Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Beers and Boatmotors
Bryan and I were sitting on my stoop drinking some Old English when Victor Jr. drove by in his Firebird.
“Hey you guys want to make some money?”
“Sure Bud.” Bryan said.
“I do need some money, what you need?” I asked.
“Get in the car.”
Mikey Ideas was already in the front of the car with Vic Jr.
“Hey how's your mom?” Vic asked.
“Getting better.”
“How long has she been in?” asked the Idea Man.
“About four months so far.”
“Damn bud, that’s fucked up”
“Yeah, well so whats the deal Vic.”
He put the car into gear and we drove while he started to tell us about a boat he had and the motor fell off, so now he had this cool speedboat, but no motor, so he wanted to go to steal one.
“Vic aren’t you in the police academy?” I asked.
“Yeah, just got accepted. It’s pretty cool.”
We all said we were interested, he offered us fifty a piece.
He stopped at a light and put the car in park. He looked at all three of us.
“I’m feeling I could use a boost any you guys want some Coke?”
“Yo Bud soda is for kids, I got Budweiser running through me, in fact, let m out I gotta blow my nose.”
“Not Coke, Coke.” He made an inhalation sound. I shook my head now. Ideas had the right idea and said no. Bryan said he didn’t do anything harder than beer. Vic Jr shrugged and said he could probably get by without it.
He let Bryan out of his car to, “blow his nose” which was a polite euphamism to urinate. Which he did on a Yashiva.
We drove out to Long Island. The ride was fun though it was cramped in the back of the Firebird. Bryan was not as big as I was but we both barely fit into the car, and I wondered where we would put the boat motor if we did get it. I wondered what I was doing there. The money would be nice, but it wasn’t worth going to jail for, was it the thrills? I had no idea why I went along but I did.
I guess this is what they are afraid of; an unsupervised kid. But I knew what I was doing; on some level, I wanted to express my freedom. We got to our destination, and thankfully I was the lookout. I can act dumb well and look fairly innocent and nice, so the role was perfect for me. I stood by the car, looking at a map while they went down to where the boats were docked. I had the headlights on, directed in the way opposite of where they were, so anyone that would see me or come by would be drawn to the headlights and not to the dock, where a motor was being ripped off. No one came buy and soon the three of them returned with the motor.
They set it down as Vic opened the back of the car, they fumbled with it several times trying to figure out how to get it in the car. I guess Mikey had no ideas on how do it, and neither did Vic. Soon they got it in. The long part went down the center of the car towards the windhield, and the bulky part was resting on the back of the car, a large portion of it between me and Bryan. The back of the car had to remain open. If he would stop short the motor would fall out of the back of the car, or go through the front windheild. If he turned sharply, either Bryan or myself would get our skulls smashed in my the weight of the motor. All in all this situation really sucked. If it didn’t suck it wouldn’t be my life.
The ride back was excruciatingly painful being cramped in the back, and having to hold onto the motor, so it wouldn’t crush either of us. When we got back we all carried it into the basement of the apartment house. Vic paid Nick the building’s superintendant who was near seventy, for use of the storeroom. Vic’s father used to be the supe until he moved out of the apartment because he was divorcing Vic Jr’s mother. We got the motor up on a large 2x4 balancing on two ladders. Why I don’t know, but a few seconds later it came crashing down almost crushing me. God’s karmatic justice, or my being in the wrong place at the wrong time, I didn’t want to stay and find out so I went outside to wait for them.
Vic Jr. said he would pay us the next day, we were all pissed but thought he was good for it, he wasn’t, he never came with the money. The fall had broken the rotor on the motor, and it was useless and he got rid of it so there was no evidence, and decided if he didn’t have a motor then it never happened and he didn’t have to pay us. It was okay because the price eventually failed a drug test and was kicked off of the force shortly after he graduated from the academy.
“Hey you guys want to make some money?”
“Sure Bud.” Bryan said.
“I do need some money, what you need?” I asked.
“Get in the car.”
Mikey Ideas was already in the front of the car with Vic Jr.
“Hey how's your mom?” Vic asked.
“Getting better.”
“How long has she been in?” asked the Idea Man.
“About four months so far.”
“Damn bud, that’s fucked up”
“Yeah, well so whats the deal Vic.”
He put the car into gear and we drove while he started to tell us about a boat he had and the motor fell off, so now he had this cool speedboat, but no motor, so he wanted to go to steal one.
“Vic aren’t you in the police academy?” I asked.
“Yeah, just got accepted. It’s pretty cool.”
We all said we were interested, he offered us fifty a piece.
He stopped at a light and put the car in park. He looked at all three of us.
“I’m feeling I could use a boost any you guys want some Coke?”
“Yo Bud soda is for kids, I got Budweiser running through me, in fact, let m out I gotta blow my nose.”
“Not Coke, Coke.” He made an inhalation sound. I shook my head now. Ideas had the right idea and said no. Bryan said he didn’t do anything harder than beer. Vic Jr shrugged and said he could probably get by without it.
He let Bryan out of his car to, “blow his nose” which was a polite euphamism to urinate. Which he did on a Yashiva.
We drove out to Long Island. The ride was fun though it was cramped in the back of the Firebird. Bryan was not as big as I was but we both barely fit into the car, and I wondered where we would put the boat motor if we did get it. I wondered what I was doing there. The money would be nice, but it wasn’t worth going to jail for, was it the thrills? I had no idea why I went along but I did.
I guess this is what they are afraid of; an unsupervised kid. But I knew what I was doing; on some level, I wanted to express my freedom. We got to our destination, and thankfully I was the lookout. I can act dumb well and look fairly innocent and nice, so the role was perfect for me. I stood by the car, looking at a map while they went down to where the boats were docked. I had the headlights on, directed in the way opposite of where they were, so anyone that would see me or come by would be drawn to the headlights and not to the dock, where a motor was being ripped off. No one came buy and soon the three of them returned with the motor.
They set it down as Vic opened the back of the car, they fumbled with it several times trying to figure out how to get it in the car. I guess Mikey had no ideas on how do it, and neither did Vic. Soon they got it in. The long part went down the center of the car towards the windhield, and the bulky part was resting on the back of the car, a large portion of it between me and Bryan. The back of the car had to remain open. If he would stop short the motor would fall out of the back of the car, or go through the front windheild. If he turned sharply, either Bryan or myself would get our skulls smashed in my the weight of the motor. All in all this situation really sucked. If it didn’t suck it wouldn’t be my life.
The ride back was excruciatingly painful being cramped in the back, and having to hold onto the motor, so it wouldn’t crush either of us. When we got back we all carried it into the basement of the apartment house. Vic paid Nick the building’s superintendant who was near seventy, for use of the storeroom. Vic’s father used to be the supe until he moved out of the apartment because he was divorcing Vic Jr’s mother. We got the motor up on a large 2x4 balancing on two ladders. Why I don’t know, but a few seconds later it came crashing down almost crushing me. God’s karmatic justice, or my being in the wrong place at the wrong time, I didn’t want to stay and find out so I went outside to wait for them.
Vic Jr. said he would pay us the next day, we were all pissed but thought he was good for it, he wasn’t, he never came with the money. The fall had broken the rotor on the motor, and it was useless and he got rid of it so there was no evidence, and decided if he didn’t have a motor then it never happened and he didn’t have to pay us. It was okay because the price eventually failed a drug test and was kicked off of the force shortly after he graduated from the academy.
