Story - Novel The Fever CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 3
I walked to the jeweler the next day, just before noontime.
I sat across the street andstared down the man in the black
sweatshirt. Eventually the creepy, crooked smile appeared behind the
cigarette on his face and I crossed the heavy traffic of the Chicago
street. As I came closer he aimed his nose at the ground, never
revealing his eyes to me.
"You wanna talk to Uncle Jack?"
"Yes."
"No-body talks to Jack 'cept me."
"Well then I need a favor."
His smiled widened."Whatdaya need?"
"Money. I have to get a new job and house and take care of my family
and...I have no job, I just need money fast."
He laughed. "You and half the city."
"Please," I pleaded. "I'm desperate." His laughing stopped.
"How desperate?"
"I'll do anything."
"Anything?"
"Anything."
The hooded man took a long suck on his cigarette. His scratchy and
demanding voice controlled the conversation. I couldn't imagine how
bellowing and deep his voice wouldordinarily sound without the
scratchy aspect from the constant cigarette entertaining his lips. "Do
you have any idea what you are dealing with?"
"Yes." How couldn't I? Everyone knew "Uncle Jack," except, nobody
really knew him. He was one of the biggest drug traffickers and money
launderers in Southern Chicago - not to mention one of the richest men
in the Midwest. He was a very dangerous man. He could snap his fingers
and you would be dead ifhe wanted it that way- and he always got what
he wanted. He never stopped until he got what he wanted.
"I don't think you understand what you aregetting yourself into."
I lied. "I do. I understand completely, and I'll do anything."
"You will be killed if you don't meet his demands."
"I figured." I tried to sound confident, but the gulp after the
sentence gave away my anxiety.
He tilted his head back and for the first time, I saw his eyes. They
were black as night, with red, bloodshot lines surrounding the
darkness. He grabbed his lighter and lit another cigarette. The light
from the flicker of the plastic canister instantly displayed his
facial features for a short moment. He was rather handsome, his face
perfect except for the unshaven scruff across his chin line. "Stay
put," he said after long deliberation and also as he caught me staring
at his face. He briskly walked down the sidewalk about a block and
disappeared from my sight. While he was gone, I did simple things to
pass the time. I tied myshoe laces a few times, counted taxis speeding
down the street, and watched a nearby clock, among other things. I
couldn't imagine standing here for hour after hour, day after day,
like the man in the hooded sweatshirt constantly did.
Finally, he reappeared in a crowd, walking at a hurried pace. "Follow
me,and keep up!" he harshly spat at me as he tossed his half-used
cigarette onthe sidewalk. He blew right past me and I almost had to
jog to keepup with his long, quick stride. He was constantly looking
over his shoulder, not at me but past me, almost as if he was
expecting conflict.
After a few blocks of roaming, he pulled me back deep into an alley.
Paranoia and adrenaline were all over his face.
"I'm going to speak quickly, so listen up."
"Okay."
He reached under his sweatshirt and pulled outfour stacks of
paper-wrapped bills.
"Here is one-hundred grand. In two years to this day, we will meet
again in this exact same spot we are standing now. I'll be here all
day. You need to show up with a quarter million. Yes, that is right,
two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars. You willalso be asked for
favors along the way. You must comply. If you don't, you are dead. If
you don't show up here in two years, you are dead; and your wife and
two little girls will die a long, slow,and painful death.
I was suddenly alert and surprised. "How did you know about-?"
"Let's not go there, shall we?" he smirked as his grin returned and
lit another cigarette. With the first inhale he was suddenly calm
again. "Be here in two years." He tossed the money at me."When we
leave this alley, I'm going to the right and you are going to the
left. Understood? Don't stop or turn arounduntil you are home. Got
it?"
"Yes. I got it." I suddenly felt extremely nervous.
"Good. See ya in two years."
"Thank you," I managed to choke out in a whisper. But before he could
hear me, he was already moving and had taken off. He turned rightwhen
he hit the sidewalkand was gone. I went leftonce I had managed to
figure out how to work my legs again. I was excited but extremely
nervous at the same time.I couldn't stop the feelingof ecstasy pumping
through my veins.
I took an extended route home, going around the block my house was on
atleast twice before entering. I ran into the house and slammed the
door. Jennifer nearly hit the ceiling in surprise then scolded me for
the amount of noise I was making.
"Ssshhhh, the kids are asleep!" she hissed at me.
"We're getting out of here!"
"What?" she raised her voice in alarm.
I pulled the money out from under my sweater and her eyes were
suddenly wide in amazement and caution.
"Where did you get that?"
"That's not important."
"Paul-"
"Jen, can't you see? This is an opportunity to start over! We can go
where we want, get what we want, and be who we want! We can completely
start over. No more getting robbed day in and day out. No more
worrying about if we aregoing to have enough food to get through the
day! AND NO MORE SOUP! SOUP, SOUP, SOUP! I WANT SOME MEAT! TONIGHT WE
ARE GOING OUT FOR STEAKS!"
"Hush now, the girls are still sleeping."
I smiled at her and she continued to stare at me, but after a few
moments,a smile broke and crept across her face.
"Is this really happening?"
"Every bit of it. C'mon, let's get out of here."
She stared at me again for a few moments. "I'll start packing-"
"No, Jen. Just leave it here. We're going to startcompletely over. We
havenothing here left of value. We can get a hotel for the night and
shop tomorrow."
She smiled at me in a way I had not seen in years. I smiled back. This
is what we had been waiting for. This was our chance.
Jen half-ran down the hallway to wake the kids up. She used her
supermom strength to pick up and carry one kidin each arm as I grabbed
a small, combination suitcase to hold the money in.
Within minutes we had left the house, the front door wide open. We
walked directly to the nearest hotel, ordered a family suite, and paid
in cash. We headed to our room and unlocked the door. I held the door
open for Jen and the kidsand everyone was instantly taken aback by the
wonder and sheer amazement presented from the hotel room in front of
them. The two children were the most amazed as they had never been in
a hotel before.
Jen set the twins down intheir bed and they instantly fell asleep
after ridding themselves of excess energy from running around the room
for about 10 minutes, searching every hidden corner. We decided to let
them sleep and decided to get steaksthe next night.
Soon enough, for the first time since our honeymoon, Jen was fast
asleep and looked relaxed and comfortable. The drowsiness created by
my surrounding familyeventually wore off on me and I was also fighting
sleep. I took my rightful place beside her and kissed her forehead.
She smiled, which left mewondering if she was really asleep or not.
Either way, sleep came quickly from exhaustion, much fast than it used
to,never feeling safe with the door locked every night.
I fell asleep, dreaming about what I could do with the money.

