Konichiwa

A Story by LaDain Jackson

A young gang member's life takes a turn as he becomes fascinated in ancient history and philosophy along with the escalation of murder.

Rick Stone is an eighteen year old high school drop out in a youth street gang called "The PCF" which stands for pipes, chains, and fists in Bronx, New York. He spends most of his days wandering the streets all day with the four other members named Bobby The Monster, Danny Bullets, Tommy Bones, and Mikey Mouse. They isolate themselves from other gangs by race since their an all white gang. They consider their gang like an elite unit with the theme of older gangs by not using guns as often as the other gangs do but using them only when in real danger. They originally formed to protect themselves from Hispanic and African American gangs around the neighborhood. They run their own rackets of counterfeiting money, car jacking, and gambling. Along with their gun policy they also decide to ban any kind of drug dealing within their gang so that it doesn't draw too much attention to the other crimes that they commit. They base their philosophies on self defense and sometimes even being heroes to the poor. On this day they all sit on a park bench each smoking cigarettes. Each time a woman walks by they all shout whistle. Rick stands up and checks the time on his cell phone. "Don't you guys have anything better to do". Danny looks at him "Maybe we do but why"? "Sometimes I feel like I belong somewhere else but here". "Then let's take the train down to Amy's place, I'm sure her parents aren't still home". "I don't mean that I mean somewhere away from this whole city". "Just get first class tickets to Hawaii". Bobby and Mikey both laugh. "Come on guys I'm serious". "Don't tell me you're getting soft on us Ricky". "I should've known you guys wouldn't know any better". "Calm down man I'm just joking with you". Rick checks the time on his cell phone again. "Whatever I have to go check on my mother". Rick walks out off the park heading towards a bus stop. Danny sits back down. "What's up his a*s"? Twenty minutes later Rick gets off the bus and walks upstairs to an apartment building as he hears dogs barking and neighbors yelling. He stops in front of one of the tenant doors on the third floor. He takes out a key and opens the door. "Mom, are you here"? She stands in the kitchen chopping up beef. "I'm in the kitchen". Rick walks into the living room looking at the mantle with pictures of war veterans that is in their family. He walks into the kitchen and sits on the table. He looks over and sees a stack of books on the other side of the table. "Where did you get these"? "I was down at the library earlier". Rick reaches over grabbing them. He looks through each one of them. At the bottom of the stack he sees a book that has teachings and research on samurai warriors from ancient Japan. That night Rick stays up reading through the whole book. He memorizes and takes in each lesson and stories from history. The next morning Danny, Bobby, and Mikey sit on the stoop of the apartment waiting for Rick. Right before Rick leaves the apartment he walks his mother in the living room. "Ma I'm going back out but I actually liked reading last night so right now I think I'm going to head to the library". "Okay see you later". Rick goes downstairs to meet up with Danny, Bobby, and Mikey. "Hey guys I want to stop some place before we head out". Bobby sighs. "Come on my cousin says he'll be around soon with the new car we were going to look at". "Yeah I know but I just want to go somewhere real quick or just all of you wait for me here and I'll be right back". Rick turns around and heads to the library. Danny, Bobby, and Mikey sit back down on the stoop rolling dice. A car pulls up in front of them. They look at it to see who it is. The driver rolls the window down. He waves a flag of Puerto Rico in his hand symbolizes a rival gang. Danny throws up his middle finger. The gang member in the passenger seat opens the glove compartment and pulls out a pistol. Danny and Bobby both stand up and pull out switch blade knives. The gang member gets out the car and points the pistol at them. Danny and Bobby both back up slowly. Mikey puts his hands up. The gang member gets back in the car and they both drive off. Danny watches the car drive away looking closely at the license's plate number. Rick sits down in the library talking to one of the librarians. "I read this one book last night and it really got be interested in reading more so I was wondering if you had anymore books on history". "I can help you with that". "Another thing is I've already been thinking different about things and I really do want to try different things for the better". "Well that's good as long as you do it while you're still young". "I was even thinking getting my G.E.D". "I wish more people around here would". "I would also like my friends to do the same but they couldn't listen even if they tried". "That's how must of them are". "I was thinking too that maybe after I do get my G.E.D I can move somewhere else". "You never know what's possible". Rick checks out of the library with a new book on crime history. When he walks towards Danny, Bobby, and Mikey he sees them arguing with each other. "Hey guys what's the problem"? Mikey grabs Rick by the arm. "These two guys came and pulled a gun out on us"! "Do any of you know them"? Rick looks at Danny. "I think I saw them a few weeks ago watching us". "I know what there car looks like and from what I remember where they stay is not that far from here". "Rick, we need to go after them tonight but first we need to go get that car". "What should we do if you said they had a gun"? "I know where we can get one but come on we need to go get that car". An hour later they sit in a new muscle car as Danny drives. Rick sits up front smoking a cigarette. "Now if we need to get a gun then fine but I would rather just whip him with a chain to send a message then just start shooting". "We need to show them so they don't come around again and I want one just in case we need it". Danny pulls up to a street corner. He walk up to a man wearing a trench coat. He gives the man a one hundred dollar bill. The man hands him a paper bag. Danny gets back into the car and drives off. He hands Rick the paper bag. Rick reaches into it and pulls out a gun which is a revolver. He opens the barrel seeing that it's loaded. Danny looks at him and smiles. "Alright let's get these a******s". They pull up in front of a chop shop garage. Rick pictures in his mind them being samurais riding into battle on their horses. All four of them quietly get out of the car. Rick hands Danny the revolver. Danny knocks on the front door of the shop. A teenage Hispanic girl answers the door. Danny grabs her my the mouth and pushes her back in holding the revolver up against her head. They all sneak in holding her as a hostage. They walk into the garage and three other gang members stand up glaring at them. The two they encountered with run up behind them. They wrestle with the gun in Danny's hand. The three other gang members fight with Rick, Bobby, and Mikey by throwing punches and grappling with each other. The teenage girl runs away screaming. The other gang member wrestles Danny to the ground trying to grab the gun. Danny reaches around his waist and whips out his switchblade knife. He slashes the gang member's right arm. The gang member falls down holding his arm as it bleeds. Danny gets up and pulls the trigger. The sound makes everyone else stop fighting. They all stop to look. They see the gang member down with a bloody bullet hole through his head. Another shot is fired from a different direction and it hits Danny in the chest. He falls to the floor next to the gang member. They all look over and see the teenage girl crying with a pistol in her hand. Rick runs up to Danny. Bobby and Mikey both grab him and they run back outside. The rest of the gang members and the girl run out the other way. Rick starts the car and drives off with Bobby and Mikey. By the time the police get there Danny and the gang member are found both dead. Two days later Bobby and Mikey both get caught and arrested as accomplices. Bobby turns in Rick for proving Rick's finger prints on the revolver. After Bobby gets let go Rick gets arrested and his sentenced along with Mikey. During his he entered good behavior programs and finally received his G.E.D. Three years later Rick gets released. When he walks out through the prison gates he says to himself "For a samurai warrior it' an honor to die in battle". After finding stable work Rick moved out off New York and traveled. Bobby was found dead in an alley way from a heroin over dose. After Mikey's release he was rearrested after being caught with counterfeit currency. Rick settled in Tokyo, Japan working in teaching philosophy.