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Dried Blood
"Johneeeeeey! Come on - johneeeeeey! Hurry up - Jesus Christ!"
Five year old Johnny tried very hard to ignore his older brother Leny One n and this time he would not go like all the other times to be swallowed up among a frenzied crowd of betters on little fists that were being thrown like stones that made blood splash onto the sidewalk; creating grotesque figures resembling monsters that crawled inside nightmares.
After Johnny's last fight, Leny had thrown him a coin as large as his fist for Johnny had been victorious which allowed Leny to make much moneys from bettors who could not believe the blond smiling boy with curly hair could fight so well. He had been taught by Leny to fight southpaw to imitate some of the good fighters from the East Bronx boxing in such places like the Harlem club and Saint Nicholas Arena but the real reason was to have an advantage with the unorthodox style. With that gigantic coin he had taken his friends Elvio, Cherries, Prunes and his five year old girlfriend Nancy to the candy store; able to treat them to almost all they could eat. One penny remained of the half-dollar and Johnny buried the coin in the empty lot on Arthur Avenue.
"Jesus, Johnny, come on! You can win. This kid's only your size!" Leny shouted having all ready bet a large amount of money that he had stolen from the blind newsstand guy with his trick of hitting the change in the dish with a dime loudly while scooping up the other coins silently. Leny had been able to get five to one odds so big the round the corner kid was and the fact that the kid was two years older helped him in his talking people into agreeing with him.
Johnny kept his third of a block distance of separation between him and Leny. He shook his head afraid to speak; thinking only a sound like the seashell he had found on the sands of Orchard Beach would come out of his mouth. Johnny turned into the cylindrical tube that led into the courtyard below their five-storey building that housed their apartment on the fifth floor.
No - no more would he fight guys he really had nothing against; having to fight all frightened up inside and always seeing an opponent's nose split wide open to gush blood out or his fist stuck deep inside an eye ....
"You coward bastard! Come on! I'm your brother!"
Johnny popped his head out to shout as loud as he could: "Fuck you - Leny One n! No more blood!" then, he began his long walk up all the flights of stairs; hoping his father was home. His father who would pick him up and twirl him high above his head before gently putting him down and then to begin a telling of the bridge he was working on that was going to join a great city to a place called New Jersey over a beautiful river called The Hudson ....
Jerry Vilhotti graduated from the only college that won the NIT and NCCA basketball tournament in the same year but more importantly than that -
a Jonas Salk who helped rid some of the world of polio with his vaccine and who also was given the opportunity to contribute graduated from the same school.
Jerry Vilhotti has been fortunate to have had stories published in The Dream International, Hob-Nob, Puck&Pluck, The Literary Review and many other
literary magazines. He lives in the Litchfield Hills, in a simpler place in time, with a beautiful wife who treats him well (often he wonders why)
and they both helped in bringing three sort of nice kids into this world who have gone off with three partners, as good, he hopes as the one he
found long ago and far away - just like the song!
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