Life Is Not Fair
Chapter 11: Miracle!

Copyright© 2010 by brightstar

I saw the strike coming to my face, it was always the same way, perfectly choreographed to catch me unawares but I had anticipated every move, every motion and I knew that it was going to be coming right in my face where the point counted most.

Just before the blow hit the intended mark, I moved my face to the side watching the strike as the hand moved to where my face was supposed to be. It was a perfect slow motion. I didn't waste any minute trying to think of the next punch, I had to change tactics. It was time to move from defensive to offensive, time to be the aggressor.

I took hold of the striking hand. The move served two purposes. I could use it as a pivot to coordinate my own attacks and I could render that hand unusable. He saw the position he was in and tried to free himself. He brought his left hand forward, aiming for my stomach. I blocked the strike as well, deflecting it to the side and then I rained the punches in, to his stomach. He took a step back wanting to get off my reach but that was the purpose of gripping his hand. I pulled him closer and then delivered another perfectly choreographed punch.

Then, just as I anticipated given his situation, he kicked with his left leg but I was still blocked it with my right hand and then let go of the gripped hand. Before he could use it for any advantage, I went completely on the offensive, striking repeatedly in a blurry manner. He was so focused on defending my blows and stepping back that he gave me the perfect opening. He left his abdomen unguarded. I swerved in a perfect 360 degrees and delivered the strike that carried him far away. He landed with a thud on the manicured lawn that was soaked in water.

It was raining, water dripping down our bodies as we stood on defensive poses waiting for our mark.

"You kick like a girl," he goaded me. Just then, a drop of water entered my eyes. I was distinctly aware of the splatter of rain water as I shook the water from my eyes.

The first punch hurt as did the second one and third one. Before I knew what was happening, I was lying on my stomach with a painful tingling in my stomach. We were one all.

I slowly stood up and before I could get my bearing he was once again upon me. This time, I knew what to do. He struck out his hand but I bent my head. Then he went for the uppercut but I was already shifting my abdomen and head from the blow. He kicked with his left which was blocked by my right leg. Another kick by the right was blocked by my left leg. It became a battle to see who would tire out first. Then from no where, he jumped and lashed out with all his might. Swiftly I blocked the strike but the momentum of the blow carried me backwards a few inches. We were both panting by now and the rain seemed to pick up.

"You are getting better each time," I said following it up with my own perfect lashing out which he deflected but he was prepared for the leg kick that followed to his abdomen. I didn't give him a chance to recover. I quickly struck out again with my right but his defenses were quick to come up again.

"Good enough to win you?" he asked as he swerved a perfect back kick but just as he did, my leg met his in my own back kick. Our legs hung in the air blocking the other from further using it. We were both panting as if we had run a hundred kilometers.

"Maybe, but I wouldn't give it to you this easy," I said even as we executed another perfect back kick with our left leg, ending up in the same position we were before.

"I don't expect any less from you," he promised and we each gathered our momentum to strike again. Alas! It wasn't to be.

"Boys, get in this minute and take a shower, dinner is ready," Catherine shouted from the door way. "And don't drip any water on my floor or I will tan your hides," she finished, turned and went inside.

"What do you say Mad Dog, we settle it once and for all or we wait for another chance?" Jake asked with a lopsided grin.

I slowly released my leg from the leg lock and stood perfectly straight. That was my answer as he too stood perfectly straight. And we bowed.

Just as he had always done before, I knew that the punch was coming. And I blocked it.

"That's a dishonorable thing to do," I said to him while still gripping his hand tighter.

"Anything to win, isn't it?" he asked with the same lopsided grin.

I was about to return my own attack and I think he was expecting it, but Catherine's voice broke the daze that we were in. "I am not going to say it again and don't expect me to microwave it for you," she shouted.

I released his hand and we hugged. Yes I know. We were just so polar different. Jake was white with a blonde hair and tall having started his growth spurt. I was black with my black shaved hair and short. I guess that my own growth spurt hasn't started. I was barely 5'3 as it was.

