Tatsu - The Threat

Chapter 4 - Red Tide

Brian continued on his way to the park looking at everything around him feeling like he was in a dream. Of those times that you feel stuck between reality and the world inside your mind so much that you have to stare at things, at people, and remind yourself that they are real, that the scene is real.

Everything he saw, the trees, the permanent potholes on the street, the graffiti, the people of the hood, young and old, everything brought him soothing memories. The sounds of the hood were like no other. The bass could be heard all around coming from cars and homes, orchestrations emanating from Kenwood and Alpine reproductions of rap masterpieces. He could make out which song it was just from the bass, reconnecting him to his past, to the things that defined him and told his story.

Inspired, Brian closed his eyes and began walking down memory lane again:

The new kid's name was Stanley Hogan. Nothing out of the ordinary at first glance. His outer shell presented a red hair boy from a trailer park. But the onlooker would need to look twice to see the whole picture. The look in his blue eyes was shadowy and full of pain. It was hard to look him in the eyes. Since his first day at Rhodes, Stanley pushed people in the hallways for no reason and no one dared push him back. He was rude to teachers, slapping them around as he pleased, and he made look so easy. The security guards could tell he was big trouble so they looked the other way when they saw him smoking pot in the cafeteria. Why would anyone want to set off a ticking bomb, right? That was the rationale, I guess. In the bathroom, he repeatedly peed on the floor instead of the urinals, like a dog marking its territory. With all of this nonsense, the redhead was asking for it. It would be a matter of time before his path would lead him to Brian.

I'm skeptical about a concept like fate, but Stanley was meant to cross Brian's path someday and it happened that Monday morning in Physical Education. Stanley was in his PE Rhodes uniform – an ugly red color pair of shorts with a worn and tattered T-shirt that probably said Rhodes High Panthers on it. He was on the court by himself with a basketball and no one dared go near him. Brian always skipped PE to smoke or sell pot, but that day he made an effort to be there. It was time to meet the new kid he'd heard so much about. The place was the basketball court and the time was second period.

"What's up red boy, what's your name?" asked Brian.

Stanley avoiding eye contact while dribbling the ball responded, "Stanley. Step away and leave me alone."

"You have any idea who I am?" asked Brian. His boys were approaching Stanley threateningly.

"Some kind of gangster, I imagine!" replied Stanley with a sarcastic smile.

Brian returned the smile and closed in causing Stanley to halt his dribble. "Nah, not a gangster. A brother man. A partner." Glancing at his buddies who continued their menacing walk towards Stanley, Brain said, "Leave'em alone ya'll. He's cool." Brian took the ball from Stanley and fired his famous three-point shot hitting nothing but net. "I never miss red boy," said Brian walking away with his guys.

Stanley was not shaken in the least by his encounter with the HM gang and continued to terrorize everyone. Seeing him walk down the halls felt like a sudden demise. The very thing no one wants to come across face to face. But for Stanley, it was life that was dreadful, something Brian would at some point share with him. The guys at HM talked to Brian everyday about teaching Stanley a lesson. Brian just smiled knowing the time was coming.

It had become a tradition for Brian and his gang to go to the detention center after school to smoke pot and cause trouble. That's the kind of stuff young gangsters in the 80's did for fun at school. Chaos and disruption brought sense to their lives. I guess that's the case for many people still. Law and order does not run in their blood, this was certainly true for most kids in HM. With a grandiose entrance that afternoon, Brian was about to pull off a sensational Class of 1984 piano scene which would make the original seem rated G.