The first setback in my pursuit of my dream of being a wrestler came one fateful October night.  I had just finished doing the job to the current EEWF Television champion who's name escapes me at the moment, heck just about everything from that night was a blur except for the phone call.  I had just gotten out of the shower and was almost fully dressed when an EEWF staff member burst into the room and said "Sparrow you have a phone call!"  The suddenness of his arrival and the tone of his voice told me I had better take the call.  He led me down a hallway to the office of Lone Wolf who was the owner at the time, my cousin Death and my other cousin Crazy Crow were both in the room as well.  My first thought was something happened to Jasper, something bad.  The voice of my cousin Crow said "Sit down cuz."  and my heart sank, here I was in some college basketball arena miles and miles away from home and I was about to hear some heartbreaking news about my son, or so I thought.  Death put his hand on my shoulder to console me, Crow handed me the phone and Lone Wolf looked on with concern.  I was right about one thing, the news was horrible, but it wasn't about my son, it was about my mother.  On the other end of the phone was my girlfriend, I'll never forget the words she said to me.  "Scott, your mother is in the hospital again, this time it seems very serious."  I slumped down in the chair, it felt like the weight of the world came crashing down on me.  I started to panic, "I gotta get home, I gotta go, I need to see her NOW!"  I tried to get up and run, but my legs wouldn't let me, Death and Crow looked to Lone Wolf who said, "I've got a private jet ready and waiting, you can be home in a few hours, don't worry about the schedule, I'll find someone to take your place in the next match.  The rest of that moment was a blur, I recall my cousins helping me out of the chair, I remember us walking down the halls, I remember landing at the airport, I remember rushing to the hospital.  I don't remember punching the wall, I don't remember screaming at the cab driver to go faster, and I don't remember yelling at the hospital receptionists to let me see my mother, apparently I caused quite a scene but they finally let me see her after some emergency surgery.  There she lay, in a dark hospital room with tubes sticking out of her, she seemed lifeless and fragile, she didn't look anything like the woman who raised me and my siblings, she didn't look anything like super-mom as I called her when I was a kid, she looked lifeless, helpless, gone.  She wasn't gone, no, she wasn't gone yet, this was only the beginning of the end for her.  She would hold on, barely, for a little while longer.  The first crack in the Pandora foundation had just started, then a second crack showed up.


"We found him vandalizing cars, when we asked him why he was doing it, he said that someone had to pay for his mother being sick." The police officer told us as they dragged my brother into the hospital, his hands and wrists bleeding from punching out windows of cars.  The look in his eyes told me that no matter what, it was my fault she was sick, it was my fault because I wasn't home to take care of her, it was my fault because I couldn't be there all the time, it was my fault she got sick and fell and nearly died.  In my brothers eyes, everything was my fault.  He charged at me but the two police officers restrained him, they held him back as he struggled to attack me, I couldn't look at him, I knew that was the moment his life would change forever, I knew we would never see the Daniel that we knew again.  Pain and anger had taken over, I knew that was the moment Daniel Pandora would never be happy again, at least not with me.  "She can only see one person right now, and she may not be responsive at all." The nurse informed us, without thinking, I walked into the room.  I could hear my brother yelling at me behind me, profane words that he had never called me before.  I could hear him screaming "I should be the one to see her, ME, I was here all the time, where were you?" but I was numb, the only thing I wanted was to see my mother and talk to her.  I pulled a chair up to her bedside and put my hand in hers, it was so cold and lifeless it startled me and nearly made me call for the nurse until I heard her say "She's still alive, she's just very weak and may not respond."  I glanced over at the nurse and gave her a look as if to say "thank you, now please leave."  She got the hint and left the room.  For the first time I was alone with her, I put my head on her shoulder and simply sobbed for hours.  I don't know what happened in all that time but when the nurse came to wake me up several hours later, my brother was standing outside the room, his hands bandaged, the police were gone, Snow was pacing back and forth with Jasper in her arms and even my sister Dove was there.  "She's stable for now" I managed to utter as I came out of the room, Dove came up to me first and wrapped her arms around me, crying softly with her head on my chest, Dan stared at me like he wanted to kill me, and Snow continued to coo and babble at Jasper.  I collapsed to the floor and started rocking in the middle of the hallway, I rocked so hard my head started banging on the wall.  Snow handed Jasper to Dove and sat down with me.  I could hear Dan's angry breathing as he seemingly stared a hole in me.  "You can go in and see her if you like" the nurse said to him, and I heard him rush into the room.  I really don't remember what happened after that, somehow I ended up at home, Dan and Dove stayed at the hospital while Snow and Jasper slept, but me, I simply stared at a picture of my mother for hours.  I don't even remember what time I fell asleep, but I awoke to Jasper patting my face and babbling his baby talk.  Somehow the sight of him made me forget for a moment why I was so sad and I smiled for the first time in a long time.