We went to the outside shower and rinsed off our bodies of the grimes then wrapped ourselves in towels that were put there for us. And then we made our way to Jake's room to change.

Everyone was already seated when we made it for dinner. There were Gene, (he insisted I called him Gene or dad because Mr. Parker was his father. There was no way I was going to call him dad), Catherine, Grandma Carrie and then, Melissa. God, I swear she looked more beautiful everyday in a tube top and a little white short that barely covered half of her thigh. My eyes didn't dwell on her clothes for long. I was so captivated by the sheer beauty of her face, and the way her hair was parked to one side. God, she was so beautiful and I felt the same fluttering in my stomach whenever I stared at her.

I was vaguely aware that I was the only one standing as Jake had already taken a seat. I was so mesmerized by her that I didn't realize this fact.

And she looked up at me and smiled. That was a new one because I rarely saw her smile. My world faded to the background as I watched the perfect vision that was her smiling face. She had the best smile I had ever seen.

Someone was tugging at my arm. "Dude, are you going to seat down or are you going to keep embarrassing yourself." I looked at Jake as he spoke and I realized that I was the only one standing with everyone looking at me. My face burned with the flush I knew was there and everyone started laughing at me.

I quickly sat down to reduce the embarrassment I felt. That was when I felt her hand touch mine. It was like current passed through me, a high voltage of current. I looked up to her face and the smile was still there. Somehow, the embarrassment I felt wasn't that important anymore.

We dug into our meal. It was Catherine's favorite dish, pot roast and I always enjoyed it because it was also one of the meals I enjoyed as well.

"You boys practiced your karate again?" Gene asked Jake and me.

We nodded. "Eeej has perfected his back kick and the thing he does with hands when they become blurry," Jake excitedly explained.

I wanted to add my own six pence but it was cut short. "Boys, no talking about martial arts until dinner is over," Catherine admonished.

"Aww, Com'on mom, you know how we love karate," Jake whined. He was right. Karate was something Gene, Jake and I loved and enjoyed doing together although Gene was more of observer.

"I said no talking especially over dinner," Catherine maintained.

Jake was about protesting some more but Grandma Carrie cut him off. "Jacob Kennedy Parker, you will obey your mother and stop whining like a twelve year old." Jake gulped, literarily. He swallowed the food that was in his mouth at that time. Grandma Carrie rarely admonished anyone but when she did, you wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of the admonition. So dinner continued in peaceful silence. I was just content to stare at my meal and not say anything else. The meal was interesting as it was.

After dinner, I helped Jake clear the table. It was my own little way of contributing to dinner so I always did it without begrudging anyone. Besides, it was our way of settling our fighting matches. Jake may have kept quiet during dinner but nothing was going to keep him from expressing himself during the clearing of the utensils used for dinner. It was great working with Jake; it always was great working with him.

After making sure that the utensils used for dinner were all clean and put away, we made our way to the sitting room where the whole family was watching some show on HBO. That was the thing I liked most about the Parker family. Irrespective of how their day or week went, irrespective of what their life entailed at that time, they always found the time to come together and just enjoy each others presence. There may not be much talking but the camaraderie and love that is evident is usually had to miss. It was one of the things that attracted me continuously to the Parker household.

I sat there watching them laugh at some silly joke that was going on in the sitting room. Mr. and Mrs. Parker were seated in a loveseat with Catherine resting her head on his shoulders. Grandma Carrie was also seated in one of the couch that was farther from the television set. That was because her eyes weren't as sharp as they used to be. Melissa was lying on her stomach against the advice of her parents because she just finished eating, facing the tube with her legs swaying left and right distractingly. And my friend seated beside me facing the same tube, with Melissa right in front of us. It was a homely sight.

I looked at my life again. It was an attitude I always display whenever I could find time to reminisce on my life. You wouldn't believe the turn my life had taken. You wouldn't believe the changes that have happened to me since I came to America. I have lost count of all the things that happened to me but I have not forgotten the lessons that I have learnt from them.

