Saturday, April 2, 2011

The Neighborhood (continued)



Revenge
Was it worth it?   I pick up my newspapers in an alley garage on Seventeenth Avenue.  Slide and slip down Union through snow-troughs toward my Times route.  My bag burgeons front and back with Wednesday’s news and ads.   I roll them as I walk.  Two, my-age boys jump me.  Spin me around.  Taunt me.  Shove snowballs down my back.  Throw me to the ground.  They leave.  I rise and complete my deliveries.  

Brent Larson sold papers at the nearby A&P.   Half Swede.  Half Filipino.  He's a dangerous mix of Viking and Mandirigma -  warriors of their cultures.  Asks if I want to get even.  Said he’d help.  Weeks later, we track one down near Temple de Hirsch.

Brent encourages us to fight.   We pound each other.  Grapple the ground.  My nose bleeds as I slam my opponents head against the sidewalk.  He’s crimson with my blood and crying.  Brent pulls us apart.  Warns him about messin’.   I’m just happy it ended.

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