Valentino was a crazy kid up the block from the street I lived. I called him Valley or Val not only because it was shorter but it was hard for me to pronounce his name. He had a peculiar physique; one for which I was not particularly fond of, now looking back it was of a particular nature that I was not accustomed to. Mainly because where I was from, we learned dance and blade combat as culture. On the other hand valley was the same height about 6 feet or taller and I being a few inches shorter. He was well built and had large bones thus adding mass to his body and he had a weird walk were he stomped rather than stepped. This came as a helpful tool for him as we both worked for the military as private guards for their vehicles. He was the only reason I even had a job in Brigalo and the only reason why I live alone. .
We lived in the projects together in Brigalo city; known for its unique infrastructure of sewage leaking in the heart of downtown. This was also accompanied with a seductive gassy smell in the atmosphere that tourist only seemed to notice only after a couple weeks. The legend is that it is nuclear waste melting and being carried by trade winds in the air. As a Brigalo being a tropical island there was plenty to do but we were loners, this how they referred to us. They called it being from another side, but it seemed that Valentino and I got along with others the most wherever we went. Maybe we were together and argued just about bringing our different narratives to the world. Our views on how things should be conducted in the world. People found this amusing, weather that was entertaining or not, both of us felt mandated to tell our blueprint of the world. Religion seemed to be the only thing we have discussed in our time together especially at home as we were roommates.
One evening as we were beginning our training sessions Valentino yelled out to me from the porch .
"Ay Kampon, you lazy fuck, off your ass now, zoning out there always aint gonna do jack-wagon shit for you" .
