Off The GridIron

Chapter 34: Work & Fun

Monday February 10th, 1992

5:30pm

Kelvin

Man this day of restocking items man, i tell you, it seems like they were really out of stock here at Cardenas Market. The other employee that does the restocking got sick so I had to come in on my off day and take over for him. I usually work Tuesday's, Thursday's and Saturday's. I didn't mind it because the extra money usually helps. As I was restocking I saw a familiar face.

"Stephan, Stephan is that you man?"

"Yeah, i'm just here getting some things, haven't figured this store out yet, it's pretty big, i'm just trying to figure out where the canned fruits and vegetables are."

"Well they recently made changes to the store so we've been having to restock things in different aisles lately." I said laughing.

"Oh okay I thought I was losing my damn mind at first." He said as we both laughed. "How has your day been so far though?"

"Oh it's been decent so far I guess." I said. "But what type of vegetables are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for peas, corn, carrots, things like that."

"Alright, well they used to be in aisle two but they've been moved to aisle four or five. Come on, I'll walk with you while we talk."

"Well i don't want to bother you while you're working man, for real but hey do you have a pen and paper on you?" He asked me.

"Yeah." I said searching for a pen. "Here you go." I gave him the pen and paper and he scribbled something down and gave it back to me. "Here's my number man, I don't know when you're getting off of work but after work if you want to call me you can and we'll kick it." He said.

"Bet man, I'll do that." I said. After that he let me carry on working. I got off of work around 8:30pm and headed home, i got there a few minutes later and turned the TV on to see what was on the TV guide. Wasn't really much on, i mean it's 30+ channels so i mean it should be something right? Anyway around 9:00pm i called Stephan.

"Alright this is the number he gave me...." I said as I dialed it and after a few rings someone answered.

"Hello?"

"Hello....is Stephan there?"

"No....may i ask who's calling?"

"This is Kelvin....maybe i have the wrong number...."

"No, not at all. I'm sorry about that, i'm his sister Malorie ...."

"What are you doing on that phone?" I heard him say in the distance.

"It's a call for you...."

"Well why didn't you give me the damn phone!" He said, he sounded a little angry. "Give me the phone!" I heard him say. "Yo who's this?"

"It's Kelvin..."

"Hey Kel what's up?"

"Well I was calling to see if you still wanted to hang out"

"Yeah, that's cool man, that's cool." He said.

"So where do you live? I'll come pick you up." I said.

"I live off on Redlands Avenue, in the 1200 block, it's the house with the huge tree in the front." He told me.

"Alright well i'ma need directions to get there." He told me it was a little ways past Cardenas Market, off of East Olive Street, I knew where that was. I told him I'd be there in a bit. I got in my car and drove off and went down Vernon Avenue until I got to Olive street, then after that i looked for Redlands avenue, it was the 2nd street on the right. I turned down there until I found Stephan's house and I saw him wearing a nice red shirt with blue jeans and some timberland boots, he looked down at his watch and I honked the horn.

"Hey what's up?"

"Yo what's up man." He said, getting into the car.

"You tell me, where are we gonna go?"

"Shit, well I mean it's this Jack In The Box that's right around the corner." I said, laughing.

"That's cold. I was thinking we can just go wherever, it doesn't matter." He said. "Wait a minute, it's this movie theater a few blocks down, they're gonna be playing that movie that just came out called "Life in the fastlane" Starring Keith Monroe and Shane Karter." He said.

"Word? Well let's go." I said as I drove off. "So what movie theater is it at?"

"It's On the corner of West Laurel Street & North Rancho Avenue. It's called Rancho Cinema Complex." He said. "It's a few minutes down the road." He said.

"Alright, I think I know where it is." He gave me directions and i went and got there about 5 or 6 minutes later, traffic was something around the movie theater. When we got there I saw that it was a drive in movie theater. "Awww shit, this is pretty packed, do you think we'll be able to get in there in time." I asked.

"Yeah, I mean the movie starts at 9:30pm, so we have about 15 minutes or so to get in."

"Alright well i'll get the tickets." I pulled up to the ticket window and paid the $4.75¢ each for both of our tickets, which brought the total to $9.50¢. Then I went over to the parking spot and parked the car and we got out and headed into the movie theater.

"This should be a dope movie." He said as we got into the part of the theater where the movie would be playing.

Around 9:30pm the credits for the movie began and the lights dimmed. People were talking and laughing a bit and some were eating popcorn and drinking sodas. The movie started and it was pretty interesting, it was about a washed up boxer who needed to make ends meet so he started selling drugs, man that movie was full of heartbreak and everything, the ending of it was wild too. The movie ended around 11:45pm. Afterwards we both left the movie theater and I drove him home.

"Man, that movie was wild." He said. "Definitely interesting."

"Yeah tell me about it, that fight scene in the nightclub was intense."

"I know, did you see the way he backhanded that one dude?"

"Yeah, I mean the way he flew over that table was too overdone though, you can tell that was overacting." I said as we both busted out laughing.

"It was hella crazy." He said. "So where are you going after this?"

"Home, remember we both have school tomorrow."

"Yeah you right man, you right." He said as I pulled up to his place. "Well i guess this is my stop, i appreciate you hanging out with me man, for real, i'll see you tomorrow." He said as he got out of the car and headed into the house.

"Yeah, it was FUN." I said to myself as I pulled off.

End Of Chapter 34