Shades of Gray ~A Delinquent's Story~

Chapter Three: My First "Job"

Chapter Three: My First “Job”

          “So, where do you plan on findin’ work?”  Jamal asked while shoving a forkful of spaghetti in his mouth.

          It has been a few weeks since Christmas Day, and I haven’t heard from my parent’s since.  It’s not like I was surprised; they were never the caring type anyway.

          “Hopefully somewhere close to where I plan on taking Gabe.  More than likely on the other side of the park, you know, so it’s a better neighborhood.”  I replied, ripping off a piece of my buttered toast.  Jamal nodded.

          “Well, stay out of trouble, Devin.”  He lowered his voice.  “Gabe looks up to you; you should really watch how you act.”

          “I know, I know.”  I sighed.  “I just need the money, Jamal.  It’s not like anything bad will happen to me.”

          “My buddy died right after he said that.”  Jamal said coolly, looking down at the table.  A moment of awkward silence passed before he spoke again.  “I just want you to be careful out there.”

          I didn’t say anything, so instead I just glanced over at Gabe who was building a spaghetti volcano.  “Look!”  He shouted, pointing a fat, red finger at it.  “This is what happened at Poopei!”  He then began flinging spaghetti a little into the air, sending sprays of sauce and noodles everywhere.

          “Woah!”  I grabbed his hands and held them down.  “Don’t do that!”

          He looked confused, but nodded otherwise, settling back into his seat.

          “And I think you mean Pompeii, Gabe.”  Jamal snickered, grabbing a napkin to wipe off the table.  I pulled noodles out of mine and Gabe’s hair before wiping the sauce off his face.  He pouted at me while I treated him like a baby, and I just had to tease him by talking in that voice you use on little kids.

          After he was cleaned up a bit, Gabe then went into detail about his day at school, which included learning about volcanoes and Pompeii.  I had stayed home the past few days to look for work and a small house near both mine and Gabe’s schools.  I got my school work online and actually worked ahead because I pretty much had my entire locker at my house.  When Gabe was at school schoolwork was all I could do.  I hoped it would help me out when I went out to work.

          After cleaning up the table, and the rest of the kitchen from Gabe’s little episode, Gabe took his bubble bath until he complained about being pruney.  By then, it was 8 o’clock, also known as the little guy’s bed time.

          “Alright, good night, Gabe.”  I said while tucking him into the small bed that Jamal set up for him years ago.  I think he knew that he would have to have a place to let us get out of our disgusting house eventually.  Thankfully, he had two extra bedrooms for us.  Well, it was kind of a good thing.  Jamal’s wife left him a few years back to live with some richer sleazy guy.  But she was a whore anyway.  Literally.

          Gabe’s little hand shot out and grabbed my wrist when I tried to leave the room. “Wait!  I wanna hear a story.”  He whined, wiggling until he got untucked.

          “Gabe, you have school tomorrow!”  I complained, sitting down next to him in defeat.  There was no way of saying ‘no’ to a story.  He’d cry until he got his way on this issue.

          “I don’t care!”   He crossed his arms defiantly.  “Story.  Now.”

          “Fine,” I sighed dramatically.  “What about this time?”