When Hotwheels are better than the Lottery

            My cousins were my best friends when I was young. We played all the time together. One of our favorite games to play was demolition derby. We would take our Hot Wheels cars and wreck them into each other. We would always make a dirt ring first. The dirt outside our house was perfect for it. It was almost like sand. It was amazing dirt.

            Being poor as we were, I was always on the look out for free stuff. I would frequently go through trash if I saw something worth playing with. I was scolded on several occasion by my mother for dumpster diving. I don’t blame her either, digging through someone else’s trash does not a good idea make, especially if you’re a kid.

            One day in particular I remember well. Lewis, my step Dad from previous posts, was on the front porch watching Brandon and I play with our cars in the dirt when some of the crack heads from next door walked by. They saw Brandon and I playing in the dirt with the cars and stopped to talk to us. Lewis immediately tensed up and came closer to us. He was very protective of us. They seemed to be laughing at Lewis and I had no idea why. They talked to us about our cars and said that they had a whole bunch at home that they would bring us when they came back.

            I was ESTATIC! It sounded like they had a whole bucket full of these cars. That’s like better than the lottery to a poor kid. A whole bucket of cars! Lewis told us not to get our hopes up, but we didn’t understand, why wouldn’t we get our hopes up? We were getting something amazing. We had no idea that we were being used in a game. The game was fuck with Lewis because he was on parole by some crack heads.

            We waited all day out front of the house for those guys. That’s really hard for a couple of little kids. I remember it was so hot outside, but it was better than being inside. We only had 2 fans and they were very small, so outside was always a better option.

            Those guys eventually came back through much, much later in the afternoon. When Brandon and I asked about the cars they all looked at each other and laughed as they told us they had forgotten them. Brandon and I were devastated and Lewis was pissed. Lewis cussed the guys out and told them to get lost. He said they should be ashamed of themselves for messing with a couple of small kids. They just laughed and walked on by. To this day I still wonder why those guys did what they did. It may not seem like such a big deal, but to me it really was.

Many people say forgive and forget, but I say if I ever see your crack head asses, I’m sticking my 9.5 wide boot up your ass, jerks!