Basketball Brothers

Sixteen year olds Ricky Douglas and Thomas Brooks lived in the same apartment complex in addition to attending the same school. Despite being neighbors and seeing one another pretty much every day they had never gotten to know one another. Ricky had a stable/loving environment as he lived with his parents. Thomas on the other hand had a much different home life. He lived with his maternal grandparents who took him in after his parents were killed in an automobile accident when he was just six years old. They had also opened their home to their 35 year old ex-convict son Jason, who had been released from prison two years earlier after serving a ten year sentence for robbery. Jason displayed very little effort towards finding a place of his own. Additionally he constantly had a revolving door of questionable characters visiting the apartment at any given time.

Despite their very different circumstances they had something in common – they both loved the game of basketball. Ricky was a member of the school’s basketball team. Thomas had the talent to play, however, he didn’t have the money to pay the fees to participate. Although they only knew one another casually, they would speak on occasion. One day Ricky was heading to the basketball court in their apartment complex when he saw Thomas walking towards him. “Hey man. I’ve seen you around. You want to go with me to the court and shoot for a while?” asked Ricky. “I can do that” answered Thomas. The two of them headed for the basketball court and began to shoot and engage in casual conversation. “My name’s Ricky. What’s your name bro?” “Thomas. My name is Thomas. I’ve seen you around school. You must be pretty good. I hear a lot of people talking about your game.” “I guess so. I appreciate that. You come to any games?” “Not really. Don’t have time to. Besides it costs to get in.” “I hear you. If I wasn’t playing I probably wouldn’t be going either. Tell you what. Let me talk to coach and see if we can get you to be a team manager or something. That way you could go to all the games.”

Ricky asked the coach what it would take for Thomas to serve as a team manager. The coach knew he needed to check Thomas’ grades before giving him a thumbs up. Upon doing so he learned that Thomas’ grade point average was below the eligibility level. Without letting him know what he found out the coach told Ricky the answer was no. Ricky was devastated by this news but he knew he would have to let Thomas know the coach had said no. Finally the school day came to an end and Ricky made it his business to find Thomas. “Thomas, I need to talk to you man.” “What’s up Rick?” “I’ma get straight to it. I talked to coach earlier today and he said he couldn’t let you be the team manager. You in some kind of trouble or something?” “I ain’t in no trouble. He probably said no because of my grades.” “Your grades?” “Yeah. They ain’t the best.” “Maybe I can help you with that. What subject is giving you the most problems?” “To tell you the truth none of my subjects are giving me problems. It’s what’s going on at home.” “What’s going on at home?” “My grandparents let my uncle come live with us when he got out of jail. He has all these dudes coming and going and it stresses me out. Ain’t nothing happened. Yet. And I don’t want it to. I don’t trust his ‘friends’”. “I didn’t know it was like that. Let me talk to my dad about it.” “Don’t sweat it. It ain’t your problem.” “It is now. We’re friends… aren’t we?” “Yeah, I guess we are friends. Can’t say I ever had a friend before. Not a real friend anyway.” “Well you got one now.” Ricky and Thomas dapped and went their separate ways. Ricky was determined to find a solution to help make things better for his new friend.

Ricky went home and talked to his parents about Thomas’ situation. He told them about how he and Thomas had befriended one another while walking to the basketball court, his poor grades which led to him being turned down from possibly being the manager for the basketball team, and lastly his home life. “Thomas has a lot going on doesn’t he. He sounds like a good young man that is trying to do the right thing. Bring him over so we can talk with him” said Mr. Douglas. “Okay dad, I will. I appreciate you guys. Thanks.” “Our pleasure son.” Ricky let Thomas know that his parents wanted to talk with him so they could see what kind of help they could provide. “Man why you telling people my business? I shouldn’t have said nothing! I thought you were my friend!!!” “Thomas I want to help and I am your friend. If I wasn’t I wouldn’t have talked to coach about you becoming team manager or gone to my parents. I want to help you man so please let me.” “Alright I guess so. Like I said before I ain’t never had a real friend. The people that I thought were my friends kicked me to the curb when they saw I couldn’t give them anything or do something for them. This is new to me.” “ I ain’t like that. Like I said I want to help.”

Thomas agreed to speak with Ricky’s parents. The four of them sat down to discuss things when Mr. Douglas suggested the following: “Thomas we want to help you as much as we can. Let’s include your grandparents and we’ll put our heads together to see what ideas we can come up with.” “Cool. I’ll let them know you want to talk to them. I’ll have them come here cause I don’t bring no company to our place.” “I understand.”

A few days later Thomas and his grandparents Floyd and Estelle Simmons went to Ricky’s house so they could all sit down to talk. Mrs. Douglas greeted them. “Hello everyone and welcome to our home. I’m Ricky’s mother Sarah, and this is my husband Earl. It’s nice to meet you.” “Thank you for inviting us to come over. We appreciate it” answered Mr. Simmons. The six of them sat down and began to talk when Mr. Douglas made a suggestion that shocked everyone: “You folks might think I’m crazy and I haven’t talked with my wife about this, but what if Ricky moved in with us?” Sarah broke the stunned silence shared by everyone in the room. “Earl are you serious and are you sure?” “Yes honey I’m sure but I have to respect your feelings and Mr. and Mrs. Simmons’ as well.” After a few moments of silence Mr. Simmons replied. “Mr. Douglas I didn’t know what to expect when I came here, and having you suggest that my grandson move in with you certainly wasn’t on my mind. That being said I want what’s best for Thomas. Let me and my wife talk it over and get back to you shortly.” “Understood” replied Mr. Douglas.

