Revenge Is Best Served Sweet
It was a warm summer day in Glendale. All I could hear were children’s laughter as I walk down the street. I am on my way to meet with Kody about the job opening at his Pizza Parlor. I step into the Parlor and the doorbell rings. Kody sets down the wet cloth he was using to clean the table. He turns around and say, “Hi,there!What can I do for— O, it’s you”.
His reaction was something I should have expected. I’m mean it’s been the same reaction I’ve gotten from the 12 other establishments I’ve walked into lately. That’s what happens when your face is plastered on almost every news channel in Glendale and your name is in every blog in Glendale.
“Hi,Kody. How’s it been lately” I say with the most awkward smile.
“It’s been good, Osmond. Is there anything I can help you with” Kody replies.
“I saw the ‘Help Wanted’ sign on your door and was wondering if I could apply for the job” I say.
Kody sighs and says “Osmond,I would love to have your help around here but I don’t think that you working here would be good for the business. Especially with what’s been going on. You understand,don’t you?”
“No, I don’t actually. How would me working here be bad for your business?” I say defensively.
“People haven’t exactly forgotten what happened. I could lose business just by talking to you” Kody exclaims.
“Fine. I see how it is” I sneered. I stormed out the Pizza Parlor, slamming the door behind me.
As I was storming up the street, a kid bumped into me and fell. It looked like he had scraped his leg so I tried to help him back up. Suddenly, I hear a lady scream,”GET AWAY FROM MY CHILD.” I back away from the kid as the lady rushes over to embrace her son. She notices the scrap on his leg and glares at me.
“Now look what you’ve done” She accuses me.
“I didn’t that” I start to argue.
“Just go away” She says as she shoos me away.
I sigh, turn around, and walk away. Two hours later, I make it back to my trailer. As soon as I step into my trailer, I slam the door close.
I take my boots off and head to the refrigerator to grab a beer. ‘I hate this damn city’ I think to myself as I take a swig of my beer.
You can judge me for thinking so negatively and harsh. That won’t change how I feel. It’s ridiculous how everyone is blaming me for what happened to Mayor Curtis. It’s not my fault that the Mayor decided that it would be a good idea to use the Poisonous Scorpions’ side of the city to build his new businesses. Everyone knows that you don’t cross the Poisonous Scorpions. Well, everyone except for Mayor Curtis.
The Poisonous Scorpions and the Mayor have been going head to head for years ever since the Mayor got tired of the Poisonous Scorpions terrorizing the citizens of Glendale. Mayor Curtis has been trying to drive the Poisonous Scorpions out of the city for awhile and 8 months ago he finally did.
The Mayor could never find enough evidence to the Council to approve that the Poisonous Scorpions should be banned from Glendale. Well, at least not until 8 months ago when the Poisonous Scorpions tried to break into the Mayor’s home and murder him. To make a long story short, their plan failed and they were put in jail for a long, long time.
Now, you might be wondering what I have to do with any of this. Well, the leader of the Poisonous Scorpions, Hudson Griffin, is my brother. So when the Poisonous Scorpions went on trial, the Court decided to put me on trial,too. And I went to jail for 4-6 months because I was guilty by association. Ridiculous, right.
Anyways, now I’m out of jail and I can’t find a freakin’ job. I’ve been looking for a job for almost 3 months and still no luck. No one wants to hire me because of what my brother and the Poisonous Scorpions did. And to make the situation a whole lot better,everywhere I go, I get stared down by people. All these people already have this narrative about me and they don’t even know me. All they know is what my brother and his gang did to the Mayor. I bet they don’t even know all the things the Mayor has been doing.
I turn on the TV to clear my mind. Glendale’s News Channel shows up on TV. I read the the subtitles on the screen and the first word I read is ‘Election’ and I turn up the volume.
“Well folks, we’re out here to witness Mayor Curtis’ press conference” says Harper Gipson, the news reporter.
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen. As you may know it is around that time for elections. I would like to announce that I will be running for mayor again. I strongly encourage you to vote for me and not just for my benefit. If you vote for me, you will be voting for someone who knows what you want. You will be voting for someone who will as has always done what is best for you. I hope you all take this into consideration when you are voting. Also, votes are open on February 26 so don’t forget to vote. Have a lovely day citizens of Glendale.” The crowd immediately began to clap, cheer, and even chant Curtis’ name.
“Alright, there you have it. Curtis Quinn has officially announced his running in the mayoral election. Okay, back to you John” Harper says. I turn off the TV.
“Oh,so Curtis wants to be mayor again. I don’t think so. Glendale is full of arrogant and snotty people. And Mayor Curtis is one of the worst. It’s time for a change. A new style of order. And you know what? I should be the one to make that change. But how?” I say to myself.
“Oh, I know what to do. I need to run for mayor. Only problem is that there’s no way the citizens of Glendale will vote for me. It’s clear to tell that Curtis is a lot more favored than I am. There’s no way they wouldn’t vote for Curtis. Not unless I— Oh, this election is going to be great” I say to myself with a diabolical laugh.
I rush over to the phone to call my good friend,Tamina. Tamina knows all the gossip and shady stuff that goes on in Glendale. She has a talent for figuring out things she’s not supposed to be figuring out. The phone keeps ringing until she finally picks up the phone.
“Hello” Tamina says in a tired phone.
“Hey Tamina. I’m sorry did I wake you up” I reply.
“No it’s fine. What do you want Osmond?” She said.
“I was wondering if you could meet at Cherry Cream Cafè. I really need to talk to you.” I stuttered.
“Oh. Now you need to talk to me? How come you couldn’t talk to me when you got out of jail? Huh?” Tamina says in an angry voice.
“I’m sorry. I’ve been trying to find a job ever since I got out of jail” I pleaded.
