Eyewitness News

by Aiden Vaughan

  Jonathan started to go through a series of warm-up exercises that he always tried to play every day. His musical routine was soothing to Jonathan, and helped him to calm down. He continued practicing for about an hour.

  When Jonathan had finished his warm-up routine, he put his saxophone down and went back into the main part of the house to see what his mother was up to. She was back in her bedroom, asleep. She must have come home at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning, not 1:00, he thought.

  Jonathan went back into the kitchen and saw his mother’s purse on the table. He opened it to see if she had any money left from her disability check. There was still a $20 bill. He pocketed the money, then sat down at the table, made a little list of their main food needs, and rode his bike over to a nearby market that was a couple of blocks away. At least we will be able to eat for the next couple of days, Jonathan thought to himself.

  When he got back from the store, Jonathan put away the bag of groceries he had purchased, had a little snack, then called Tim on the telephone to see if he was doing anything. Luckily their telephone still was in service, primarily due to a billing snafu. The Kowalski account had been systematically overcharged for around twelve months before the error was discovered. So temporarily, at least, they had free telephone service. Luckily Tim was at home and invited Jonathan to come over and spend the rest of the day with him.

  “Come over whenever you can,” Tim said enthusiastically. “We can hang together, talk about the band, play some games or sports until my dad gets home. Then we are supposed to go out tonight.”

  * * * * *

  About six o’clock, Tim’s father arrived at home, and it was time for Jonathan to leave. He got back on his bicycle and rode back to his house. When he got there, he saw a huge king cab pickup truck in the driveway. Scott Brewster had arrived and was unloading some of his things from the back of the truck. Scott was about six feet three inches tall, had a big bulky body with huge biceps covered with tattoos, and greasy, long, dark blonde hair tied in a ponytail. He had a scraggly two-day growth of beard, and was wearing an open button down plaid shirt, tight blue jeans, and cowboy boots.

  After Jonathan rode his bike up the driveway and parked it the garage, Scott said to him, “Hey, boy, you are here just in the nick of time. Help me carry in these suitcases!”

  Jonathan looked back at him with anger in his eyes and said, “I’m not your boy and I don’t take orders from you. Why are you coming here anyway? There’s nothing here for you!”

  “Well isn’t that a nice welcome, you little twerp!” Scott replied. “Maybe I’m here to teach you some manners, boy!”

  “Leave me alone and leave my mother alone!” Jonathan retorted. “The last thing she needs in her life is more exposure to drugs!”

  Just then the door opened and Madeline came out into the garage. “You two need to stop arguing! I want you to be friends and not bicker with each other.”

  “Then you need to teach your boy here how to be respectful to adults,” Scott said. “I don’t need to listen to his insults!”

  “I’m not your boy, so don’t call me boy,” Jonathan replied.

  “Both of you need to calm down,” Madeline said. “Why don’t you come inside, sit down, and have a cold drink.”

  Scott and Jonathan still were glaring at each other, but after a minute they backed off of their confrontation and went inside the house.

  Madeline had been busy in the kitchen. “Look guys, I have been making spaghetti. I think a nice dinner would be the best thing for both of you.”

  Once inside the house, Jonathan poured himself a drink of cold water from the refrigerator and then went to his room. Scott sat down at the table for a while and drank a beer. Then he went back outside to finish bringing in his luggage and things.

  About twenty minutes later, the dinner was ready. Madeline called Jonathan and Scott to the dinner table. She still knew how to prepare a great sauce and she served generous portions of spaghetti noodles and her sauce to Scott and Jonathan. She then sat down at the table, but without a plate in front of her.

  “Aren’t you going to have some dinner, Mom?” Jonathan asked. “You need to keep your strength up, and the dinner is very good!”

  “I’m not very hungry right now, Jonathan. I’ll have some a little later.”

  Meanwhile, Scott was wolfing his plate of food down. “This is good grub, woman,” he said with his mouth full. “Where did you learn to cook like this?”

  “Thank you, honey,” Madeline said to Scott. “I have always enjoyed cooking.”

  Jonathan was also cleaning his plate. Inside, he was shaking his head in amazement. I can’t understand what Mom could possibly see in this guy. He is such a moron!

  After he finished his dinner, Jonathan got up and took his plate to the sink. Madeline and Scott were starting to make eyes at each other and Jonathan couldn’t stand to watch any more. “I’m going to my room, Mom,” he said.

  Once he was in his room, Jonathan got out his flute, and decided to play it for a while. Music was always a soothing influence on him when he was upset. He worked on some scales and etudes for a while to build up his technique. Daniel and the other band members seemed excited by the fact that he could play flute as well as the saxophone, so Jonathan wanted to spend extra time with the flute.

  About forty minutes later, Madeline came to his door. “Jonathan, honey, why don’t you put away your flute for now and come out in the living room. Scott brought over his television set, so we can now watch some programs.”

  “I still have some more practicing to put in, Mom,” Jonathan replied. “I’ll come out a little later.”

