Phil Penne Creations

#12 - The Gang Member

 

 

        You’re original gangster. You capped your first banger when you were twelve and you never looked back. You’re twenty-two now and considered a veterano. You lead one of the richest gangs in the varrio: You got a fine stable of bitches shaking their shit on the street; you’re selling snow and blow to the lawyers and stockbrokers downtown, and you’ve sold enough AK’s and Uzis in the past year to take over a Third World country. You drive an Escalade with spinner wheels, low profile tires, and a ten thousand dollar paint job. Kids on the street want to hang with you and be like you.

        Nobody fucks with you. Life is good.

        You also run protection. Tonight you’re heading over to the Lucky Star all-night grocery to pick up a payment. You’re wondering if that strange-ass little slope named Chang, or Wang, or Dong, or whatever the fuck his name is, is there. He’s an old guy, like 90; as far as you know he’s the one who owns the store. Every time you’ve gotten a payment from him though, instead of being pissed off or calling the 5-0, he just smiles and hands you the money. He just keeps smiling as you take beer or wine, or even when you fuck up something in the store. Probably some of that weird Chinese Zen shit.

        You arrive at the Lucky Star to find the old man behind the counter. He looks up at you and smiles. Still smiling, he takes a fistful of bills from the drawer. Monkey doesn’t stop smiling you’re going to bust a cap in his ass. He seems to sense this and gets a strange look on his face – kind of like...

 

 

You've got money, a great ride, the admiration of your peers... but only an elderly Chinese man knows what you really need.