For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.
-Rudyard Kipling

I come back from a little getaway with friends and here I am asked to tell my life's story. That's a bit much, ya know. But I'm a nice guy and so I'll pass on what I can about it. Probably ain't no big deal to most of the people out there, but maybe one or two'll find it interestin'. If not, well... who says they gotta read it? At least I got you to entertain, right? Ya oughta be grateful and drop on those knees and thank me. Though I guess since you're Liza and so you're really a wolf and my nickname's Wolf... it probably wouldn't be a good thing to do. Can't alienate ya right off anyway. I'll do that with time. Aintcha glad ya came to talk to me now? I thought ya would be.

Anyway, to get on with things. I've lived in this city all my life, know it better than just about anyone. I could tell ya about anything ya wanna know about it, especially about the less nice parts of it. Spent mosta my time there, after all. Though I do a lotta hangin' out at parks and shit. I like to be where there's less city in the city. I never knew my dad, got no idea about him, really. I was raised by my mom till I was three, then she died. Some attacker took her out. Lucky for me, she'd been stayin' mostly with friends who were pretty much family to her. There's some relation in there too, but it all seems like family to me. Nobody in authority bothered about the poor slum kid without a mom. Ya'd be amazed what kinda things go unnoticed by authority when it comes to people like me. That was okay by me though, cause I didn't have to worry about foster shit or nothin'. I just stuck where I was with the family and we went on livin' as best we could. Mostly scroungin' but hey.. ya got no idea what kinda treasures ya can find out there if ya look in the right places.

Well, I found out kinda early on that I'm smarter than most. I know, doesn't sound that hard, does it? But I'm talkin' a lot smarter. Ain't tryin' to brag here or nothin', but I taught myself to read and write, do math, all that shit. Wasn't that my people didn't care to do it, just that they never really thought much about it. But that was okay, I did just fine on my own. Got books when I could, but most of my readin' learnin' was from things like billboards and shit. But whatever works, right? I learned that and more... ain't gonna bore ya with a list. But I know I could get a damn fuckin' high score on them SAT tests that schools seem to think are so all fired important. And as a note, I can use grammar properly too. Just don't see the point. I fit in better this way.

It was five years ago, when I was 10, that I first hooked up with Paco and Las Araņas. Ain't sure why they appealed, they just did. I'd been watchin' the stuff with the gangs for some time, just got a wild hair to see how far I could get joinin' up one day. And wouldn't ya know it? I made it easy. I guess I kinda just got attached to some of the people in it. My people didn't seem to mind since I really liked it. They're good that way. I learned how to fight real good cause of them and it helped a lot when I joined up with Paco and them. Sometimes I disappear for awhile, but I warned Paco about that and he don't seem to mind. Don't do it too often or for very long mostly. I like bein' with Las Araņas, they're almost like another family to me. And I gotta admit that it's funner than hell workin' against them racist bastards. Mosta the time they ain't that hard to work against, they might have a brain for every ten of 'em, but who knows? At the very least, I know I got more intelligence than any many of 'em put together. And that means I gotta go slummin'. Lucky I'm used to it.

When you don't have an education, you've got to use your brains.
- Anonymous

All finite things reveal infinitude:
The mountain with its singular bright shade
Like the blue shine on freshly frozen snow,
The after-light upon ice-burdened pines;
Odor of basswood upon a mountain slope,
A scene beloved of bees;
Silence of water above a sunken tree:
The pure serene of memory of one man,--
A ripple widening from a single stone
Winding around the waters of the world.
-Theodore Roethke