Hub City
I walked out of Bunny’s Liquor with a black plastic bag that holds some Newports and a bag of beef jerky. I had to pay an extra 3 dollars than the usual 1 for the smokes. Mr.Ming, the liquor clerk, said that he has to charge me more because he’s taking a bigger risk under the new manager. What bull. He’s just being greedy. I guess you can say money runs this city. My cousin told me that last month a cop got him for possession of weed and was able to get away with it by giving him 20 bucks. I light up a cigarette as I walk across the street to my grandmas house.
My grandma lives about 2 blocks away from me, on the other side of the the train tracks. The liquor store is across from her and if she found out I was there and hadn’t stopped by, she would’ve killed me. I swing open the old rusty gate that keeps is meant to keep my grandma’s dog, Cucu, from getting out. “How you been boy?” I ask him, throwing him my last piece of jerky in the process. He lets out a bark of satisfaction and wags his tail excitedly, just to let me know I’m his favorite human in the whole world. He’s a small dog, a beagle mixed with a terrier or something like that.
“Sergio, is that you mijo?” my Nana calls out the through the kitchen window that overlooks the front yard. She’s washing dishes.
“Yeah,” I reply as I put out the cigarette in the cement steps of her porch, “ I’ll be there in a sec.”
I push through the old, hole-filled mosquito screen door. My nana finishes up washing a plastic cup and dries her hands on her “Grillmaster” apron that she must have picked up at a yard sale and approaches me to give me a hug. She embraces me as if she hadn’t seen me in years when in reality I was there 2 days before. When she finally lets go she tells me with a rehearsed worried look on her face, “ Dios mio, every day you walk in here you look skinnier and skinnier. Did your mom cook today?”
“Not today,” I lie, “She had to wake up early to go to some job interview.” This was partly true since my mom did go to an interview today, but she had woken up early to make gorditas for me so I can reheat. I lied not because my Nana wouldn’t have fed me, but because I’m a shy person when it comes to asking for stuff.
“ I’ll serve you some chicken soup. In the meantime, go wash your hands and wake up Ernesto.” she says. She must have a sixth sense because she knew I was starving.
I go through the narrow hall that has pictures of my extended family and into the small bathroom. After I wash my hands, I go to the only bedroom in the house. It doesn’t even have a door but one of those hippie type door beads. There Ernesto is lying on the twin bed that my mom and I saved a whole year for to give to Nana. What kind of man makes his 63 year old mother sleep on the floor? He’s turns 24 next month and he still burdens my Nana. He seems to be sleeping peacefully and, naturally, I have to wake him up in the most obnoxious way possible. I walk over to his favorite boombox and enter his Dr. Dre2001 CD. I press track 11, turn the knob to full volume and book it to the kitchen.
A minute later he walks into the kitchen and asks me with his eyebrows cocked, “ When are you going to grow up?”
Jesus, what a hypocrite.“ When YOU get a job and move out your mom’s house.” I reply. A smirk appears on my face because I am amazed I am able to reply so quickly.
“Can you guys stop fighting and eat?” Nana says putting down two bowls of chicken soup on the table, “Don’t let it get cold.”
I go at the soup like I hadn't eaten in months. I finished in at most 5 minutes for sure and as I pick up the bowl to my face and drink any soup that remains my phone rings. I pick it up and this is the conversation I had with my homieTre:
Me: Hey wassup
Tre: Bro where you at? I told you we were gunna hit the house today.
Me: Shit that was today?
Tre: Yeah man they out of town just for today. You need to be here ASAP
Me: Aight I’ll be over there in 10 minutes.
Tre: Aight see you.
I put the bowl in the sink and I give mm mmy grandma a kiss on the cheek. I throw a napkin I used to wipe my mouth at Ernesto and get out of there. As I swing open the gate, I take out 20 bucks from my wallet and put it in my grandma’s mailbox. She never accepts my money when I try to give it to her so I just leave it there. I make my way to the 2789 Rosecrans.
