Post by Joey on Sept 15, 2020 16:52:28 GMT -5
The scene opens up in the lower east side of San Antonio. Redd is parking on 2nd Ave on the 31st block. There are a lot of old rusty cars everywhere, mostly cars from the 80s. This is a blue collar area, many work minimum wage jobs and try to survive as best they can, most others do other things to try and get by. And surviving is now the name of the game.
I have a friend who lives here, well not sure if I would call him friend, its about as close to a friend as someone like me can have.
It is summer still but a cool front has hit Texas and now people are outside when usually they would be inside hiding from the sun. Its late in the afternoon sometime after 5pm, sun is starting to set a little bit. A few are already turning on the bbq pits getting ready for a Friday night cookout. It feels oddly familiar, and at the same time quite nice.
I wish I had a family of my own. People I could look after, take care of, raise, and maybe even love. But so far that has not meant to be for me. I sometimes feel like a man with no country, except I know that isn't true. I have a country and that is SFT. It has no borders, no people to keep out. It has no laws except the ones we make for ourselves. I have seen its people come and go and its always the same, young people getting old. And one day soon, our people will get too old, and no new people who enjoy wrestling will be the end of us for good.
I have seen a lot of things in my lifetime. Had it not been for my friend I would of seen and done so little. But he has gone now and I am left alone. In a world that scares me. My mother having passed longer than he. And so I hide in this little world of mine. Always I hide.
(Redd is in his car, wearing a white tshirt, brown slacks, brown sketcher shoes, his blondish grayish hair a bit unkempt)
I open my car door with my left hand. As I exit my car I feel my legs a bit wobbly. Age is finally starting to get to me. I take a deep breath, feeling that still warm crisp air entering my lungs. I feel like I want to cough but I do not. I take a look up at the clouds that still look oddly like bunnies. And I think to myself, even now that white rabbit is still insisting its time to come home. And in my mind I answer. Not yet friend, not quite yet. But hopefully soon. I am so very tired of this life.
I cross the street as the sun peers down on me. I get to the building 1850. It looks like a very old building. As I get to the entrance door there are a couple of guys the front no more than 20 years old.
One of them says Yo you must be lost, no white people live in this neighbor. They are at the corner of the building, too far to rush me and not close enough to really do anything. But they might be waiting for me when I come back outside. So I use a little trick my old friend taught me. Scare people without ever touching them. Make them think you are not right in the head. I've only tried it once but it worked then. You see for some time now I carry a large knife with me, a little for self defense but mostly for situations like this. This is a true story. I carry the knife in my back stuck in my pants, no one can see it unless I life up my shirt. I take the knife I out and as I reach the door, I use my left hand to put the knife through the wooden door frame where it gets soundly sliced in, I look at the young guys and say “that knife better be there when I get back”. I hear some mumblings from them but that is mostly it,none of them make eye contact with me and I so I enter.
How I was taught was that when a person does that with a knife, the people will think that I am either crazy, psycho,or a cop. Or all three. The walls of the inside are stained as if someone took grease and smeared the walls.
Each step I take on the stairs I hear creaking on each step, and I think how these stairs would warn anyone of anyone coming up. No getting a surprise on anyone.
As I get to the 3rd floor I get to apartment 7. I use my left hand and make a fist, I knock on the door 4 times. After a few seconds the door opens up. And Emerson is standing there on the other side of me.
Emerson: Redd what are you doing here?
Emerson is wearing gray warm ups and a blue superman tshirt.
Redd: I hope I am not intruding.
Emerson: Nah come on in.
As I enter I am impressed at how clean his apartment is. I would expect a single father to have a dirty apartment or clothes all over the place. But he does not.
Redd: this place is clean, does your sister help you with it?
Emerson: nope, me and my boy do it, I want to instill cleanliness in him. Always have his room tidy, pick up your clothes, if we cook we wash the dishes as soon as we are done eating. I want to prepare him for when I am not around.
Redd: That is a smart way to do things.
Emerson: So you didn't come here to chit chat, you are not the chit chat type of guy nor to marvel at my old apartment.
I take a look around his place before speaking. I see an old tv, so old its one of those fat tvs that weigh a ton. A ratty old sofa that appears to have more duct tape than cloth. A really scratched up coffee and one of those old fridges that has one door and the compartment on top has a tiny compartment for ice cube and what not freezer items.
I take so many things for granted, always complaining. And I see a man who has nothing to speak of and yes he’s happier with his life than I am with my cars, house, money, everything. I feel ashamed for myself.
Redd: I came by to talk about our match.
Emerson: What about it? Its just a match don't worry I wont take it to heart. We both have to do what we have to do.
Redd: No that's not it, do me a favor Em, a favor to me. Don't come to the ring on Titans please.
Emerson: Why? Its what I have to do.
Redd: Trust me, just don't come to the ring. I am not feeling like myself. I feel unhinged. A little out of control. You have your son, I have nothing, which one of us has more to lose?
Emerson: I don't know what to say.
Redd: say nothing at all. Take the week off, hell I would tell you to ask Harold for a raise. You of all people have more than earned it.
I get up before he can say anything else. I let myself out. I walk down the stairs and open the door. As I turn left my knife is still there. I smile a little I turn right and the guys that were there are no longer there.
I think for a moment on Twilight and perhaps I should visit him too. But truth be told, he would probably welcome a different life as well. Just like me. Twilight is stuck in a loop and it cant be broken by anyone. Not even one such as me.
As I walk across the street I hear voices calling from a block down its the same young men that were at Emerson’s apartment. They scream stuff like crazy gringo go home and also they say you lucky we didn't get your you know what kicked, just a lot of talk from someone a block away. I get to my car using my left hand to open it and get inside. Soon I hear the motor run as I turn the key and drive away. Leaving this place and its inhabitants behind me.
