And a Child …

Chapter 1 Edwin Troy Harrison could still smell the mustard on the corn dog, even though it was lying on the ground covered in dirt. He didn’t know which was worse, that his only taste of junk food for the week was now inedible or that there were three guys meaning to do him bodily harm. The corn dog, with mega crap and calories, would have been the first taste of junk food in over a week. He had been dreaming about it since he cleared enough money out of his allowance to buy it. Edwin had gotten the first bite in his mouth when it was knocked out of his hand. He was so surprised by the attack that the food already in his mouth remained on the stick, sharing the same fate. There was mustard smeared on his upper lip. The three , from his new school, looked ready to rumble. The good news was that he outweighed all of them. The bad news, was, it was all fat. He didn’t know how to fight if his life depended on it, and from the look of these guys, it just might. “Can I help you gentlemen?” Edwin had played this game before. His height, weight and glib tongue had gotten him out of more beatings than he could count. “Yeah. You can die, faggot!!” said the leader. They all started toward him. “Wait, wait, wait. I’m not gay.” He put his hands up to try and stop them. Their leader was a little on the short side, with a mop of hair that needed a good washing and clothes that looked the same. Mop top’s cohorts were not exactly Xerox copies of him but carbon copies that had been used thirty times. Friends for years. Carrying each others back bones. Edwin stopped worrying about the lost fun food and started worrying if he would ever be able to eat again after these boys were through with him. He hated new schools. This was only the second new school in all his academic years. That was two too many. You had to prove yourself all over again. Edwin was sure all he was going to prove was that he was a bleeder. He closed his eyes and covered his face, slipping his glasses off his nose, and tossed them, he hoped, far enough from what was going to happen that they wouldn‘t get broken. He could hear the boys moving forward, egging each other on. “Look at the sissy covering his face.” “Hit him in the gut, Bret.” “I get the money from his back pack.” said the ring leader. Then there was silence. Edwin thought that his wish for time to stop had been granted until he opened his eyes. The two boys had their hands raised into fists, and the leader had his hand in the back pack. However, none of them looked at, what was a few seconds ago, their target. They stared past him. Edwin took a few breaths, then turned around to see what was evil enough to stop his tormentors in their tracks. There was another boy not unlike his tormentors. He was a lot cleaner but still cut from the same cloth as the other boys. The five boys remained motionless, a challenge, as to whom would break the ice. The newcomer stepped into the clearing. “Hey guys, stealing lunch money is so fifth grade. What do you think you are doing”? The two offenders dropped their fists. The other dropped what he had taken from the back pack. The three started talking all at once. The newcomer stepped between Edwin and his tormentors. “Slow down Einsteins. I can only listen to one moron at a time.” The two followers deferred to their leader. “We heard this faggot talking to Becky Wilson about living with his two Moms, right Heather”? Edwin started forward but the newcomer blocked his way. “Hold on Killer.” he said in a normal tone of voice, turning to Edwin. Then, under his breath, he said “Play along.” “Killer, right,” said the leader. “He’s nothing but a fat loser bastard, with two mommies.” The other two boys echoed his sentiments. The new boy fell forward like he had been pushed. He turned around to Edwin, “Yo, Killer, he did not mean anything by it,” turning to the leader “right, Marvin?” There was a look of fear in the new kids’ eyes, and that gave the other boys pause. “Why not?” he asked tentatively. “Well, Killer here is one of the top martial arts experts in the State of Florida and has his third degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.” “Bull shit” said Marvin’s number two. “You call him ‘Killer’ because you don’t know his name and you’re just trying to save his ass.” Edwin took a deep breath because this guy did not have a clue as to who he was. The new kid turned and winked. “This is none other than Edwin Troy Harrison, ET to his friends, and Killer by the five guys at a Tae Kwon Do tournament in Florida that had their right legs and left arms broken when they jumped him after he won the Grand Championship last year.” Turning to Edwin he said, “Right, Killer?” Edwin was almost as much in awe of himself as the three toadies that the new kid was trying to bamboozle. He took a stance that he had seen in the Karate Kid movie. Wax on, wax off, then did a kick that would have been more awkward if he had not practiced in front of the mirror for hours. He loved that movie. Toady three chimed in, “OK that was cool but that doesn’t change the fact that he is a faggot. Growing up with two Lesbos, you have to be a fag, right”? This time the new kid pushed toady number three to the ground. “I live with my Dad and another guy. Does that make me a faggot, gee-ball?” The boy scrambled from the ground and had the same stance as Edwin had earlier, hands covering his face. “No man. Hell. You’re cool” “Besides, what man in his right mind would not want two Lesbos waiting on him hand and foot.” Edwin had been standing there in the crane for a while, and he let out a moan. “Oh man, he’s going to blow.” He turned to Edwin and gave him a look like “Cool it, we are almost home.” “Killer, remember what the sensei said. If you break anyone’s limbs out of the ring, you can be arrested,” Turning to the guys then back to Edwin “but I guess it’s self defense.” Edwin yelled “But I want to kill!!” The three boys ran past the strangely postured boy, heading into the woods from. Edwin kept frozen. The new kid came over to him and checked that the nitwits had gone. “It’s ok, Killer. They split.” Edwin relaxed his arms and lowered his leg, accompanied by groans. “I wasn’t sure how much longer I was going to be able to hold that pose.” “You did good, boy.” Shaking his hand, “The name is Henry Strickland. My friends call me Hank. ‘Ethan Henry Powell Strickland’ when my Dad’s are pissed off.” Edwin stopped shaking Hand’s hand and searched for his glasses. “I don’t know where you pulled my name out of, but I am really glad you did.” “Long story. My Dads gets a newsletter telling them about the new arrivals in Springfield and the ‘burbs.’ Your name came up.” “Newsletter? About what”? “I call it the COF’s Bulletins from the LGTB Center.” “COF?” “Children of Fags.” Edwin got very quiet and increased the urgency of finding his glasses. Hank made a face, “Sorry. I used that word a lot. Most of the time it’s in front of my DADS!! Underline, exclamation point.” Edwin is still puzzled.