  “I really would like for you to come out now and try to be more sociable with Scott. Besides, he says the sound of your practicing is annoying.”

  “Annoying!” Jonathan exclaimed with some anger in his voice. “Here I am trying to do something constructive, something to better myself, and you want me to stop because it is annoying to Scott! Tell you what, if he is so annoyed by me practicing, then he should take his things and move out of here. That’s the best solution as far as I am concerned!”

  “Jonathan, you have expressed nothing but negativity ever since Scott arrived,” his mother replied with exasperation in her voice. “Earlier today you said we need to move on. Well I am trying to move on with my new boyfriend, and he can be a help to us if you will let him. If he stays here he will be buying food and things to drink. You know we could use some help in that area. Now I want you to come out of your room and at least try to be polite and friendly! Please!”

  Jonathan looked at his mother. She seemed really on edge and under some stress. He knew that they could use some extra help with the cost of living, so reluctantly Jonathan decided to give it a try. He brushed out his flute with a cleaning rag, took apart the joints and mouthpiece, and put it away.

  “All right, Mom,” Jonathan said. “I’ll give it a try.”

  Madeline gave him a big smile, “That’s the spirit, Jonathan. I think once you get to know Scott a little better, the two of you can be friends.”

  When the two of them came out into the living room, they found Scott sprawled on the threadbare couch with a beer in his hand. After he saw them enter, he said, “Well look what the cat drug in! Have a seat, boy, and watch some tube!”

  “My name is not ‘boy’,” Jonathan said with irritation in his voice. “My name is Jonathan.”

  “Okay, Johnny, no offense meant! I can’t get more than a few stations because you don’t have cable, so there is not much on right now.” Scott was watching a reality show about two groups of people trying to survive in the jungles of a Caribbean island.

  “Is this the only thing on?” Jonathan asked. “I think the other stations might have some action shows on.”

  “Nothing on but a couple of cop shows, and I certainly don’t want to waste my time watching some phony pigs bust people!”

  Madeline sat down on the floor by Scott’s feet, while Jonathan sat
down in the other chair in the threadbare living room. They watched the reality show together for about a half hour. Then the sounds of snoring came from the couch. Scott who had consumed nearly a six-pack of beer since dinner time had passed out.

  “I am out of here!” Jonathan said standing up.

  “Don’t you want to stay and watch some more tv with me?” his mother asked. “You can change the channel to whatever show you want!”

  “No thanks, Mom,” Jonathan replied. “It would be too hard to hear anyway over his snoring. I think I will go back to my room and read.”

  As he was going to his room, the same thought kept replaying through his head, What has Mom gotten us into this time?

  Chapter 16

  Arthur and the Home Boys

  (Wednesday)

  Arthur Vincenzo was up by 8 o’clock on this midweek morning. He had promised his new father, Captain Garcia, that he would work on the yards today, and he wanted to get his work done before the heat of the day. He put on shorts, a tee shirt, and his oldest pair of sneakers. In the kitchen he quickly ate a bowl of cold cereal with milk along with a leftover pastry, and drank a glass of juice. Marisol Garcia was still asleep in her bedroom. She was now on the last trimester of her pregnancy, and her waking hours were often irregular.

  Arthur smiled to himself as he thought about how his life had changed since that chance meeting with Jason and Daniel at Camp Chinquapin. He had gone from living a dead end life as an abandoned kid at the camp to living here in the Silicon Valley with adopted parents who really cared for him. And to make things even stranger, his new father was a captain in the police force! It was still a little unreal for Arthur to actually have someone to call “Dad” given his past life. He realized how much he had actually missed that element of growing up, but at least for a few years he would have parents he could trust. It was also ironic that being close to a parent was something he wanted so much, when for many of his peers — who had regular family environments all of their lives — this was a time that they sought their independence from their parents.

  Arthur went out into the back yard, strolled over to the tool shed, and got out gardening tools and gloves. It wasn’t until he had spent the past six weeks as a camp counselor intern that he even thought about taking care of things like property or the environment. His life for the previous six or seven years had been spent mostly on the streets of the small border town where he grew up, hanging out with other semi-abandoned kids outside the run down apartment complex where his mother lived. Their days were filled with activities like hustling each other for small change playing street games or looking for things that they could steal from unsuspecting store owners or neighbors. They did get a primitive education in the local schools, but not much was expected from or asked of kids like him. No one thought that he and his street friends would ever amount to much in life.

  Now that was all changed. Jason had actually followed through on his promise to help Arthur. In a magical three months he had gone from boot camp inmate to promising high school student with a future career in counseling other troubled kids. He would have his college education paid for if he could make the grades to get accepted. He had quality new friends and people who actually cared about him. All because he had helped Jason and Daniel find out what had been going on between the camp authorities and Tim Wilkinson, another kid stuck in the boot camp. For the first time in his life, Arthur realized that there could be a very big plus side to helping others.

