I enter the club and scan the crowd. "Hey there, hi." I turn and see Daisy. She's the barmaid here and we've been friends since I started working the club. She took me under her wing right off the bat.
"Hi, Daisy. Busy night so far?"
"Sure is, wow, I've been running drinks for hours."
As a kid, I grew up in NY City. My Dad died when I was just 10. We had a rough time until I turned 12. Mom always found it hard to pay rent, utilities and buy food. At age 12 I went to work for Sebastian Campos, he was a big time name in our neighborhood, the Latino neighborhood too.
One day, while hanging out by his store, some kid ran inside and grabbed a handful of cash from the open register. Sebastian's clerk had stepped away for a moment and the thief saw his opportunity. I saw it happen and chased that kid for five blocks, knocked him down, gave him a bloody nose and retrieved the cash.
Sebastian was so grateful he asked if I'd like a job. I answered 'Hell, yes." He said he needed something in a brown paper bag delivered to another neighborhood. He told me not to look inside the bag and he said he'd give me $200 when I returned once it was delivered. Sebastian is old school, so to speak. Hell his hero is Scarface, so what does that tell you?
Mom didn't like it when she found out, but she didn't turn down the $150 I gave her. She told me to be careful. Everyone in our neighborhood knew Sebastian was into some dealings that my Mom didn't want to know.
Even now, Sebastian fronted the money for this club I work in. He set me up for this job, even though I'm not sure how much I like this job, but for now, it pays some money. Since I quit running bags for Sebastian, I haven't made as much money as I used to, but I don't want to run bags anymore. However, Matilda, Sebastian's 18 year old daughter and I have become good friends over the years. She's like a sister to me and we grew up together. We used to get into mischief together as kids too, but she's very nice. She's petite with flashing dark eyes, jet black, wavy hair and the sweetest smile of anyone I know.
