Free Breaking Brooklyn by Scott Leopold

Later in life, she told me that she
found it very attractive that I was so crazy about her.

Cindy

Chapter Eight
    “Children begin by loving their
parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive
them.”
~ Oscar Wilde
    Cindy Napier’s Diary
    November 14, 1987
    Jack is 8 years old now and I'm struggling to
keep him from running wild. I work at the Knights of Columbus as a
cocktail waitress and Jack is home alone. My mother has offered to
keep Jack, but I'm not about to let her dig her claws in him. He's
my son, not hers.
    I'm very upset that my father cannot stay
sober enough to watch him for a few hours at night. He says he
loves me, but I can never rely on him. All he does is drink now
that he’s unemployed. When his friends come over he gets so drunk
he asks me to flash my tits for them. I only do it to shut him up.
What kind of father does that? His friends are starting to notice.
I overheard one of them say, "I think Bob's got a thing for his
daughter." If they only knew.
    My father hasn’t paid the rent in months. Now,
the landlord is threatening to evict us. I don’t know what we are
going to do.
    November 20, 1987
    Jack brought home a live turkey the other day
and was storing it in our basement without telling me. I know this
because I found the damn thing at 6 am when it started gobbling.
The sound was so loud! When I woke I had a wicked hangover. I’m
pretty sure my father did too. Actually, I’m surprised he made it
home from the Alley Cat last night.
    At first we had no idea what was making the
noise. Then my father looked in the basement and sure enough there
it was, a full sized turkey in a cage. Jack ran downstairs claiming
he won it in some kind of art contest. That kid sure has a wild
imagination! I have no idea where he got such a pet, but it’s not
the first time he has brought home a stray. Although, a turkey is a
new one for me.
    Jack gets so attached to his stray pets it
makes it hard for me to get rid of them. I'm struggling to take
care of him, let alone a bunch of wild animals.
    March 1, 1988
    Jack really did it this time. He befriended a
stray cat that's been hanging around the back door. He named him
Tom, probably after the cat in the cartoon “Tom & Jerry”.
Jack's been feeding and giving it milk every day. I even caught the
damn thing in bed with him. When I threw the Tom out the back door
Jack begged and pleaded with me to let him keep him.
    He was so sincere and those little tear-soaked
blue eyes tugged at my heart. I agreed to let him keep feeding the
cat as long as he didn't bring him into the house anymore. This
arrangement was working well until the Tom came up missing. Jack
was beside himself. He was starting to panic. I didn’t understand
it, but I truly felt bad for him. He was clearly in love with
Tom.
    Then one morning two police officers stopped
by to question me about a stolen cat. When I went up to Jack’s room
to ask him about it, Tom was in bed with him. I was
furious!
    Then all hell broke loose. Molly, one of the
neighbors, accused Jack of breaking into her apartment and stealing
her cat. First of all, the cat was a stray and not hers. But Jack
did open her window and take it back. I know he didn't know what he
was doing, but it was still considered breaking and entering. When
the police questioned my father things went from bad to worse. Next
thing you know, Child Protective Services was taking Jack into
custody. I wanted to fight it but we are on our way to being
evicted anyway. I’m not about to let my mother take him. So Jack
going to a foster home is not such a bad thing. This will give me
time to figure out how to pay the rent. Maybe I can even get a
roommate now.

Chapter Nine
    “Until one has loved an animal a
part of one's soul remains unawakened.”~Anatole France

    Jack Napier - Day 20
    As a child I held little trust for adults -
kids either, for that matter. I found the most loyal and honest
friends to be animals. So I brought home a