The Adventures of Billy Towers

By Billy Towers

No one ever thinks of how interesting their life is mostly because they live it day in and day out for twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and three-hundred-sixty-five days a year. Until someone is actually allowed the time to reflect on those moments in life that were magical, they simply fade in with the others, making every day feel like just another day. In The Adventures of Billy Towers, a young man discovers how interesting life can be when he goes and searches for adventure and, sometimes, when adventure finds him. In these adventures, he learns about his friends, his family, himself, and the world around him in ways he never thought were possible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499067521

Billy Towers

In the last five years I have written a large amount of short stories that have captivated attention both in a curricular environment and a social environment. I have been writing short stories since I was eight and I have been writing and practicing new techniques ever since. In the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, it's hard not to be articulate with so many opportunities including the Minnesota Institute of Art and Intermedia Arts. Writing was my chosen medium of art that allowed me to liberate my thoughts and explore new adventures.

Book preview

The Adventures

of

Billy Towers

William Torres

Copyright © 2014 by William Torres.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4990-6753-8

               eBook           978-1-4990-6752-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 08/27/2014

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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Contents

Journal Entry Zero: Becoming Brother

Journal Entry One: From Crazy to Creative

Journal Entry Two: Memories of Minnesota

Journal Entry Three: Brothers in arms

Journal Entry Four: My Sister and Me

Journal Entry Five: Beasts of Black

Journal Entry Six: It’s Just Not Okay

Journal Entry Seven: The Man with the Button Hat

Journal Entry Eight: A Warm Summer Night

Journal Entry Nine: Love and Aliens

Journal Entry Ten: The trouble with nanobots

Journal Entry Eleven: Sail Away Dreams

Journal Entry Twelve: Bacon

Journal Entry Thirteen: A Day in the Life of a Ride Operator

Journal Entry Fourteen: No Temas los Lobos

Special Thanks

To my parents, Noemi Velez and Harold Torres- Thank you for never giving up on me and believing in my dreams.

To my family- Thank you for always being there, through the good, the bad, the best, and the worst.

To my siblings- Joseph, Matthias, Elijah, and Payton- Thank you for giving me purpose.

To the world and all people who live in it- Thank you for calling me brother.

I know nothing about the world. Not even about myself, yet the world cries out to me…. brother.

-Billy Towers

Journal Entry Zero:

Becoming Brother

Everyone in my family has a nickname regarding their role in the family. My aunt is often called auntie mama, because she is always taking care of family member no matter what the situation. My mom is often called auntie Omi because like an aunt figure watches their nieces and nephews, she watches over other children as if they were her own. Mine is and always will be big brother Torres, because like a big brother, I’m always offering my advice, assistance, and like all older siblings, I always have to watch the kids when the adults want to go out.

To say I was a big brother figure before any of my siblings were born would be the understatement of the century. At the young age of ten I was already babysitting cousins and nephews for distant family members I wasn’t even aware of. It was a very difficult process, being raised by my mother while taking care of younger kids. In hindsight, I think the constant responsibility of taking care of children is what caused my dramatic jump in behavior and physically age. I honestly believe I had gone from ten to twenty in a matter of months.

Being in charge of a large group of kids from second cousins did have its benefits. The greatest benefit in my mind was when the children misbehaved enough in the grocery store, people in front of us in line would let us check out first. More of an emotional advantage was I had learned to use my voice of authority. At first, I was timid, afraid to tell the children to behave or listen. In time I learned that the only way to get through to such kids was to be assertive, that is to say, put my foot down and lay out the law. Now, I merely have to give a glance and what I have to say will be heard.

Being the big brother of the family doesn’t just involve being a tyrant and a brute, although honestly that was the most fun part. It also involved listening, observing, and offering advice. The first time a child had a fit in my care, I was completely lost. I was panicking, pacing back and forth, screaming at the other children because I thought they were being too loud. What I didn’t know was my stress was just adding to the child’s stress so he just ended up screaming louder. It wasn’t until two weeks later that I had learned how to calm him down and listen to what he had to say. I think I would’ve kept a lot of the youth in my voice and body if I had just given the kid the juice box he was crying for so long ago.

it seems that juice boxes are the only thing kids will cry about. From scrapes and bruises to cuts and skid marks, children are made to be incredibly tough. With children being practically indestructible, big brother has to be twice as durable. As hard as it is to believe, being everyone’s brother involved more rough housing, wrestling, and old fashioned fist fights then the job title described. Children are by far the most devious fighters ever, and because of that I have not only