At a young age I learned that no matter what life circumstances you encounter, you must overcome and be strong enough to make the right decisions at the right times. Growing up in the South end of New Bedford, Massachusetts, I hung around with punks who disregarded any laws or rules just to challenge who was the toughest. I have seen many of these friends arrested, thrown into cuffs, and being taken away in undercover cop cars. Disastrously, many of these associates are serving lengthy prison terms or are six feet under. Why am I here getting an education, a veteran of our Armed Forces, and not as the others? It was not until I went out and saw the rest of the world to know living live like that was not how you should be living. Various events had to take place throughout my life to make me realize that it was time to smarten up.
Summer of 2012 brought myself many pleasant memories and at the same time vexing stories that haunt me as I close my eyes at nighttime. I had a very close friend; his name was Kalvin Moreno. Dominican boy but if you did not know any better you would think he was just a mulatto. He was slightly taller than me with a light skin complexion, curly blonde hair and a huge smile with big teeth. He immigrated with his family from the Dominican Republic here to New Bedford, Massachusetts. We spent most of high school causing trouble, playing on the high school sport teams or being each other’s wingman at parties. Unfortunately, in the middle of our sophomore year he had to move to Harlem, New York. His family could no longer afford to live around here, so his mother had taken a job opportunity over in New York City. That was the worst day for me as my best friend just vanished. Of course we had cell phones to communicate, but school and sports were not the same anymore.
Shortly following Kalvin’s departure, I transferred to a better high school across the bridge to where I could excel in the classroom and attend college to make my mother proud of her son. As time passed I missed Kalvin, so when I finally received my license and my own car I decided to drive to the Big Apple and spend a weekend out there with my second family. Three hours of driving later and I crossed the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan. Driving through the concrete jungle was much different than Boston. Millions of frustrated people beeping their horns over nothing, yelling just to yell and sirens going off every moment made it feel like you were always in an action packed movie moving through the high impact scenes. I finally arrived to E 126th street, I called Kalvin to come open the door for me. He came down all smiles dapping me up; he looked just the same when he left me a year ago.
His mother, as always, welcomed me as her own son and his brothers treated me as if I was their brother. She cooked me my favorite Spanish dish Carne asada, and even though it was a Mexican dish she made it just right for me. Kalvin had already purchased the bottles of Henny for the parties we were attending that night. White plastic cups filled with ice from the bodega across the street was what everyone used in the summertime in New York to pour alcohol into. I poured up our cups with Henny and Coca-cola, mixing it just right in preparation for our reunion antics, while Kalvin reported out our first day plans. During the daytime he showed me East 125th Street where all the clothing and shoes stores were. After we shopped, we went back to his place to drop our bags off. We took the subway down to Times Square, which was my first time riding the subway in New York City. It was filled with dirty, homeless addicts or in debt college graduates on their way to unpaid internships. We watched a movie and headed right back to his house because we were running out of Henny and had to get more before the stores were closed.
Night time in uptown Manhattan is not a safe place to be by yourself; that is the first thing Kalvin told me when we started our night off. It was eight o’clock at night when we walked from Dyckman Park to a party Kalvin was throwing for me. It took us about an hour to walk to the apartment, mostly because we were drinking and causing a riot on the way there. When we finally arrived to the party, there were so many people and loud, thumping rap music. Kalvin introduced me to some of his boys who had grown up in the toughest neighborhood of Harlem. They told me there was this party in the Bronx that we all were going to go to. Bronx and Harlem are separated by a bridge, so it was not that far at all. Kalvin and I were going to take a shortcut there and meet the rest of his boys at the party. He said he knew a faster way over there, so I just listened because I had no idea where we was going but I carefully watched my scenery as I walked with him. We were walking with a backpack full of a bottle of Henny and we were wearing our nice clothes we bought earlier. With my inexperienced self I did not know we was walking in the slums of South Bronx. I figured that out when I saw cop cars everywhere and spotlights shining down on the projects as if it was a prison.
We were both walking, minding our own business when a guy and his girlfriend, and I assume his two boys, were walking in front of us. The boyfriend was a couple inches taller than Kalvin and I, no threat there, and had curly, dark hair and scarred eyes. His dirty shoes and clothes reeked of smoke and the filthiness of the streets. His girlfriend was a short, light skinned cute girl, but she had the look of the devil on her face. The two other friends of his were dark skinned, short and had dreads. Deceivingly, the little shorty looked back at us and smiled as if she liked what she was seeing behind her.
