BASKETBALL:

ONCE A DREAM

There I was thinking nothing but the fact that me and my pals had a game that day, and that nothing could stop saint John's Basketball would win those playoffs. Anyway I was there just practicing the moves and the passes for about 3 hours. On Saturday I usually wake up at about 5:00 in the morning, get my basketball and head towards the old court in Brooklyn center.

I saw three people coming towards my way. I stopped bouncing the ball and held it in my arm, it was just Cindy, Billy and Lascol. Billy and Lascol are my best buds I know them since birth, well almost since birth, my mom already knew there moms ere I was born so she took her newborn only son to check out her best friends newborns. Why not right!

Cindy is my girl-friend I know her since the fourth grade, and I love her since then too. She's just beautiful she has long black curly hair. You're probably thinking "gee she must be ugly" I mean wait till you see her.

I'm writing this for one reason for people to understand. They were there for one reason, to escort me to the game, that game was the bomb whoever missed it was out of the team. Even Jimmy (me), Billy, and Lascol who fans used to call the three tyrants. In Jersey. We were simply the best catholic high school team in New York City.

I held the ball in one arm and Cindy was wrapped around me and I holding her with the right arm. The game was at about 8 or so, it was 7:23 which I remember well I mean who wouldn't. On the way we passed through an alley which had three twelve or thirteen year old boys sniffing dope in, can you believe it.

As soon as we appeared at there site they started calling our mother's ... you know shit they shouldn't . Today I don't like cursing now after what happened I became what ere I would call a goody-goody . Well we took it personally way to personally we kicked there sorry asses bad they started running and left all that dope lying around. We got it but we weren't quite sure what it was. Again you're probably thinking that I'm stupid but in 1981 we didn't have all that D A R E and all that keep kid's off drugs jive. It didn't have to happen but I asked to Billy "What's it smell like, Cow crap?" he sniffed it and sniffed it way to hard it went straight to his brain, he said it was good so we all ended up sniffing it. It didn't have to happen but it did, now our young and once perfect lives were wasted. We lost the game because we ended up sniffing it for fours hours. I had lost all my chances of playing college Basketball and I wasn't even worried about it.

After that life was great each time you sniffed it you would feel light so light that you would think you were naked flying freely across the wondering airs. But trust me it's not worth the sin.

One perfect day we were buying cocain off some Spanish guy with no money. So this was the plan as soon as he gave us the dope we would run like crazy. The guy had a 9mm. He fired the bullet when right straight trough Cindy's head. We saved ourselves but she didn't. It didn't have to happen but it did. The next thing I did was what any driven by love human my age would, I went to the top of a 6 story building prayed and leaped. The next day I woke up in a hospital, I guess I got unconscious. That's until I heard it, I was paralyzed. It didn't have to happen but it did.

Jimmy's Mother

Jimmy DiMaldini died in 1988

some drug dealers came back

because of debts and killed him

one of them was called Alberto

Passos a Spanish Guy.

Lascol died of overdose in 79 the

day before he was going to the NBA

We never quite found out what happened

to Billy, cops found his body in the

railroad tracks striped naked.

Cindy and Jimmy are still around

I visit them every Sunday in

the Brooklyn cemetery. Right next

to each other like it was always ment to

BE