Chapter Fifty-Five

The next Chapter of my memoir/novel, Lost and Found, is ready.

Oops! Sorry folks, I had my head screwed on backwards yesterday and it never crossed my mind it was Wednesday. And, as you can see, we’re a day late with this week’s new Chapter of the book. But, as we old-timers like to say, “Better late than never!”

It’s possible there may be a delay again next week. I don’t have the next Chapter ready-to-go yet, and I may not get it done in time to post it. I know you can write early and set the publish date ahead of time with a blog, so it will depend on whether I get it ready in time. I may not be around next Wednesday, so if it doesn’t show up, don’t fret — I’ll get it up here as soon as I can.

Be well — be in peace,

Ron Rink
=============================================

I had to work on Saturday at the bowling alley. Before I went home to eat, I stopped at the Sugar Bowl. There were more Dukes and Duchesses hanging around than usual. The mood in the store was vibrating with the excitement of the coming rumble. Everyone seemed to be smoking one cigarette after another. The chatter was mostly about how we were going to be giving the Livernois boys the worst night of their lives. Many of the conversations dealt with the imagined blow-by-blow descriptions of their successful individual battles.

I looked around to see if Sally was there, but I didn’t see her. I went to the counter, bought a chocolate coke, took it over and slid into a booth where Crazy Jimmy was sitting with Freddy Shaw.

Crazy Jimmy was kidding Freddy. “I’m gonna be roving backup, Freddy, but I can’t be spending all night saving your ass, you know.”

“Don’t worry,” Freddy responded with bravado, “I’ll probably have to stop what I’m doing just to pull some assholes off you.”

Freddy was one of the bigger guys in the gang — big, but not too bright. He consistently flunked courses in school. He wasn’t one of the better fighters in the gang either, but once he hit someone, they usually stayed down. He was as strong as an ox and just as lumbering. He was slow, but it didn’t matter because people couldn’t hurt him. I’d seen guys in the gang hit Freddy in the stomach as hard as they could, and he would just shrug it off. There were several stories about how Freddy was able to shake off more than one attacker and still not get hurt. I had often thought how lucky I was that Bob Morton hadn’t made Freddy one of the guys I had to fight.

“You ever been in a rumble, Van Buren?” Jimmy asked, squinting against the smoke that was getting into his eyes.

I shook my head. “I’ll be okay.”

Freddy piped in, “Yeah, I heard you and Billy have been practicing,”

“You gonna be using a chain or a club?” asked Jimmy.

“Club and knuckles,” I answered.

I finished my chocolate coke and went home for dinner.

At seven o’clock that night, I left the house on my bike and headed for the Sugar Bowl. My parents left the house just a minute or two before me. Even though Billy had made me more confident about fighting in a rumble, I felt a combination of nervousness and excitement.

When I arrived at the Sugar Bowl, I put my bike behind the store. Most of the gang members were hanging around outside. Their mood seemed to be similar to mine. The excitement and hyper activity of earlier that day was replaced by a grimness which bordered on a harsh fierceness. No one was talking. There wasn’t any horseplay. The cigarettes were still being consumed in great quantities. Even the Duchesses, who normally would be chattering away, were quiet.

At seven-thirty, Bob Morton pulled up alongside the Sugar Bowl in the same Buick he drove the week before. He got out of the car, came around to the passenger side and leaned back against the hood of the car with his arms folded in front of him. The gang members all drifted over to the side of the building facing him and waited quietly. Morton looked at the group and called out, “Sammy, where’s your bandanna?” Sammy pulled one out of his back pocket and tied it around his head.

“Okay, who has cars?” Morton asked.

Three of the guys raised their hands.

“Billy, Van Buren, Sally and Sally’s cousin will ride with me. I can take one more. Jimmy, you ride with me too. The rest of you split up between the other cars and let’s go. When we get to Hazel Park, follow me—I’ll show you where to park. When we pull off onto the street, turn your lights off and keep quiet. We don’t want the cops showing up before we even get started.”

When we got to Hazel Park, we all pulled into the street two blocks over from the school, turned our cars around so they were facing back the way we came in, and quietly worked our way through the vacant lots and over to the school playground. We were alone. The other gang hadn’t arrived. Morton was having a conversation with Sally and her cousin, whose name we learned was Diane. He motioned for Billy and me to come over.