So this is how this story ends.
I have a friend who lives here, well not sure if I would call him friend, its about as close to a friend as someone like me can have.
It is summer still but a cool front has hit Texas and now people are outside when usually they would be inside hiding from the sun. Its late in the afternoon sometime after 5pm, sun is starting to set a little bit. A few are already turning on the bbq pits getting ready for a Friday night cookout. It feels oddly familiar, and at the same time quite nice.
I wish I had a family of my own. People I could look after, take care of, raise, and maybe even love. But so far that has not meant to be for me. I sometimes feel like a man with no country, except I know that isn't true. I have a country and that is SFT. It has no borders, no people to keep out. It has no laws except the ones we make for ourselves. I have seen its people come and go and its always the same, young people getting old. And one day soon, our people will get too old, and no new people who enjoy wrestling will be the end of us for good.
I have seen a lot of things in my lifetime. Had it not been for my friend I would of seen and done so little. But he has gone now and I am left alone. In a world that scares me. My mother having passed longer than he. And so I hide in this little world of mine. Always I hide.
(Redd is in his car, wearing a white tshirt, brown slacks, brown sketcher shoes, his blondish grayish hair a bit unkempt)
I open my car door with my left hand. As I exit my car I feel my legs a bit wobbly. Age is finally starting to get to me. I take a deep breath, feeling that still warm crisp air entering my lungs. I feel like I want to cough but I do not. I take a look up at the clouds that still look oddly like bunnies. And I think to myself, even now that white rabbit is still insisting its time to come home. And in my mind I answer. Not yet friend, not quite yet. But hopefully soon. I am so very tired of this life.
I cross the street as the sun peers down on me. I get to the building 1850. It looks like a very old building. As I get to the entrance door there are a couple of guys the front no more than 20 years old.
One of them says Yo you must be lost, no white people live in this neighbor. They are at the corner of the building, too far to rush me and not close enough to really do anything. But they might be waiting for me when I come back outside. So I use a little trick my old friend taught me. Scare people without ever touching them. Make them think you are not right in the head. I've only tried it once but it worked then. You see for some time now I carry a large knife with me, a little for self defense but mostly for situations like this. This is a true story. I carry the knife in my back stuck in my pants, no one can see it unless I life up my shirt. I take the knife I out and as I reach the door, I use my left hand to put the knife through the wooden door frame where it gets soundly sliced in, I look at the young guys and say “that knife better be there when I get back”. I hear some mumblings from them but that is mostly it,none of them make eye contact with me and I so I enter.
How I was taught was that when a person does that with a knife, the people will think that I am either crazy, psycho,or a cop. Or all three. The walls of the inside are stained as if someone took grease and smeared the walls.
Each step I take on the stairs I hear creaking on each step, and I think how these stairs would warn anyone of anyone coming up. No getting a surprise on anyone.
As I get to the 3rd floor I get to apartment 7. I use my left hand and make a fist, I knock on the door 4 times. After a few seconds the door opens up. And Emerson is standing there on the other side of me.
Emerson: Redd what are you doing here?
Emerson is wearing gray warm ups and a blue superman tshirt.
Redd: I hope I am not intruding.
Emerson: Nah come on in.
As I enter I am impressed at how clean his apartment is. I would expect a single father to have a dirty apartment or clothes all over the place. But he does not.
Redd: this place is clean, does your sister help you with it?
Emerson: nope, me and my boy do it, I want to instill cleanliness in him. Always have his room tidy, pick up your clothes, if we cook we wash the dishes as soon as we are done eating. I want to prepare him for when I am not around.
Redd: That is a smart way to do things.
Emerson: So you didn't come here to chit chat, you are not the chit chat type of guy nor to marvel at my old apartment.
I take a look around his place before speaking. I see an old tv, so old its one of those fat tvs that weigh a ton. A ratty old sofa that appears to have more duct tape than cloth. A really scratched up coffee and one of those old fridges that has one door and the compartment on top has a tiny compartment for ice cube and what not freezer items.
I take so many things for granted, always complaining. And I see a man who has nothing to speak of and yes he’s happier with his life than I am with my cars, house, money, everything. I feel ashamed for myself.
Redd: I came by to talk about our match.
Emerson: What about it? Its just a match don't worry I wont take it to heart. We both have to do what we have to do.
Redd: No that's not it, do me a favor Em, a favor to me. Don't come to the ring on Titans please.
Emerson: Why? Its what I have to do.
Redd: Trust me, just don't come to the ring. I am not feeling like myself. I feel unhinged. A little out of control. You have your son, I have nothing, which one of us has more to lose?
Emerson: I don't know what to say.
Redd: say nothing at all. Take the week off, hell I would tell you to ask Harold for a raise. You of all people have more than earned it.
I get up before he can say anything else. I let myself out. I walk down the stairs and open the door. As I turn left my knife is still there. I smile a little I turn right and the guys that were there are no longer there.
I think for a moment on Twilight and perhaps I should visit him too. But truth be told, he would probably welcome a different life as well. Just like me. Twilight is stuck in a loop and it cant be broken by anyone. Not even one such as me.
As I walk across the street I hear voices calling from a block down its the same young men that were at Emerson’s apartment. They scream stuff like crazy gringo go home and also they say you lucky we didn't get your you know what kicked, just a lot of talk from someone a block away. I get to my car using my left hand to open it and get inside. Soon I hear the motor run as I turn the key and drive away. Leaving this place and its inhabitants behind me.
So this is how this story ends.
