THE GENTLE RACKETEER: A Novella
Page 7
“Ahhhh! What the fuck is wrong with you!” he yelled.
Danny pointed at him and said, “Language,” trying to mimic their dad. “So, today is your last chance. What’s your decision? To live or to die?
“As I said, let me out of this goddamn place and I’ll tell you!”
“Hmm. You not making it easy for me, CJ”
“Fuck you!”
With that word, Danny got pissed. He pointed the gun at CJ and took a shot, twice, with his eyes closed. He didn’t even want to look at CJ again. He just shut the door and went out of the house.
Danny told some of his men to go take care of the mess. On the evening of that day, Danny called everybody together, including those ladies that cooked and did other things for them. When everybody was gathered together, he cleared his throat and started addressing them.
“Eh-hem! As you can see, my brother and dad are gone. I’m the only one left to handle all these.” Danny waved his hands, as a demonstration of what he had to handle. “It’s not easy for me. I tell you. And I’ve decided to change the nature of the business. I’m tired of taking bullet wounds. I’m tired of being afraid of my life. I’m tired of doing illegal shits. I’m tired of all those. I’ve decided to turn this business into something that could benefit society. And I know that most of you might not agree with me. No one is ordering you around now. You’re free to leave anytime you want. But if you decide to stay, know that you gonna be hit by the wind of change. And together, we can know what it really means to be carefree and fearless.”
“Bullshit!” Teezee yelled. He left the gathering with anger. It wasn’t only Teezee that left. Most of the other boys and some of the ladies left too. Danny thanked the rest of them that remained.
“Thank you very much for deciding to stay with me. As you know, stopping this business, this business that we do, is not gonna be easy. We’re definitely going to be getting lots of hits from people that try to take revenge. Consequences. If you sticking around with me, know that you’ll have a share in the consequences of what we’ve done. But I sure you, you’re not going to be under me, like before. But since you’re in my home, I suggest that you respect what’s worth respecting. Thank you all.”
Danny finished his statements and went into his room. First, he wrote a very long message to Wendy, telling her about the latest development.
“It’s okay Danny. I’m not breaking up with you. It’s not my duty to judge.”
And that was Wendy’s response. That gave Danny a great hope. He knew that things could actually work out fine, just as he had planned.
He started working on a plan, on how to turn all his father branches into something useful. All the branches in deep forests, all the different locations in the different places around major countries of the world, Danny decided to turn them into a zoo. Instead of having them as a place for concealing drugs and stolen goods, Danny decided that a zoo could be best for such branches in deep forests.
And the branches close to people, Danny decided to turn them into parks, museums, libraries and some other things that might serve a good purpose. He had to move around, to research and see what would work and what would not.
He had a sense of accomplishment and freedom. But he still felt unfulfilled. He added into his list of the day’s activities, to go pay Sam a visit.
Maybe that was how it was supposed to be. Maybe the unfulfilled feeling was part of the design, to keep humans going. Danny never really knew. He hoped to take all the time he could in figuring out how to be happy. He had a vision, to become a better version of himself. And with time, he hoped to reach there or to be there, someday.
The End.
Author’s Note
◆◆◆
And that was it. I’m glad you made it to this point.
The point of the story was to show that people can change. But the trigger to that change has to be natural. Nobody can be forced to change. But if it’s one’s will to let go of what they used to be, the trigger to a very surprising change has already been clicked.
I don’t even know what I’m saying here. But I hope you learned one or two things from this story. If not, then I’d only be glad that I was able to entertain you for a while.
Thank you for reading. You may get in touch to me through codnificent@gmail.com
Please feel free to leave an honest review of this book. It helps us, authors, to grow.
Bye…