“I’m right behind you bruh.”
Sonny Ray soon exited their old man’s favorite restaurant, and headed down the sidewalk. As he looked to see where his brother was parked, he saw three young men standing around Walter in a semi circle.
The three men wore their Santa Rita High School letterman jackets, and by their collective size they looked to be football players.
Sonny Ray smiled. He was going to get his brother good. Sonny Ray walked by, pretending to be talking comically to Walter on the phone. The three men ignored the large brown man, choosing to focus on the frumpy thirty seven year old dude. Walter glanced at his brother, wondering what he was up to.
“Now listen guys, I assure you I am not mexican,” Walter said as he watched Sonny Ray approach the tri-squad of punks from behind. “Hey!,” Sonny Ray bellowed from behind, startling the three men. That always made Sonny Ray smile. He loved when people jumped like that.
“Hey guys is everything okay over here?”
Sonny Ray spoke to the four men like he was an overly concerned senior citizen.
This would be Sonny Ray’s one sincere attempt to diffuse the moment, so they could be on their way.
But if that didn’t work out; Sonny Ray was more than willing to put in some work, and beat somebody’s ass.
“Why can’t you mexicans just go back to where you belong?” the primary antagonist had asked, as he pointed a finger in Walter’s face.
The biggest guy among the three assumed the position of spokesman. Sonny Ray approached slowly, and stood near to the big man. Sonny Ray motioned to the spokesman to come closer. The oversized teenager was about six foot six, a couple inches taller than Sonny Ray, but he came forward cautiously, as Sonny Ray had the look of someone who you would not want to get a hold of you.
“Listen to me for one minute young man.”
Sonny Ray spoke in a low tone. He looked at the young man in earnest. Sonny Ray recalled when he was bullet proof. “I have no desire to put my hands on you in front of your friends, but I will.”
The cock sure young man’s countenance dropped ever so slightly. Sonny Ray continued. “Listen man, I just flew in town tonight. My old man died, and I’m tired. Do me a favor, step aside; and me and my brother can go. Please.”
Mistaking his patience for weakness, the big man looked at his two friends, then at Walter, and then putting his finger in Sonny Ray’s face he says;
“Man fuck you, and your dead dad, old man.”
A quiet spasm of stillness ensued.
Snap.
Sonny Ray looked at Walter then at the three men, and then back at his brother.
“We’re hawaiians okay, but if I was mexican,” Sonny Ray suddenly took a step back, dipped his knees slightly, and in one smooth motion Sonny Ray turned his torso sharply, and slammed a left hook off the side of the big fellas face.
The punch created a clap, like a short but crisp sound of electric static. The big man dropped, and was stunned for sure but he slowly regained his footing, and stood up, determined he came forward, wanting to make a showing in front of his peers.
Sonny Ray admired the bullet proof moment; even as he launched his forehead into the big man’s nose and mouth. As the big man began to fall for the second time, Walter ran to his truck, with Sonny Ray running casually behind, unhurried.
“How’s that for a big coconut head?” Sonny Ray asked as blood trickled down his forehead. Walter made a quick exit from Johnny’s parking lot, causing Sonny Ray to bump his head on the headliner.
Walter, not known for his fighting prowess, decided to go all Starsky and Hutch on his younger brother. “Slow down moron, and stop swerving,”
Sonny Ray said.
Meanwhile,
The two other wannabe combatants stood quietly in the parking lot of Johnny’s restaurant, as Walter and his brother headed east to their dead dad’s apartment.
Their goliath lay flat on his back, unaware that he was not available for any further unsolicited comments about the two strangers deceased father.
They continued east on 22nd street. After turning north on Swan road they drove a couple of miles. Walter turned into the Swan Crest Apartment’s parking lot.
The brothers walked quietly down the sidewalk, the same lonely sidewalk their father had walked for the last few years since the divorce.
Dark shadow spaces on aged concrete shown between the memory laden apartments. Walter unlocked the apartment door. The two men filed in quietly. Their father, Billy had been retired for quite some time now.
He served twenty four years in the Air Force.
