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officer
at the Board of Trade, and that his wife must have erroneously
packed his bag for his trip to Vegas.
    “Well, you’re changing the story. You reaffirmed
that you packed your own bag. What are we to believe?”
    “There’s a full explanation for this. Please, you
can call my wife. This is just a misunderstanding.”
    “We don’t listen to explanations. We have you on
tape trying to take a loaded gun into the terminal, we have
recorded your voice, and we have the gun. You need a good lawyer,
my friend. It will be in the district attorney’s hands now.”
    Marcus had no idea what was in store for him as they
led him out of the airport. He was headed to the weekend lockup at
Cook County.

Chapter Three. The Cousins

    Bobby Jones was a happy-go-lucky west side, black
kid. His loving grandmother stepped in to raise Bobby in the
absence of his mother. Life during elementary school was tolerable
despite the rough neighborhood in which they lived. Each block on
the west side had gang markings. These indicated the local gang’s
claim on that territory. Gangbangers regularly harassed Bobby, but
they never physically hurt him. It was harmless teasing. During
summer recruitment drives, they bought the neighborhood youngsters
ice cream and supported the local sports teams. Gangs courted the
block’s tenants with other goodies but most important was their
promise of protection against rival gangs. Bobby’s grandmother had
a love/hate relationship with the block’s punks. She loved the
protection from outside gangs they provided, but hated the
intimidation around the block. She hoped that Bobby could avoid a
short life expectancy by avoiding any gang affiliation. Perhaps,
she envisioned, after Bobby G. graduated from high school he might
find his way out to the safety of the nearby suburbs.
    Davis Fryer was Bobby’s cousin. He lived with his
family in the same apartment building as Bobby and his grandmother.
Davis’ mother was somehow related to Bobby’s dad, which had no
significance to either of them. Bobby never knew his dad – he
hardly knew his mom. “Grandmom” did the best she could to keep
Bobby focused on his school responsibilities, and occasionally
protected him from the gang’s benign teasing. Davis and Bobby
walked to school together from the time they ended up in the same
apartment building to the end of their school days. Davis struggled
in the early grades and by sixth grade, he was “one child left
behind”.
    Bobby Jones was a much better student than his
cousin was. He excelled in any subject that related to numbers,
logic/reasoning, and science. He loved to read stories about
sports. He could quote player statistics for each of the Chicago
Bulls six-championship teams: points, assists, average minutes,
rebounds and a host of other statistics for players such as Michael
Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, John Paxon, Toni Kukoc and
Dennis Rodman. Bobby had an exceptional memory and a capacity to
analyze numbers. Despite his academic talents, the educational deck
was stacked against him. Out of the hundreds of residents on his
apartment-filled block, none of them ever knew anyone who moved on
to college. Hardly any males from these circumstances ever made it
to their senior year. This was such a rough place that it boasted
more convicts than high school graduates. Pressure was intense to
join a gang after the bangers provided protection and garnered
favors with the youngsters.
    Older kids regularly chased Bobby and Davis off the
basketball courts at the end of the block. Kids had low priority.
Bangers always owned the court, first, next unemployed adults
hanging around the park, then the few teenagers still in high
school, and finally the local kids. The best time for the little
ones was right after school and during the normal dinner hour.
Bobby and Davis were regulars at the park even when they could only
watch the elders play. In return for running to the local
convenience store to fetch