“What exactly happened?” Ben asked.
“A car ran a red light hitting your father’s car as he was passing an intersection. The cops believe the car that hit your father was going nearly 70 mph. I’m so sorry,” said Rachael.
“Is he going to be okay,” Ben asked hesitatingly. He asked unsure if he really wanted to know the answer.
“Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news. He’s got some minor face fractures on his right side. Those will heal,” said Rachael.
“And the bad news?” Ben asked.
“Your father’s spleen is severely ruptured. We were able to stop the bleeding, but he lost a lot of blood,” said Rachael.
“Is he…” Ben couldn’t even finish the sentence.
Rachael put her hands over his shoulders. “I really don’t know, honey.”
A voice came on over the hospital speakers. The voice said, “Rachael to room number 6, immediately.”
The nurse walked away quickly. Ben took a seat next to his father. He began imagining all the fun times he had with him. Although the times were very scarce, he was very thankful for the rare times that he truly got to enjoy and know his father.
Ben got up from his seat and walked over to his father. His father laid lifeless in a deep sleep hooked to a lot of wires on a hospital bed. Next to Jeff’s bed is a heart rate monitor. The monitor had a green line going up and down, and Jeff’s heart rate numbers read: 112 over 67. Jeff has a large square piece of sterile dressing taped on his right side of his face. Ben quietly tugged at him. Ben tugged gently several times. His father’s eyes opened.
“Dad, what happened?”
Jeff’s eyes appeared to be very groggy, which was probably due to all the medicine he probably had in him. Jeff opened and closed his eyes many times. He finally was able to keep them open and began to circle the room with them, beginning with the ceiling.
“Ben…”
The words came out of Jeff’s mouth very lightly. Ben only heard them since he was within a few feet away.
“Where is your mother at?” Jeff asked.
Jeff’s words were still stuttering but were a little louder at this point.
“She couldn’t make it, but she will be here tomorrow,” said Ben.
Jeff’s eyes grew very worrisome.
“Can you do me a big favor, little buddy?”
“Of course, dad, what is it I can do for you?” Ben asked.
“I want you to take care of your mother. She’s going to need a strong man looking after her,” said Jeff.
That’s when reality finally really hit Ben. It was at that very moment, that Ben realized that his father was going to die sometime between now and the next few days. Ben is trying to fight tears that wanted to come out.
“Dad, please don’t talk like that. Everything is going to be ok.”
Jeff stared at Ben for several seconds and then shut his eyes. Ben panicked at first, thinking his father died.
“Please, don’t go, dad!”
He could hear his father breathing. Ben let out a sigh of relief. Ben knew he may never see his father again, so he tugged to wake his father back up.
Jeff’s eyes opened slightly. “Please, Ben, go home now.”
Ben took a couple of steps back and finally retreated into a chair that was ten feet away. Ben put his hands over his face and began to sob. It was the first time in many years that Ben wept. Ben cried up until the cab came to pick him up.
Ben sat in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal, when he noticed his mother staring with anger at him.
“What is it, mom?”
“Well, how about apologizing for not allowing me to see your father, one last time?” Tina asked.
“What are you talking about? I thought you were going to see him this morning,” said Ben.
Tina threw a rag down that she was holding (she had just wiped the table down).
“Your father is dead. You robbed me of getting to say one last good-bye to him, you selfish bastard!” Tina shouted.
Ben dropped his spoon and lowered his head down. He is so ashamed to even say that he’s sorry. Tina walked away from the table and out the front door. Ben heard the car start a few minutes later and heard the tires squealing. He understood his mother’s frustration but couldn’t believe that she would accuse him so harshly of something that he could have not known.
It is Wednesday morning. Ben, his sister Heather, Ben’s mom, and many others watched as Jeff’s casket was lowered six feet into the ground. Ben watched intensely as the casket reached as far as it could go. Ben looked around and didn’t recognize half the people at his father’s funeral, as many of them were people that he had worked with.
