First Fights (Ties that Grind)

"Alex? Alex? Alex Id, Oy!" I need to raise my voice with him, my roommate, my oldest friend. "Yeah, what is it?" I now have his divided attention. "I want to talk about the past" I say to the back of his head. "What about, Jon?" I now have his whole attention...for now. "You remember our first fight? You know that one back in third grade?" a half grin slowly tiptoes onto his face. "Yeah I remember it, my first fight in a new town. Who was that other kid again...? Kevin Dooney? Or was it Dalton?" I think about it wading through hazy flashbacks "Cormac Turlough actually, Dooney and Dalton were his gang, if you could call it that." he lets out a laugh like a barking dog. "Yeah, yeah! He tried to beat me up at recess because I was new and albino. Then you showed up to stop him because you're Ma had given you a talk the night before about racism. You thought I was white. Heh heh, a misinterpretation saved my sorry ass."

"Ha! I know Alex; the best part was that they were so surprised when I stood up to them..." He suddenly hijacks my "That’s when I smacked Cormac right in the face with my boot. He was out cold before he knew what hit him. Ha ha! The look on..." You could tell he was getting into this retelling of our younger days. That crooked grin of his is wider than ever as he goes on. "Then the teacher finally finished her smoke break and found us waling on Dalton and Dooney. Oh man, that was a hoot, you remember that right?”

I remember all of it so vividly, that first moment of combat, the blast of adrenaline that wild way of the young not knowing how far they could've gone, how much pain could be done to another, and how easy it was. Though to be honest I'm just glad Dalton and Dooney were too scared when they suddenly lost their leader, though I can't argue with results, we won. Then I remembered how my Mom and I started arguing about the results. I remember her yelling at the top of her lungs." What on earth were you thinking! A boot for Christ’s sake! What happened to being a pacifist? This would have never happened back in China! You are in so much trouble young man, so don’t even think of getting out of this!" I correct myself. We won the fight but Mom won the battle, and the war began after that night.

You see my Mom was a very traditional Chinese woman. She expected me to be the filial son. Which meant no fighting, being straight laced, and a dedicated academic. I really wasn't any of those things and this fact brought her much aggravation and disappointment, feelings she never allowed me to forget. Dad still tries to keep in contact with me while he's not working abroad, Mom on the other hand avoids talking to me by raising my little brother Simon in the hopes he'll turn out better. I wonder how he's doing.

Alex on the other hand had it easier in a way; he hardly got into trouble with his folks since his very Irish family had a tendency towards "shenanigans" so to speak. He and his four brothers were the thorn in Officer Cook's side since the day they moved into town. His family was also very Catholic. That wasn't a bad thing at all, but there tend to be two kinds of Catholic children, those who follow the good book throughout their whole lives and then there are kids like Alexander Id. Right before high school graduation he announced to his family that he was an atheist. His family promptly disowned him, and told him to never come back until he "comes to his goddamn senses and stops being a heathen". His response to that was to change his last name from Macpherson to Id, a namesake that would motivate a majority of his life’s choices. He is still dead to them.

"Jon? Jon Thomason. Oy! Stop spacing out on me!" I snap out of my recollections. "Sorry Alex I was just thinking". He grins at me "Now that I have your hopefully undivided attention, let’s go out to eat I'm starving" I look at the clock it’s been about four hours. "Time flies when you’re reliving the past huh?" He looks at me funny as he throws on his coat "Whatever you say Jon, let’s go eat already- mushroom pizzas don't order themselves you know." I chuckle to myself as we head out. I can't argue with that logic and away we go.