I First And Foremost must thank The Almighty God. Although the first few books mentioned thanks to him (but not when you first opened them), I had done a great injustice. I now acknowledge him who gave me this ability to write and write. I will dedicate this book to all of the underdogs: those whom can relate to feelings of being left out, unimportant, ostracized, criticized, and excluded. You soon shall be included, important, honored, revered, and the overachiever. For all things through CHRIST are possible. My family and friends who gave me inspiration to write this story. My wife for giving me the time and space to finally finish this book. The people in my life who helped to create some of the characters. Which one are you?
Prelude
This is a short story revolving around a young man name Junya, in a part
of his lifetime where friends and relationships mean everything, and determines
all of what he does. Junya grew up in the Hartford, CT inner city. He has
always been the type of boy who veered away from trouble and tried to maintain
meaningful relationships with friends and do good deeds. He went off to college
after finishing high school, where he enjoyed his newfound freedom away from
the restrictive confides of his household; living with his parents, two brothers,
and baby sister for most of his life. Junya had no trouble making new friends
while at school, yet his ties back home keep him whirl winding in between the
grime and struggle on the city streets, and the comfort and opportunity of
college. Through it all, he found himself too overwhelmed by both of these
worlds, causing him to cascade into a state of constant confusion. It altered him
from landing decent work, and his ability to take a strong stand in what he feels
is right. Junya was always athletic, but never took it upon himself to use his
energy and love for weight training and exercise to play a professional sport.
One of Junya.s friends arranged for him to try out for a walk on position for an
arena football team in their hometown. When Junya got to the tryout, he was
very lackadaisical; his not being prepared lead him to leave the laughing stock of
the entire tryout. He was lapped twice by two people in the mile run, he
dropped every single pass that was thrown to him, and he got hit so hard on one
of the mock plays, that he threw up the big breakfast he ate before the tryout.
Junya constantly complained about the heat, the way the ground was moist from
the previous night.s rain, and that the rock and roll music was a distraction to his
focus. Junya.s failure to make the first cut weakened his exercise pride to the
point where he did not work out anymore.
He reserved himself to pushups on
occasion, and shooting hoops with his peoples. Other than that, Junya had
slimmed down and toned up. Outside of pumping iron and hanging out with
his people, Junya loved to write. From as far back as he could remember
breathing, he would always write down something. Growing up his
grandmother from Jamaica would visit him and the rest of his family for a few
months out of the summer, and Junya would watch his grandmother write
letters with the paper turned completely sideways. Her curious style of holding
the pen urged Junya into a writer. The way of his writing though, was not as
pertinent as the subject matter and ideas expressed through Junya.s writing. He
would make up songs that sounded like songs on the radio. At the time, rap
music was very popular, and it captured Junya.s interest. He wrote a song about
one of the kids that got shot with a bee-bee gun in his eye, and he had to wear an
eye patch. He called the song, "Ah-patch-ee,. the new nickname of the boy that
was hit. He still remembered writing that song to this day. As he grew older,
Junya got down with a lot of rap crews, until he met up with these guys from
outside of Hartford that had a rap group. The group was called "The Iron
Holders,. because the majority of the group walked around with guns that they
would bust after any rapper in the group would win someone in a rap battle.
The crew also had a thing; ironic, that they did not iron their clothes. There was
9 members, including Junya.
Out of all of them, at least 5 had been in and out of
jail, 2 were on the run, and the other was the leader of the most notorious street
gang in Hartford at the time, 400. They were called 400, because it seemed
everything they did was in big numbers. A report on the news talked of a time
when a total body count of their 5 years of being in existence consisted of over
400 murders, kidnappings, robberies, and shootings. They gang itself had about
400 members in one city alone. The only reason Junya was involved with the rap
group, is because the leader of the 400.s heard him rapping at a talent show at his
college, and the baby sister of the leader went to the same school as Junya. He
told Junya to be down with the rap group and help them to get a recording deal.
Junya was very excited at this opportunity, and went about it seriously, only to
find that the other members did not do so. They were so into their street life, that
they only used the studio as a hiding place for one of them would end up
shooting someone over dumb shit, like loosing in a rap battle. One day, The Iron
Holders did a show at this club out of town. Junya stepped on the stage and
opened up for the group. As soon as Junya walked to the side, and the rest of the
crew came on the stage, an armed assailant jumped on the stage and killed the
leader of the 400.s in front of everyone; one shot to the side of his head.
Everyone fled the club, trampling over girls and knocking over security, but the
shooting did not stop.