The end of the world as I know it.

I had a bad day as the song goes. The only person I loved betrayed me, my cousin. It started few years ago in a small desert town out west, between the mountains and sagebrush in the town of Creosote Springs. A new graduate of the local high school bent on finding a way to support myself in the world I applied for a position at the Starbucks on Highway 7. The manager Lea and I hit it off right away during our interview, I guess it way my lucky day. She called me in a few days to tell me if I wanted the position it was mine. Damn, right out of high school and I scored. The interview was on Monday and by Friday I was training to become a barista. Let me tell you it was coolest job ever, and I picked up making all the product in a few weeks. Lea gave me as many hours as I could handle. Without a car and depending on my cousin for a ride was going to be a problem depending on my shift hours but a few of the gals that worked there were friendly about giving me a ride to and dropping me off home from work. They were nice and I made a friends easy. Charice who was 20 picked me up and Sammi 19 dropped me off when they could. Sometimes I took a Uber or Lyft if I had to. Everything was going great when something happened suddenly. Sammi and I had just clocked out of work for the evening shift. The house was about 10 minutes away, hers was 15 minutes in the opposite direction. She said she had to go home to pick up something before I was dropped off, no problem I said. We pulled up to her place and she invited me in. It was a small two bedroom condo with a upstairs and a connecting garage. Park in the garage go in the house, nobody sees. Sammi is married but her husband is out of town this week and she asks me to come inside and wait while she changes out of her work clothes, you know the dark pants and white shirts or polos. She says the beer is in the fridge and I can have one and to pull one for her and open it. She'll be right back while she tells Alexa to play her playlist. I grab the beers but I really didn't want to get to comfortable on the couch but it was comfortable and the song was kinda sexy, Alicia Keys, "Girl on Fire". Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, I didn't make it home that night.

Next morning she dropped me off at my place with a smile and a kiss, she had the early shift. It became a regular thing more often then one would believe in fact I felt better about myself and my future and got promoted to another store, bought a car and everything was fine until Sammi told me she was, you guessed it, pregnant. No,No,No. please God say it isn't so. But it was. Sammi was happy and so was her husband, he didn't know it was mine, in fact we looked alike so when the baby was born, Alicia, hell it wouldn't be a problem. I had been running around back and forth to work what a freaking daymare and nightmare. I was a Manager now working my ass off like a demon. Hiring and Firing, payroll and benefits. In a weak moment while unwinding one weekend after a couple of bottles of wine, I confessed everything to my cousin. We were close and I wanted to share the details of the affair with her. I was fine with that and I thought she was. I had started dating a woman who came into the store, her name was Candy and she drove a BMW. A very nice blond gal, very sweet and a doctor. 20 years old was I going out with a doctor who loved the hell out of me and with a baby with another woman, WTF was I doing. Everything good I can handle it. I better.

Sammi brought the baby by to show me at work, she was beautiful her name was Alicia with eyes that shown like the northern lights and auburn hair blessed by sun. My heart sunk knowing that she was out of my life. She was with Sammi and her husband. Trying to keep a smile on my face became more like a condemned man waiting for his last meal of prime rib and baked potato.

Work became easier, in fact I got promoted to district manager moving right up the ladder. 21 years old now with my doctor girl friend 15 years older then me planning vacations together, life was good but I still thought about Alicia and Sammie. My cousin knew all my business. I had confided everything to her, even though I didn't live with her she was the only one I could unload on about everything. Without her, jokingly I would have never been in this mess. She was the one who suggested I apply for a job at Starbucks. Just imagine if I would have started at McDonald's.

Candy and I broke up, she was very busy with her practice and I couldn't keep it in my pants, Mr. Bigshot Starbucks district manager. Too busy in a very precarious balancing life and career. I was throwing bodies and relationships around like dice cubes in a Las Vegas casino. I started hitting the strip clubs after work to blow off some stress. My life was like a raging volcano and there was no Kryptonite to slow me down. I met Rachel one night in the Springs. A Raven haired beauty with a body that could pole dance like a Cirque du soleil acrobat on crack. Telling myself I was ok the coffee became a life line I needed like cocaine in fact I needed both to get the job done. Still trying to smile like the condemned man. Sammi called me to find out how I was doing. Alicia was doing great and her and her husband were happy. I told her that everything was truckin like the doo dah man. I don't think she got it. Rachel had moved in with me and cut her hours at the strip club to just weekends. In a couple of months she was pregnant. I had to slow down on the coke and speed, yeah you know the old lyrics "Yes I got the desert in my toenail

And I hid the speed inside my shoe", a modern day Casey Jones. High School grad to High on the Job. My cousin went to Starbucks one day with her friend and confidentiality in a low voice over a iced frappie started to talk in a low voice about my troubles and other gossip. Well the word spread like tornado and wildfire during a Santa Ana wind. I was burnt like a uncover cop. My secret was out. The baby, the affair, drug habit, and all the juicy stuff. Naked to the world. I felt like a outed politician or preacher. After I was fired from Starbucks, and to keep up with my drug habit I started to rob a few banks with a crew. We hit 30 banks, a good run. I'd walk into a bank and put my bank robbing snarl on with a 45 tucked in my waist. We'd drive a little bit and wait till the heat drove around a little before we moved. One of my crew turned informant and I'm spending my time for bank robbery in the federal lock up. Rachel writes to tell me the baby boy is fine and is waiting for me to get out with love. Sammi writes to and sends photos of Alicia. It's ok in the joint but no privacy and I help with the religious services, A.A. and of course the coffee.