When he first met Mrs. Garcia in the weeks after the closure of Camp Chinquapin, it was a special moment in both of their lives. Despite their very different backgrounds — Marisol came from a large third generation family who had lived in the Silicon Valley for over fifty years — they immediately connected, like they were long lost relatives or friends. Arthur somehow brought out the maternal instincts in Marisol and she doted on him like they had been close for years. For Arthur, who had been sadly neglected by his real mother over the past seven years, it was like a light was turned on in his life. Suddenly, Arthur actually had a maternal figure who listened to what he had to say, could give him practical advice, could provide nurturing when he needed it, and made him feel like family.
Having been denied these simple necessities of family life for so many years, Arthur now reveled in it, and wanted to do whatever he could to help out his new mother. Being adopted by the Garcias was such a transition in his life, Arthur almost couldn’t believe it was real. When he asked Marisol if he could now call her “Mom,” she gathered him into her arms, gave him a huge hug, and said, “Yes, if you will allow us to call you ‘Son’!” As street-hardened and self-sufficient as he was, thinking of that moment always brought a tear or two to his eyes. For the first time in his life, Arthur began to understand what love was.
When Arthur and Marisol arrived back at their home, she was feeling a little nauseous and tired. “Go inside and lie down,” Arthur told her. “I will take care of unloading the car and putting the groceries away.”
Arthur was in the process of unloading the car when the black sedan carrying the four gang members pulled up in front of his house. This time, the gang members got out of their sedan and began walking up the Garcia’s driveway.
“Hey Homeboy,” Julio, the leader of the gang said. “It looks like you need some help with those bags.” Julio was dressed in a plain white tee shirt, with a large silver medallion on a chain, black jeans and expensive black leather Nike sneakers.
“No, I don’t need any help,” Arthur replied setting down several bags. “I told you yesterday I wasn’t interested in being part of your gang, so why are you back?”
“When Julio makes you an offer, Homeboy, you had better listen!” Franco, another one of Julio’s companions replied. “It’s not very smart to make Julio angry!” he continued in a threatening tone. Franco had on a red bandana headband, dark sunglasses, a white tank top, and white leather low cut sneakers. Standing by the dark Chevrolet sedan were Diego and Carlos, the two occupants of the back seat.
“Let’s get a few things straight,” Arthur said with some rising anger in his voice. “I’m not your Homeboy. And this is not your territory!”
“How do you know what our territory is, Homeboy?” Julio countered, glaring at Arthur.
“Well, I know that you are trespassing on my driveway,” Arthur answered, not backing down. “No one invited you here, so why don’t you just go back to your car, and have a nice day elsewhere!”
Franco edged in closer to Arthur and stared at him also. “You had better learn some respect, Homeboy. I will be happy to teach you some manners.”
“I wasn’t dissing you at all. You are the ones dissing me, calling me Homeboy and making threats. You are telling me that things might not be very healthy for me. Maybe that would be true if I lived here alone, and was just one person against your gang of four. Do you know who else lives here?” Arthur said, still not backing down.
“Maybe your old man and your mother?” Julio said with a little contempt in his voice. “I’m sure they would give me and my brothers here a real contest!” The other three gang members all laughed at their leader’s comment.
Arthur smiled back. “Yes, actually you would get a good fight. And one you would not win and would regret starting! Do you know who my father actually is?”
“Who is this great fighter that he could take us on, Homeboy?”
“My father is Captain Antonio Garcia of the Silicon Valley Police! I don’t know who told you to come recruit over here, but maybe you should have listened when I politely told you to leave. Already his gang task force knows about your visit yesterday, and I am sure that they would like to check you boys out. So if you want to pick a fight with me, or continue to cruise his neighborhood…..” Arthur shook his head slowly with a half-sad smile on his face.
“I don’t know,” Arthur continued. “If I were you, I would probably just get in the car and take a ride elsewhere.”
Franco was incensed by Arthur’s manner and what he had just said. “Let’s take this little puto and teach him a lesson. Who does he think he is feeding us a line of bullshit like he just did!”
“Are you telling us the truth?” Julio demanded. “You father just happens to be the captain of detectives in the police force!”
Arthur tried taking a different tack in the conversation. “What’s your name?” he asked Julio. When Julio replied, he continued, “Look, Julio, I have politely tried to tell you the truth about things, like it really is. If you choose not to believe me, well I wouldn’t like to think about the consequences! If you were told to come here and try and recruit me, it sounds like someone set you up!”
Julio turned to Franco and they walked away having a heated discussion. Arthur picked up the several bags of groceries he had set down and started to walk to the front door of the Garcia’s house.
“Hey, Homeboy, I didn’t say you could go away!” Franco yelled out.
Arthur looked back and said, “I don’t take orders from you! Get out of here!”
Franco was just about to shout “Get him!” when three cars rushed up to the house. One was a Ford Victoria containing Captain Garcia, one was a patrol car, and the third was another unmarked car containing members of the Silicon Valley Police gang task force.
Captain Garcia quickly got out and ordered, “Freeze in place! Put your hands up!” He ran up onto his driveway, pistol in hand, and confronted Julio and Franco. “What are you doing on my property?” he demanded.
