The characters in this book are a product of fiction, but the topics and the experiences are based on real events and true stories.
Life will sometimes push you to look death in the face, to contemplate its gaping maw and find it more attractive than the agony gnawing at your soul. Some go all the way and they end it all. But others, they succumb, offering their heart as a peace offering, terminating its beat as they walk away from themselves. Ryu called this kegare – the defilement that brings the will to live, to its knees. Keisha's death brought kegare on Brian's soul and he offered his heart for the opportunity to walk away to befoul himself in greed.
Brian Rodriguez, son of Mexican immigrants, wanted to be accepted as an American when he was in middle school. He didn't ask for suffering, he didn't expect it either. In fact, his family was running away from that, like all immigrant families do. Brian felt it was his right to be accepted as an American. After all, he was born in the land of the free. But life lashed its whip at his heart, taunting him towards the darkness that embraced him.
Shortly after Brian's birth in USA, Francisco and Carmen, Brian's parents, made the foolish decision to return to Mexico due to homesickness, forgetting why they left in the first place. In Monterrey, Mexico their life in the slum known as El Pozo, slapped them with reality and regret. With no education, Francisco struggled moving from job to job looking for ways to make ends meet as the family continued to grow -- Jorge and Jennifer being the latest family additions.
Years of hopelessness went by slowly, with no end to their misery. By the time Jorge's an 8-year-old boy, he becomes traumatized by the events in the slum leading the kid to experience severe depression and anxiety. The poor lad was no longer functional. Brian's plea to his parents was to get them the hell out of there. He couldn't bear to see his little brother acting like a zombie anymore.
Desperate to get the family out of El Pozo, with not a penny to his name, Francisco seeks the help of a thief to get the funds to return to the US for a second attempt.
On September 1981, they leave for Houston, Texas determined to leave El Pozo behind forever, ready to find the American dream this time. But rather than a dream, a nightmare begins for 12-year-old Brian. Jones Middle School introduces him a hurtful form of humiliation – racism. He was used to adversity, but this new challenge made him face psychological and physical abuse supassing that of El Pozo. As his parents struggled with battles of their own, Brian was left with his own will to pull through and survive. He learned martial arts from Kung Fu Theater, a show which played every Saturday on channel 39. Then he acquired a book written by a mystical ancient Japanese farmer named Ryu. And so begins a journey into an ancient pseudo-lifestyle of Shinto, as portrayed through Ryu's teachings and experiences. Brian finds a new way of life in the Tatsu (The dragon kami god), and brings balance to his life.
Sadly, a clash of culture and religion destroy Brian's beliefs and spirituality, forcing him to resort to the one thing he hadn't tried, the darkness. He becomes a ruthless street gangster, creating a successful criminal organization at Rhodes High called Hash Ménage (HM). People come to love him as much as they come to hate him, but as a criminal, Brian finally gets respect and fair treatment. Ironically, he finally starts to feel like an American.
During his senior year, Brian falls head over heels for Keisha, a kind-hearted Christian girl from the ghetto. The one he had a crush on since middle school, the one that was rescuing him from the murky path. And just as they begin to live a beautiful love story, Keisha's killed in a drive-by shooting just months away from their graduation. Brian is left broken, furious at life and the world. His desire becomes death, a death mitigated only by greed and power. And Brian begins his dark journey to bring the world to its knees.
________________________________________________________________________________
Copyright © 2019 by Roberto Gonzalez Jr.
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the author
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Posted in the United States of America on Wattpad
YOU ARE READING
Tatsu - The Threat
General FictionPeople experience pain in their lives. Some need it to live and find pleasure in it, but most run from it, they avoid it. Yet pain catches up to some of them. Just like it caught young Brian and destroyed his soul and consumed it with hate and avari...