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Food & Nourishment -, Ruling on eating balut (egg containing a dead chick).,Dought & clear - ,

Belut is a fertilized duck or chicken egg that contains a
nearly-developed embryo. This egg is boiled and eaten in the shell.
The prevalent belief here in the Philippines is that it contains a
high level of protein and is good for the heart. It is sold in
themarkets and streets of the Philippines. What is the ruling on
eating this kind of egg?.
Praise be to Allaah.
The description of this egg on some websites is as follows:
Development of the chick usually takes 28 days, but balut is an egg
that has been incubated for only 18 days, during which they get a real
embryo with a primitive skeleton.
When the egg reaches the age of 16-20 days, it is ready to be taken to
market, where it will be boiled for thousands of customers who enjoy
this food. This depends on the size of the egg. The egg that is 18
days old is the best. The sellers wash the eggs thoroughly with
sponges, then when they are perfectly clean, they are put in a pot
andboiled. End quote.
With regard to the ruling on eating the egg with the embryo that is
not fully developed, the ruling is that it is haraam, because it comes
under the heading of eating maytah (something that has died without
being slaughtered properly). Eating maytah is definitely haraam
according to Islam.
The scholars of the Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas were asked
about the ruling on eating this egg and they ruled that it is haraam.
They were asked:
When we visited the Philippines, we noticed that the people of that
country commonly eat a dish they call balut. This is a chicken egg
that is placed in an incubator until it develops the form of a small
chick with all its features. Three days before the egg is peeled, they
cook the egg in water until it is done, then they break the egg and
eat the chick that is inside it.
Please advise us of the ruling on eating this food.
They replied:
If the situation is as described, then the chickis regarded as maytah
(something that died without being properly slaughtered) and it is not
permissible to eat it, because it had taken shape inside the egg, and
the prohibition on maytah is something that is well known and well
established in Islam.End quote.
Shaykh 'Abd al-'Azeez Aalal-Shaykh, Shaykh 'Abd-Allah ibn
Ghadyaan,Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan, Shaykh BakrAbu Zayd
Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa'imah (22/305)
And Allah knows best. - *-Visit -http://aydnajimudeen.blogspot.com/-
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Ruling on feeding dried blood to chickens.,Food & Nourishment -, Dought & clear - ,

