THE INITIATION
“Young man,
What’s going on?
What’s that in your pocket?
Are you trying to take something?
Steal it?”
“No, sir.”
I’m not a thief.
I mean to pay for it.”
Out from his pocket came a watch.
“My bad.”
“Your bad?
What does that mean?
You’re not a punk, are you?
You know, son, I know your mother.
Now go.”
Shendrick handed the watch back
to the store owner,apologized, and left the store. It was his third attempt at shoplifting. He had failed on the first step of his
initiation into the gang he so wanted to join.
He had to face the local gang leader, Mr. K.
“Shendrick?
How’s it going?
You bein’ a good bro?
What goodies have you brought to me?
Let’s see.”
“Oh gosh,
man, Mr. K.
I really tried man.
I followed everything you said.
No luck.”
“Luck? Bro!
You needed luck?
So you don’t have nothing?
You’re telling me you couldn’t lift
nothing!”
“That’s right.
I’m not good, man,
at lifting things from stores.
I’m too obvious, I guess, man.
Don’t know.”
“Okay.
I like you, bro.
So, you blew your first test.
You were nervous. That’s a good
thing.
Right bro?”
“I guess
I was nervous.
I’m not a master yet.
I’ve got a long way to go.
Right, man?”
In Mr. K’s mind, Shendrick had
learned a lesson. He gave him another
test. The second test was to steal one
wallet or purse every day for three days.
Each day, Shendrick would bring the item to Mr. K for his inspection. On the first day, he lifted a wallet from a
man’s pocket. He brought it to Mr. K.
“A wallet.
Good job, Shendrick.
Let me see what’s in it.
Hmm, there’s nothing in this wallet.
Decoy.”
“Oh man.
I can’t b’lieve that.
It was just too easy.
The guy didn’t notice nothin’.
Nothin’!”
“Well, bro.
The pinch got pinched!
It happened to me once.
Now, go after something that’s real.
Not trash.”
Shendrick hung his head as he
left Mr. K’s crib. He would never get into
the gang at this rate. Of course, he did
have to go to school. At school, one of
his teachers, Mrs. Prentiss, praised an essay he had written for her
class. She said he had promise as a
writer. He just needed to separate
street talk from formal writing more. Shendrick
thanked her. After school, he set out on
his second quest, determined not to fail this time. He noticed a restaurant that had outdoor
seating. It was a beautiful fall
afternoon and the restaurant was packed with diners enjoying the food and the
weather. Shendrick noticed a table where
a woman had carelessly placed her purse on the table beside the outside rail. He thought about how he easy it would be to snatch
the purse and be off in a flash. He
looked around and felt confident he could do the deed. There was an alley he could duck into only
one door down from the restaurant. He
put his plan into motion, grabbed the purse, and was off toward the alley. He ran squarely into a city policeman.
“Ho there!
Is that your purse?
(He said sarcastically.)
It doesn’t go with your outfit!
(He laughed.)
“Oh, sir.
I’m so sorry.
That was really stupid.
I’m a good kid, please believe me!
Really!”
The policeman walked the boy back
to the restaurant and had the boy give the purse to the lady, who was shaken
up. Shendrick apologized to the lady and
looked mortified as he quaked in his shoes.
“Young man,
that was not smart
and you know it wasn’t.
You won’t let this happen again,
will you?”
“No sir.
Thanks, officer.
I’m really a good kid.
It was just too tempting,
that’s all.”
Shendrick didn’t know what to
do. Although the policeman let me off
with a warning, he did take down Shendrick’s name, address and phone
number. He also took down Shendrick’s
mother’s name. Shendrick couldn’t face
Mr. K with another failure, but he didn’t have enough nerve to make another
attempt. He decided to go over to one of
his uncle’s homes and pay a visit. While
he was there, he found an old wallet in a drawer. It was empty except for a few business
cards. After he “pinched” the wallet, he
asked his aunt if he could borrow five dollars to buy some flowers for his
mother as it was her birthday. She was
so pleased with his thoughtfulness, she gave him ten dollars. Fortunately for Shendrick, she gave him a
five and five ones.
“Shendrick?”
“Yes, Mr. K.”
“D’you do better this time?”
“Oh, yes. I think I did lots
better.”
“Let’s see.”
“A five,
And then five ones.
There are some business cards
How come there’s no i.d. in here?
That’s strange.”
Mr. K looked at the business
cards. One of them had a name on it that
was the same was Shendrick’s last name, “Odwalloh.” He asked Shendrick where he got the
wallet. Shendrick was so afraid; he
admitted that he had stolen it from his aunt and uncle’s house and that his
aunt had given him the money.
“You know,
I’m real upset.
Fam’ly stealin’ ain’t cool.
No one in my gang steals from
fam’ly.
Got it?”
“Yes, man.
But I got caught
trying to pinch a purse.
The police took my name and all.
I got …”
“Got scared.
So you got scared.
Bro, are you scared of me,
or are you scared of the police?
Or both?”
“Of both
you and the cops.”
“You’d better be scared, bro.
Scared of me but not of the cops.
That clear?”
Mr. K demanded that Shendrick return the wallet
to his uncle and the money to his aunt. He also decided to put Shendrick to the ultimate test. He gave Shendrick a pistol and told him to
rob someone at gunpoint. He told him he
should only use the weapon to scare the victim and then only use it for self-defense. Shendrick had one week to bring Mr. K the
goods from his robbery. Shendrick was
very nervous about the firearm, but he also wondered why Mr. K kept passing him up the ladder when he’d
failed every test he’d been given.
With the pistol tucked inside his
jacket, Shendrick went home. The first
person her saw was his mother, who beamed when he entered the apartment. Her sister had called and spilled the beans
about the flowers. There were no
flowers. Shendrick’s father was quite a
cook. He had prepared an amazing birthday
dinner for his wife, son and daughter.