Ben looked over at his mom, who gave him an extremely dirty, deathly look. She was still obviously upset that she didn’t get a chance to see the man she loved and was married to for twenty years, one last time.
Ben sits next to his mom in the car on the ride home from the funeral. Ben’s sister is seated in the back. Heather had been acting odd all day. Ben could tell that she’s been high all day. Since the rape, it was very rare to see his sister happy and off drugs.
“I’m so sorry. I should have taken you too see him. If I would…”
Ben’s mom quickly cut him off. “That’s not the only thing that has me furious.” There was a long pause as Tina wiped some tears out of her eyes.
“Your father was killed by a drunk driver. I read it in the paper before we left.”
Tina put her right hand to her face, trying desperately to fight tears. She kept the hand a little below her eyes, so she could still see the road.
Ben turned his attention to looking out the passenger side window. He was deeply lost in thought. Anger began to fill up in Ben, and that anger would never correctly be disposed of.
Chapter 6
Two years later, May 1992- Ben, Tina, and Bill (Ben’s stepdad) were in the living room watching television together. Ben is now eighteen-years-old. Ben grew three inches over the past two years to bring his height to 6’1’’. They were watching “Days of our Lives.” It’s Tina’s favorite soap opera. Tina and Bill were smoking a joint. Tina is not the same beautiful lady she was “just” two years ago. She is strung out on drugs, with crack being her drug of choice. She was a cook at Billy Boy’s and got laid off from there almost two months ago. She now collects unemployment as her source for income.
Heather is now twenty-three-years-old and works at Domino’s. She hadn’t worked at LongHorn Steakhouse since she was sixteen-years-old. She was just too mentally unstable and was consistently getting complaints from the customers. She would cry in the bathroom and sometimes even get high in the restaurant’s bathroom. She just recently started working again the past six months. Though her pizza job at times could be stressful, it was no comparison to her waitress job. She mostly just worked and stayed in her bedroom. Heather is still strung out on drugs all the time, but she has a different supplier than her mom and stepdad has.
“Can you afford to buy crack? I could really use some right now, baby darling,” Tina said.
“I would have to contact Fred and find out when he’ll have more. I still have two pounds of marijuana left, sugar cakes,” said Bill.
Bill looked over at Ben and noticed that he’s listening intensely to their conversation.
“Hey, Benny boy, you want to take a hit of this (his hand is extended as if to pass the joint to Ben).”
Before Ben could answer, Tina is quick to interfere.
“No, he may not! Now, get that joint away from my boy’s face.” Tina said.
Ben got up and left the living room to go upstairs to his bedroom to work on his homework. He is depressed by how his mother is living, and it was apparent by Ben’s facial reactions.
Two days had come and gone. Ben is seated doing his homework in the dining room. Ben looked at the calendar, which had black checks for days that had already passed. The black checks went up to the current date of May, 13. Unknown
to Ben, Bill has passed him on his walk to the kitchen. Ben heard a loud thud. Ben looked in the direction of the kitchen. The refrigerator door is wide open and on the floor next to it is Bill. Bill is a large man at 6’2’’. He also weighed 310 pounds. Bill had slipped due to being drunk. He got to his feet and grabbed a Coors light 12 oz. out of the fridge. Bill then lets out a loud burp. Bill notices Ben staring at him.
“What are you looking at, boy? Is there a problem?”
Ben quickly shifted his eyes back to his math homework and pretended to be engaged with it as he’s writing down numbers, hoping Bill would leave him be.
Bill sits his beer down and walks over to Ben. “I said, what is your problem, boy?”
Ben pretended not to hear him and answered questions that weren’t even listed in his math book. Bill began furious and swiped the math book off the table with one hard swoosh.
“Get up, boy!” Bill shouted.
Ben at first hesitates but then slowly gets up from his seat.
