Am I My Brother's Keeper? by J.C. Benson

Author:J.C. Benson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jai Publishing House
Published: 2022-06-20T08:02:37+00:00

21

Principal’s Office

As Abraham had predicted, Justin called Jameson into an 8 a.m. meeting in his office downtown the following day. Jameson was annoyed that the meeting was so early, but Justin’s office was also in the penthouse of the building; their offices were many floors below.

Jameson did not believe one could lead people if they weren’t close to them. How could he feel the pulse of the staff if he was never close to them?

The disdain for Justin grew as he glanced throughout his office, pictures with celebrities, golf outings, dinners spread in multiple locations. His desk was in disarray with excel spreadsheets, rating sheets, and other papers randomly thrown around on his desk. He had no personal photos, no family pictures, and it looked as if he had never unpacked anything outside of his celebrity pictures in a blatant attempt, in Jameson’s mind, to gloat.

Jameson glanced outside the floor-to-ceiling walls into the distance. Downtown Pittsburgh is a stone’s throw from the old neighborhood. Rarely as a child would he and his family venture downtown; it was like a foreign territory. Banks, businesses, and town hall were all down there, yet it felt many miles away. Most times, when someone on his block was downtown, it wasn’t for anything good. They were either being booked for jail or working some menial job they hated and cursed as they took public transportation for their shift.

As he grew up, his father would take them downtown to experience something different from their neighborhood. They would see lawyers, judges, business people walking around eagerly and quickly. At times they would get strange looks, and it would make them feel out of place.

Jameson always remembered two things his father always told him: always look a man in the face when speaking and never move out of the way for someone walking down the street. The former is something that Jameson learned in the neighborhood; if you looked down when speaking, it meant you were either lying or unsure of yourself—neither of which would lead to any positive outcomes.

The latter Jameson never entirely understood until he was older. His father would always warn him about not being subservient to anyone; regardless of their race or stature, they were either a man or woman and no better than them. If he or his brother moved when walking down the street, their father would grab them and make them walk straight.

“If they don’t move for you, you don’t move either,” his dad would say.

Jameson could remember they would bump into someone several times, and their father never said excuse me unless they did. “Don’t let them disrespect you, if they do it once, you’ll never earn it back,” is another quote their father would echo to them repeatedly.

Now, as Jameson glanced out far over the neighborhood he grew up in, he wasn’t about to let Justin bump into him without getting bumped right back.

***

Justin opens the door and quickly walks to his desk, and sits. Jameson could

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