Microstory 774: Cowboy

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Dalvin Sabastino could not be more different than his sister, Twila. They grew up in the same environment in the city, were raised by the same parents, and even had most of the same teachers. But while Twila pursued a life of academics, ultimately becoming a world-renowned scientist and astronaut, Dalvin pursued almost nothing. His parents urged him to get a job when he was a teenager, and he always claimed he would get on that, but he never followed through. His mother even procured him a position at her factory, but he didn’t show up even once. After he finished high school, his parents promptly kicked him out of the house, and he was left to the streets. Despite having nothing, he never turned to a life of crime. This was the motivation he needed to turn his life around. Drawing upon a nickname his family gave him because of his reckless and carefree behavior, Dalvin decided to become a literal cowboy. Since there were no ranches where he lived, he walked halfway across the country, to California, where he thought he would have gainful employment year-round. He continued to struggle finding work, until a rancher took pity on him, and gave him a low-level job. His troubles did not end there, though. The rancher turned out to be using his small business to launder money for local organized crime. Though Dalvin was completely oblivious to this, he was sent to prison, and fined for his involvement. As successful as Twila was in her profession, she did not have enough money to pay for Dalvin’s legal defense, and certainly didn’t have enough himself. And so she agreed to participate in the reality series Flipsides, which pitted contestants against each other in adventurous challenges. She actually did pretty well, and was able to secure the funds for her brother’s release. Sadly, things would not turn out so well for her, and Dalvin blamed himself for what happened to her during production. But was it enough to turn him into a killer?