  Arthur spent about an hour weeding the flower beds and garden in the back yard. One of the summer camp activities that seemed to help the at-risk kids who attended the camp was working in the camp’s extensive flower and vegetable gardens. Kids from the so-called “asphalt jungle” would often connect with nature and take great solace in seeing the life cycles of plants, especially ones that yielded actual food or beautiful flowers. Simple activities like gardening would calm them down because they were so practical and non-threatening. It had worked for Arthur at the camp. Now doing these little chores was his way of showing the Garcias that he really wanted to be there with them and his appreciation for taking him in. Arthur would prune and weed for about fifteen minutes, and then take a wheelbarrow of his cuttings out to the street for pickup. As he was dumping the cuttings in a pile by the curb of the street, he noticed a dark four door, older Chevrolet sedan cruising by, but didn’t think much of it.

  Later, as he was mowing the front lawn, he saw the sedan again. Inside the sedan were four teenagers who very much had the look of gang members. Arthur continued to mow the lawn, but this time the sedan did not pass by the Garcia’s house. The Chevrolet pulled up in front of the Garcia’s house and stopped. The driver rolled the window down and said:

  “Hey, Homeboy! Do you want to go for a ride?”

  Arthur looked over at the driver and said, “No, I think not. I have work to do.”

  “Come on, Homeboy! Are you going to blow off going for a ride in our Chevy to mow the lawn? Can that low paying loser job and live a little!”

  “I’m not doing this for money. I’m doing this to help out my family! And I’m not interested in joining your gang!”

  The driver’s voice became more threatening. “Pretty brave words, Homeboy! You know, living in this neighborhood can be quite dangerous! Don’t you think you could use some protection from cholos who might want to take a swipe at a pretty boy like you?”

  “As far as I can tell, the only one threatening me is you! Why don’t you go fish in some deeper waters?” Arthur replied with an even voice, not backing down.

  “Okay, Homeboy” the driver continued. “But I want you to think about how you are being disrespectful to your brown brothers by not even giving us a chance to get to know you!”

  “I lived that gang wannabe life for a long time,” Arthur retorted, “but now I have a better life here. The last thing I want to do is ruin it by going back to the old ways. Now move on!”

  The sedan started to move on, but as it was slowly leaving, the driver said, “Think about our offer, Homeboy. Since you say you know our ways, you know that we will be back to visit you again. Next time I hope you are smart enough to say ‘yes’ to our offer!”

  Arthur watched for a few minutes as the sedan slowly made its way down his street. He couldn’t believe that a gang would be that brazen as to try to recruit right on a street where a policeman lived. And not just any policeman, but a captain of detectives! He thought to himself, I wonder if they are out to prove something, or this is part of some initiation test?

  Arthur spent another half hour finishing the yard work. After the lawn was mowed and the rest of the clippings were placed out in the street, everything was looking very sharp at the Garcia residence. Arthur then went inside, drank a large glass of water and changed into nicer clothes. That afternoon, Jason had promised to show him around the neighborhood and Merriam High School where he would be attending in the fall.

  * * * * *

  Later that evening, Arthur told his dad about the drive by earlier in the day. Captain Garcia responded by asking Arthur to describe the vehicle and who was inside. “Give me as much detail as possible. You were right to describe their actions as pretty brazen.”

  “Dad, is their some sort of gang recruitment going on around here?” Arthur asked. “I thought this area was supposed to be free of gang activity.”

  “It normally is,” Garcia replied. “Most of the gang activity is concentrated in neighborhoods just east of the downtown area. It is unusual for them to even be cruising in this area because people will call the police and complain. The last thing that they want is to be followed around town by police vehicles who will stop them for any infraction of the law. I think I will contact our gang task force people and see if they are aware of any new activities or territorial issues.”

  “I hope I said the right things to them.” Arthur said. “I really don’t want to start an incident, but at the same time I don’t want them to cruise down this street
or try to bother me any more.”

  “You did the right thing, Arthur. You were polite but firm about your intentions. You gave them nothing to get inflamed about expect that you told them ‘no’ when they wanted to get you involved with their gang. Now, tell me how the rest of your day went.”

  Arthur described how Jason dropped by on his bicycle and the two of them rode around the neighborhood and over to Merriam High School, so Arthur could learn where things were and what to expect.

  “Thank you for getting me that bicycle, Dad,” Arthur said gratefully.

  “With Jason’s foundation helping you out with clothes and other things, it was the least we could do. You need a way to get around town until you get your driver’s license.” Although Arthur was nearly seventeen, he had yet to take any driver’s training, due to his prior circumstances. But he was planning to take the written course at school in the fall so he could get his learner’s permit.

  Chapter 17

  Captain Garcia Intervenes

  (Thursday)

  Arthur spent the next morning helping Marisol run errands. Although her baby was very noticeable around her midriff, she could still drive and get around okay, but it was nice to have someone along to help lift things, move the shopping cart, and do loading and unloading. Arthur was more than happy to help.