Streets of the South Side (South Side Boys) - After Fourth Hour

...continues from.

By fourth hour honors English Lt. my locker was empty but my pockets weren't. I had a lot of freedom and fun, Livin' "Ghetto Fabulous". I was a capitalist in every sense of the word, it was of no consequence my wares were mostly illicit in nature: baseball cards, weed, "starter hats," LSD, candy bars...anything with a fat profit margin.

By sixth hour I had the evening planned and the boys were chompin at their respective bits. Just gotta get home do my chores, my homework, and eat dinner with the folks. This is a working class neighborhood and you make damn sure you're home for dinner with your family. After dinner, my dad would unlatch my lead and watch me hit the door like a hungry dog with his dog pack waiting feverishly at the curb. Back out on the streets Droogies!!!  And yes folks, I had a job; it was at HyVee, but, I'm not on the schedule tonight. My parents and sometimes even my teachers, would tell me, "look at your friends! waiting for you to make a move, you are just a natural leader," and I would say to myself, "okay, so now what?" There was a distinct shortage of positive influences chiming in on this subject, but why didn't I just ask? (Another hindsight moment brought to you by Zanax!!). Well that would have been admitting I didn't know everything already. I did hear a faint voice of reason but couldn't quite make out the voice. Then the streets came to me, spoke clearly to me and told me where to put this stuff inside me -- right up inside her, block by block. I didn't understand my leadership potential, but I knew how to make money, Period...

To be continued...