Big Brother

Jerry was an older brother to me. My sister had been dating him for a couple years. He was a big fun-loving Samoan man. Usually, he was slightly reserved at family gatherings. He and my brother-in-law Kenny stuck together and brought out the personality in each other.

One day we were all hanging out in the front yard. Jerry started joking around with me, playfully punching my arm, and teasing me about my recent scrapings with the parents and the law over my use of marijuana. I was taking it in stride, blowing it off. Then, he tosses me a pack of zigzag rolling papers. I looked at him with a questioning glance. "What's this?" I inquired with raised eyebrows. I smiled as he burst into a deep belly laugh.

"We're going to go pick up some tickets to Fiji, wanna come?" His sisters and some cousins were with him. Fiji is a Polynesian band that happened to be coming to town. I knew the invitation was a cover for what was really going on. I ran in and told my mom I was running an errand with Jerry. In the car, it all came out. We were going to meet some guy to pick up a sack then he was going to smoke me out. It was a truce, he said. He had been the one recruited to search my room for my naive parents when they suspected I was using drugs. According to my family, and as far as they knew, he had smoked weed, but had quit and was now a good church-going guy. I had assumed the same. Only now did I know this was not the case. Only now did I know that he was the one that had been snooping through my room. Pieces were falling into place.

We met his guy, then drove in search of a place to partake in our goods. We settled with behind a grocery store near my parents house. It was late and we were sure no one would see us. We parked the car and head for the shadows created by the building.

I had a new alliance now. I had a new go-to guy.

Over the next few weeks, I began spending much more time with Jerry. He would drop my sister off late at night and drive down the street and call me. I would sneak out and go out with him until the early morning hours. When he wasn't with Kara, he was with me. He introduced me to all his friends as his little sister.

I was untouchable. I was Jerry's little sister.

I was in.