.

                                                                     Chapter 2

            Days and nights come and go. Sometimes we wonder what the purpose of it all really is especially when every day is the same. In the southern sector of Port City it did not matter at all. Craps were still being shot. Poker was still being wagered. Whores were still pedaling their wares. Beer and whiskey still flowed as if coming from a faucet left wide open. But all was good and it was good for friends like Big Earl and Raw Dawg. Well they had been friends for a few years. They got along real well and it was like that from the beginning. They had many things in common and one of them was that neither liked to be around crazy or strange situations.. Now they did not run from them but if they could avoid them they would. Everyone knew that about them but it didn’t matter at all. The other kids still flocked around them anyway .It was that modem of respect that allowed them get away with a lot of things the other kids could not even imagine.

            For instance take a look at what happened to Lo Do. That’s what Willie Ray Smith was called around the neighborhood. Its been about three years since th police came and got him for the last time. He tried to rob a bank over in Stone Hill. Things got out of hand and a teller was shot. They caught him on camera. He tried and convicted and sent to prison for twenty years. Lo do was what the old folks called “born rotten to the core”. It was as if he was born with no redeemable traits at all. He was always in trouble of some sort usually by his own actions and decisions. He would take kids bikes, start fights with almost anybody and many other bully like actions. The kids had only seen one person stand up to him in a way they could not imagine.

            Big Earl was the one that stood up to him and believe he got his attention and respect. Big Earl’s daddy helped him get a job throwing papers from his bike. Every evening at the same time  Lo Do would harass Big Earl

            “Hey ol fat ass boy”, he would shout as approached. ”Gimme dese papers “,he demanded as he reached into the saddle bags.

            “Stop Man!”, Big Earl pleaded . “ I gotta  pay for those “.

            “ I don’t giva dam”, Lo Do replied as he continued to ravage the bags of papers. When he had done what he wanted and got what he needed he shouted at Big Earl.

            “Now tear ya ass, ya fat ass bastard”.

            “You gonna get enough of messin’ with me” Big Earl shouted back as he rode away quickly as he could. With tears in his eyes he knew that this could not go on. He had often had conversations with Raw Dawg about Lo Do’s actions.

            “Man I’m tired of that nigga”, he said.

            “ I know man“, replied Raw Dawg. “We could put a crush on that fool if you wanna”.

            “Naw, this is somethin’ I got to handle myself. I cant let this sucka punk me out whenever he feel like it.” he explained.

            “I hear ya, big brother”, Raw Dawg replied.” Well lets go to the Rec and let me kick your ass on the ping-pong table.”

            “Yeah,there you go wit dat bullshit”,Big Earl shot back. They both chuckled and proceeded to the Rec.

            Later that same afternoon, as the boys gathered at the Rec, Raw Dawg spotted Lo Do and told Big Earl.

            “Der dat sucka is man”, he said in disappointment.

            “I see ‘em”,he acknowledged.

            “It sho is some fat sorry fuckas in here especially that dam paper boy right deh”, shouted out Lo Do.     

            “ I just don’t know why dat motha fucka is messin’ wit me”, Big Earl wondered.

            “Aw shit here he come man. Lets go“, said Raw Dawg.Just as the boys got up to leave, Lo Do ran toward them and flat out tackled Big Earl. Raw Dawg then grabbed Lo Do but quickly had to let him go. Lo Do then punched raw Dawg in the stomach and yelled at him.

            “Don’t never grab me again ya hear me? I don’t care if I hit yo mama or your daddy don’t never grab me you fat ass fool.”

            By this time everyone was wondering where Big Earl had gone. It was if he had been snatched out of the place by space people.” I bet he went home“, Bobby said. “Lets go see”. It was at this point that a loud blast went off. Then another right behind the first one.

            “Aw hell, he said he was gonna handle it“, Raw Dawg said as he saw his friend in the door way holding his daddy’s pump shotgun.

            “Where you at now nigga? Big Earl inquired of Lo Do.” Run ya narrow ass up on me now”, he shouted as he fired another round. It was as if he was possessed by the devil himself. But Lo Do was nowhere to be found. When he saw Big Earl with that gun he vanished. Mr. Henry had to come and take that gun from him. All was well after that.             Strange as it may seem they got along after that scene. Lo Do did not change his ways but he did not mess with Big Earl no more or any of the boys that hung with Big Earl. They even got to point to where they would joke about it. Big Earl even tried to help Lo Do change his ways but to no avail. When they had Lo do’s trial for that bank robbery, Big earl was there everyday. When they announced that he would be going to the pen for twenty years, he had a sadness in his heart that caused him to shed a tear for Lo Do. And when the guards were walking him out, Big Earl shouted at him in his usual way.

            “Holla at cha,nigga’, as he threw his right hand in the air.

            It’s amazing when the will to do good is proven to be stronger than the temptations to do wrong or be unforgiving.