All That Glitters Isn't Banks!

This story takes place at a couple of major turning points in my life. The following statements may only make sense to me, but I hope its' essence reflects the way in which I perceived the world at that time. We left off after the bowling tournament and the sudden shift in terms of boy girl interests. I was receiving a lot of attention from older girls at the bowling alley while still a pariah at school. A few things happened in a short span of time. I was popular with girls and still getting the crap beat out of me by older boys. One fateful Friday I was staying after school waiting to catch the late bus because there was less trouble on that bus and Danny my protector from kindergarten still drove it. Funny thing about trying to avoid trouble, it always seems to find you. It happens that a gang of tough 10th graders were prowling my school looking for kids to pick on. They hit the jackpot. This gang took my coat, shoes and kicked me around pretty bad. Not willing to live this way any longer I said "You guys are real tough all together . I'd kick the living snot out of you fuckers one on one! Douche bags!" The thought that I may have just committed suicide crossed my mind and I tore ass out o there. As you can see from the photo marked Fox Lane, it's a fairly big place. They split up and I got cornered rounding a building . Hearing the plop, plop, plop of their sneakers catching me. I got ready to cover up for another beating, when a janitor opens the back door to bring out the trash and see me. The kids don't even flinch. The janitor looks at me and says "Jody? What happened to you? You look like shit!" Having no idea who he is, I wipe my bloody face and say "Can you give me a hand?" He nods and throws me his keys saying " Downstairs make the 2nd left and look for my locker it says Banks on it. I'll be down in a minute. Start cleaning yourself up." Circling, the kids begin to taunt him laughing and calling him names "Hey mop face why don't you just but out? Let us clean up that piece of trash for you broom pusher."I watch through the door and don't go down stairs. He runs and grabs the biggest one and beats the living hell out of him. Pulling him to his knees he slaps the kid hard across the face and he starts crying and pleading for him to stop.. I can see the kid is crying. Janitor Bank says " The strange thing is street turd, I used to be just like you. Picking on innocent kids, taking their shit and having my brothers sell it for me." The kid is now hysterical and begging. The janitor leans in real close and slowly says" Tell you what I'm going to do . You get me that kids stuff back right fucking now, plus all your money and I won't kill your pitiful, pathetic little punk ass. Does that sound fair to you? Because it's a hell of lot better deal than I got at Osnings' little country club Sing Sing. Now move it, you got 5 minutes and I'm counting." The kid hauls ass down the hill and yells for his friends and comes right back. After giving the janitor everything he asked for. The janitor says "Take off you jacket and shoes and lay them over there by the stairs. After he does this the janitor shoves him hard and he falls covering his head. Stomping his size 12 work boot right near his head he says "Sit up and listen. Good job fetching Fido, I'm going to like doing business with you guys. What do you say we meet this time tomorrow? I could always just meet you at your home, that might be nice. I bet mommy and daddy have lots of nice things for old mop face to take" Spitting on him he says. "Now git outta my sight before I start to get mad. Go on git!"As he turns I run down stairs to where his locker is and wait shaking wondering what's going to happen to me. The janitor opens the door and tosses me my stuff. I fumble and drop it. While picking it up, he looks over at me as he does the combination on his locker. He clicks it open and tosses the kids stuff inside and pockets the cash. Then he throws me a first aid kit and says " Here use this and clean all the wounds that are bleeding. Use the band aids if you need them." I go to the sink and wash out the cuts and scrapes with soap and water. I say "Thanks for saving my ass. I thought they were going to really mess me up back there. Are you Buddy's brother?" He smiles saying " One and the same little man. He tells me you're the new hot shot bowling action with that old black man who takes care of you. Pretty good gig you got going if you ask me." I stop and look at him suddenly seeing the same look I hate to see in uncs' eyes. It's like he's looking right through you and you're just a small insignificant obstacle to be pushed aside. He tilts his head and says "Well? Is it or not?" Lost for a moment I scramble saying " Uhhh, I guess so. I don't know? It's my first time bowling for money. Even if it isn't mine." He smiles and says "That's the best way, keep your money and take theirs." Starting to relax I say " Yeah I never thought about it that way."With his hand he motions for me to put the first aid box back in his locker . I open it and I feel his eyes on my back. Lying right in front of me is a gun! Oh shit I just jumped from the frying pan into hell. Pretending not to see it, I toss the box in and slam it shut. I walk