He looked at his daughter sleeping peacefully in her bed and knew he was doing the right thing. He bent over and kissed her lightly on her check, then backed slowly out of the room, closing the door behind him. With a heavy sigh, he walked down the long narrow hallway of the trailer. The gun was already in a bag beside the door; he picked it up and walked out.

        As always it was loud and busy outside A&W. Cars were moving in and out nearer the restaurant, but nearer the street, the cars were sitting, some silent, some with their engines revving.  Beside them the bikes were lined up… crotch rockets for the racers who were waiting for the word that it was ok to street race. And the Harley Davidsons being guarded by fierce looking men. The bass beat of hip hop music, the twang of steel guitars, and the screaming sounds of hard rock were the backdrop for the painting of life on Whyte Avenue.  A war was being fought for the ears of passer-bys as one stereo tried to drown out another. Instead of a feeling of chaos, this comforted Marshall
as he walked up to meet his friends.
        “Hey, what up dawg?” Kelly yelled at him. Marshall grinned. Blonde haired, blue eyed Kelly wanted nothing more than to be a black gang banger, like in the movies, but Edmonton certainly wasn’t New York or Los Angeles of Detroit.
        “It’s the Eminem show”” Steve yelled and Marshall cringed a bit… the nick-name had been okay at first, but then Marshall had actually listened to the album and it was just too real.  

        Marshall skipped the greetings. He watched the college kids walk by and wished for their carefree spirits. Snippets of conversation wafted towards him “George Bush is such a…”; “Did you believe that chem. Test…”; “… Cam looked…” and then they were gone, down to the party spots, perhaps to Blues on Whyte or maybe just to hang out in front of 7-11 with a Slurpee in their hands.
        “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked, and looked closely at his two friends. “I gotcha back” Kelly said. Steve simply nodded. The air hung heavily around them. Each must have known that this was the only chance to stop. Soon the puck would drop and it would be game on, without any time-outs for passing cars.  
        The late-evening sun was setting… it was just past ten o’clock on a warm spring Friday evening, on Whyte avenue in two thousand and three. The sidewalks were
full of people, artsy folks hawking their wares, a busker was setting up shop on the corner, the Edmonton City Police were just starting to make their appearance. Hanging out on the corners as they do every Friday and Saturday throughout the spring and
summer, giving tickets for jaywalking, arresting the more belligerent of the drunks, and keeping order through presence alone.  Shops were closing up, and the patios at the bars and restaurants were filled.

            The air had the electric quality it does when people crowd together. Car horns honked, and the traffic on the street moved slowly, because on Whyte Avenue you are there to be seen, not to get anywhere. Girls wearing halter tops were hanging off their boyfriends. Marshall noticed a drop of ice cream fell from a cone onto one girls arm, and her boyfriend licked it off. The couple walked away laughing. Marshall felt a tinge of anger swelling in his chest. He pushed it down. Though she looked like Cerah, she wasn’t Cerah was gone and had been for a year now. Marshall did not even question what kind of a mother would abandon her own child. After all, Marshall’s own mother had never been there. Sure they had lived in the same house, but his mother was always more
interested in her boyfriend, and her bottle than she was in her children. His mother had abandoned him and he had lived in the same house with her for 19 years. His daughter’s mother had abandoned them in body as well as soul. Marshall bit down on the inside of his lip. He knew better than to follow this thought he knew its bitter end too well.

“You ok man?” It was Kelly. Marshall nodded but knew that Kelly did not believe him. They had been friends for too long. Another crew of University students walked by. This group was all sporting U of A Golden Bears shirts. They were talking vibrantly with their hand expressing as much of the conversation as their words. Marshall turned his head and allowed his eyes to longingly follow their path. Kelly put a hand on Marshall’s shoulder. “They’re probably the same age as me” Marshall whispered. Kelly just nodded.  “Good homes means good kids.” Again Kelly nodded. “I mean if you have the money, you can give your kids anything, and they come out better’n you right?”

 He looked back and forth to Steve and Kelly. They just looked back at him. “What’s happening to you man?” It was Steve. “We turned out okay.”  Sweet innocent Steve who thought things would never change. Beautiful optimistic Steve who always believed things were good.  How Steve managed to make it to his 21st birthday last month Marshall was not sure of it. Steve just didn’t get things. Steve trusted everyone and was often taken for a ride. “I mean we ain’t got no money or anything, but we ain’t criminals either.” Again a silence as each contemplated the evening’s plans. Marshall wondered if Steve even understood what they were getting into.

“I’m stoked!” Kelly said trying to cheer everyone up. “I just got promoted to shift manager.” He flashed his grin. Shift manager, that’s as far as Kelly had made it at Dairy Queen, Burger King, Taco Time, and now McDonalds. “Guess it’s time to start looking for another job!”

“How come you never keep a job after you make shift manager?” Steve asked.

“’Cause I don’t like the responsibility.”

“You should be the head guy at some big company, you’re pretty smart.”

“Too much work.”

“Yeah, but you’d have the big house and all the hot chicks you wanted.”

Marshall tuned the conversation out. Kelly had been offered a full scholarship to U of A Faculty of Business, and turned it down. It was too much work. It wasn’t so much that Kelly was lazy, he always had a job, and he always worked hard at it. Marshall knew that Kelly was too afraid of failure. Kelly’s dad had pushed him down so many times for being smart that Kelly it destroyed Kelly’s confidence, so instead he’d start a job, work his way up to shift manager, then look for something else. It was his way of never failing – by never trying.

Marshall remembered the conversation they had when Kelly tried to convince him to take the scholarship and become “Kelly Davidson”. Marshall wanted to go to university so bad that he almost took him up on the offer, but he had a new baby and a job and was in love with the baby’s mom. He was 17 and so young. Now three years later he wished he would have taken Kelly up on the offer. He would be just about finished university now, maybe Cerah would have stayed. He could give Melissa a life. If he had an education. If he had money. If  he had a better place to live. If… If… If… Marchall closed his eyes. That was what tonight was about. And if nothing else, he had good friends. Friends who would risk it all for him. He was lucky.

Kelly looked around. “I guess we should ge to this.” He said. Steve, suddenly serious asked “Do you really think this will work?” To which Kelly replied, “It had better.”

“I don’t know guys,” Marshall said. “I feel like I am pushing you into this. Really, it would be better if I did it alone.”

“Nah man, We’re your brothers!” Steve grinned. “Besides, I wasn’t doing anything tonight anyway.”

The plan was simple. They had five stores chosen, two Macs, a 7-11, a Winks, and an Esso Station. All were in nice residential areas, and all were busy on hot summer days. They figured that because it was the weekend no-one would have been to the bank and the cash would be on hand. During on e of Kelly’s many jobs he had worked at the Esso station that had taken in an average of seven thousand dollars per shift on weekends. Kelly knew they were very lax about their safe and it usually was left unlocked. The Esso would be saved for last, so they could get the most money possible from it. Marshall would rollerblade up to the store, and go inside, and make like he was buying some coke or something… then Steve would come in acting drunk. When the clerk started to pay attention to Steve, Marshall would pull the gun out and demand the money. They all dressed like skaters, with bandanas over their heads, and Kelly, being the genius he was rigged up some fake tattoos and piercing. It was the entire disguise they figured they needed, after all they all were just average looking enough to not really need a disguise. Marshall insisted that the gun was empty though. He didn’t want to hurt anyone.