Neighborhood Dreams

"That's the thing about this city", said Jose, as his face shined red and blue from the colored lights of the police cars, "every where you go, when you wake up, when you go to sleep, all you here is sirens and gunshots, it's terrible", he continued. I was eighteen years old at the time and with no father, nobody to look up to other than Jose, he would become a role model for me. I would enjoy hanging out with him all day, as he was different from the other boys in the neighborhood, he was very mature for his fragile age of nineteen. He felt like the older brother that I never had, although of course we weren't related, he was forever my brother. My two real brothers returned to prison once again after a gang indictment last summer, and thus was the cycle of my family, join the gang, skip school, sell drugs, get shot at, shoot back and pray that the universe doesn't give you bad karma which was either: get killed here in the streets or rot in prison for eternity. "Yeah, you're right it's like these streets can never catch a break without bullet casings being laid on them" I said, "let's go before the cops start to harrass us again", said Jose. As we were walking down the sidewalk of the busy city street, with the orange glaze of the sunset beaming towards our tan necks, Jose would ask me, "are you still practicing on your jumpshot?", "not like I should", I replied, as I rubbed the back of my neck out of embarrassment, "why not? what did I tell you, that's the one thing General Managers are going to look at, you know your jumpshot is you're weakness", he continued, "yeah I have just been busy", "with what?" Don't tell me you've been having late nights with Lynet again", "haaa", I laughed nervously, "what did I tell you, I mean every now and then is ok but, c'mon Felipe your almost there, the Basketball draft is in one month! Are you even ready?", "Yeah of course I'm ready", I replied, "I dont know, that jumpshot says otherwise, my grandma can shoot better than you and she cant even see!", Laughed Jose. I knew Jose was joking because he would always talk trash while we played one on one or even when we played with other people when he was on the opposing team as me, but he did it just to motivate me because he knew I had potential. "Well we'll have to see next time we play our one on one and hey, loser has to buy the winner some food and pay for their haircut right?", asked Jose, "Haha right, I said you know my hair is looking a little shaggy, I cant wait to ask for the most expensive cut in the shop, I'll be looking spiffy thanks to you!" "Ahhh, we'll see about that", laughed Jose. As we continued walking , I asked my friend, "Jose, what are your future plans, I mean you're already going to turn twenty, you still don't have a job, are you going to apply for the university?" "Yeah", he responded, "I'm honestly thinking about becoming mayor for this city, "mayor??", I asked with amazement, "yes, you know how I took those courses in highschool and I wasn't really sure if I wanted to go through in that career field but lately I have been considering it, it's what my heart desires so why not? I'm into politics, who knows maybe I can run for president!" He said, "Wow!" I responded, "if you really think so go for it!", "yeah I know I told a couple of the homies down the block and they just laughed at me, but little do they know that I actually have some cousins who work for the city and a few that are already in office! so it has to be in my blood and they can take me under there wing!" Said Jose, "that will be great bro, I really hope the best for you, what would you do if you were mayor of this city?" I asked, "I would do alot of things, but when it's all said and done, I really want to fix our broken city, this environment is no place for young children to grow up in, many of them grow up to be gang members or drug addicts and alot of them don't have the parental support to grow up and so they fail to realize that they are more than just children from ghetto, low income neighborhoods, each one of them is beautiful spiritually and they have potential to do something great with there lives not just waste it away to drugs or a gang that is not even going to take care of you when things hit the fan". "Yeah ain't that the truth, I agreed, "a lot of my cousins that I mentioned ask me, why I want to do this, why do I want to put the weight of a city on my shoulders why not just get my degree and become a mayor in a nicer city? And I always answer them because those nicer cities already have the benefits that many of these underprivileged people here do not have, they have safe and quite neighborhoods while people like us are stuck in the ghetto where we have to watch our backs constantly because we fear of getting robbed or even killed for no reason and that's not the way to live", said Jose. "There was once a great quote by JFK, who said: "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country", "oh yeah I've heard that one," I said. "Well my moto