Bettie, another resident, had her grandson with her for the day and brought him in to play pool tonight. She's obese, likes to wear jeans and slides, and always has her shoulder length graying hair tied up in a ball. She works for a food delivery service and usually has food with her when waddling by on the way to her apartment. On the second night we met she gave Scott and I, another resident glued to an electric wheelchair, an undelivered order: two heaping plates of chicken, vegetables, hummus, and lots and lots of rice. Scott didn't want any so I thanked her and took it all and you can believe my gluttonous ass ate every single bit later.

Her grandson, AJ, a curly-headed twig who didn't look any older than ten, had only played pool once before but I still told him I looked forward to beating him as he, with Bettie's assistance, racked for our first game. I was testing him to gauge his competitive spirit, but he was shy and didn't show much of anything. We agreed on games of 1v2 and I suggested they play as alternates on their turns, meaning that they switched after every shot. Bettie was obviously the much better player and if it hadn't gone that way AJ would've hardly been at the table. Plus, it allowed her to coach him after setting him up with impressive position, offering him guidance on his stance and bridge and where it was best to hit the cue ball.

That worked for a few minutes until I was reminded of how difficult pool is for an absolute beginner. AJ was getting frustrated quick and so I told him that on his turn he could put the cue ball wherever he wanted.

That did the trick.

After a few more minutes I took over for Bettie and together we made most of his shots. I gave him three main pointers: to make sure his bridge was tight and flat on the table (because of his shorter height), to always hit the cue ball dead center, and to take all the time he needed.

As far as where I placed the cue ball for his shots, it was always lined straight behind an object ball, and when he understood that straight shots were the way to go I allowed him to place the cue ball himself while always emphasizing that it was best to make things easier for himself. The little shit had a quiet confidence even though he didn't know much of anything; every shot he set up was long.

But he took my instructions well and in no time he was picking his shots and shooting them well enough all on his own, and that made me proud. The light in his eyes and the smile on his face when he made a ball was something to see, let me tell you.

I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up and at first he said he hadn't decided, but after some probing he revealed that being a YouTuber was his heart's desire. In hindsight, that shouldn't have been surprising to me. Having a profitable platform on the internet is entirely possible for folks young and old alike. In this era (and especially as technology continues to become more and more advanced as the years go by like whistles), it's a legitimate job.

I don't know why he didn't say he wanted to be a YouTuber at first. It's difficult, but not impossible, especially for someone so young. I once built a YouTube channel to nearly 6,000 subscribers before sabotaging my momentum, and I found that most people weren't successful with their own channels because they quit too early. They were discouraged by a lack of views and positive feedback and tried too hard to please everyone, which eventually burnt them out and made them throw in the towel.

Building a successful YouTube channel, like anything else, takes lots of effort and lots of time. There are no shortcuts, no easy ways to the top, and I told him that. I told him that no matter what, if that was really what he wanted to do with his life, to never quit, to keep making videos and keep trying new things, even if no one else was in his corner. I made him repeat my point multiple times, hoping it would stick somewhere in that young sponge brain of his.

"No matter what, don't you quit."

"Okay."

"You understand?"

"Yes."

"Say it."

"Don't quit."

"Say it again."

"Don't quit."

"Good."

In truth, he'll probably never become a success on the internet. It's saturated with every animated Tom, Dick, and Sally trying to snatch their own five minutes of fame in order to launch their own binary legacies, and most folks don't have the discipline or overwhelming desire to see something like that through. But he doesn't need to know that. All he needed to hear and repeat were those two words: don't quit.

Hopefully, even if he never becomes a YouTube sensation, he'll remember the lesson and use it to catapult him to great heights in other ways. I'd love nothing more than for the little shit to carve his own slices of success and happiness from this fucked, bleeding world of ours.

I really hope he does.