Fried Yellow Plantains – Chapter 1: First Peek (Part 2)

Written by @cerebralace and Illustrated by @deveerei

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Friend was too strong of a word to describe Joe Attah. On a scale that ranged from friend to enemy, Joe was a lot closer to an enemy given his envious, Machiavellian nature. He however offered an alternative view of life which was starkly different from that offered by Jake’s parents and co-workers. They would advise him to push forward and continue working until his arms and legs eventually fell off. On the other hand, Joe would tell him to stop working hard and instead work smarter. At any rate, he needed another opinion and called Joe later that week.  

He met up with Joe at a Chipotle near his house. As always, Jake was late to arrive and Joe had already gotten there in his nifty little red Mercedes. He hadn't seen Joe since Engineering but it didn't take long to spot the Ray Ban sunglasses, the red corduroy sports jacket and the dark blue jeans that horribly clashed with his red Oxford brogues.   

“Jake my man, you're early!” Joe exclaimed sarcastically as Jake walked into the Chipotle and found his frenemy already seated at a table.   

“Did you already order?” Jake asked as he started to assess the line of people waiting to order their burritos.  

“Nah man, I'm not hungry - take a seat,” Joe offered as he prodded the chair next to him with his feet. 

Jake took the seat and immediately wasted no time in telling Joe how depressed and unsatisfied he had been feeling lately. As Jake extracted every bitter and unfulfilled feeling from his mind, he watched Joe raise his eyebrows slightly and even curl his lip in a sneer.  

When Jake finally finished, Joe took his time to respond, pulling out his iPhone and answering a few text messages.  

“Well?” Jake asked, eager for Joe to quit stalling and tell him what he thought.  

“I told you didn't I? You shouldn't have gone to med school,” Joe hissed as he sat back in his chair, savoring his seat as if it were a throne. “You should have just gotten a job right after you got your Engineering degree or even after that Masters in Comp Sci. You would be making more money now and have more free time to do what you wanted.”  

Joe suddenly got a call on his iPhone and quickly answered to say, “Later babe, important meeting, I'll call you back.”  

Jake waited for him to answer a few more text messages and snap a selfie before he continued.  

“And see what all that studying got you. Five years of engineering and computer science to finally get to med school and you're working even harder now, day and night, a slave to the hospital. You should have listened to me man,” Joe coolly declared.   

“It's a little too late for should haves man,” Jake said as he buried his hands in his hair, “I got through 7 years of university, didn’t I? I’m almost done with medical school but I just don't feel like finishing anymore. I just – I don't want to be here.”  

“Then quit and start your own business,” Joe blurted out matter-of-factly as he leaned back in his chair with another sneer on his face.   

“I'm not gonna just throw everything away now,” Jake fired back exasperated, “I worked too hard to get to this point!”  

“Always work smarter not harder,” Joe retorted, “Look at me, I never studied a day in my life. I cheated my way to earn two degrees, I made up half my resume and now I work as a sales engineer, making six figures a year. And recruiters are fighting left and right to get a piece of me!”  

Jake suddenly realized why Joe Attah had agreed so quickly to meet up with him after so many years. Joe wanted to show him everything he had hustled to achieve in order to rub it in his face. Jake didn't know what was more pathetic – that he had sought him for advice or that this envious jerk was his only friend.   

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, none of this is actually getting me any closer to finding a solution,” Jake exclaimed as he slumped back in his chair, annoyed and regretful of his decision to invite him today.   

Joe suddenly got up to his feet.

“I'm hungry, let's grab some burritos,” he proclaimed before he raced for the line.   

Jake’s hands reflexively darted to his jeans pockets.  

“Don't worry, it's on me,” said Joe as he ordered and paid for two bean burritos.   

Jake figured that even though he might not get any closer to alleviating his worries, he would, at the very least, get a free lunch today. Finally in the middle of their burritos, Joe suddenly broke the silence. 

“Have you ever heard of the Dominican Republic?” Joe inquired as he opened a can of Pepsi.

“Yeah, that's where David Ortiz is from, right?” Jake answered through a mouthful of lettuce and tomatoes.  

“Who's David Ortiz?” Joe asked, utterly confused. The only sport he ever watched on TV was basketball.  

“Never mind,” Jake quickly answered and pressed on, “Yeah I've heard of the place, why?”  

“You need a vacation my man,” said Joe as he let out a large belch that made two girls seated behind him leap up in disgust.  

“A vacation? To the Dominican Republic? You're joking right?” Jake asked incredulously.  

Joe rolled his eyes before answering. 

“Listen man, you need to clear your mind with a change of scenery. What you really need is a nice break from everything. I bet when you come back, you'll be a different man.”  

“Different? But I've never flown there before. I don't know anyone over there,” Jake exclaimed, pushing away his half-eaten burrito and suddenly intrigued by the suggestion.  

“That's the whole point!” Joe fired back as he could hardly contain his excitement, half standing in his chair now, “You need to fly away to a different country, relax, think things over, throw back a few pina coladas on the beach and when you come back recharged, everything will make more sense. Besides, you already know someone over there in the D.R.”

“Who?” Jake asked, on the edge of his seat now.  

“Does the name Jose ring a bell?” said Joe with another sneer appearing on his face.  

When Jake looked dumbfounded, Joe continued, “Remember that taxi driver we always saw around GW?”  

“What – that Jose? He's in the Dominican now?” Jake asked as he downed a bottle of Dasani.  

“Yup, he drives taxis over there too, whenever he goes there on vacation,” explained Joe, “In fact, you should hit him up. And when you get there, he'll be your personal chauffeur and show you around the city and everything.”   

“Hmmm, I don't know, that dude was sketchy, always charging an extra dollar,” Jake said more to himself as he pondered just how ridiculous this idea sounded. But then again, maybe everything he had done to this point had been ridiculous.  

Joe was watching him very carefully over a can of Pepsi. 

“He's on Tagged. Open an account, set your location to Santo Domingo and find him on there.”  

The advice he was offering was preposterous. Jake was going to alleviate his dissatisfaction with his life and career by flying away to a country he had barely heard of and his only contact there was a shady taxi driver he saw a few times in college? It was so wayward and preposterous that Jake was actually excited for the first time in a long while.   

As he watched the African Machiavelli drive away in his Mercedes, Jake pulled out his iPhone and downloaded the Tagged app. It was time to finally take off the training wheels and take a chance on life.   

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Chapter 1: First Peek (Part 1): https://steemit.com/fiction/@cerebralace/fried-yellow-plantains-chapter-1-first-peek-part-1

Until next time, keep acing life!