The drive home started smooth, my beautiful wife and I speaking quietly making plans for the move. I wasn't just excited, I was relieved. I hadn't known how much pressure I was under until I felt the weight of it lift. It was refreshing.
"Babe, your phone is ringing." Simone said, tapping my arm and pointing at the middle compartment in the center of the car, right where a cup should be.
I looked where she pointed, a bit surprised, I hadn't realized it had ever been put on silent. It sat there glowing and vibrating, with the name Dick on the screen. It was my mother's husband. I picked up quickly, thinking as I usually did that something back home might be wrong.
"Hello" I said, a bit harder than I intended to, but I was defensive.
"Conner" Dick said gruffly, he was never nice to anyone.
"What's up Dick?" I asked, no longer worried as his voice was the normal rude I expected.
"Yaa...You told me you were sending another two hundred dollars today, so what's going on?" he asked.
I owed him money, which was usual. He let me borrow small amounts at a time, which was great and sucked at the same time. My payments back to him were always a lot bigger than any one given loan. I would borrow a few times and give him a chunk back. Today I was ok with paying though, as we had gotten the house.
"I can stop and send a western union for you in a second, ill be pulling up to the store any minute anyways. Ill just need to stop at an atm first." I told him, knowing, at least this time he wouldn't make me feel ashamed of myself.
"Ok good!" he sounded surprised. Then hung up. He would never change.
I looked over to my wife who was already staring at me questioningly. I loved her so much.
"That was Dick and I forgot to send his money," I said to her. She nodded so I continued "We just need to hit the gas station quick, so I can use the atm. Then we can send the money and get dinner at the store next door." I finished, looking out my side of the window hoping this wouldn't ruin her mood.
"Ok" was all she said, grabbed my hand in both of hers, and leaned back in her seat.
"Everything is ok" I thought to myself.
I drove about four more miles up the road without saying anything and found the gas station full of people when I arrived. This always made me a bit uncomfortable, as I was a big guy in a new state. We had just recently moved a few years back from up north, so the cultures were a lot different. I was never the only one to notice.
I left my wife in the car, knowing I wouldn't be here long. A few customers stood outside the double doors I was walking towards to get inside, yet none of them had been anyone I had ever seen. I went right inside to the Atm on the left wall of the store. I drew out two hundred and twenty dollars, the money I owed Dick, and money for the wife and I for whatever we might need.
I began to shop around the store feeling thirsty, and hungry. The feeling it my stomach was making my mouth water, but I couldn't find anything down the isle that peaked my interest enough to make a purchase.
That's when she screamed.
It was a high-pitched wail, followed by a few bangs off to the side of me. I overheard a woman scream.
"You slapped me!" she screamed hysterically "I'm not the one! My husband is coming right back in here and we going to see if you still as tough as you say you are." She finished and shoved her way out of the store.
I moved towards the door to see who exactly these speakers were, and saw a tall, dark, skinny and elderly woman with long hair walking towards a shorter man. Behind her, standing with his back towards me, was a man waving his hands at her and screaming to shut up.
I turned back to the counter to grab my things, my curiosity making my feet move where my body knew that it shouldn't. I moved back around the counter as things had gotten quiet aside from a few scuffles thumping against the glass door of the store. As I got closer I saw two men tussling with each other on the ground. One of the men getting up first, to run.
I saw the others face.
It was the same man I had seen the night before attacking my old little buddy. Suddenly I felt personally involved with allowing this to continue.
I walked out calmly to the man
"Bro chill" I said, stupidly thinking to at least talk the aggressive man down. He turned on me quick and glared at me. "The police are being called bro, and you got him. Go home, smoke a blunt." I finished, hoping that the way I spoke the cities language would put the man at ease. No luck on that though. He lunged at me as if to throw a punch.
It was this moment that I knew this man was more of a bully, and only wanted a confrontation with people who would fear him. That wasn't going to be me.
"Try that shit on somebody else bruh, I'm not the one!" I said. My heart was pounding, my chest was tight, and I could feel my fighting stance taking hold of me instantly, and it felt good.
This however seemed to back the man down. I noticed my wife had exited the car top join my side. I was scared for her, but I knew her better than to try and make her go back to safety. With my arm around her waist, we turned slowly, my eyes still on the man, and I allowed my wife to drag me slowly back into the store. At this point I started to calm, thinking the event was over. Then the door to the store opened and the man came inside with us.
"I need something to drink" he declared loudly as he walked towards the back of the store.
I didn't think much of it though, as it still seemed as if the situation had diffused. Wrong again. I paid for my drinks and turned to my right to see the man coming towards the front of the store with a large bottle of wine in his hand. He was holding it by the top, letting the heavy end swing as he walked. My skin prickled knowing this man was a bigger danger than I thought. I couldn't keep my mouth closed.
"What you planning to do with that bottle man? "I asked him, using my left arm to pull my wife behind me.
"I'm thirsty", he said holding up two, single dollar bills in his dirty fingers.
"Nobody buys a bottle of wine that big for just two dollars" I thought to myself.
The man started to approach me, still clutching the bottle in his hand. I knew there was no getting out of the store for me, so I tried to get my wife out. I turned towards her,
"Babe get away from this man he is dangerous." Pushing her gently off to the side towards the door.
As I turned back towards the man, I saw a flash of movement out of the corner of my left eye. That's when I felt the first blow hit me. Right on my left cheek bone, it was a solid hit most men would have fallen from. I wasn't most men.
The anger surged through me at this man, this bully. I had seen him harass too many people, and now he had hit me (with a wine bottle!) I used both of my hands to grab the man's chest and threw him into the candy bar stand at the front counter. After catching my balance, I grabbed the man again, slightly lifting, turned my hip, and side slammed into the chip stand behind me.
He started to get up, and he still had something in his hand. I was quick to react, scrambling to my feet as fast as I could and jumping on top of the man, hoping to use my weight against him. He struggled a bit, so I jammed my fingers into his windpipe and pushed him over. Once I was in position to swing it was his turn to feel pain.
I punched hard with a right swing, followed by another. On the second swing I could see a cut on the lower side of his left cheek where my fist had landed. He was still struggling, so I hit him again. Exactly where I saw the cut form a moment ago. This time it swelled, to a point I had never seen before. It was like a water balloon had decided to fill up around his eye and cheek in slow motion, just for me to watch.
At this point I knew he had had enough. There was nothing else to prove to him, and I had to get back to my wife. My anger was gone, and I felt concerned for the man, as I had done some severe damage to the left side of his face. I turned towards the counter where my wife had placed my stuff while I was fighting. I felt a prick of pain hit my left ear and heard glass shatter next to me.
This lunatic still wasn't done and had taken a stance at the wine bottle rack across the store. He was now using them like baseballs, throwing one and then two across the store at me. I ducked the first, but the second clipped me in the back of the head. This hurt so bad that I tried to hide behind the chip stand from any further attacks. The next one struck my hand sticking out, and I felt me to limp. He threw two more bottles my way, both smashing against the wall behind me. It quieted for just a moment, so I stuck my head out to see what was going on.
I felt the pain, and everything went black.