Category : Blogs

Sub Category : Motivation

Vicky woke bright and early the next morning, oblivious to the "adventure" the two boys had while she was asleep. Carl had not been able to sleep. The entire night he sat rooted in the chair next to the little table in the kitchen, thinking. He was still deep in his thoughts when Vicky woke up and he watched in silence as she shook Stevie from his sleep. 

"Where is the joint you promised to get last night?" she demanded impatiently. From the tone of her voice, her body language, it was clear to Carl that she annoyed. 

Stevie stretched his body, let out a big, loud yawn and took his time to answer. Carl wasn't sure if Stevie was trying to get his body to wake up or if he was stalling to think of a believable answer to give Vicky who was by then pouting away. Carl remained silent in the background hoping they had forgotten he was there in the room with them. 

"Come on, Stevie, I'm not playing! Where is the stash?" 

Stevie slowly sat up and tried to steal a kiss from Vicky but the spitfire wasn't in the mood to entertain him. She pushed him away and began searching around the room. 

"We didn't get any, sweetcheeks," Stevie said simply without offering any explanation. 

"What do you mean you didn't get any?!" 

Her question came out sounding like a hiss; calm but deadly. Fury shone in her eyes. From her body language, Carl could see that she was ready to give Stevie hell. He sensed an argument coming up between those two and knew he had to do something to extinguish it. They have much bigger problems at hand than to have to deal with Vicky's temper tantrum. 

"Guys," he spoke up, emerging from the kitchen. "Let's hussle it up and get out of here. You guys get ready and meet me upfront. I need to make a phone call." 

He gave Stevie a knowing look which he hoped Stevie understood, and walked out of the room. At the entrance of the motel, he darted his eyes checking to see if the coast was clear. Once we was confident there were no cops lurking around, he quickly crossed the street to a payphone. They were in quite of a pickle and hanging around Roseland any longer was not a good idea. He needed to get some help, not just from anyone, but from someone he knew he could trust. As he punched in the digits he prayed that David was already awake. 

"Hello," David's voice sounded gruff and grumpy. Not a good sign, but Carl had to speak up. He had no other choice. 

"Hey brother, watcha doin'?" 

There was a slight tremor in Carl's voice. He was nervous as hell. David was their only hope at that moment and one way or another he had to convince David to help them. 

"What do you want, Shuck?" 

"I was wondering what you have planned for today." 

"I was about to leave my house." 

"Oh? Where are you off to?" 

"What's with the idle chit chat? If you must know, I'm going to Orlando. Got some people I need to meet." 

Perfect, Carl thought. 

"Err.... would you mind swinging by the motel in Roseland on your way? We need to get to Orlando too and as you know, we got no wheels." 

Carl was praying hard that David would not blow him off. 

"Hmph. Make sure you're ready in ten outside the motel. I don't like waiting." 

"Hey, thanks, man. We'll...." But before he could finish his sentence he heard a dead tone. David had hung up on him.  

David dropped the trio off at Colonial Drive in Orlando at approximately ten o'clock that morning. With the thirty five dollars from last night's robbery and some loose change, they had about fifty dollars in total between them. Hungry, they walked over to Duff's Smorgasbord Cafe where they had an all you can eat buffet. 

With their stomachs full, they walked through a nearby residential area, keeping their eyes peeled for a car to steal. They came to a nice house with a neat and immaculately trimmed lawn where they noticed a car that was parked in the driveway. Carl and Stevie quickly cooked up a plan and Carl went to knock on the door of a neighbor's house. A man in his 40's or so answered the door. Carl fell into character and casually gave the man some cock and bull story about having some car trouble and asked if he could use the phone to call his mechanic. Not suspecting anything foul, the man let him in and pointed to the wall where a phone was hooked beside an open archway that led into the kitchen. Carl lifted the phone using his pinkie finger to hold the button so the phone would not beep, and pretended to talk to his mechanic about the break down. The plan was to take as much time as he could to create a distraction so as to allow Stevie enough time to check out the car they were going to steal. When he felt Stevie has had enough time to do his part, he thanked the man and left. 

He walked out to street in time to see the sweeper truck turn the corner at the end of the road. He took a moment to scan around the area as if he was admiring the neighborhood. His plan was not to arouse suspicion in case the man inside the house was watching him from his window. Truth was, he was feeling very nervous and was anxious to flee. 

A few minutes later, the three of them walked down the street to Terrace Avenue where Stevie had marked the car they were going to hijack. Certain that the coast was clear, in a swift motion, Stevie hotwired the car and they drove back to Colonial Drive. They were only about ten minutes away behind a Wells Fargo Bank when a police cruiser pulled up behind them asking them to pull over. 

Carl, quick in his thinking, made a fast scan of the area, looking for an escape route in case things go sideways with the cop. He noticed a fenced parking lot nearby which had a dumpster next to it. The cop parked his cruiser just ahead of them and got out of his vehicle. Upon approaching their vehicle he instructed them to get out of the car and to put their hands on the hood of the car. They obliged. The police officer asked them questions about an auto theft that had taken place in a neighbourhood not far from there and that was when Carl started to feel nervous. It was still fairly early in the morning and the sun was bright. The sky was a clear blue with no clouds in sight. It was a perfectly beautiful day but Carl wasn't feeling any joy. Putting his hands on the hood of the car, he began to feel defeated by the whole messed up situation. He imagined all kinds of horrific scenarios in his head while he waited to be handcuffed and thrown into the back of the police cruiser. His mind was totally messing him up. 

All of a sudden.... 

"RUN!!!" Stevie yelled as he fired a shot at the cop. 

The three of them sprinted towards the parking lot, using the dumpster as a trampoline and jumped over the fence with Carl in the lead. Vicky landed next to him and he quickly grabbed her hand to duck down beside the dumpster for cover while Stevie continued running towards the residential area at the end of the parking lot. Within seconds, the cop jumped over the fence and on hot pursuit went after Stevie, leaving Carl and Vicky free to escape. Carl stood up from his crouching position and told Vicky they needed to split up for their own safety. He removed his purple hoodie, tossed it in the dumpster and walked back to Colonial Drive where he faded into the Orange Blossom Mall. Many hours later, Carl wandered through the streets in search of Stevie and Vicky but there was no sign of them anywhere. He found a couple of homeless men sleeping in a dark alley and thought it would be safe for him to spend the night there.

Firing a weapon at a cop is never a good idea. Anyone with some brain in their head would know that. But I guess when you know you are guilty, you would do your best to flee. Now that the three of them have split up, Carl thinks he can be invisible and safe by blending in with the homeless people. Question is, is he really free from the danger he's put himself in?