Chapter 127: The Gallagher Family Appears
The next day.
On the other side of Chicago, in a neighborhood made up almost entirely of rundown houses and abandoned storefronts, another busy day begins the moment the Gallagher family wakes up in their ramshackle two-story home.
At 7:15 AM, Fiona, the eldest sister, wakes her younger siblings one by one. She methodically begins preparing breakfast, ignoring her two younger brothers who are arguing over who gets to use the bathroom first. It's not until she sees the bills taped to the refrigerator door that she mutters "Shit" under her breath and casually places a carton of milk and an empty coffee can on the dining table.
"Time to pay the electric bill!" She leads by example, shoving a crumpled ComEd bill into the can.
"Got it." One by one, the younger siblings, from oldest to youngest, stuff their money into the can. Nobody shirks their responsibilities as a member of the Gallagher family.
In reality though, none of them except Fiona are actually adults.
This might seem unbelievable to most people, but this was just another Tuesday for the Gallaghers. For ordinary folks, life might be grabbing a latte on the way to work or complaining about traffic.
But for the Gallaghers, life was all about survival.
Just making it through another day was hard enough, but thankfully, they had each other.
Not enough milk? Fiona, the veteran household manager, simply took the milk carton and watered it down at the kitchen sink. After all, milk was only used for cereal, and the Gallaghers couldn't afford much else for breakfast anyway.
As long as it had a hint of milk flavor and could soften the Lucky Charms, it was good enough.
The younger siblings passed the coffee can around, each adding whatever cash they had. By the time it reached Fiona, the amount had nearly doubled, and they were almost at their goal.
Every Gallagher was a hustler, even the youngest ones...
"Where's Carl? Why isn't he up yet?" Fiona noticed one person was missing from their chaotic breakfast table.
"I'm here!" Carl strutted up to the table wearing a brand new Chicago Bulls hoodie that nobody had ever seen him wear before. For one of the youngest kids in the family, this was incredible.
Carl's clothes were always hand-me-downs from his older brothers, and he'd never owned anything new in his life.
The other family members didn't seem too surprised though. Maybe Carl had scammed his way into getting the hoodie? Scamming and scheming were practically Gallagher survival skills.
"I need supplies for a school project, about eighteen bucks," Debbie said, eyeing the money can hopefully.
"I tutor kids after school and can make another ten," her older brother Lip replied. "Did Carl even put any money in there? You're almost nine, time to start pulling your weight."
"Yeah, get a real hustle going. Stop lifting from the church collection plate."
"Hey!" Carl slammed his fist on the table, annoyed at being overlooked. "I already support this family! And I make more than any of you losers! Check this out!"
Carl pulled out a crisp twenty-dollar bill and proudly tossed it into the can, basking in the envious stares from his siblings.
Fiona immediately grabbed Carl by the shoulders, her face deadly serious: "Where did you get this money? What did you do? Did you run drugs for someone? How many times have I told you - you can NEVER do that kind of shit!"
Their father Frank had made a career out of that. He was even notorious in the neighborhood as a "mule" who could supposedly carry sixteen bags of product at once. God knows how he managed to fit that much stuff.
"I didn't!" Carl stubbornly broke free from his sister's grip. "This is money I earned from working! The boss was really generous and paid me two hundred bucks cash. He even said he'd hire me again for the next job."
"He?" Lip, sharp enough to catch the pronoun, looked suspicious. "What kind of job? Did he make you take your clothes off? Or did he take his off first?"
The whole family tensed up, staring at Carl nervously.
"No! The boss just had me help him with this remote control aircraft thing. I'd pilot it into gang territory like it was Call of Duty, then blow shit up with missiles and stuff."
"You can make that much money just playing video games for some guy?" Lip wondered aloud. As the smartest Gallagher kid with serious hustle instincts, he was already calculating if he could get in on this action.
He completely missed that Carl had said "like Call of Duty," not "playing Call of Duty."
"Okay, if this boss wants to hire you again, make sure you bring us all along. Gallaghers stick together when there's money to be made."
"I told you, this is WORK! Not gaming!" Carl angrily climbed on his chair. "Why won't you believe me? Look, I even brought home the aircraft I was working with!"
Carl hopped down and ran to his room. A moment later, he returned carrying something strange - Ron's missing drone.
It looked bizarre because the remote control planes people were used to seeing were either traditional airplane models or helicopter-style ones with a main rotor and tail rotor.
This weird contraption with four propellers was something none of them had ever laid eyes on.
This wasn't surprising - not even serious RC hobbyists had seen anything like it. This was Ron's proprietary design, and he had no intention of sharing the technology.
"What the hell kind of plane is this? Why's it got four propellers? Looks like a freak."
Just then, someone knocked on the Gallagher front door. Fiona pushed Carl back into his seat and told him to finish eating while Lip went to answer.
Ron stood outside.
"Morning, this is the Gallagher house. Who you looking for?" Lip said cautiously.
It wasn't surprising that he, usually so confident, was acting nervous. Ron's appearance was intimidating as hell.
The guy was wearing an obviously expensive tailored suit, polished leather shoes, and had his hair perfectly styled - the kind of outfit Lip had only seen on customers at the upscale restaurant where he sometimes waited tables.
It was the kind of gear only serious money could buy. And if he were just some rich guy, that wouldn't have spooked Lip.
What really scared him was that this was one of the most dangerous neighborhoods on Chicago's South Side! Anyone dressed like that walking around in broad daylight without getting mugged down to their boxer shorts could only mean one thing:
This dude was connected.
After all, the street thugs around here didn't keep banker's hours - they were grinding 24/7.
Seeing a man dressed like this strolling through the neighborhood in the morning meant he definitely had serious backup.
"Good morning, young man," Ron said, completely ignoring Lip's attempt to block the doorway. He simply placed a hand on the kid's shoulder and gently but firmly moved him aside as he walked into the house.
The casual display of strength made it clear that resistance would be pointless.
"I'm just here to find a clever kid named Carl who accidentally brought one of my toys home," Ron said, his eyes immediately spotting the drone on the kitchen table. A slight smile played at the corner of his mouth. "Yeah, that's the one."
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