He had a ten year pension from the county, and he was receiving his monthly social security check. To top it off he received a disability check from the VA for injuries he had sustained in Vietnam.
However, the moment you walked in his apartment, you would never guess Billy was pulling down over 5k a month. “Man, this place is foul.” Sonny Ray walked over and turned on one of his dad’s yard sale lamps. The stench of stale cigarettes hung in the air. Empty beer cans were overflowing from a paper commissary bag in the corner of the kitchen, next to the refrigerator.
There was a dirty dog dish with half a can of mushy dog food under the kitchen table near a large window. “Who took Tyrone?” Sonny Ray asked as he plopped down in his old man’s recliner. “Your sister, here.” Walter handed his brother a makeshift ice bag.
Sonny Ray placed the frozen bag of corn right over the small gash on his forehead. “Caught his tooth,” Sonny Ray said with a grin.
“Yeah I see that.” Sonny Ray stood up and headed down the hallway. “I got dibs on dad’s bed.” Sonny Ray knew getting any meaningful sleep tonight was not going to happen. “Night Walt, love you bro.”
“In the morning then. Goodnight Son love you too man.” Sonny Ray slowly closed the bedroom door. He stopped short, and left the door ajar slightly. The night was long, as he tossed and turned. It felt like an eternity for the morning to come.
Sonny Ray opened his eyes. His mouth was dry. He sat up looking around at his fathers room. His dad had a small calendar on the wall. Sonny Ray smelled like he had slept in an ashtray all night. He wandered down the hallway looking for his brother. He could smell coffee brewing. Walter handed his brother a hot cup of coffee.
“Sonny Ray check this out.”
He opened a cabinet, then another. Soon he had opened every cabinet in the kitchen. Without fail every cabinet was filled to capacity. There were four or five of everything. The refrigerator and freezer was full as well. For as long as the two brothers could remember their father had been this way. They both began to wander in the apartment, each lost in their own memories of their father.
It was kind of like walking in a museum. For anyone who has lost a loved one, you know the feeling. Sonny Ray walked from room to room; touching, feeling, remembering. Of course their old man only had a two bedroom apartment so this trip down memory lane was going to be a quick turnaround. “Man, this place stinks,” Sonny Ray said, trying to avoid the issue at hand.
Walter nodded but said nothing. They poked around for another half an hour or so, feeling kind of guilty for intruding and probing in their father’s life. Walter went to shower as Sonny Ray sat drinking another cup of coffee. His father had a few pictures on the wall of when they were all much younger.
Sonny Ray loved traveling. He always pretended to be sad when his father announced they were moving again, but inside he surged with excitement. Sonny Ray had lived in Ohio, Hawaii, Japan, North Carolina, Georgia, California, Arizona, and Alaska.
His mother was native hawaiian, from Waimea, on the big island. His father was white, from Erie, Pennsylvania. His father rarely spoke of his relatives, which over the years Sonny Ray thought was odd, but he never pressed the old man about it.
Truthfully it didn’t really matter to him, because in certain respects he was odd man out on either side of the family tree.
Sonny Ray had long wavy hair which he usually wore in a ponytail. Walter was more conservative with short hair. Both had hazel eyes. Walter was fair, and Sonny Ray was considerably darker. He was also the tallest at six foot four.
Sonny Ray’s siblings would tease him that he was adopted when they were growing up.
When Sonny Ray graduated from high school in 1978 he left Arizona five days later. He had planned, waited, and saved his money. At seventeen he had purchased his own ticket. Sonny Ray had dreamed of moving back to Hawaii since the age of five when his father had been ordered to Southeast Asia.
After years of waiting he finally returned home. It was only a matter of a few weeks though that Sonny Ray discovered that he was not quite as hawaiian as he had perceived himself to be.
The local boys made him painfully aware that not only had he not grown up there but he was half white. When he got older, Sonny Ray scoffed at their way of thinking because he knew the majority people living in Hawaii today are not native hawaiian, and those who are kānaka maoli, are mostly mixed blood as well.
Nonetheless, he walked amongst his contemporaries as the culturally lacking invisible man.
