Raining in Baltimore-(Adam Duritz) Counting Crowes

It was raining like cats and dogs outside when my brother Carlos called me up at 9am to ask me when I was coming over my sister’s house to bring my half of the money for my nephew’s birthday present. He told me that they can’t make a move until I come over there. When I finally got there at 3 in the afternoon my brother was fast asleep with his head back snoring away in a living room chair. They (my sister, nephew, niece, and cousin) did everything they could to wake him up. They called his name, shook him, poured water on him ,slammed the door, even pried open his eyes to wake him. Nothing it seemed could wake him. He was like the Rasputin of sleep. I later learned that he came over my sister’s house straight from working a double shift and had washed down his allergy medicine with vodka. In between snoring he made an odd little hiccup sound. Needless to say Carlos was out like a light. He did’nt wake up until later that night.

It was kind of odd to find my cousin Kip over my sister’s house. To be quiet honest I’m a little afraid of him. He’s kind of like the official black sheep of the family. Whenever I got in trouble with bullies at school I would simply tell them I was Kip’s cousin and they would immediately leave me alone no questions asked. It was like my own little magical mantra against bullies. If you have’nt guessed it by now Kip is on the shady side and he knows people. My father would often complain that he did’nt know why people went into that line of work. He would say, “You don’t get no retirement benefits or anything. You got nothing to show for it when you get old.” Anyway my little nephew has become quiet taken with his outlaw cousin and the stories that he tells. So much that he insists that Kip come along with us to buy the Playstation. When I told my Dad he simply rolled his eyes at the idea.

In the end my nephew decided on getting a Sega Genesis instead of a Playstation 2. This was much to the chagrin of his other sister Alexis. Alexis had her heart set on a Playstation 2 in the house. She wanted it mainly because you can play DVD’s and cd’s on it along with games. She said it’s not only a game it’s an entertainment system! Alexis is a skinny 18 year old college freshman who’s into clothes and talking endlessly on her cell phone. She has one requirement for the summer job that she is looking for and that is that it be one where she can look good all day.

The reason my little nephew flip-flopped was because the Genesis was on sale used for 70 bucks and he could pocket the rest of his birthday loot on joysticks game cards, additional games, and whatever he pleased. When we got to the mall we learned that they were sold out and would’nt be getting another shipment until tommorrow. My nephew who was feeling like King of the World was a little upset about this snag in his day. Kip reminded him that he was lucky because he knew that the Genesis was coming to him besides there were probably kids out there still playing with Atari’s. We all laughed at what Kip said and headed back in the rain over my sister’s place to have his 11th birthday party.