Jimmy came home dead tired after another long day of school followed by a six hour shift at the carwash. He had just turned 18 this past month and prayed the last 6 weeks of school would fly by. The school, and then off to work routine, was killing him. He had been doing this 4x a week since just before Christmas, and as it was now mid-April, he was damn sick and tired of it.
He was also sick and tired of his mother being a fat, lazy, useless slob. He was sick of her defining what "white trash" was all about. They lived in a crappy double wide trailer on the east side of Des Moines, Iowa.
"Does it get any worse than this?" Jimmy wearily thought as he entered the filthy trailer. He glanced at her as she sat in what passed as the living room. His mother didn't even bother to acknowledge that he was home.
"What a waste of life," he thought bitterly as he slammed his books onto the kitchen counter.
This was indeed a harsh judgment of his mother, but one that fit. Since his dad had died, she had went downhill fast. She spent most days sitting in a drunken stupor in front of the TV, like a mindless zombie stuffing her face with junk food and drinking whiskey, until she passed out.
Then the next day the whole thing would start all over again. She ignored his pleas to get her life together only telling him, "Yeah right someday but for now I need to have my mourning time." So far her mourning time had lasted for nearly three years and counting.
It was left up to Jimmy to be the primary care giver to his two younger brothers, Frank who was 7, and Thomas who was 5. So in all reality, his day was not over after he got home from school and work, but instead he would have to make his younger brothers something to eat, before washing them up and putting them to bed.
It had been another typical shitty day as Jimmy wearily made his way upstairs to his bedroom. It was almost 10:30pm, and his mom was passed out on the couch with a half empty whiskey bottle at her side. Now with his mom passed out and his younger brothers tucked away for the night, it was his turn to enjoy a little peace and quiet and maybe something a bit more, if only it arrived in the mail today.
He hurriedly put his shoes on to go check the mailbox. It should arrive today, or tomorrow at the latest, as it had been about a month since he had received his latest copy of Hot Asian Honeys. This soft core porno magazine, delivered monthly, was about the only vice/excitement Jimmy had in an otherwise dreary life. As he made his way to the mailbox, he fervently hoped that the special Hot Asian Honeys MILF issue would be there in its innocuous brown paper wrapping.
He had three excellent reasons for hoping the magazine was waiting in the mailbox for him. Number one, it was Friday night, which meant he could actually sleep in a bit tomorrow morning, so if he wanted to stay up later than usual and gazing lovingly at the latest batch of hot Oriental dolls from the Far East he could. And number two, the annual MILF issue, according to last month's sneak preview, promised to deliver a whole host of hot, mature Asian honeys.
Jimmy could hardly wait as, in his mind, there was nothing hotter than a sexy, mature Asian woman. And then there was his final reason for so desperately hoping the magazine was there. It was a long shot at best, actually more like impossible maybe, as such things could not exist, but still the old lady was convincing and seemed so sure of herself so maybe, just maybe...
Nearly three weeks ago, after his boss at the car wash decided to let him go home early since it was a slow night at work, Jimmy had wandered by a traveling fair/festival that was in town for the week. It was still early and his mother would probably be in her "mean drunk" stage right about now. He had a few bucks in his pocket so he thought he would kill an hour or two horsing around at the fair.
Once inside, Jimmy wandered around to the far back side of the fair and soon found himself standing in front of a garishly colored tent that advertised Fortunes Told, Dreams Realized.
Curious he went inside, where he was met by an old woman dressed in a costume from the sixteen hundreds maybe. The lady, who called herself Madame Kat, piqued his curiosity though, so even if it was bullshit, he plucked down his 7 dollars and decided to let her read his palm.
After reading his palm, Madame Kat announced, "Young man, your future is full of dark, forbidden dreams that may go unfulfilled," she said with a serious frown.
Jimmy shifted uneasily in the cheap, black folding chair as they sat across from each other at a battered old table. The old woman then broke into a sardonic smile before adding, "But then again maybe not... if you show just a little courage a reward may be at hand to make your dreams come true."
He was wondering just what the hell that meant, when all of a sudden a young, tough looking teenage boy came bursting past the tent flaps, and into the small room. Madame Kat seemed unfazed, while Jimmy nearly jumped out of his skin, at the young hoodlum's sudden appearance.
"Gimmie your money you old bitch or I will cut you!!" the punk barked while flashing a switchblade knife.
"But of course," Madame Kat said quite calmly to the kid. As she said this, surprisingly, her focus did not appear to be on the looming threat of the young punk with the knife, but instead on Jimmy. He noticed how rather oddly she was staring at him with a somewhat bemused look on the face as the drama of the attempted robbery was unfolding.
She coolly reached down under the table, producing a small cigar box that Jimmy could see was stuffed with cash. There seemed to be a various assortment of bills sticking out of all sides of the cigar box. Enough so where the young wanna be thug attention was quickly drawn to the cigar box stuffed with cash. The fact was he was paying very little heed to Jimmy. Madame Kat handed the box over to the robber with a look of expectation on her old haggard face. But her look was not directed at the threat the tough looking kid supposedly presented in the form of his menacing grin and evil looking knife, but instead at Jimmy.
"She expects me to do something and if I don't I am going to look like a chicken shit coward," Jimmy thinks to himself. He was many things but a coward was not one of them. Without really giving it a second thought he sprang up from his chair, and in one fluid motion turned and throw a punch at the kid. His punch found its mark. Doubtless helped supremely by the element of surprise, Jimmy's punch landed squarely on the left cheek of the thugs face. He staggered and fell as Jimmy, his adrenaline pumping now, rained several more blows on top of his head.
Meanwhile, Madame Kat went outside and was hollering for a security guard. Less than a minute later, the "would be" robber was being led away by two big burly security guards.