Meanwhile, the gang task force members went over to the other two gang members by the Chevy sedan and ordered them to put their hands up and then slowly on the hood of their car.
Julio instantly became respectful and replied, “Officer, we were just making a friendly visit.”
“A visit to who?” Garcia demanded. “You are no friend of my family!” Garcia then told the officers in the accompanying squad car to search Julio and Franco. The officers then led Julio and Franco back to the front hood of their Chevy sedan and had them put their hands out on the hood and spread their legs for the search. Captain Garcia then went over to Arthur and asked him if he was all right.
“I am fine, Dad. I was just trying to persuade these gang wannabes to leave, but for some reason they felt that they could come onto the driveway and order me around. How did you know what was going on here?”
“Thank your mother,” Garcia replied. “When you didn’t come in right away with the bags of groceries, she peeked out the window and saw that those gang members were back here. She immediately called me on my cell phone.”
“When we got back here, she said she was feeling nauseous and I told her to go inside and lie down,” Arthur replied. “I hope that she is okay!”
“I want you to go inside and check on her. Take that load of bags inside with you and wait in the house. I will take care of our friends here,” Captain Garcia said with a half smile on his face.
After Arthur left, Garcia went back to oversee what the other police officers were doing. Detective Cynthia Nuñez and Sgt. Jim Malone had completed a pat down search of Julio and Franco, while Detectives Hector Gonzales and Hao Nguyen had done the same with Diego Ramirez and Carlos Alvarez, the other two gang members. Luckily for Julio, he had a valid driver’s license, which Sgt. Malone had checked out on the computer. There were no outstanding warrants on Julio. The detectives did not find any guns in their search, but they did find a primitive shiv on Carlos, and a switchblade on Fra
nco.
After receiving reports from his officers, Captain Garcia began to question Julio. “What are you doing in this neighborhood? Do you think you can just come in here and harass the residents without consequences?”
“We didn’t do anything, officer,” Julio replied. “Why are you discriminating against us?”
Captain Garcia launched into a stern lecture in fluent Spanish. The gist of what he said was that Julio had better watch his mouth and who he was accusing of discrimination. He pointed out that the Silicon Valley Police force was integrated and everyone worked together to rid the city’s streets of any kind of violence or threats to the law-abiding residents. Garcia added that the one thing that all of his officers agreed upon was that gangs were not going to be permitted to just roam around the neighborhoods and cause trouble.
Returning to English, so that everyone present could understand, Captain Garcia then asked Julio, “Why were you trespassing on my property and harassing my son?”
“We were not harassing him, officer. We saw that he was bringing in a bunch of bags and so we offered to help him.”
“You are telling me that you were cruising around the neighborhoods in your low-rider sedan so that you could volunteer to be grocery store courtesy clerks?” Garcia said in an incredulous voice. “What are you, the Safeway gang?”
When the other officers heard those questions, they all burst out laughing. Sgt. Malone added, “You boys need to have on name tags and dress a little nicer to be courtesy clerks!”
Franco, who had been listening to the conversation with a dark frown on his face, then said, “Why are you making fun of us? Why don’t you just beat us up like you are planning to do?”
Captain Garcia turned and looked Franco in the eyes. “While it would be very tempting to beat up a mouthy little punk like you, that’s not the way we do things around here! Consider yourself lucky that you are in an area where the rule of law exists. But that doesn’t mean that you can go around and threaten people anywhere in our territory.”
Garcia then went to confer with Detectives Hector Gonzales and Hao Nguyen of the gang task force. The gist of the conversation was that these were most likely gang wannabes, who had been told to recruit a new member as part of some initiation process. There were no current records on any of them in the computer system. As a result there was really nothing to hold them on, other than having the knives in their pockets. They agreed that for now all they would do was confiscate those weapons. However they did now have the vehicle and its license plate in their system, and would be keeping a careful eye on the neighborhood where the vehicle was registered.
Captain Garcia then addressed Julio, Franco, Carlos, and Diego. “You boys are lucky today. I am going to let you off with a warning. But mark my words, if you are ever seen around here making trouble or harassing the residents, I will personally take you all down! You boys still have choices you can make in your lives. Instead of trying to prove how tough you are as gang wannabes, prove how smart you are. Try getting an education and some job skills. These things are all available to you in the Silicon Valley. You will live a lot longer and have a happier life. Now get out of here!”
The four quickly got in the sedan and drove away.
Garcia talked with his officers for a few minutes more and then they drove off in their squad cars. Antonio then went inside his house to check on Marisol and Arthur.
Marisol was seated in an easy chair in the living room and Arthur was nearby on a couch.
“How are you feeling, honey?” Garcia said to his wife.
“Much better now, Antonio,” Marisol replied. “The morning sickness has passed by now. Did you get rid of our uninvited guests?”
“Yes, I don’t think that they will be coming back again if they know what is good for them!” Garcia then addressed Arthur. “Are you all right? What did they say to you?”