Years later, by chance and circumstance, he had moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. He began to meet many local people from Hawaii, who were streaming out of the islands in mass, leaving it to the wealthy, the hollywood elite, the rich asian investors, and a boatload of Americans and their money.
Evidently, they appeared to be the only ones who could afford to live there, and prosper at the same time. Everyone else remained in survival mode.
Las Vegas had been dubbed the ninth island. But after years of being not quite right in the eyes of others; Sonny Ray grew indifferent towards people. He was tired of proving who he was, and who he wasn’t. So when people asked if he was this or that, he just agreed. ‘Sure, why not,’ was his standard answer.
“Hey fathead get up,” Walter yelled from the kitchen, interrupting Sonny Ray’s private little cultural tug of war. “After breakfast we can meet mom at the hospital,” Walter said. Sonny Ray looked up from his plate. “Why does she want to come see dad now?” Sonny Ray felt himself getting heated. “Hey listen, I know mom has a new husband, and you two don’t,” “Nope,” Sonny Ray said, interrupting. “She is not coming in, period. When they pull the plug she will not be there to see dad go, I ain’t having it.”
Walter knew better to press the issue. So when Sonny Ray was in the shower Walter called his mom, and let her know how Sonny Ray felt about her being there. She was upset that she was rebuffed, but agreed to wait until Walter called when it was over.
The men arrived at St. Joseph hospital to meet with a Dr. Campbell. Sonny Ray and Walter rode the elevator in an uncomfortable silence.
Sonny Ray took a deep breath before exiting the elevator. The two men walked side by side as they approached the large waiting room.
Death always reminded you that it was just a phone call away; whether you wanted to receive the news or not.
“Can I help you two?” the nurse asked. “Uh yes, my brother and I are here to meet with Dr. Campbell,” Walter replied.
Walter had always been very businesslike in his dealings with people. “Certainly. Dr. Campbell is running a little late today, perhaps I could take you to your father’s room until he arrives,” the nurse offered. “That would be fine,” Walter replied as the two men followed the nurse down the hallway.
The knot in Sonny Ray’s throat increased to the size of a golf ball as they approached the sliding door of their father’s room. After opening the sliding door, Walter held the curtain open as Sonny Ray entered the room. Their father lie in his bed passively, with his arms at his sides.
Various machines, and tubes, were on both sides of his bed. With tubes in his nose, and sensors on his fingers, his face was dominated with a monstrous tube down his throat, eclipsing his face.
White medical tape held everything in place, robbing their father of his humanity. Billy’s eyes were closed as the two men approached the bed.
Sonny Ray gently placed his scarred hand upon his dad’s forehead. “Ah, dad,” Sonny Ray felt light headed as he finger combed his dad’s silvery hair.
Walter, who typically was not a man given to tears, wept openly.
“Sonny Ray this is our dad, what are we going to do now?” It was a loaded question for sure, but the business of their father was at hand. “Well, I know one damn thing, we ain’t leaving him like this,” Sonny Ray replied.
The unusual sound of the pump caught Sonny Ray’s attention. As he watched, the pump caused his fathers chest to rise and fall in an eerie rhythm. Both men had become fixated, and stared blankly at their father. “I’m sorry did you say something?” Sonny Ray asked. “You remember what dad always told us,” Walter said with the sound of resignation in his voice. Sonny Ray looked up at his brother.
“Yeah, I remember, he didn’t want no fat nurse wiping his ass, or slapping him when no one was around,” Sonny Ray said, feigning a weak smile.
The door slid open, as a middle aged man with glasses walked in slowly. After closing the door he turned and faced the three men. “Excuse me, I hope I’m not intruding,” Dr. Campbell said apologetically. “No, please doctor come in,” Walter said shaking the older man’s hand. “Dr. Campbell this is my brother Sonny Ray.”
The doctor extended his hand, looking up at the large Hawaiian.
“I’m pleased to meet you young man.”
“Likewise sir, Sonny Ray said, firmly shaking the doctors hand.
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Black Eagle Dream 