Thursday, January 28, 2010

Come Out into the Light


Philadelphia PA. 2010

It's been nine years since I vanished from New York City as Johnny Crapper and re-emerged as Brandon Strong in Philadelphia. Philly is by no stretch of the imagination, New York...but it's a big city and not hard to get used to. I finished Community College and then went on to Temple University, got another Bachelors degree and as of this writing am just credits away from getting my MBA....at Temple.

I'm at another bank....back in Investment Banking. I know, I know..I said I hated it, but it's what I do..it's what I know..money. I live in a condo now and have a new car... Kim? She's my wife now and she's eight months pregnant....
We broke up, then we got back together, then we broke up again and finnally we went on and stopped playing and got married last year.

Kim feels as though I still have issues and that she doesn't know me...She's right, she knows nothing about who I used to be back in New York or why I have always found an excuse not to go to New York when she's wanted to go. I didn't even want to go to Atlantic City. She kind of understood that, but I relented about eight months ago and went. I didn't gamble..I stayed in the room...

That's how this baby was conceived...We acted like we were on a second honeymoon...and then a little after we got back, she gave me the news that she was expecting our first child. I found a lawyer, Conrad Nelson. I had my name legally changed to Brandon Strong and discarded my phony social security number, instead using my real social security number....This would prove to be a big mistake later on.

I left a letter out on the table from the Social Security people...Kim saw it...She didn't say anything immediately, but one night when we were about to eat dinner she hit me with it.

"So Brandon or should I say Johnny..How long was it going to take for you to tell me the question I've been wanting to know for years?" she said with a wry smile.

I was startled....I looked at her . My first impulse was to lie...then hell, I decided to go on and tell her the truth..I was tired of living a lie..

"You know don't you?" I asked her.

"I've always known that you had some secret...just didn't know what it was or why you didn't trust me to tell me....Hell Brandon or Johnny....I'm your wife now..You know every part of my body.....you know everything about me...you've met my entire family..." she said, no longer laughing.

"Okay....there is no way to sugarcoat this...My birth name is John Brandon Crapper." I said.

"Crapper? Oh my God....No wonder you changed your name to Strong...It is legally Strong isn't it?" she said.

"Yeah, I legally changed it to Strong before we got married." I said.

"Oh thank God....I wouldn't want to be known as Kim Crapper." she laughed.

"You don't care? That's all you're concerned about?" I said incredulously.

"You didn't kill anybody did you Brandon?"

"No....I was engaged to be married...and I also owed this guy ,100 large....I sold my car and borrowed from my company's 401K..I had the money to pay this guy
off, only I come home and he's on the couch, screwing my girl's brains out..." I said.

"Oh my God Brandon..." she exclaimed....

"Oh my God is right...I decided to keep the money...I wasn't gonna give him a red cent and as for her..I couldn't look at her...not after how she betrayed me.
I should have suspected it...She knew him....She was always talking about how cute he was and whatnot...I should've sensed that there was something going on.
This was on September 11th....2001. They were screwing early in the morning...I was hiding in the closet..I was late for work...in the twin towers..get it?" I said with my head hung down...

"Wow....Wowwwwwwww, so when the towers fell...you weren't there, but everybody thought you were." she said.

"Exactly....and so, I just let em think it and quietly left New York with all of that money and the clothes on my back and little else.. I invested that money in all of the right places and we are sitting on well over three million dollars right now.
Some of it is in off shore accounts that the government can't touch and the rest is in banks right here in the city."I said.

"No wonder you never seemed to want for anything." she laughed. "Were you ever going to tell me?" she said.

"I was going to tell you about the money....but not how I got it...everything is left to you and our child in my will, So if you're planning to knock me off...you're going to be a wealthy woman." I said.

Kim sat next to me and hugged me...

"You could have told me that...that's not the worst thing in the world Brandon..my god...I thought you killed somebody or did something horrible.
Are your parents really dead?" she asked.

"Yeah...I have a half brother, but I haven't talked to him in years....He's about ten years older than me." I said.

"No Uncles, Aunts?" She asked.

"All dead..and that's the truth." I said.

''So it was easy for you to just walk away from your life in New York huh?"she asked.

"Yes, it was." I said.

"What about the guy you owe the money to? You could pay him back now and it not even hurt you." she said.

"I don't intend to give that snake a red cent." I said.

"Is this a man thing ?" laughed Kim...