“Stay here with me. As soon as Sally and Diane point out the three guys, we’ll make our move.” Even if all three of them don’t show up, I’ll still take Sally’s guy and you two take the other one.”

It wasn’t long before we started to hear some car doors being slammed out in front of the school. I whispered to Billy, “Those guys are going to have a hell of a time escaping if the cops show up.”

We watched as a group of guys with red bandannas began to drift in along the other side of the enclosed playground area. Arthur came in first and as soon as the next guy came into view, Sally nudged Morton and whispered, “It’s the second guy. That’s the one who grabbed me.” Morton looked at Billy and me with a question in his eyes and we both nodded letting him know we had heard her.

A few more guys walked in and stood next to the wall of the other wing. We could see them clearly, even in the poor light. We could also see some chains and clubs in their hands. Diane, who had stood between Billy and me leaned over and said, “My guys are standing right next to each other. They’re the last two guys over on the right.” Billy nudged Morton who nodded and looked over at us. He raised his eyebrows as if to say, “Ready?” I had so many butterflies in my stomach I thought I would throw up, but I also had this new feeling — I wanted to look good for Sally. I didn’t want her to see my fear. For some reason I didn’t understand at the time, I wanted to impress her, so I nodded along with Billy.

Morton, Billy and I stepped out away from the wall and started to walk slowly towards the middle of the area between the two building wings. The other guys pushed off from the walls on both sides and moved towards each other. Morton whispered, “Move with me and get your guys.” Then he broke into a run, made a beeline for the blonde guy and clipped him across the upper arm with his chain. Billy and I started running as well. I was to the right of Billy, so I drove my fist with the brass knuckles straight into the nose of the guy on the far right. Blood spurted out of his nose and his hands went to his face as he jumped back. I hit him across his right ear with the club and he went to his knees. I kicked him hard in the chest and he fell back and stayed there.

Just then, someone jumped onto my back and started pummeling me on the top of my head with a club. I swung around trying to get him off my back, but he hung on as if he was riding a bucking bronco. His blows were hurting and I was seeing stars as I felt myself weakening. His head was right next to mine, so I took my bat and stabbed as hard as I could into his face. I don’t know what I managed to hit, but he let go and I managed to get a quick jab at him with my brass knuckles before I saw Bobby rap him on the side of his head with his chain. He went down.

I looked around and saw Billy was swinging wildly at Arthur and another guy with his chain. Suddenly Arthur grabbed Billy’s chain and pulled hard. Billy was jerked into the range of the other guys’ chain. I didn’t see Morton. Bobby yelled in my ear, “Let’s get them from behind!” I got there first and clubbed the guy swinging his chain across the back of his head. He spun around and his chain whipped across my shoulder. I felt my right arm, the one with the knuckles go numb. I was raising my bat when we heard the sirens. The guy who had just hit me looked over toward the street, and I hit him with all my strength with the bat. He sunk to the ground. As he went down I saw Arthur fall right after Billy connected with his chain.

Suddenly Billy was grabbing me by the arm and yelling, “Get the fuck out of here. Head for the cars.”

The two gangs were scattering in opposite directions as a few cops came running around the building. Luckily for us, they came around the side opposite of where we would be escaping. As I ran, I looked around to see if any of the Dukes were on the ground, but I didn’t see any.

Billy yelled in my ear, “Keep going. Don’t slow down!” We were into the woods before the cops made it into the playground. As I looked back from the woods, I could see they were going after some guys who were still in the middle of the grounds. They had their billy clubs in their hands. I heard Billy to my left yelling, “Get to the cars!”

When we got to the car, Sally and Diane were already in the back seat. Jimmy was just opening the side door in front. I heard Morton behind me as he yelled, “Get into the car!” Morton, Billy and I all jumped in at about the same time, slammed our doors as the car roared up the side street and made a sharp turn onto the main street with wheels screeching.

The turn slammed me up against Sally in the back seat. She didn’t push me away, but rather looked into my eyes and gave me a quick, sweet smile.

Then her look changed to one of concern as she said, “You’re bleeding.”
=================================================
My other blog about Buddhism

http://www.buddhistbelief.com
==================================================