“Fine. I’ll meet you at the cafè in an hour” She agreed.
Suddenly the phone cut off. She hung up. I put my boots back on and make my way to the cafè. I make it to the cafè in 45 minutes. I walk in and sat in a booth in the far corner. Five minutes later, Tamina shows up. She walks over to the booth and sits down.
“So you said you needed to talk to me” Tamina blurted out after a few moments of silence.
“Jeez. Hello to you,too.” I said slightly offended by her attitude.
“I don’t have time to waste. And you didn’t have the time to call after you got out of jail. Remember?” She says with a snarky tone.
“I already told you. I was busy looking for a job and I forgot.” I replied frustrated.
“Damn. It’s really that hard for you to find a job.” She said sincerely.
“Yeah. No one wants to hire me because I’m ‘bad for business’.” I sighed.
“Oh, well you could always come work for my clothing store.” Tamina said.
“Are you sure you want me to work at your store. I wouldn’t want you to get too caught in all my drama” I say with hesitation.
“Nonsense. You will start tomorrow at 9:00 AM. And you better not be late.” She replies in a demanding tone.
Soon enough, the waitress comes over to take our order. I get the cherry pie with cherry ice cream. Tamina gets the large cherry smoothie. The waitress leaves to get our order.
“Now what was it you had talk to me about?” Tamina asked.
“Oh right. I invited you here because I wanted to ask you a huge favor.I need you to give me the key to the safe.” I say in a very serious manner. Tamina looks entirely shocked by what I had just asked of her.
“Osmond, your brother told me to protect the key. Not you.” She replies in a hushed tone.
“Tamina,do you even see what’s going on here? Curtis is running for mayor again. You know about all the things he did. He doesn’t deserve any of what he has, and he especially doesn’t deserve to be mayor.” I say in an irritated voice.
“No, Osmond. I know you’re probably pissed about what you’re going through. But right now, you gotta sit back and let karma do its thing. Alright?” She says bossily.
“Alright. I’m sorry I even asked.” I apologized.
“It’s fine. Lets just enjoy our food.” She says warmingly.
As if on cue, the waitress comes over with our food. And we start to dig in. We laughed and talk as we ate. I’m sure the waitresses must of thought we were drunk or something. An hour goes by and we’re done with our food. We paid our bill and tipped the waitress. Soon we said our goodbyes, parted ways, and went home.
The next day, I woke up early to get to my job on time. As soon as I’m done getting dressed, I’m put my boots on and walk to work.
I walk in and Tamina comes over to introduce me to my co-workers. Once I’m all settled in, I begin working at the cashier. By the time I’m done with my shift, it’s 7:30 PM. I start getting ready to leave. I check out with Tamina and I start to walk home.
Two hours later, I’m on my back to Tamina’s store dressed in black everything. I even have a black ski mask just in case anyone sees what I’m about to do. I break in through the back of the back of the store and I start to search for the key to the safe. After an hour of looking around, I find the key under the carpet behind a desk.
I get out the store as soon as possible. Instead of going back home, I make my towards the abandoned Poisonous Scorpions’ base. This was one of the few left after Curtis demolished everything.
I get inside the base and search for the safe. It’s been awhile since I’ve been here and I can barely remember where anything is. I finally find the safe under a desk. What is with people and hiding things under desks? I read the numbers on the key to open the safe. And in that safe I find hundreds of documents and proof that Curtis isn’t the good guy everyone thinks he is. I take the files and leave. My brother has been holding onto these files to use as leverage against Curtis. As soon as Curtis found out about the files, he had all the buildings that The Poisonous Scorpions were using demolished. Well, at least not every building.
I finally make it back to my trailer but my mission doesn’t stop here. I take pictures of every piece of paper in these files and I leak them to the Glendale Newspapers. And just to make sure I do some real damage, I leak the pictures to all the newspaper establishments in local cities.
I’m gonna be honest. I have no idea what’s in those files. All I know is that if everyone knew what was in the files, things would get pretty ugly for Curtis. I feel bad for going behind Tamina’s back like that but it had to be done. I step away from my computer and go to bed.
The next morning, I wake up late for work but I don’t care. I don’t care that I haven’t brushed my teeth. I don’t care that I haven’t taken a shower. All I care about right now is watching good ole’ ‘Saint’ Curtis burn to the ground. Well, not literally of course.
I turn in the TV and there it is. On the news, it says that Curtis Quinn has been exposed for being a scammer and fraud. Apparently the moisturizers all his businesses sells has animal poop and other types of nasty things. A couple of papers in the files were scientific reports on all of his moisturizers and let’s just say that the stuff he put in his moisturizers is going to earn him plenty of lawsuits. The news reporter, Harper Gipson, closes the topic saying that Curtis Quinn is under FBI investigations as we speak.
Suddenly, I hear my phone ringing. It’s Tamina. Oh, boy. I pick up the phone.
“OSMOND!!! HOW DARE YOU! I SWEAR WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU-“ Tamina starts.
“It had to be done” I say quickly. “They found toxins and chemicals in his products, Tamina. Someone could have gotten sick. SOMEONE COULD HAVE DIED-“
“Oh, don’t give me that crap. You and I both know that the only reason you did any of this was so you could get revenge on Curtis.” She interrupts.
“That’s not entirely true. I also did this because I want to run for mayor. You can shame me all you want. Or you could help me win.” I say temptingly.
“Mmmmm. What’s in it for me if I help.” She replies.
“Well, money of course.” I say.
“No,no,no,no. I want something more than that.” She says in a taunting voice.
“Like what.” I replied nervously.
“If I help you win mayor, you make me your secretary.” She says in a sinister tone.
“Fine. We have a deal.”
THE END.....for now at least
