This city, while full of the impoverished and sprinkled with some middle-class families and abandoned buildings has some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen. There’s literally nothing to do besides enjoy the beaches and parks, parking-lot-pimp, and walk or ride your bike to hang at your people’s crib. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to do much of either while growing up, and the sheltered life caused deep-rooted issues that I could never get a handle on.
My dad was a single parent. His wife, our mom, died from breast cancer a few short years after they adopted us. The area we grew up in was a little rough, but I didn't understand why we couldn't hang with friends or do normal kid stuff. We found random things to do at home, like create court cases. I'd always be the lawyer, and we'd dress Trav up to be the defendant. I remember our favorite character to dress him as was a robust old man who was always caught harassing the neighborhood kids and screaming at them to go home and do homework. We'd stuff a pillow under his shirt, make him wear suspenders and tie a white pillowcase around his head for gray hair.
