The Bros

The Bros - Chapter 8 (The Dilemma)

The community had now turned against Eboni for taking this case. A case I really didn't want her to take, and now our kids were being threatened because of her taking the case. This case has taken on a life of its own. People had taken this to a totally different level. They were threatening my family. They were about to take me to places I didn't want to go.

We took Junior to the police department to file a report. This was unheard of, why would people threaten our kids over this one case? Why would they feel that doing so is in any way acceptable? Even by street code, kids are off limits. They had crossed the line.

At the police department we felt that our concerns were no big deal to anybody there. They treated it like a regular schoolyard incident and we were just two privileged, over-protective parents. We felt like they knew who we were and did not care. The looks and the nonchalant attitudes were because of their feelings for Eboni working this case. It was like we were the enemy—all because of this case.

They reluctantly took our statements, then we were told they would look into it, but by the tone of things and the way they behaved, we knew this would be placed in a pile along with all the other police reports that they ignore.

The level of indifference became just too much for Eboni to handle. Already feeling stressed over this case, and them not seeming to care, she snapped. She let rip on this police officer to the point that he was threatening to throw her in jail. I had to try and restrain her and calm her down, as I knew that her cursing and going off was not going to change their demeanor and possibly just get her into trouble.

The trip to the police department was useless. Junior didn't know the kids. Had never seen them before the first time they approached him and had not seen them since. It is like this was all calculated and set up the entire time. Those kids were under marching orders, who they hell were they and who was directing them?

So, we immediately removed both of our kids from their schools. They were kids and didn't quite understand, all they knew was they were being taken away from their friends and it wasn't fair in their eyes. All our kids wanted to do was be kids and enjoy life as kids. We had worked hard all our adult lives to be able to provide them a life that sheltered them from real life issues I faced as a kid, yet here we were.

Who were these people who were threatening my kid's life, who were these people who were so determined to force my wife to drop this case? Now this case was driving a wedge between us. It had me and my wife at odds. The case I never wanted her to take, had our kid's lives being threatened.

The case I never wanted her to take had led us down a path that seemed like to be going nowhere good and everywhere bad. I asked Eboni to drop the case for the sake of our family. I asked her to put our family and our well-being over trying to get justice for this thug named Pookie, who needed to be in jail anyway. I wanted to support her, but enough was enough. I knew she would never drop it, but this was the crossroads for me.

How could you risk your own kid's life for a guy who deserved to be in jail? No, he deserved to be put to death for the many things he had done in his life. For the many lives he had taken. For the many families he had ruined. And now, he was about to ruin ours, just because she didn't want to drop the case.

I was stuck in the middle of a serious dilemma. Stay and support and protect my wife, or take my kids and leave for their own safety? We had arguments for a couple of days over all of this. It was her passion to get justice, but I could not understand how she could not draw the line in the sand with this case, considering everything that was happening to our kids and our family.

I love my wife and support her dreams. By leaving, even though I was doing it for what I thought was the best thing to do for the safety of our kids, it would mean deserting my wife and not supporting her when she needed it most. There had to be some way I could accomplish both, supporting my wife and her passion and looking out for the safety of our kids at the same time.