“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. The three young men didn’t know it but this would be Sonny Ray’s one sincere attempt to diffuse the moment, so him and his brother could be on their way.
But if that didn’t work out; Sonny Ray was more than willing to put in some work, and scrap with these three in defense of his brother.
“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 three men. 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 forbearance 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 after regaining his footing he stood up, wobbling 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 in a panic, with Sonny Ray walking 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, giving his brother the stink eye.
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 several years since the divorce. Walter unlocked the door. 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.
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,” Walter replied. Sonny Ray stood up. “Brother I promised the girls I would call to say goodnight, so I will talk to you in the morning,” Sonny Ray said walking down the narrow hallway. “In the morning then Son,” Walter replied as he looked at his glow in the dark Timex wrist watch.
Sonny Ray opened his eyes. His mouth was dry. He sat up groggily looking around. He flopped back down and decided he should take a trip down memory lane before breakfast.
Of course their old man only had a two bedroom apartment so this tour was going to have a quick turnaround. “Man, this place stinks,” Sonny Ray thought, walking down the hallway, trying to avoid the issue at hand.
After sharing a cup of coffee together,Walter went to shower as Sonny Ray sat quietly, working on his second. His father had a few pictures on the wall of his children when they were all much younger, living in different places.
As a kid, Sonny Ray loved traveling. Sonny Ray had lived in Ohio, Hawaii, Japan, North Carolina, Georgia, California, Arizona, Alaska, and Nevada.
His mother was native hawaiian, from Waimea, on the big island. His father was American, 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. Walter was more conservative with short hair. Both had hazel eyes. Walter was fair, as was there two siblings.and Sonny Ray was considerably darker, and 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 rich, the hollywood elite, the wealthy Asian and European investors, and a boatload of Americans and their money as well.
Evidently, they appear to be the only ones who could afford to live there, and prosper at the same time. Most everyone else remain in survival mode, or moved to the mainland.
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.
Walter nudged his brother, interrupting his private cultural tug of war. The elevator doors opened.
The men had arrived at St. Joseph hospital to meet with a Dr. Campbell. Sonny Ray and Walter rode the elevator in an uncomfortable silence.
“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.
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 metallic 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 