"Call it what you want..he aint gettin nathan." I said- "You the only one gettin anything in this house." I said as I cuddled up to her and began kissing her now enormously large breasts...

"And I wished I could give you even more." I said with a sinister grin....

"Oh shut up...after I finnally drop this load..I don't know if I'm ever having sex again." she laughed...

"Load? ,That anyway to talk about our son?" I said.

"Or daughter..." she laughed as she planted a wet kiss on my lips.

A few nights later, I was sitting in a bar called Josie's having a couple of beers..
I saw a light skinned guy with a round face and a toothy grin looking at me. At first I thought it was my imagination and I tried not to look directly at him...but the more the night went on..the more I caught him looking. I didn't know whether to confront him or to let it go..I decided to let it go.

He didn't....I saw him making a call on his cell phone...It was then that I got up and walked out of the bar...This clown walked out behind me. I looked and he was following me down the street, smiling that toothy grin...

"Mr Crapper or should I call you Mister Strong..Take your pick?" he said laughing.

Only two people knew my secret..My wife and the lawyer, Conrad Nelson..could one of them have betrayed me I wondered.?

"Allow me to introduce myself...I'm Goldie...I'm a private detective....A man from New York City has been looking for you for close to nine years...I wouldn't have found you except that you changed your social security number back to the original and when your office paid you...I got a hit...A hit I hadn't seen in years.
I was gettin ready to give up and just say you were really dead...but see, this man has never beleived that, heheheheheheheh." said Goldy.

So it was a mistake that I had made and not a betrayal that caused me to be found.

"What does he want to go away and leave me alone?" I asked.

"You left owing him a hunerd grand....It's been so long and you know with the economy..he'd like about triple that...heheheheheheheheh..." laughed Goldy.

"Yeah? I guess your cut is in there somewhere too huh?" I sneered.

"But of course." he said.

"Well , two hundred large of that was already given to him when he screwed my fiance." I said.

"Heheheheheheheh....She gave him some hoping he would cancel the debt...She did that for you..heheheheheheheheh...but I guess it didn't work out..He still didn't cancel the debt and then you took a nine year powder." laughed Goldie.

"I really hate to disapoint you Goldie, but I aint paying your man a red cent."I said.

"Oh now that would be a big mistake ." laughed Goldie.

"Yeah ,why?" I asked.

"You got a gorgeous wife and she's about to give birth..It would be a shame if something was to happen to her..you know? I have a guy sitting outside your apartment now....He's a little unstable, you know what I'm saying...You don't comply and gee..that could be your family..heheheheheheheheh.."He said..

Just then, a car drove up......The door opened and a short, dark skinned man with a bright kilowat smile got out of the car...It was Larry Brown!!! I hadn't seen him in nine years.....

"Johnny boy......Long time no see." He laughed.

I was in big trouble.....I had to find a way out of this mess....but how?


(Conclusion Next)

16 comments:

Sean said...

Great! I was waiting for the other shoe to drop!

Toni said...

Oh man is Brandon in a mess now...I can't wait to see how he gets out of this!

Angie B. said...

He could pay the man and be done with him...He's got the money!

Sunflower said...

"And Now the Hell begins" To paraphrase one of your other posts.
lololol.

Captain Jack said...

This is one time I wished you published two posts a day..I can't wait for the next installment!

James Perkins said...

You are the master of the cliffhanger.

Simon Bastion said...

I love the way you brought us along and nearly lulled us to sleep and then...pow...Hit us hard!

Swaggie said...

I knew that something like this was going to happen...I knew it.

Tate2 said...

Too much money for someone to just drop it..I figured that dude Larry was still hunting for Brandon/Johnny.

Brenda said...

I love it...the plotting and the slow unfolding of this drama...I just love it!

Cheryl said...

Here we go....I knew this was coming!lolol.

Vanessa said...

"Josie's" must be the most popular bar in Philly I never heard of...It seems like all of your charactors wind up there sooner or later.

Halo said...

Maybe Gus can round up Kevin,Chess,Chris and Fathead and save brandon!-lololol.

Lisa said...

This is a great story...Surprisingly, none of your other charactors have appeared so far,except for Conrad, but he has wound up in Josie's where he will undoubtedly run into some of them in the future...provided he has one.

Jazzy said...

I can't say that I didn't see this coming...How long can you keep a secret like that..Can't wait to see how this turns out.

Grover Tha Playboy said...

Damn...This playa is sure in a pickle now...He was totally unprepared for this! Can't wait to see how he gets out of this.