“You think you are better than me, don’t you, boy?” Bill asked rhetorically as his eyes were challenging Ben. “I bet you think your father was so much better than me, because he worked and had such an awesome job, while your deadbeat stepfather is a piece of shit! Isn’t that right?”
Ben stayed quiet for a good thirty seconds before speaking up. “I don’t think you are a piece of shit,” said Ben stuttering.
Ben swallowed hard as his stepfather is only a couple of inches away from his face with his breath smelling of beer. “I bet you don’t,” said Bill. Bill cocked his right arm back and threw it forward with all of his power hitting Ben’s right eye. Ben stumbled back a few feet from the unexpected hard hit. He tried to regain his composure but fell to the floor due to gravity. Ben’s eye is now swollen.
Bill walked over to Ben, who had no interest of getting back up. “You’re the piece of shit that allowed your sister to be raped!” Bill hunched his body and face down to Ben’s face that remained on the floor. “Yeah, your mother told me all about it.”
Bill grabbed his beer off the dining room counter and walked away. Ben laid on the floor for a good twenty minutes lost in thought. He knew that things had to change, and they needed to change quickly. He wouldn’t allow himself to keep living this way. Ben grabbed himself a phone book and began looking in the yellow pages of mixed martial arts facilities. As he’s skimming his fingers across the pages, he comes across a place called “Victory Martial Arts Academy.” Ben grabbed the phone and dialed the number. A man named Jim answered the phone.
“Victory Martial Arts Academy, how may I direct your call?” Jim asked.
“Yes, I’m calling because I would like to learn martial arts,” said Ben eagerly.
“Well, that’s great. When would you be available to come and fill out some paperwork?” Jim asked.
“Well, I can come in tomorrow, but I have one concern?” Ben asked.
“And, what might that be?” Jim asked.
“I’m not really sure that I can afford it,” said Ben.
“How often are you looking at coming in during the week?” Jim asked.
“Well, I’m hoping to come in every day that you are open,” said Ben.
“Well, if you come every week day, the monthly charge is $175. If you just come twice during the week, the charge would come to $100,” said Jim.
“I really can’t afford that. Is there any specials going on?” Ben asked.
“No, unfortunately there is not. Can I ask you one question?” Jim asked.
“Yeah, sure,” said Ben.
“What is it that made you decide to look into giving martial arts a go?” Jim asked.
“Well, a couple of reasons, actually. One, I’ve been picked on my entire life and want to learn how to stand up for myself. Secondly, and really my biggest reason, my stepdad gets drunk and beats me up for no reason,” said Ben.
These comments seemed to really hit home for Jim. Perhaps, Jim had similar problems at one point, or maybe he worked with someone at the academy that was in a similar circumstance.
“I tell you what, since 80% of the people that try out at this academy never make it past three practices, I’ll give you the first month free. But you will have to come and fill a waiver out. When can you come in?” Jim asked.
“Thank you so much! You have no idea what this means to me. I can come in tomorrow,” said Ben excitingly.
“Great! Look forward to meeting you tomorrow, Ben,” said Jim.
They said their good-byes.
Ben began knocking on Jim’s office door at “Victory Martial Arts Academy.”
“Come in!” Jim yelled. He did this so Ben could hear him. As Ben entered, he noticed that Jim is on the phone. He sat down on a chair right across from Jim.
Jim puts his left hand around the mouth part of the phone. “Give me one minute.”
The table Jim sat at is similar in size to a teacher’s table.
Jim took his left hand off the mouth part of the phone and began speaking. “I hate to cut this short, but I have a customer,” said Jim.
Jim then hangs up the phone and then turns attention over to Ben. He grabs a folder, pulls out a paper, handing it to Ben.
“That is a waiver.”
Ben skims over the information and signs his name at the bottom of the page.
“Ricardo will be your training instructor. I’ll introduce you to him,” said Jim.
Jim and Ben walked out of the office and walked out to the main area of the academy. There were well over fifty people training in different techniques. Some people were training wrestling and takedown defense, some training their stand up game, some were training jiu-jitsu, some were hitting punching bags, and others were doing push-ups.
