Page 71 - The Jazzsipper Novel

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THE JAZZ SIPPER

strong. Shelia just nodded her head all the while in a daze. Vance was not
sure Sheila would remember to tell the Detectives what he told her, so he
stopped at a pay phone and dialed 411 for information and asked for the
number to homicide. An older sounding white man answered the phone, hello
Homicide Det. Lenore speaking. Vance said yeah, Lou and Frankie Man killed
that guy in the 7th ward tonight. Then Vance hung up the phone. By the time
Vance had got back to the house, it was three in the morning and Uncle Frank
and Aunt Jessie were still fast asleep. Vance went straight to his room; he
was not sleepy, just mentally tired.

The next morning Vance got up still with a heavy heart, but with a very clear
mind. He had what he thought was an achievable plan. That’s what he learned
from reading and studying “The Skilled Helper”, one of the books he had
gotten out of his mom Lizzie’s nightstand drawer when she passed. The book
was on Short Term Counseling, it broke the counseling process down into
three core stages and numerous mini steps. The first core stage was the
present scenario, where you were supposed to get clarification of your
perceived problem; Vance perceived his most pressing problem was Lou and
Frankie Man. The second core stage was the preferred scenario, where you
were supposed to recognize what needed to be done or put in place to get
the scenario you want. Vance had already taken care of that by telling Sheila
what names to mention to the police as possible suspects and by making the
call himself to the police. The third and the final core stage, was getting there;
where you were supposed to be transitioning from your current or present
scenario to your preferred scenario. Vance had been doing that by the moves
he made, by putting the killers of his friend into play with the police, the whole
process depended on what the skill helper referred to as valued outcome