"Well there's a smile we were all waiting for." I looked over to see Snow half smiling next to me.  She reached for Jasper but I pulled away, holding him in my arms made me feel like all was right with the world, mom was ok, Dan was fine, nothing bad would ever happen to us, yeah right, lack of sleep and spent emotions were definitely making me delusional.  "I gotta go back to work, I gotta make money so we can keep mom alive" I said with a sudden urgency, Snow shook her head no as if to say "You're staying here a few days buddy."  I babbled and made faces at Jasper, he giggled and then promptly spit up on me, that prompted a laugh from Snow and for the first time since I walked into Lone Wolf's office, I actually felt happy.  The little guy was all I needed to put a smile on my face.  I left them at the apartment and drove to the hospital, when I reached mother's room, Dan was still in there, sitting on the same chair I sat in, head on her shoulders, sleeping soundly.  I decided I had upset him enough for the moment and went to get some breakfast at the nearby restaurant.  It was there I decided that I was going to change, I was no longer going to be satisfied just earning a paycheck doing the job, I was going to move up and start earning a bigger paycheck by winning.  I was no longer content at the bottom of the ladder.  I paid my bill and went back to the hospital, Dan had left and mother had still showed no signs of life other than slow pained mechanical assisted breaths.  I couldn't stand seeing her like that, tubes all over, a machine helping her breathe, and a raspy rattle in her throat every time she exhaled.  I had to get out of there, I couldn't bear it anymore.  That night, I was flying back to whatever city the EEWF was going to be in next, Snow understood, and I was hoping everyone else did, but my brother didn't.  He would later make me regret my decision.



Scene opens to JahMon getting in the truck and laughing as he notices an SSW crew in the back.

JahMon Rastafari: Did you have to squeeze them back there?  Ain't no doors for them to get in or out, musta been a tight fit.

He laughs as Scott pulls away from the airport.  Scott notices JahMon didn't put the tin of coffee in the back with the rest of his stuff.

Scott Pandora: Awfully fond of that coffee aren't ya? 

JahMon Rastafari: Well yeah mon, you see, I got this through customs which surprised me, because inside, well its some of the best Jamaican coffee ever, but look....

JahMon unscrews the bottom half of the coffee tin and laughs as he pulls out the contents on the bottom, a good half pound bag of marijuana!

Scott Pandora: Ah, I should have known, you always find creative ways to get past customs.  You better be careful.

JahMon Rastafari: Yeah mon, I'm always careful.  No worries mon.  Hey, what you say, we blaze one??

The scene goes black as Sparrow gives JahMon a look


Sometime later


Scene reopens to Scott Pandora in his duplex.  He sits alone in the dark, with the only light coming from half closed blinds around the house.  He strums along on his guitar playing a soft melancholy melody, as if the guitar is crying in pain.  After a few minutes he just stops and looks up.

Scott Pandora: While I question Hartnell's decisions sometimes, making this match between me and The Scorpion a hardcore match was one of his smarter ones.  Its no secret to anyone that this match definitely plays to my strengths, if Hartnell wants to prove that he trusts me to be his muscle, this is a great way to do it.  Who knows what kind of mayhem I can cause with a vast array of weapons at my disposal?  For years and years many have said I'm a one trick pony, I can't do anything other than hardcore, but that's not true.  Just because I made a career out of bloodying and breaking bodies, doesn't mean its all I know, but hey, if I keep winning and being dominant in hardcore style, do you really blame me for salivating every time I'm booked in a hardcore match?  Its like when the school bully stays out of trouble for a few weeks but a new kid shows up to school and he's a scrawny wimp of a kid, the bully just can't help himself and has to do what he does best.  I'm a good wrestler, I've proven that in the past, hell I beat one of the most difficult technical wrestlers of all time, for the FWF World Title.  I can hold my own against the likes of Kersh and other technical mat wrestlers, I can go at it with the high flying crop of youngsters, I can duke it out with the brashest of brawlers, but I'm in my element when they bill the match a Hardcore match.  its like letting a monster loose knowing full well the outcome will be very brutal and painful for someone.  I can do pain, I can dish it and I can take it.  The Scorpion has no idea, none whatsoever, of what is going to happen to him.  So why do I feel like crap?  Why am I not happy?  Perhaps I'll only be happy when the blood starts flowing, perhaps.

He strums a few chords before speaking again.

Scott Pandora: The Scorpion will understand that he's in the wrong place at the wrong time, history will show that I've excelled in hardcore matches and history will also show, I enjoy the pain I can inflict on others, as well as the pain they inflict on me.  When Hartnell, Krunch and Krenshaw beat me down in TWD, they did it in such a fashion that I couldn't enjoy it, not because the pain was too great, but because I was humiliated and blindsided.  I should have expected it, I should have looked for someone to watch my back, but my arrogance and my ego were out of control.  You can call that beat down a wake up call, it was then I realized, "I'm not the arrogant and cocky kind."  No, I'm the angry and brutal kind, it took me a long time to recover from that beating and just as I was about to come back, TWD closed.  I had no outlet for my anger, it just built and festered inside me, so imagine my surprise when I got a call from Jason Hartnell that he was opening a new wrestling promotion and wanted to know if I had any interest at all.  To be honest, I wanted nothing to do with the man, I didn't even want to sign my name to a contract that made him money so I told him I'd pass but I'd at least let JahMon and the Tui brothers know, the Tui brothers, well I have no idea what they've been up to, and JahMon, well you all know where he is now.  It was that fateful night I showed up to watch JahMon's match when I ran into Hartnell and basically he made me an offer, I accepted it and here we are.  I still don't trust him, but if he's trying to earn my trust, he's doing a good job so far.  This Sunday night, The Scorpion will feel the rage I've been building up for a few years, when it's unleashed, its good night, God bless for Scorpion. 

He sets the guitar down and walks off into another room as the camera fades to black.