Kalvin being the young reckless person he is smiled back and said, “What’s good with you tonight?” Her boyfriend immediately looked back at us with a haziness in his eyes and started confronting us about what his girl started. We both laughed because we did not care about her or him or anyone due to the fact that alcohol flowed through our system.
The boyfriend started getting loud and demanding where we were from? Kalvin went from happy to frenzied in a blink of eye. His response, “Do not worry about that” was the antagonist. You could feel that evil was lurking around us and we had to evade this situation or this night was going to be ruined real quickly.
Kalvin is very capricious when he lets his temper get the best of him. It was one in the morning and Kalvin started to get in his fighting position to fight the boyfriend in the middle of the street. I had to fight, too, because you never let your boy fight on his own. We were all exchanging punches; Kalvin with the boyfriend and me with the two shorter guys. It did not last long because the cops pulled up in their van and broke it up. This part of the neighborhood was dark, filled with parked cars and garbage piled along the sidewalks. We crossed the street but the boyfriend was still staring at us across the street. Kalvin and I had rage in our eyes for the alcohol had gotten to our heads.
We knew each other so well that we didn’t need to exchange words to agree that this was not over just yet. As the cops drove off, we crossed back over to the street to try to surprise them. As we crossed the suspense grew, while adrenaline drove us forward. We both been through so much and been in too many fights to be nervous. Kalvin had a knife out ready for anything that they could possible have hidden. The girlfriend was no longer with them, and we had no idea where she had disappeared to. Remember, in these type of environments it is survival of the strongest and the weak do not survive. I hit the boyfriend by a surprise left hook as Kalvin punched one of the shorter boys and we started rumbling again. Everything happened in a blink of an eye, Kalvin took his switchblade out and they all backed up. We walked away in smiles knowing we won that fight even know we were outnumbered. Surprisingly, two blocks up we realized they were following us down the street. We was shocked because we were definitely sure that it was over and we have won that altercation.
The boyfriend had his hand behind his back and yelled at us, “Pull that knife out again”!
Would we stand our ground? The possibility of a gun brought this to a whole new level, from a simple brawl to a perilous situation. Our consciences determining which part of us would take over, brains or brawn, held us in the middle of that South Bronx street.
Time froze in place as we stood in the murky street as if it was a standoff in the wild west days. The boyfriend took a pistol out with swiftness and started shooting wildly without care for anyone else’s safety. The first bullet rang loudly echoing throughout the city; it flew wide right no where near us. Without thinking, as fast as a cheetah, Kalvin and I sprinted down the street ducking and dodging through parked cars, hurdling over trash cans and pushing anything else out of our way. It was as if I was in a action movie but this was real life unfolding in front of me.These streets were a vast maze like an Amazon jungle, I had no idea where I was going, so I was trailing Kalvin weaving in and out of the streets right behind him. We turned a corner at a chicken spot, the shots from the pistol stopped in the distance, we started hearing people echoing this unique sound that sounded like a bird calling. People started coming outside of their houses, alleyways and out of cars. There must have been at least twenty people chasing us down in the streets of the South Bronx. Kalvin turned a corner and slipped and fell. Reacting fast, I helped him get up while picking up his shoe that fell off. As we got up, the crowd was right behind us and after that it was horror.
People pushed me up against a car and started punching me in my face, stomach, everywhere. I did not see what happened to Kalvin until afterwards. Kalvin’s side chick came down the street with his brothers and her friends all with bats and started hitting the crowd away from us. I was light headed from being punched so many times by so many people at once. All I could think about was if Kalvin was good. I started making my way towards him sitting down on the curb with his hands in his face.
He looked up with no concern about himself and asked if I was good? His face was really swollen, cuts on his lips and bloody. All he was concerned about was if I was good. Kalvin’s side chick still threw the party for us with our swollen faces and bloody lips. We still danced to Spanish music, drank more liquor and smoked hookah. We made the best of what was left of our night. That night showed me the darkness of being involved with breaking the law and if the one event turned out differently I would not be here living my life to the fullest.
El Barrio in Spanish means the neighborhood; that is what east Harlem is referred as. The concrete jungle is where only the lions survive and the weak get eaten. You have to be strong and be able adapt to your environment. I learned that I was fortunate enough that my parents were able to get me away from trouble and provide a home in a safe neighborhood. I have watched a lot of my close friends make the wrong mistakes that cost them their freedom and rights. That night made me open my eyes and know that this lifestyle is not the right choice to be around for where I want to be in the future. I entered the United States Army in September 2012 and have realized I control my life and where it takes me.
