Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it learned to walk with out having feet. Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from...
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I'm from a place known for having no deficiency of a unique culture. From its conventional Mardi Gras customs down to our cuisines, New Orleans is on the top of the list as America's pinnacle destination for a good time. The crescent-shaped city is advertised nationwide for offering guests a laissez-faire lifestyle however as an individual who lives here, I can tell you that life here is nothing short of easy but a gamble itself.
More simultaneous to poker, your livelihood does not depend on the deck of cards you've started with. Given a period, everyone sees the same cards. You could be from the gardens or the trenches of Hollygrove, the setting of your story or your class doesn't necessarily matter. It's all about the turn of events this municipality throws at you and your decision on how to deal with it because at any time one could fold. No matter your belief system, desires, or expectations, the game of poker is fair because it is unfair to everyone.
Nevertheless, let me give you an insight of my opening hand:
I never met my father. He'd passed before I was born and shortly after my birth, my mother emigrated to the States from Port-au-Prince with hopes of providing a better future for her children. The relocation landed us in the neighborhood of Central City, 11th Ward, just above the Garden District on the lakeside of St. Charles Avenue. She never remarried due to her beliefs, but there she met a man and later welcomed my little brother, Makenson. His father became my father figure up until he left.
Life was hard enough adjusting to a foreign country, adding having to raise two children alone didn't help the equation either. My mother struggled with keeping a job and often took on temporary work whenever she could. With the help of government assistance, we never went hungry or worried about shelter.
Some of the pressure was relieved once I could legally work. Maintaining our livelihood was no longer a single-man job for my mother, but a partnership. Despite us wanting him to remain a child as long as possible, Makenson chipped in as well by working around the neighborhood after school and practices. My life wasn't too grand, but it only took a glance at the others to see that it could be much worse.
Like poker, you'll learn the essential components of human relationships play a significant role in this city. As stated before, eventually everyone sees the same cards; everyone at the table has the same luck for better or worse, but to stay in the game is to play your current hand better than the rest. Who you're around may present unexpected opportunities, a cold run of bad luck or the perfect set of hands. Some may disagree, but my perfect hand arrived the day I met Reed Carmichael—aka Reedy.
Our meeting wasn't exactly ideal, at all to be frank. Matter of fact, it was closer to an introduction between death and I rather than him as my saving grace. Albeit, an unbreakable bond was made and a plan to make it out together was created.
A blessing in disguise.
The harshness of reality snatched our childhood away from us. Reedy had no choice but to become the man in his household. His choice on how to provide for his family had him constantly looking over his shoulder. Safety is simply a mirage here in NOLA and with his lifestyle only death or jail was promised.
The ongoing battle of sustaining caused an emptiness in my life. Happiness was subjective and became difficult to define for me with constantly trying to stay on top of bills as a teenager. It made me wonder what was the point of living if I didn't even have the time to enjoy life. This thought created an endless abyss that I tried to fill with different substances, only for it to pull me deeper and deeper into its darkness.
As Reedy and I got acquaintanced, his presence began to bring color into my world and soon the realization later hit me that he was the void that I'd been missing all along. I knew then that I didn't ever want to live a life without him.
To win at poker, you have to understand that luck will only get you so far. It's only a short-term contributing factor and that skill wins out in the end. The skill required is mental toughness. We're all going to get stacked by a gutshot straight draw that hits from time to time. We're all going to have losing sessions. But you can't let that destroy your confidence.
In our case, we're not a product of our environment so much as our environment is a product of us. Our city does not determine who we are or what we're capable of doing. We do.
New Orleans may have been the start of Reedy and I's story, but I'd be damnned if it was also the end.
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this story is a short story btw, i don't plan to release no more than 20 chapters (if even that) so it'll be fast paced lol
if you've made it this far, please vote and comment! let me know what you think!