back over and sit on the bench in front of him starting to fix my shoes that he retrieved for me. Shaking and trying to act cool is like trying to walk forwards and backwards at the same time. Just not possible. I ask " What's your first name?" Still staring at me he says in a soothing voice" Bobby and you don't need to be so scared. It's over and I sure as hell got no interest in doing you any harm so lighten up little man, it's only a gun." He laughs. I try, but it comes out sounding fake like " Heh Heh heh." Bobby suddenly gets up quickly like he forgot something and goes to his locker. He opens it, reaches for something and turns partially to me saying " Here catch kid." He tosses me a glass bottle of Smirnoffs' vodka. I knew this because its what my mother drinks. He says " Take that fifth and crack it, you and me got some drinking to do." I do and take a big swig. It burns and tastes disgusting as it sears my throat. I immediately start to cough and hack. Laughing he walks over and takes it from me and up ends the bottle. Finishing with " Ahhh! That's better. I was actually getting stressed out over this. This always calms me down. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his zippo and a pack of Marlboros, he lights one, then passing them to me . I wave my hand and smle saying " You think I cough with vodka , I puke when I smoke." Taking a big drag he pauses, drops his head and then says while exhaling slowly and blowing smoke rings "That's cool at least you're honest. That's more than most can say." He starts to change into street clothes . Tight black jeans , white t-shirt and cowboy boots. He yanks a black leather biker jacket off the hook and waves to me saying "Come on, I'll take you to the bowling alley." He grabs what looks like a little black doctors bag and tosses the gun inside, zips it up and slams the locker , locks it and spins the dial all with one hand. He walks to the closest and grabs a big long chain and a lock.We walk out the font door and he chains it and locks it. So far so good I thought, then he passes the black bag to me and says "Here take this and act cool there are cops down there. Carrying any type of weapon on school grounds is a parole violation." O.k. great next time I think things are going good please remind me to shut up. Who am I talking to anyway? At the bottom of the hill there's a security guards' shack. Bobby goes in and hands him what looks to be a time card. Coming out he points to this super ccol awesome mint condition 1968 Black Camaro Z28RS. We walk over he gets in leans over and unlocks my side . He looks at me and motions with his head to toss the bag in back. I do and get in and shut the door carefully. He puts the key in and turns the engine over . It starts rumbling like Pavorottis stomach before a meal. I ask " What you got in there a 302?" He smirks and says " Does that sound like a 302 to you?" I turn my hands up and spread my arms saying " O.k. I took a guess , now you tell me then." Getting out of the car and popping the hood he motions for me to come. I jump out carefully shut the door and walk around to the open engine. He points saying " That my friend is a 383 cubic inch stroker, 475 horses of pure American muscle. 500 foot pounds of torque. Stock tranny and stock rear. Everything original, so what do you think?" Looking up at him feeling the vodka I say " Seems like one hell of a getaway car." He smacks me on my back and says " That it is. Tested tried and true." We get back in and we drive to the bowling alley. Not fast or dangerous, actually a little slow for my taste. As we pull in he parks and says " Listen you're a friend of the Banks family and all that entails. We watch each others back. I took a chance on you today. So what am I going to ask you?" I know and say " Keep what happens between us quiet. That means everybody including unc and even the tooth fairy." He reaches out his right hand and we wrap our hands around each other thumbs in a soul handshake and squeeze. Letting go he says " Go say hi to my baby brother. Stop by anytime you want to, you know where I'm at now so don't be a stranger." I get out and carefully close the door and wave goodbye. I run into the bowling alley and get some gum so unc won't smell the booze on me. I go over to the pinball machine and say " Hey Buddy" He nods slightly I continue" Guess who I hung out with today?" No response he keeps on playing. As I'm walking away I say " Your brother Bobby says hi by the way. He's a pretty cool guy." Buddy lets the ball drop and runs after me. saying "What the hell did you just say?" Stepping back I say " Your brother Bobby told me to say hi to you o.k.? Don't have a coniption fit" Buddy sees I'm serious and looks me straight in my eyes and says in an ice cold tone gritting his teeth "My brother Bobby died in prison over a year ago. Did this guy have black jeans , white t-shirt and drive.. " I cut him off saying " A black Z28 1969 Camaro. If he's not your brother then who was that guy." Looking like a trapped animal Buddy says really softly "His cell mate, John Smith, I got to go. Stay away from him you hear, he's dangerous as hell." An ice cold chill run down my spine, as I start to feel sick to my stomach.Oh wonderful!!... Part 2 tomorrow Goodnight. Jody