A week passed and no decision had been reached regarding Thomas moving in with the Douglas Family. One morning Ricky and Thomas met outside to go to school. “What’s up Rick. Your parents said anything to you?” “Nope. Your grandparents said anything?” “Not yet. I hope they say yes cause I’m ready to be out. My uncle has all these different dudes coming in and out and I’m tired of living like that.” “I hear you. It’s going to work out.”

Another week went by with no decision having been made. Thomas was anxious and wanted to hear something. Anything at this point. “Man I wish they would make up their mind. I’m tired of this and might just bounce.” Although he had nowhere to go he didn’t want to continue living at his grandparents home with his uncle being there. “It’s too much. I’m tired of it. I’m out.” Feeling as if he had no other options Thomas left home.

The next morning after realizing Thomas hadn’t come home the previous night, Mr. and Mrs. Simmons rushed over to the Douglas’ home. “Good morning. We hate to bother you but Thomas didn’t come home last night. Please tell us he’s over here.” “I don’t think so but let me make sure” answered Mr. Douglas. He went to ask Ricky if he had seen Thomas. Unfortunately he hadn’t. “Ricky hasn’t seen him Mr. Simmons. We need to call the police.” Mr. Douglas called the police to file a missing persons’ report as they sat down to figure out their next move. Ricky was worried and brainstorming as to where Thomas could possibly be.

The day went by at a snail’s pace as Ricky couldn’t focus on anything other than where Thomas could be. Although they had grown pretty close over the past couple of months, Ricky didn’t know of any other friends or family he might have been with. “Where could he be?!?” thought Ricky. He racked his brain trying to come up with something. Anything to help him figure out where his friend was. “I sure hope that he’s okay and more importantly that he comes back soon.”

Night fell and there was no sign of Thomas. “The police said they don’t have reports of him being in any hospitals in the area so at least we can assume he’s not hurt” said Mr. Douglas. “Nonetheless he needs to come home. Everyone is worried.” Knowing that the only option they had was to wait that’s what they did. Wait. It was agonizing but there was nothing else they could do. Ricky laid in his bed staring at the ceiling hoping his friend would come home. Then suddenly his phone rang. “Hello?” “Rick, it’s Thomas.” “Where are you?” “I’m at a homeless shelter. I had to go. It seemed like the walls were closing in on me and I just had to bounce.” “Give me the address. My dad and I will come to pick you up.” “You don’t have to do that. I just wanted to let somebody know because I know my grandparents are probably freaking out.” “We all are freaking out and want you back home. Please let me know where you are so we can come get you.” “I’m good.” Thomas hung up immediately. Ricky burst into the living room where his parents were to tell them he had just spoken with Thomas. “You talked to Thomas? Where is he?” asked Mr. Douglas. “He’s at a homeless shelter but he didn’t say which one. He said he is good but I believe he wants to come home.” With that Mr. Douglas grabbed his keys and went to every shelter he could to find Thomas. At shelter number four he finally found him. “Thomas! Your grandparents are worried sick. We all are. Come on son and let me take you home.” Thomas left with Mr. Douglas to return to his grandparents’ apartment.

Upon arriving at the Simmons’ home, Thomas’ grandparents of course wanted to know why he ran away. “Grandma I know you and grandpa love me and are doing your best. It’s just that I hate when ‘Unc’ has those people over here all the time. It keeps me on edge. I don’t know if something might jump off and it just doesn’t feel good. Enough was enough and I just had to leave to clear my head that’s all.” “Well son you’re right we do love you. We love your uncle as well. If you feel it’s best and Mr. Douglas’ offer still stands then we will consent to you moving in with the Douglases.” “Yes the offer still stands. Thomas you can come now if you’d like.” “I appreciate it Mr. Douglas. I know things will be better for me if I can be in a different environment.” “I hope you’re right son. We’ll do our best to make you as comfortable as possible.” Thomas grabbed his belongings, hugged his grandparents and thanked them before leaving with Mr. Douglas to move into his new home.

At the Douglas apartment, Ricky and his mother anxiously awaited his father’s return. To their surprise Thomas was with him. “Well family I have an announcement. Thomas is going to be moving in with us.” Upon hearing Mr. Douglas’ statement, tears began to flow. “I want to say thank you for letting me move in with ya’ll. I appreciate it and will do my best not to be a burden to you.” “You’re welcome son. We’re glad to have you and will do all we can to help you” replied Mrs. Douglas. Ricky welcomed Thomas into his new home and took him to what was now their room to get settled. As he got incorporated into the fabric of his new home, Thomas saw improvement in his grades and their friendship grew into a brotherhood. Ricky and Thomas were now lifelong friends that had been drawn together by their mutual love for the game of basketball.