One Scene – Jonathan Kayumov

There was no “One Scene” category available, so I put it under student work.

I looked toward my uncle, and he seemed as if he hadn’t even noticed my presence yet. He was on the phone talking to one of his employees. When we made eye contact, he hung up the phone and without saying a word, he shifted his body to reach the car’s terminal and turned on the AC, beginning to play 50 Cent’s album “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” at a low, ambient volume.

After a brief squinted gaze, he addressed me, “So Johnny, I heard you got in trouble doing stupid shit in school. Wanna tell me why you took me away from work to pick you up?”

I muttered, “I got into a fight. Somebody pissed me off, so I punched him.” After he let me finish, he lightly slapped me on the back of the head and began to scream at me. I tuned out, so his screaming sounded like white noise to me, blending into the ambient music. After what felt like 2 minutes of screaming, he calmed down and collected himself.

He let out a loud sigh and began to slowly recline his seat back, causing the leather to make a long, drawn out squeaking noise. After a moment of awkward silence, he looked at me and said, “Yo Johnny, I’m sorry if I went a little hard on you. You know I only get like this cause I care, right?”

“I-It’s OK, I know I did something stupid, I messed up.”

“Good, at least you know. Listen, bro, I know it can be hard at times, but if you don’t carry yourself better, you’re not gonna be able to build yourself to be a powerful man. Remember, Johnny, there are three rules in life, and you’ve got to follow them. You can’t go starting stupid fights with stupid people; it makes you look stupid.”

He took out a notebook from the glovebox and began to write as he explained to me, “Look, the first rule is to never learn from your own mistakes, learn from the mistakes of others around you. You have to be observant and can never afford to make mistakes in the first place because you wont always get a second chance. The second one is to always surround yourself with people you eventually want to become. Make powerful friends because you’ll be grateful to have them when you need them. Finally, and this is most important, there is no definitive path in life. The only thing that matters is how you carve it and how you let your tools work for you. Don’t ever let others tell you how to live or what you can or can’t do. The only one responsible for your own mistakes and achievements is you and you alone. Take my advice, and I know you’ll be a great man one day.”

He handed me the notebook and said, “I want you to read what I wrote down, and by tomorrow, I’m going to quiz you.”