I approach the car parked across the street from the house that contains 5 of my homies. It’s Tre’s car, a beat up Impala. I greet them with our usual handshake and I notice that the Smiley, the biggest thief of our group isn’t there. “Where’s Smiley?” I ask Tre
“He’s trying to pick the lock”, he replies robotically, “Oh yeah, forgot to tell you. We’re going in through the backdoor.” Me and my crew had been watching that house for almost a month. Some old rich dude lived there. I guess he thought the best way for not to get robbed is to live in a modest house in Compton.
Snorlax, the obese guy of our group, says he got the message from Smiley saying that he’s in. “Alright, let’s do this” says Tre. He has the voice of the guy from the Allstate commercials even though he’s only 17, probably why no one questions his leadership.
We all put on black ski masks and gloves and Snorlaxhandes us garbage bags. My hand is shaking. I always get like this before we do something stupid. I light up another cigarette which seems to calm me for now. “You guys know the deal. If it looks like gold take it.” says Tre. He seems to be the only calm and collected one.
I’m assigned to the guy’s bedroom. For a 200-year old man, this guy has very unusual interests. He has a PS3 in his room with like 20 games. I bag that as well as a 3 gold watches. He has many pictures on his room, showcasing his travels around the world. There’s one where he’s about to base jump off of the Sears Tower. The frame looks like gold so I put that in the bag as well.
A gunshot from the living room made me drop the vase I was admiring. I am frozen, for I can’t think of a possible reason as to why a gun would go off in our stealthy mission. “ What the fu** did you do?!” I hear Tre yell. I run to the scene and that’s when I see one of my homies, Flaco, holding a gun and Smiley on the floor in a pool of blood with red on his white tee. He was shot in the heart.
“ I was just playing around with him,” Flaco says, “I thought the safety was on.” His voice is shaking and his eyes are watery. “It was an accident! It was an accident!” he says falling to his knees know, hugging Smiley’s body.
“Where the hell did you get the gun?” I ask him, I had been able to hold back tears, but when I ask this question I let it all loose.
“We found it in the guestroom nightstand”, he says never taking his eyes off Smiley’s lifeless eyes.
“We need to get out of here”, says Tre, even he cannot stop from crying.
We drop our garbage bags and run for the door. I notice that Flaco isn’t doing the same and I tell him, “Let’s go the 5-0 is gunna be here any second!”
“ Just go”, he says in a hushed monotone voice.
I don’t try to convince him. He deserves to be caught. One basic rule in our crew, morality wise, is never kill.
I bust the front door open and I get in the car. That’s when we hear the second gunshot. Flaco killed himself.
“What the hell are we going to do?!” says Snorlax, “We just killed somebody. Flaco and Smiley are dead!”
“We gotta go to my uncle,” says Tre, “he works at the junkyard and he could take this car apart. Somebody prolly saw it.”
We’re on the 105 freeway now. I don’t know how we got there and i don’t think Tre, who’s driving, knows how either. We’re just trying to get as far away as possible from the horrible scene. “We’re going to prison for sure.” say’sSnorlax, “Somebody probably saw us before we went in.”
“We gonna be fine!” yelled Tre. You can hear the uncertainty in his voice. I choose to believe Snorlax. I am convinced there is no way out of what just happened.
At this point Tre is doing 85 mph. “ Yo dude, slow down.” I tell him. “Don’t tell me to slow down! How am I supposed to slow down after wh--”
“Watch out!” yelled Snorlax. The guy in front of us slowed down suddenly and we were about to hit him. Tre swerved to the right into the rail. We were in the air for an eternity. We landed upside down next to a tree. The last thing I remember before passing out is the smell of gasoline.
They all died. I was the only one who wore my seat belt. I was convicted to 25 to life. I hope no one else commits the same mistakes as I did. I regret everything. I am a product of Compton.
Hub City Analysis Questions
- Cite and describe two instances where internal monologue was used to develop the character of the protagonist.
- Cite and describe one instance where internal monologue was used to develop another character.
- Notice the phone conversation on the third page. How would you contrast that conversation with all the rest of the dialogue in the story?
- Observe that at the end of the story, as they are making their getaway, the story includes more quotations and action and less internal monologue. How does this affect the speed of the story?