“Thank you, Aubrie, for that reporting. We turn now to some different news. Moments ago, all-star Chicago Bulls point guard Darcy Callahan and his cousin, an equally famous pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, Sedric Callahan retired, shocking many as both of them seem to be at the height of their careers. Their reason? Life is more than the game. After recent events, they both have decided to take up humanitarian works. Here is their press conference,” the reporter stated, and I had to give it him. It was a smooth transition. I lifted my chin for the barber, the blade gliding over my cheek.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming,” Darcy said into the microphones, dressed in jeans and a basic t-shirt. Darcy looked at Sedric, who sat to Darcy’s right. Sedric nodded, signaling he was ready. Darcy continued, “Over the last few weeks, many of you have witnessed the great many tragedies that have befallen our city and, more personally, our family. It’s been a hard year, and in times of hardship, my grandmother says to pause, reflect, regain your footing, and find the strength to walk on your path. When I first began playing with the Bulls, I thought there was nothing more I could ever want in life…I was living my dream. But now my dream has changed…which is why I’ve decided to retire from the Chicago Bulls and begin a new organization, the R.I.S.E Coalition, aimed at helping underprivileged communities rebuild themselves.”
The cameras flashed as Darcy paused, allowing Sedric to speak. Sedric crossed his arms, leaning forward, still chewing his gum as he spoke. “I’m also retiring from the Cubs to partner with my cousin.”
Sedric preferred short, direct conversations with people who weren’t family. This often made him seem cold to people who didn’t know him…in reality, he was kind of like his dad, always ready to provide comic relief…which was probably why he and I got along.
“Is this just a publicity stunt to distract from the rumors surrounding your family?” one of the reporters asked before Sedric could lean back.
“What rumors?” Sedric asked, cracking his jaw to the side. “You all make up a new one every week. I’m a little behind on my gossip.”
I snickered. Darcy spoke up before anyone could answer Sedric’s question. “Our grandmother almost died in a terrorist attack, our cousin-in-law passed. You never know when you could lose your life, and I just want my life to be more than being a Callahan or a baller. So you could say we are having a quarter-life crisis…you can call it a publicity stunt…whatever, to make the world a little bit better than the way we found it.”
“Or a little worse,” I whispered under my breath.
“I really can’t believe it. I was betting the Bulls were going to take the playoffs next year,” one of the customers in the barber shop behind me said, staring up at the screen.
“I’m calling bullshit. Ain’t no way talented fellas like them just up and quit to help people,” another man in the chair farther down from us said.
“What, you think they were forced out?”
“Ha! You man, Jerry. There’s no way anyone could force a Callahan to go if they don’t wanna go. Those people run this place—”
“You heard of the shooting last night? Some people are saying the Callahans were the ones who called them hits,” another one whispered to the group of loud mouths over near the corner window, though it could hardly be called a whisper since I could so clearly hear them.
“Aww, man, you really believe those old rumors? That the Callahan family is part of the mafia? People been saying that since my father was a boy, and yet not a single person has proved it. They’re just stupidly rich.”
Yeah, us mafia? Gasp. Never. I fucking loved barber shops. It was like having an ear in the homes of normal, everyday people.
“Where you think that money came from, Jimmy? Huh? I’m telling you. Drugs. They built this city on drug money and been paying off cops and politicians for decades. That’s why they ain’t never been caught. Everyone is working for them.”
“Okay, Jerry.” Jimmy? I think it was Jimmy who was speaking, but who goddamn knew. “If they got everyone in their pocket, why was it the police commissioner, the mayor, and governor all targeted? If they really wanted them dead, those people would long be dead.”
It’s true, though.
“They probably crossed them, and it was a warning!”
Oh, this Jerry guy is good.
“Ain’t Ethan Callahan lose his wife recently? How’d that happen then, huh? Did they get into drug war at the airport?”
Well…it wasn’t really that far off.
“Who knows. But it’s possible. They are mafia, not gods!”
“Allegedly,” I finally spoke up when my barber, Ailín, moved to the mirror, grabbing the alcohol for my face. It was like everyone but Ailín froze as I spun around in the chair. Looking over the wood paneling at the men at the window. “My family is allegedly part of the mafia, but as you said, Jimmy, the rumors have never been proven.”
They gawked as Ailín handed me a hot towel. I wiped my face with it and then my hands as Ailín took the drape off me. I rose from the black leather chair, handing him a hundred.
“I told y’all, the Callahans come sometimes,” Ailín said, tucking the bill into his back pocket. “But no, all of you called me crazy.”
“In their defense, Ailín, you are a bit crazy,” I teased. He even looked odd. He was short, no taller than 5’4”, but he had a very muscular frame despite his old age. He had this white mustache, which he twisted up at the ends like a late 1900s cowboy Western villain, and underneath that he had a thick snow-white beard, cut perfectly.
“One man’s crazy is another man’s genius,” Ailín said as he gazed up at me. He snapped his fingers like he remembered something. “The clippers you ordered came. I got
