1991
Brandon and his three buddies, Derek, Sean and Kyle, walk together down a residential street. All but Brandon are over five foot seven, tall and lean. Brandon is still shorter and overweight with a short Marine haircut. He's the same geeky type boy he's been all his life.
"How'd you do in old man Van Vuren's final Sean?" asks
Brandon.
"Probably not too well, I'm not good in science. You?"
"I aced it. Had to study some but I made it through. Ya know, you might have passed if you ever opened a book instead of spending all your time chasing skirts."
"I suppose if I gave a crap then I would open a book...but I don't give a crap."
Derek counters, "You're gonna give a crap when we all pass to eleventh grade and you're still with the sophomoric sophomores."
"No I won't, I'll quit school. Start my adult life early."
"Sweet, Sean." counters Kyle. "You can be married at eighteen and have two kids by the time you're twenty one. Sounds like a pretty exciting career path."
"Bite me Kyle. I'll be retired by the time I'm forty. Retired with more money than I can ever spend. Mark my words."
"Yeah, and exactly how are you going to do that?" asks Kyle.
"I ain't worried about it, I got plenty of time."
"No, seriously Sean." Derek quizzes. "Tell us how you're going to do it so maybe, we can all be retired by then."
Brandon nudges Derek. "Yeah, let's hear it Sean...I can't wait."
Sean sighs. "You boys have got to learn to be creative. Once those juices start to juice, then they start to create ideas. The more ideas they create, the more your mind expands to consider ideas you never would have before. By then, you know the direction you're going, it's just a matter of which idea you think is best."
"Yeah, just like my old man." Kyle adds. "He told me he said the same thing when he was twenty. He said 'If I'm not retired at fifty', now, that's fifty, not forty, 'then I really didn't plan my life very good.'
"So what's your dad do?" asks Sean.
Kyle, cynical, answers, "He's a janitor at an office building."
"Well," responds Sean. "if that happens to me then I'm checking out. I'm not living like that."
"Damn man, it's not that bad. I mean, he provides us with a house and food on the table. Obviously your dad has a great job that you're proud of. What's your dad do Sean?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Why?" retorts Derek. "You're the one that brought this up...what's your dad do for work?"
Sean is painfully silent.
Brandon nudges his shoulder. "C'mon big money, what's your dad do?"
Sean glares at the guys. "You guys are dicks. He drives a taxi, okay, he drives a freakin' taxi. And, he had to compete with guys from Nigeria, Turkey, Iran, every freakin' country on Earth just to get that. But, he speaks good English so he was hired." he pauses. "You happy now?"
Derek's attitude changes to a bit sympathetic. "That's not that bad Sean, at least he's bringing in money."
"Sometimes yes, sometimes no. There's never enough left to buy clothes, extras, nothin'. My mom tries to make it up by selling at the flea market on weekends. Sometimes she makes almost as much as him."
"Sorry Sean, we didn't know." consoles Derek. "I see why you want to be retired at forty."
Brandon pats him on the back. "Hey, you got us, we'll always be here for you. In fact, if you need a place to stay, I'll see if my dad will let you clear a corner in the garage and sleep there."
"Bite me Brandon." Sean fires back. "I can live off the land whether it be here or I'm stranded on an island in the middle of the ocean. Give me a good woman and a way to provide food for us, that's all I need. I can be happy."
"Just kidding buddy...hey guys stop."
They all stop, turn to Brandon. "There's the van again." he points to a van with 'Budweiser' on the side.
"How many times have we talked about grabbing beer from that? Besides, this street is empty. Look at all those cases in there...you wanna do it?"
"Plus they're bottles." grins Kyle.
Derek warns, "Guys, if we get caught we're screwed. And, what if the door is locked?"
"Then we move on." answers Sean. "Look, it's almost dark, no one will see us. Besides, we've talked about this so many times...let's do it. You guys ready?"
They all nod yes.
"You all know the plan. Let's hit it." Sean orders.
Sean leads them to the street side of the van, slides the door open. He pumps his fist. "Yes!"
He grabs four cases, hands them to Brandon who runs off down the sidewalk. He repeats with Derek and Kyle, then grabs four cases himself and bolts off after the guys.
All four laugh as they gallop and bounce down the street. They turn into a large bunch of bushes near a park and drop the cases on the ground. They breathe hard as they glance and giggle at each other.
Sean declares, "See, nothin' to it, piece of cake."
Brandon leans down, opens a box, pulls a bottle out, stares at it. "Geez, I'd offer you guys a beer but they're empty."
"No way!" declares a skeptical Sean. He opens his box, pulls out an empty bottle.
Kyle and Derek do the same. They stand there, staring at their empty bottles.
"We risked life in prison for empty beer bottles? Who's bright idea was this?" rattles Brandon.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but, it was your idea." retorts Derek.
"Oh yeah...I forgot." mumbles Brandon. "But hey guys, we're the baddest thieves of empty beer cases...anywhere!"
"What a bunch of dummasses. I shudda known, those cases were too light." says Kyle.
"But," adds Derek, "we so much wanted to believe."
"I know, just like Santa Claus." Brandon says. "But instead, we just...ha ha ha ha haaa haaa, have a good laugh."
The guys all follow Brandon and crack up laughing.
"Okay, okay," says Kyle. "I'm thirsty, let have a drink of ice cold beer."
"Great idea." adds Sean.
They each drink the bottle as if it were full.
Derek says, "Ahhh, that's good."
"I'll say." Sean says as he belts out a thunderous "Buurrrrpp!"
Derek responds. "Nice, you pig. A toast guys, to drink bottles with real beer in them!"
Sean, Kyle and Brandon shout out, "Here, here!"
They hold the bottles out, clink them together.
CHAPTER THREE