Chapter 1

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Brooklyn Streets Meet Wall Street

Chapter 1

It had been two years since fulfilling my military obligation. I was working as a security guard at a college and happened to befriend a finance professor there. Professor Dean was around twenty years my senior, but we related to one another as if we were the same age. One morning after my night shift ended, I stopped by his office to chat. To my surprise he asked where I saw myself in five years. I sat there in shock for what seemed like an eternity. We'd never spoken on such a deep level before. He cut off my thoughts and said "if it takes you this long to answer, you have a problem." He was right. Although I wanted to be a "somebody" in life, I had no direction. No idea of what I wanted to be and no idea of how to obtain that life.

So I told Professor Dean that I honestly didn't know what I wanted to do, but I knew that I wanted to wear suits. My father was a singer in a gospel group, and when he would return home from a singing engagement, everyone would greet him as Mr. Perry. When he wasn't performing, he worked as a custodian at a hospital. In his work clothes they would simply say hey or hi Perry. At a young age I realized that it was the suits he wore for his performances that made people address him differently. He was treated with respect, and I liked that.

The professor said well that's a start and joked that I would probably have gone through multiple security uniforms by the time I wore a suit there at work.

We sat and chatted for a little while longer before I left so he could prepare for his first class of the day. On the train ride home I thought about my conversation with the professor as well as what the future held for me. I knew that I didn't want to work security for the rest of my life. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but I had way bigger financial dreams than what they would pay me at that school or any other security guard company. The pay for guarding the country's president and guarding the student body president of some school were of two different pay scales.

The professor's question nagged me all the way home, making me look at my life in that moment. Although I'd had a number of close calls, I was just outside of my teenage years and had managed to avoid being arrested for anything. Half of the friends that I'd grown up with were either dead or in jail. Of the remaining ones, half were into some kind of drugs, either using or selling. Three-quarters of my friends were gone or on a destructive path. Once inside my apartment I looked at the buildings around mine, filled with people. Some with the biggest hearts, and they would probably be here amongst the roaches, rats, and urine smelled elevators for the rest of their lives, all because of a lack of opportunity. I didn't want to be a part of the sad statistics that came along with the hood, but what was I to do? I couldn't afford to leave. Thinking about my future gave me a headache, so I went to sleep.

The rumbling of the #3 train pulling into the Junius Street Station directly across the street woke me for the weekend. I removed the black sheet that I used to cover my bedroom window and gazed down on the courtyard. Working the 11pm to 7am shift had its advantages, like being able to go out in the middle of the day and avoid the evening crowds. I liked to be in and out of stores without a long wait. But quality sleep was hard to get when you have the sun shining in your eyes.

I took a shower, brushed my teeth and hair, and then hit the streets to run some errands and check on my mother and some friends. While running errands I passed a men's clothing store. Inside the display window there was a blue pinstripe suit. I could see my reflection in the window, and every time I looked back at the suit, I envisioned myself in it. I heard voices in my head saying, "Hey Mr. Josh, great suit," or "You look good, bro." I smiled, and then snapped out of my trance. I hadn't worn a suit since my high school graduation. I don't even know why my mother bought a suit. I was wearing my robe the entire time. I could have had a t-shirt and shorts on, and nobody would have noticed.

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⏰ Last updated: Oct 25, 2016 ⏰

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