Scumbag Rehab

You hear all kinds of stories in a bar. All kinds of characters with all kinds of experiences. Booze is amighty fuel. It brings out the best in some and the worst in every one else. If you post up on a barstoollong enough, you might hear someone’s entire life story, whether you asked for it or not.If that barstool happens to be plugged into the wood at the Knowlton Tavern, then the story you wouldbe hearing might belong to James ’Feb’ February. Only at a dive bar full of the most desperate, strangesocietal castaways could an individual such as him share a story like his.As a former cop, convict, drug dealer, drug addict, an army veteran, a once loving father and husband,and recently homeless, Feb has a lot of stories. Upon the insistence of the bartender, Sofia, he revisitshis earliest memories: A latchkey kid with a prostitute mother in a destitute neighbourhood. Seeing littlefuture in education and wanting better, Feb becomes an errand boy for the D’Antonio crime family.Though young and an outsider, he is able to climb the ranks with the help of his friend Mario, until abotched train robbery changes everything. The mob holds him responsible. His punishment is swift. Feb is allowed to live, but is sent to war with a false identity in theplace of a made-man’s son.At 17 years old, he is consumed by one thought: revenge. It does not go away. It does not subside.While recounting his tale, decades later, the first moment for vengeance presents itself. A chance toright one of the countless wrongs in his life and cross out one of the many names on his list. Is it possibleto feel closure in a life that one has never felt in control of, ever?Feb swears that he is committed to changing for the better. His decisions and actions will demonstratehow far he has evolved. Is a rehabbing scumbag allowed to relapse? Can he recover if he slips just onetime or will it open the floodgates?