“I’m fine, Dad. They were saying the usual nonsense about how I had better cooperate with them if I knew what was good for me. They kept calling me ‘Homeboy’ like I was supposed to immediately want to be part of their scene. I had seen stuff like this a lot in my old life on the streets and knew the routine. I was pretty sure that these were gang wannabes going out to prove their daring and bravery. In a way, I felt a little sorry for them, because they are going to end up getting pounded, especially that Franco.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Garcia replied. “I told them to think about what they were getting into, and how all of the resources were here to get an education and job skills. Probably none of it will sink in, but you never know, a few more bad experiences and maybe one or more of them will think twice about their lives.”
“Did you arrest them?” Arthur asked.
“No, there really wasn’t enough to go on at this point,” Garcia responded. “We did confiscate a couple of knives, but they didn’t have any guns or other weapons, and there weren’t any outstanding warrants on any of them. That’s what is sad to see. Here are kids at a crossroads in their lives, and it looks like they are choosing the wrong path.”
“Boy, do I know about that,” Arthur said with a sigh. “That’s why I am so grateful that you have taken me in! Now I need to go finish bringing in the bags and putting things away.” Arthur got up and left the room.
Captain Garcia went over to Marisol and put his arm around her. “I am glad that you are safe, and everything is okay with you. I feel a little better, knowing that Arthur is around to help you out.”
“Antonio, although it seemed like the strangest thing to do at first, I am really happy that you have brought Arthur into our lives. It makes me feel good that he is in here with us, and not hanging out on the streets with the likes of those gang members.”
“Whatever makes you happy, Marisol,” he said giving her a kiss. “Isn’t it great that we are starting to have a family of our own?”
Chapter 18
Whose Territory Is This?
(Friday)
Friday morning Jason was back over at the Garcia’s residence to meet up with Arthur again. As part of his plan to get Arthur acclimated to the Merriam High School Community, Jason was going to take Arthur over to the high school where there was going to be a pre-season soccer team meeting and tryout. Although Arthur had not ever played on a formal team, in his previous life he would play pickup street games with some of the other kids, whenever they could scratch out room to play. Jason wanted to introduce Arthur to the school’s soccer coaches and ask them if Arthur could try out for one of the Merriam High School teams.
As Arthur only had a bicycle to get around on, Jason rode his bike over to Arthur’s house. This way, they both had a ride home if they had to split up. They got on their bicycles and cruised over to the Merriam High School PE department. It was just a little before 10:00 AM when the meeting was supposed to begin. However, when they got there, a sign was posted on the door saying that the meeting was at 11:00 o’clock.
“What do we do now?” Arthur asked. “I don’t think I want to just sit around doing nothing for an hour.”
“I have an idea,” Jason responded. He went inside the building and over to a large bin that had an assortment of sports balls. He grabbed a basketball. “Let’s go shoot some hoops while we are waiting. There are some outdoor basketball courts at the middle school down the street.”
Jason and Arthur got back on their bikes, and soon were playing some one-on-one on the asphalt courts at the middle school. The two boys became engrossed in their game and didn’t notice the dark Chevrolet sedan that passed by on the street and then slowly circled back.
Jason had just made a lay-up basket when he turned and noticed that four other boys who looked like gang members were rapidly approaching. “Arthur!” Jason shouted with a little urgency in his voice. “We have visitors!”
Arthur turned around and saw that Julio, Franco, Diego, and Carlos were almost at the court where he and Jason had been playing. They each were swinging and gesturing with what appeared to b
e a weapon. Two of them had baseball bats, one had a piece of metal rebar, while Julio had a set of brass knuckles.
“Hanging out with the white boys, Homeboy?” Julio began in a taunting voice. “Had to find someone who is more of a loser than you are?”
“Leave me alone, Julio!” Arthur said with some frustration in his voice. “I thought you learned your lesson yesterday. And my friend is not a loser!”
“You are not on your safe little cop driveway any more, Homeboy! I think it is time for some pay back. Maybe you will learn that it is better to hang with your own kind.”
“Jason is my friend. And he has done more to help me than anyone I know! Leave us alone. We haven’t done anything to provoke you!”
“By spurning our offer of friendship and spending your time with this white boy, you provoke us. You think that you are so special that you can turn your nose up at us!”
“What is this sudden interest in racial purity?” Arthur retorted. “What have you ever done to help someone out other than to beat him up to pass your test for gang membership and then lead him to a loser life of crime and drugs?”
Julio made a fist with the brass knuckles and punched into his left hand several times. “I think that we need to remind you to be more respectful to us, Homeboy!”
Jason then spoke for the first time. “You guys don’t get it. You must be new in our area to not understand that Merriam High School is a gang free zone. Anyone can attend the school, but we don’t permit gangs in this area. It doesn’t matter what race or what color you are, we are all pledged to make this a gang free zone.”
“And who enforces this gang free zone?” Franco said entering the conversation. “I say we take these two chavalas down to size. Once they have felt the force of our fists and the pain of our blows maybe they will show some respect!”
Franco then signaled Diego and Carlos to grab Jason and Arthur.
“Freeze you losers!” a voice shouted from the street. It was Daniel. He and Eric were just pulling up in his car. “You touch my friends and you will have a real fight on your hands!”
Eyewitness News Page 13