Albert Capone

Albert Capone, the son of the famous Al Capone, had always wondered how he was left penniless especially because his father had been a successful businessman. Everyone that knew his father also knew about him which ended up causing Albert to be looked at differently than all the other kids. He was always alone, but according to his father if you ever felt lonely the one place you would eventually find a friend is at the playground. Day after day he would go to the playground in look of a friend; as he lay on the roundabout spinning it using his feet, he felt comforted knowing his father had spent most of his childhood like that on the same roundabout longing for a friend. 

When he went to live with Aunt Ermina, his father’s sister, he was given a chain that his father had left him before he died; he always liked the chain that his father gave him, but he was always perplexed by the meaning of the three numbers written on one of the chain segments, 1, 25, 47. 

It had been 3 years since he lived with Aunt Ermina and now he was 12 years old going into middle school at St Patrick’s School in Miami Beach. He was not very accustomed to the different class schedules, lunch, and lockers. When he got his lock, the password contains 3 numbers which were 12, 25, and 47 which had look very familiar. Throughout the first day of school, the three numbers kept dwelling in his mind. After a grueling day of just introductions, school finally ended and now he could go home and figure out why those three numbers had him so confused.

He then went to the roundabout at the playground thinking it might help him. In the same way, his father had, Albert did the same and held onto his chain with both hands. At that very moment, he realized that 3 years ago he had found the numbers, and then he realized why the numbers had him so confused. He also realized another thing, the numbers on the chain could be the code to a lock. With that in mind, he went back home to ask Aunt Ermina if there had been anything else left from his dad. Aunt Ermina thought for a while, but nothing came to mind so she just said, “No, I don’t think so”, as she shrugged. 

Albert was once again stumped. He thought to himself if I were to hide my money I wouldn’t hide it far from home. He then got a map and then located his old house, he looked for any places where there would be places to hide large quantities of money. Since he knew the playground was very special for his father he assumed that the money had to somehow be linked with the playground it was also only two blocks away from the house which was good.

Since it was already past 9:00 it was pitch black outside, but that wouldn’t be holding him back; he got his flashlight and then headed for the playground. Once he arrived he began looking under the slide, stairs, and even on top of the structures. Having hit a roadblock, he headed for the roundabout, and at that moment he realized that his father had always liked it the most out of all the things at the playground. Albert knew the lock had to be somewhere there; he then had any idea, maybe the roundabout itself was like a gigantic lock like the ones you put on a locker at school. There was one problem though, he didn’t know where the numbers were on the lock. It was getting late and he didn’t know how to figure out where the numbers would go, so he just headed home.

The next morning he was so thrilled to find out how to open the giant lock, aka the roundabout. Knowing his father, he knew he wouldn’t just pick a random spot to be the “zero” of the lock, the “zero” had to be something he could also remember, something that had sentimental value for him. Since the only thing that came to mind was his old home, he just went with his gut and believed in his prediction. If he was able to open it he would have to do it at night again when no one was around. He was going to try and play hookey, but there was just no point.

At school, he had been able to not die of boredom because last year in 5th grade he made a couple of friends that he was just fun to be around. Since it had only been 2 days after summer break, everyone was still filled with energy. Since everyone else was happy it felt as if the day had gone by really quickly.

During the bus ride home, he imagined what money could do for him and Aunt Ermina; he could finally get an Xbox, move into a larger house, and buy the nice clothes and shoes that everyone else had.

He had waited patiently until it was dark outside and finally headed towards the playground. Once he got to the playground he held out the map to see which direction the house had been. He put the flash where he thought the “zero” would and began entering the code written on his chain turning the roundabout as if it was a lock. It hadn’t worked, but he knew he could guess which of the 8 handles would also be the “zero”. He kept entering the code then changing the “zero” handle on the roundabout, then on his 6th when he got to the last number of 47 the roundabout became really stiff as if he to turn the handle of a giant safe. At last, he got to 47 and the whole roundabout started to open revealing a long tunnel with lights that seemed to go down for at least 50 feet.

He picked up his flashlight, map, and backpack and started going down. As soon as he was fully in the tunnel the roundabout had shut on its own like something out of a horror movie. He cautiously went down the tunnel having both feelings of anxiety and excitement. He reached the bottom and a man wearing a ski mask was pointing a rifle at him and yelled, “Who the hell are you?” A second later the man lowered his rifle and took off his mask and said, “Son? Is that really you?” and ran towards him to hug him. As both Albert and Al Capone held each other tears started falling down their cheeks. Al said to his son, “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed me the most, I know it was hard to lose both me and your mom.”

After they had hugged for a couple of minutes, Al showed his son around the place where he had been hiding/living for the past 3 years. There were fairly big farms and one living room that served as his bedroom. Albert sat on his bed and Al pulled up a chair to begin telling his story. I know it wasn’t the right thing to fake my death since it caused you lots of pain and suffering, but I couldn’t live my whole life in prison away from you. I devised a plan which involved the roundabout and the numbers on your chain and now that I know it worked I have no regrets now for faking my death for the people that I loved.

Although for Albert, this isn’t as he had expected he was still content with the work he put into finding his dad. The money which had been on his mind since the search began seemed to have left his mind completely, since all he ever wanted was to have company and feel loved. Now he knew that his father faking his death was all because he loved him and finally since the day he “died” he felt relieved as if a large weight was lifted off of his chest. Although the money would’ve been able to satisfy him for the rest of his life, finding his father would most definitely be enough to make the rest of his life more enjoyable even if it meant that he would have to spend most of his time underground secluded from the rest of the world.