“There he is,” said Jim pointing.
Ben’s eyes followed Jim’s fingers and noticed a stocky Hispanic man probably in his late thirties. The man looked short at 5’8’’.
Ben and Jim walked over to Ricardo. Ricardo is showing a young man in his early twenties how to do “correct punching movements.”
“You did great today,” Ricardo told the young man. “Just remember to follow through with your punches and trust your power,” said Ricardo. The boy thanked him and walked away.
“This here is, Ben, the boy I told you about yesterday,” said Jim.
“So, I hear you are having stepfather issues,” said Ricardo. Ben couldn’t believe Jim told him about that. “Don’t worry, my boy. If you listen and do what I tell you to do, in less than a month’s time, you will be able to lay him out,” said a convincing Ricardo.
This drew laughs from Jim.
“Is something funny?” Ricardo asked.
“I’m very sorry. I just thought it was funny the way you said it,” said Jim.
Ricardo gave Jim a dirty look. Jim knew it was time for him to get back to his office.
“Well, I got to get back to my office and make a few phone calls,” said Jim.
“Yeah, you do that now,” said Ricardo.
Ricardo turned his attention over to Ben. He took out some white hand wraps.
“Here, try these on,” said Ricardo.
Ben began wrapping his hands with the wrap but needed Ricardo to assist him. After getting his hands wrapped up, Ben wondered about gloves.
“What about gloves?” Ben asked.
“Would you wear gloves in a street fight?” Ricardo snarled. “When you get in the ring, I will give you gloves to wear. Right now, though, I’m only having you hit a punching bag. I need you to understand that fighting is mostly mental. Follow me.”
Ricardo walked Ben over to one of the few punching bags that didn’t have anyone on it.
“Here you go. You’re going to put your right leg out and keep your left back. You will hit the bag 100 times with your right hand, and you will follow that up by doing the same with your left hand. Obviously, when you do your left hand, you will switch your legs up with your left leg in front.”
“I reall
y want to fight. I really don’t have time for this,” said Ben.
Ricardo appeared insulted and his face turned red.
“Look, boy, if you don’t want to do things my way, (pointing) there’s the door. I’m doing this, so you can get your accuracy down. If I throw you in now, you will get eaten alive, and that’s even if I put you in with someone that doesn’t have much experience,” said Ricardo.
“I’m really sorry to have offended you,” said Ben.
“You will understand in time that there are no shortcuts to learning. I’m going to go ahead and help others. I’ll be back in an hour to check your progress,” said Ricardo.
As Ben began punching, it seemed rather easy. As time eclipsed though, Ben found himself getting tired, especially since he wasn’t in the greatest shape. Every few minutes, Ben would look at the clock thinking it would be much later than it was. By Ben’s third go around with both hands he felt completely gassed out. He was punching the bag still, but there wasn’t much authority and power behind those punches. Ben’s hands were very sore, but he still tried throwing punches to the bag, despite the punches becoming very weak. Ben felt dizzy from being so “out of shape” but fought through it and kept pushing out punches. His entire body is full of sweat with his neck and face revealing the most. Ricardo finally came to the rescue.
“Great job, son!” Ricardo said with great enthusiasm.
Ben stepped away from the punching bag. Ricardo could see the pain that Ben is in. Ricardo gave Ben an ice bucket to put his hands in for a few minutes.
“I tell you what, that will do it for you today. But I want you here the same time every day this week. Next week, we will do something different,” said Ricardo.
“My hands are too sore. I don’t think I can do this anymore,” said Ben.
“Bullshit! I won’t deal with quitters. I can give you gloves to wear tomorrow, but you better be here tomorrow, or don’t plan on ever coming back,” said a serious Ricardo.
This is when Ben realized why most people don’t make it past a few days.
“I’ll be back tomorrow,” said Ben.
Hitman's Journey Back in Time Page 5