is a little different," said Jose, "its ask not what your city can do for you, ask what you can do for your city!" "That's what it's about man," I agreed, "you never really get people who want to change or be the voice in their community because they think it's already broken and there is no way in fixing it, but there is always a solution that starts within all of us as long as we put the effort into making a change!" I continued, "my point exactly", said Jose. As the sky was starting to darken, we had reached Jose's house after having that deep conversation, one of many between us. "Well I'll see you bro, we can set up our game later this week, we'll keep in touch, have a safe walk home," said Jose, "yeah sounds good man take care", I said, as I would wave goodbye as I walked through the barely dimmed street lights. As the night went along, it seemed like it was going to be a quite night until "BANG, BANG, BANG!" it was like I had woken up to some loud fireworks in the middle of the night, I jumped out of fear as high as I could and fell off my bed and knocked over my table lamp, "SCREEEEECH!" All I heard after the gunshots, was the loud tire skids that echoed through the summer night, my mom barged into my room," mijo are you ok??" She asked as I looked at her pale apprehensive face. At that moment, I had this sick gut feeling, it was a feeling I had never felt before, that shooting felt too close to home. I quickly responded, "yeah I'm ok", as I got up, I stormed out my room in my pinstriped pajamas, and ran outside the street," Felipe! No comeback where are you going! Get back here or your grounded!" yelled my mom, and then suddenly the tone of her voice changed, "Oh, Felipe...", as she saw me standing in the middle of the street, facing Jose's house and right on his lawn, was Jose laying badly wounded from gunshots and his clothes covered in blood. Ahhh! No my baby!! Cried Jose's mom, what did he do to deserve this!! Noo!! She hugged her son, and Jose began to speak, "mom it's ok, dont worry... I love you, I always will love you, thanks for everything that have ever given to me...", "no.. you cant go! This cant be happening! Felipe, take care of him!", Said Jose's mother, "I'm going inside and calling an ambulance!" The mother then stormed inside the house, "Felipe, come here...", said Jose, "Jose don't leave us, you can make it, your strong! I know you!", I screamed as fluid tears were running down my cheeks, I then took off my shirt to try and stop the bleeding, but it had appeared that it was too late," Felipe, I'm so proud of you, you've always been a little brother to me, you and your mom, your like family , I'm going to miss the menudo she used to make us on those cold sunday mornings, I'm going to miss helping you guys around your house, I'm going to miss our basketball games, our drive to the park, our long talks about life, but I have to be in peace now, I guess my time is up..", "no, this cant be real!!" I sobbed. "Felipe, your going to make the league I guarantee it, it's just too bad that I won't be there to see.... it." There was then a sudden silence and then I heard the sirens from a distance but I knew that he was gone, my bestfriend's life.. was over. As the rest of the night would go along, all I could here was the echoed screaming of his mom in my head. I hardly got any sleep that night, I hardly got any sleep for a month come draft night, and that night, I wore my burgundy tuxedo, with a bobby pin clipped on the left side of my chest that was a picture of me and my bestfriend when we were nine years old, trouble making little kids, but at that age it was understandable and we still had a kind heart underneath all the commotion. As twenty seven players had already been drafted before me, my doubt was starting to kick in and I started questioning if I was going to get drafted that night, disappointment started to fill my face, and as my mom reached and touched my arm to comfort me, suddenly the commissioner announced "with the twenty eighth pick of the draft, the Arizona Scorpions select, Felipe Calderon! After that moment, I went numb as I stood up and recieved a big hug from my mom as her tears dripped down my shoulder and I hugged Jose's mom after that as well, "congratulations mijo for all your hard work!" Said Jose's mom, "Thank you, thanks for being there to support me", I responded, as I made the way to the podium, I shook the commissioners hand and smiled for the camera, and behind my smile was sadness but appreciation for Jose because I could not have been here without him, and throughout my professional career, out of all the games that I would end up playing, there were no games that I had ever cherished more than the games that I would play along with my brother, Jose Rios. After my retirement, I would return back to my city and start basketball and learning programs for the youth, something my brother would enjoy doing, as throughout the wickedness of the city, he still saw potential in a brighter future, just as he did with me.