the trick. Those guys on the other side, who were just throwing curses around, suddenly got all soft. They put their hands up, fingers spread out towards Tony, like saying ‘no harm intended’, and were like, “Chill out, dude!”

Only the dude who started the whole thing was still acting tough, standing there with his neck all stiff, breathing heavily, and while he was staring Tony down, he couldn’t help but keep peeking at the gun.

“Come and get some, buddy.”

Tony tossed his head back, giving the guy a playful sneer, and even pushed out his big belly for emphasis. The gun on his hip was hanging pretty low, almost within arm’s reach of the other guy.

The whole court noticed the vibe. The dribbling noises stopped, and everything went quiet. For seven seconds, it was like time hit the pause button.

“Ah, let’s just let it go.”

The two who had just backed down quickly grabbed their buddy’s shoulders, pulling him back, “C’mon, let’s bounce.” He put up a bit of a fight, but eventually, he gave in and was sort of pushed and dragged away.

“Hey, dude, just scram! Don’t be hanging around here anymore, alright?”

Lori popped out from behind Tony, throwing in his two cents, and even gave the guy a good thump on the head. Man, that guy was steaming mad, with veins popping on his forehead and eyes as red as a raging bull’s.

He looked like he could tear someone apart at any second. His buddies had a tough time pulling him away, finally managing to drag him out of sight.

“Thank god nothing bad happened…”

Song Ya let out a big sigh of relief. That last bit was way too intense. He couldn’t even begin to think about what would’ve happened if that dude had actually tried to pull the gun off Tony. “America’s just full of surprises, huh?” he thought to himself, shaking his head in a mix of awe and disbelief.

Tony casually flicked his shirt down to hide the gun and yelled out to the crowd still checking out the scene, “No worries, folks! Everything’s cool, right?”

The dribbling of the basketball started up again. Little Lori gave AK a friendly grin, “You good to go now? Let’s pick up where we left off if you’re feeling better.”

After AK said he was good to go, he asked the rest, “Same teams as before?”

“No changes, Alex…” Tony signaled to Song Ya.

“We’re still playing? What if they come back with friends for revenge?” Song Ya was stunned. Staying to play, they must have some serious guts!

“Zip it,” Tony muttered through gritted teeth as he stepped closer.

“Sure thing.” Song Ya, left with no other option, took his place at the top of the key and got ready to go head-to-head with Little Lori again.

Looks like the court’s cleared out a bit. Song Ya noticed a few people grabbing their stuff and heading off. “Guess they’re all feeling the heat?” He was on edge, with any quick movement from the corner of the court or the distant, soft wail of sirens enough to get his heart racing.

“Huh? Something’s definitely off…”

He suddenly noticed that Little Lori was out of sorts too – no more slick moves, no fancy footwork, and even his dribbling was a bit all over the place. It’s not just him; it’s everyone.

Despite trying to act casual, the chit-chat’s died down, movements are a bit stiff, and ‘Silencer’, who’s usually terrible at hiding his feelings, can’t help but sneak peeks outside the chain-link fence, just like he’s doing.

After a little mental twist, Song Ya got it and broke into a smile. The “face” thing with the black brothers, it’s not the same as us Chinese, but when you think about it, there’s something pretty cute about those little details.

He stuck it out for like forty to fifty extra minutes on the court when all of a sudden, this totally old-school electronic ringtone, “Beep beep beep…” goes off under the basketball hoop.

“Sorry about that.”

AK strolled over to the pile of clothes and fished out a pager. After a quick look at the message, he yelled over to Little Lori, “Looks like the boss has something urgent going on!”

“Sure thing.” Little Lori chucked the ball over to Song Ya and said to Tony, “Looks like that’s a wrap for today. We’ll have to finish this another day.”

“Yeah, thanks a lot for today.” Little Lori gave ‘Silencer’ and Song Ya a big ol’ hug too.

“Don’t worry, we’ve got your back.” Tony reassured.

Little Lori gave a meaningful thump to his chest.

Then, everyone headed off their own way.

As soon as ‘Silencer’ got the car going and Tony tucked the gun away under the seat, Song Ya could finally breathe easy.

“Dude, what’s up with you!? Stuff has gone down, and you’re just hanging around like it’s a free show!”

Tony glanced back and said, “Listen, next time something goes down, you gotta jump in right away and be on the same page as us, alright? If not, you might find yourself on the outside looking in.”

“Being left out is no big deal,” Song Ya thought to himself, having never wanted to be part of their gang since he got here. “Why?” he shot back, “Why pull out a gun for something so small? What’s the point of risking so much? Is it really worth all that trouble?”

Tony and ‘Silencer’ were quiet for a bit. After a while, ‘Silencer’ finally said something, “No scholarship, no college.”

“We stay away from gangs and drugs, giving it our all in basketball for years. Why do we do it?” Tony shared, “It’s to get noticed by colleges, land scholarships, and get the hell out of here. You don’t think we like having to prove ourselves in street fights, do you?”

“And then what? We didn’t get picked up by any college teams, not even community colleges.”

“Without college, what’s left for us after graduation? Hitting the night shift at KFC? Or maybe scrubbing toilets in the shopping area?”

“Nope, Little Lori is our golden ticket right now, we’ve gotta grab it with both hands!”

“When his album finally comes out, he’s gonna need all the help he can get, and he’s gonna take us along for the ride. He promised,” Tony said, with a dreamy look in his eyes. “We go way back, me and him. So when he hits it big, you know, it’s only fair that he’ll share the good life with us…”

Song Ya was a bit baffled, “You’ve been going on about this, but did Little Lori actually promise you a specific gig?”

“Why do I have to have such a clueless little bro!”

Tony yelled, “You really got an A+, huh? Me and Little Lori, we’re pals! We tackle stuff together and split the cash…”

“WTF! Are you the dummy or am I!?”

Song Ya was surprised, why would people split their money with you?

So, it seems Song Ya was the dummy after all, and he finally caught on after Tony’s explanation.

So, it seems in the Black community, there’s this real ‘tradition’ where if you make it big in music or sports, which are like the express lanes to a better life for folks in tough neighborhoods, you’re supposed to help out your family and homies who were there through the rough times. The whole sharing money thing might be a bit hyped up, but if Little Lori blows up and decides to bring Tony and ‘Silencer’ along for the ride, their lives are gonna change for the better, for sure.

Yeah, it’s not like you’d just be chilling there doing nothing. You’d be helping out with stuff like being a bodyguard, getting some grub, hanging out and playing games, being there for your boy, and even throwing down some tough guy vibes when needed, like today. Hey, when you think about it, there’s actually a lot going on there.

“Give me a sec to process this.”

Song Ya’s Chinese mindset was slowly starting to get it, “So, if Little Lori makes it big, the jobs he’s gonna hook you up with are… like, his buddies or something?”

“It’s all about being bros, you know.” Tony set him straight. “

Brothers sounds cool, but isn’t it just a nice way of saying guys who hang around, tag along, or chill together?” Song Ya thought to himself. “Oh, and,” he added.

He mulled over a bunch of what-ifs, “What if Little Lori doesn’t make it big? What if he thinks you were too impulsive showing off your loyalty today and gets scared to have you around? He’s gotta listen to his music boss, right? And what if that boss doesn’t want him hanging with you guys?”

“Uh…”

Tony and ‘Silencer’ gave each other a look, “If that’s really how it goes…” Tony mumbled, “Guess we’re down to joining a gang or something.” They both looked pretty down.

“So, in the end, getting a normal job just ain’t happening, right?” Song Ya figured it out, thinking to himself.