Epilogue

So, what happened to everybody? Three years later, here's the rundown: Picasso is locked up. He's serving 40 years in Menard for attempted murder. I still don't know whether he really did it or not. I need to write him. Junior graduated from Golder College Prep. He's working and in his first semester at Malcolm X College. He wants to be a cop. He applied for deferred action--his dad is in deportation hearing. I wrote a letter to the judge on his behalf saying he rehabbed a vacant eyesore and is raising three fine sons in this neighborhood. I wish every father in the hood was as stable, hardworking and decent as he is. Junior's younger brother is about to start Golder as a freshman next September. Peter Pan and his family lost their house to foreclosure. They moved way south. The younger kids were at Chavez for a year or so but they've basically vanished. The house was in terrible shape. The Resurrection Project bought the property and razed the house. It's now a fenced-in, vacant lot covered in gravel. Alicia and Tone-Loc moved to Joliet. Their younger cousins, two girls, are starting to be buddies with my son. Sarah's family bought Dawn's old house. That is the best news our block has had in the last three years, if you ask me. Of course, they saved my property values by buying the foreclosure next door and fixing it up into quite a pretty, landscaped property. It looks nicer than ours does. Sarah's two cousins live next door and the younger one is just six months older than my son. They play together when it's warm outside. There's a Chinese family living in the new construction house bought by the gay couple. I don't know if they rent it or own it. The Bradys are all still here. Two Brady girls are in college--one at North Park and one at Denison. Their cousin, Oldest Brady Boy, is still working on graduating from high school but I think he's gonna do it in June. His younger brother is doing really well--so well he's surprised himself. He's going camping for two weeks this summer. Dorothy has had a million health problems. She's now in a nursing home in Bronzeville. I went to see her a couple of times, but I haven't been there since before Christmas.