What is the ruling on chickens if they are fed dried blood? A lot of
chickenfeed that chickenfarmers buy to fatten their chickens, both in
this country and abroad,contains dried blood, because in it there is a
kind of protein that helps chickens grow.
Praise be to Allaah.
With regard to feeding chickens or other animals that may be eaten
with impure substances (najasah) such as blood and the like, if it is
a small amount, that does not matter and it does not make them haraam
or make them jallaalah (animals that feed on filth and dung); rather
the jallaalah should be detained until it becomes pure and clean,if
most of its food is impure (najis).
But if only a small amount of the animal's food is impure (najis),
then it does not have any impact and it does not make the animal
haraam, so long as the ratio is 20% or 30% and so on. This does not
matter. Rather what makes it haraam is if the ratio is more than that
- 60% or 70%. If this is the ration, then the animal is regarded as
jallaalah, so it should be detained so that it can be given good and
pure food andwater. If it has been detained for a suitable number of
days, then it becomes pure and is halaal. This applies if theimpure
material is the majority of what it eats. The time for detaining
animals varies. Chickens should be detained for three days, and that
is enough for them to be fed good food and goodwater. Other animals,
such as sheep, cattle andthe like should be detained for longer
thanthat, such as seven days or more, so that they canbe given good
food and water, and their flesh becomes good (halaal) after that. We
have asked many of those who have knowledge of this matter, and they
said that what is fed to chickens of dried blood is a small amount in
comparison to other, pure food.

Food & Nourishment -, Ruling on eating chicken that was fed hormones or ground meat.,Dought & clear - ,

Does the meat of chickengrown by giving steroidsis halal evenif it is
slaughtered correctly?
Praise be to Allaah.
If the manufactured food or medicines did not contain anything harmful
or impure (najis), there is nothing wrong with eating chickens to whom
they were fed, if they have been slaughtered in the proper shar'i
manner by a Muslim or a kitaabi (i.e., Jew or Christian).
But if the feed or medicine is harmful to man, and will make him sick,
for example, it is haraam to feed them to chickens and to eat those
chickens, because Allah says (interpretationof the meaning):
"and do not throw yourselves into destruction"
[al-Baqarah 2:195].
And the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said:
"There should be neitherharming not reciprocating harm." Narrated by
Ibn Maajah (2431) and classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Irwa'
al-Ghaleel (896).
If the feed is naajis (impure), such as meat from animals that died
without being slaughtered properly (maytah) or blood and so on, that
may be put inthe feed, then the matter is subject to further
discussion.
Is most of the feed is made from those impuresubstances or from taahir
(pure) things suchas grains and the like?
If most of the feed is pure, it is permissible to eat it, and there is
nothing wrong with that.
But if most of its feed is naajis (impure) -- this is what the
scholars call "an animal that feeds onfilth" -- it is not permissible
to eat unless it has been detained andfed with taahir food thatwill
make its meat good.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen said in al-Sharh al-Mumti' (11/298):
The animal that feeds onfilth is one whose food ismostly impure (najaasah).
There are two scholarly views concerning this: one view is that it is
haraam because it has been nourished by impure matter that has an
effect on its meat.
The other view is that it is halaal. This is based onthe idea that
impure things become pure when they undergo a transformation. They
said: The impurity that it ate has been transformed into blood, flesh
and the like that grows in the body, so it is taahir. End quote.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said:
The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) forbade the
milk of an animal that feeds on filth or impurity, but if the animal
is detained until it becomes pure, then it is halaal according to
Muslim consensus, because before that the effect of the impurity could
be seen in its milk, eggs and sweat, so it gave off a rotten and evil
stench. Once that is removed, it becomes taahir (pure). If the ruling
is established for a reason, it ceases to apply once that reason isno
longer present. End quote.
Majmoo' al-Fataawa, 21/618
And Allah knows best.

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