Darco and I went to the mall yesterday with two 44oz gas station sodas with about ten shots of Jose Cuervo each. Naturally, I was a little nervous, it was only a few days after my 22 shots from hell. I get down about halfway through my drink when we finally get out of the car. We stop at every other bench to sit and talk while we sip on our drink (drank in some social circles). We drink, check out women, eat food, it's a good time.
We get bored of the mall atmosphere and head towards the nearest Best Buy. Darco is interested in God knows what, and my mindset at the time just wanted to play 'Epic Mickey' on the wii so we seperate. I eventually realize I look ridiculous, getting pissed off at the game for not letting me win, so I venture out to search for Darco. While looking for my band mate, I'm distracted by a keyboard aisle. I dick around on the instruments, realizing I've forgotten half the songs I've claimed to have known. I start playing '7 Nation Army' very loudly. Darco soon emerges from the depths of the electronics after hearing my beautiful rendition of the song. We play with the keyboards a bit longer before venturing off to find new adventures.
We get to the Apple area and I start messing around on the internet. I pull up the band Purevolume page and start playing it loudly. I call out to Darco and act as if I just discovered the band. "Wow, dude! This band is great don't you think?" That goes on for a bit longer. Halfway through, I though it'd be a great idea to record a video and place it onto the iMac's background. We email ourselves the video and keep our webpage open on the largest iMac there.Shameless, but funny. We record another video on an iTouch or something, again plugging ourselves. We leave Best Buy, refill our gas station cup and head back to the mall. We notice a familiar car and get excited as we realize my uncle is in the mall somewhere.
Shortly after our sudden rush of excitement, we realize we are running dangerously low on tequila. We each have about 4 shots and the bottle is empty. We sing a few musicals and then come up with a plan to find my uncle and convince him to buy a few drinks for the rest of the evening. We don't have to look very long, we barely walk into the mall when there he is with his wife. It doesn't really take much convincing, so we race them home. My uncle lives in a motel, so while in the lobby, I see Brad, someone I used to know from school. We catch up really quick and I find out he's living with his current girlfriend and her baby (not his). He tells me he just lost his job and I wish him good luck. I get to my uncle's room and he's playing his PS3 with Darco and they have their beers in hand. I grab a beer and watch them play some weird PS3 arcade-type game. Maybe 20 minutes later, there's a knock on the door. It's Brad.
Brad has a large dish of food. He and his girlfriend sent over some food that they weren't going to eat. At first, we're just really glad that there's some food and it tastes great! We give Brad a beer and he hangs out for a bit before dismissing himself. We thank him and tell him we'll return the dish once we're through. It wasn't until half hour later, while delivering the dish, that I realized how nice of them it was.
A thin girl with dark hair answers the door. I smile and ask if I've got the right room. She laughs and invites me in. I hand her the dish and thank her again for the food, after telling her how good it was. Brad is on the bed playing with the baby. The baby is adorable, I immediately want to pick him up, so I ask if I can and snatch him up once they gave me permission. The dopey baby won't stop staring at me, but he seems to be fine. They assure me that if he was upset, he'd be crying.
While holding the baby, I learn more about their situation and it's not good. They are staying in the motel for a couple days and have no idea what happens after that. They have both lost their jobs and are clueless as to what to do next. I put the baby down during the conversation and he seems to stop staring. They fill me in on what brought them to this point. The baby starts laughing at me so naturally, I pick him back up. I feel as if I have been there for a bit too long, and excuse myself. I thank them for the food and compliment them on their baby (Brad loves him as his own). As I leave I wish them good luck and give them my number.
I return to my Uncle's room and we watch a movie. When I get home, I've got a text from Brad. He's invited me over for breakfast in the morning and I politely decline his offer, telling him I probably won't be up too early. I thank him again and wish him all the luck in the world.
That family gives me hope for humanity. They are at their lowest point, but still remember to be polite and considerate of other people. They don't have much to give, but give anyway. They are good people and I truly hope they find a way out of their jam.
~JoeGenoCyDe