Around the table, things were lively until his mother asked Shendrick a
question.
“Shendrick?”
“Yes, ma, what’s up?”
“Your aunt called me today.”
“Oh, she did. How is she?”
“She told me about the flowers.”
“Oh, yeah.”
Fortunately for Shendrick, he had
not placed the money back in his uncle’s wallet. He pulled the money from his pants pocket.
(He had placed the pistol safely in his room.)
He explained that he didn’t have time to get flowers and that he was
sorry. The fact that there was a flower
seller right on the corner of the street where their apartment building was didn’t
register with Shendrick. Also
fortunately for him, he had purchased a present for his mother, which he
presented to her very ceremoniously. It
was a beautiful vase she had admired. It
was even carefully gift wrapped.
Of course, Shendrick dared not
take the pistol to school with him, so when school let out the next day, he
rushed home to retrieve it. He hid it
in the inside pocket of his jacket. As
he was starting to leave, he met his mother, who was returning from work. She asked him why he felt the need to wear a
jacket on such a warm day. He made some
lame excuse and went on his way.
However, when he arrived at a park where he planned his first “stake
out,” he noticed that no one else was wearing a jacket. It was unseasonably warm for October. He decided to go home, ditch the jacket and
pistol, and go play some basketball. On
his way to the court, he had to pass by his school. His biology teacher, Mr. Metcalf, noticed
him, and called him over.
“Shendrick.
Good to see you.
I have great news for you.
You know your lab experiment?”
“Yes, sir.
What about it?”
“It received an award.
It shows truly outstanding work.
Good job!”
Shendrick couldn’t believe his
biology experiment had been singled out for special honors. He loved his classes and did well, but this
year seemed to be going especially well.
As he had two big exams the next day, he decided to forego
basketball. He forgot all about his new
assignment from Mr. K as well. The next
day, he took his exams. He felt good
about both of them. He also received
lots of praise from teachers and students at the school for his biology
award.
When he got home, he retrieved
the pistol and put on his jacket. The
weather was cooler that day, so a jacket wouldn’t stand out as much. In spite of his academic successes, he was
still determined to prove himself worthy of being a gang member. He decided to go to a different park as he
felt that someone might remember him from the previous day at the park nearest
his home. He found a relatively secluded
area and sat with a book. As he read, he
would lift up his eyes every so often to see if there might be any
candidates. The day was overcast, which
made it darker and safer for a robbery to take place. Then, an older woman came by and sat on the
same bench as Shendrick. She noticed the
book Shendrick was half-way reading.
“Hello,”
the woman spoke.
“What’s that you are reading?”
“Crime and Punishment by Do …
sto –“
“evsky.”
“How nice!
Is it for school?”
“No ma’am. I just like it.”
“You should also read War and
Peace.”
“I have.”
Shendrick shuffled on the bench
nervously. He could feel the pistol
inside his jacket. This park of the park
had become nearly empty and here was this older woman with a purse. It would be so easy for him to reach into his
pocket, pull out the pistol, and hold her up. She then, however, continued:
“Young lad.
I applaud you.
You’re improving your mind,
when you could be up to no good.
How fine!”
Shendrick might have taken her
comments as being somewhat condescending or perhaps racist. However,
she was right. He was improving
his mind when he could have been up to no good.
She then explained how she had lost her only son to cancer. It so happened that Shendrick’s biology lab
experiment involved the study of cancerous cells. She seemed quite interested in his work and
encouraged him to continue in it. Shen
then looked at her watch and excused herself.
Shendrick went home and enjoyed
supper with his family. He had three
more days to complete his assignment for Mr. K. Wednesday came and went. Thursday came and went. After school on Friday, Shendrick went home
and placed the pistol in a bag. He then
sat down and wrote Mr. K a note.
“Hey sir,
I’ve failed ev’ry test.
You’ve been very patient.
I guess I’m not fit for a gang.
I’m bummed.
And sir,
Though I have failed
And know I’m not worthy.
I have gotten to know myself
better.
Thank you
for all your trust.
I have learned lots from you.
You have put me through my paces.
Thank you
My friend
and my mentor.
Crime is just not my thing.
I just craved being in a gang.
That’s all.
Shendrick folded the note and put
it in the bag with the pistol. He walked
over to Mr. K’s crib with the bag tucked inside his jacket. As he approached the building where Mr. K
lived, he noticed lots of police activity.
There was also an ambulance. He
saw a body being wheeled from the building.
It was Mr. K! Forgetting that he had the pistol in his jacket, he ran
over to the ambulance. Mr. K saw him.
“Shendrick?”
“Yes, Mr. K.”
“Did you get the job done?”
“No sir, I’m afraid I didn’t.”
“You pass.”
With those words, Mr. K breathed
his last and was placed in the ambulance.
A policeman came over to Shendrick and asked him if he knew Mr. K. Shendrick told him he did. Carefully wording his comments, the policeman
asked Shendrick if he had ever successfully completed any jobs for Mr. K. Shendrick
said no. The policeman patted Shendrick
on the back and scooted him away.
Away from the scene, Shendrick
removed the bag from his jacket and took out the note. He carefully wiped the pistol clean of any
fingerprints he might have left on it and threw it in the river. He kept the note. He understood what Mr. K meant. His failure to pass the initiation into the gang was actually a favor. Mr. K knew all along that Shendrick wasn't gang material. A few weeks later, Shendrick was walking
from school toward home when he spotted a gang member.
“Hey bro!
What’s cookin’ man?
Still lookin’ to hook up?
I can make it happen for you.
What say?”
Shendrick took the note he had
written to Mr. K, handed it to the gang member, and walked away.