Where do I start? Just how do I start explaining the things that have happened to me but I guess I have to start somewhere.

It has been two years now, two long whole years. I wasn't that frail looking kid that came to the shores of America. I wasn't that naïve young man that people took me for. I wasn't that directionless boy that was still trying to figure out my life. I had grown up and though I might not show it in height, it showed in my character. I have seen things that young men my age don't even dream of experiencing and I have made decisions that some young people hope not to make in the next twenty or so years. I have responsibilities that some young men my age don't even dream of having at that age.

For a while, America was great, good fun, good people; a chance for me to reclaim my childhood. Alas! Childhood lost can never be regained. For a time, I was content to wallow in the idiosyncrasy that I was still a pubescent boy, free of life obligations and all. I was content to just play protector for my friends, happy to always be the one saving them. Yet, I grew up faster than I ever wanted.

In life, some people are born with responsibilities on their shoulders. In life, some other people are born with responsibilities thrust unto them. I don't know which category I fall into but the most important thing was that I had responsibilities, whether I chose them or they chose me is not important. Destiny has a way of finding us!

It was March of 1998 when I noticed the first crack in my fairytale life. One thing I insisted upon myself was that I would be watchful of everything that happened in my life. I would be observant of the things going on in my life. And that included the people that I cared about. I started noticing that mom was always seemingly distracted about one thing or another. I would catch her staring off into space looking at something that wasn't there. At first, I didn't want to think much on the matter but as she repeatedly did that, I had to know what was wrong.

I asked her about it, I pleaded with her to explain her behavior to me, but she always brushed me off with flimsy excuses. Whether she thought that her excuses would get me to back off was something I can't tell. She must have known that I wasn't the kind of person to easily back off especially where the person dearest to me was concerned. But I let her be. I created the illusion that I had been convinced, yet I still watched out for some clues.

It was in May that I got the answers to my questions. It was a Saturday and I told my mom and Beth that I was going out for a stroll. I really was going out to take a stroll. But I decided to swing by Jake's house. I remembered that Jake had lent me his Game Boy and the said game was still at my house. So I did an about turn to our house.

Till date, I still do not know why I didn't make my presence known. I still don't know why I didn't call out to my mother or anybody. I just wanted to get the Game Boy and be on my way.

When I came into the house, I was surprised to see my mother crying with Beth holding her. I wanted to know why she was crying, what had her upset but something kept me rooted to the ground where I stood. I was still watching them when mom started telling Beth about our problem. We were having money problem.

I didn't know what to make of the problem. I was still under the illusion that the compensation which the airline people paid us would tide us over till mom received her salary or we became stable enough. I was still ignorant of the way things worked. I berated myself for being that stupid. How could I be that stupid as to not know that we were short on money?

Then I started blaming my mom. How could she not trust me enough to tell me that we were having money problems? How could she still encumber me in her protectiveness and care? I was about to heap all the blame on my mother when she answered my unasked question. I listened as she told Beth that she couldn't tell me because I was happy and she didn't want to have me worry about money issues. She told Beth that she wanted me to have a chance at being happy for once. She didn't know this but I could never be truly happy unless my mom was happy. That is my definition of happiness.

I didn't let her know that I knew about our money issues. I didn't let her suspect about my knowledge of our family problem. In fact, I didn't let anyone know that I knew that we had money problems.

You know that saying that 'you can fool all the people all the times but not all the people all the times' or something like that, I couldn't fool my friends, or specifically, I couldn't fool Jake. He picked up on my mood and confronted me about it.

I could have told him to mind his own business, I could have lied to him, but I didn't. I always had this sense of fairness that I am sure would be my greatest undoing. I asked myself if I would be happy if Jake told me any of those if he was in my shoes and I realized that I wouldn't be happy knowing that my friend didn't trust me enough to tell me what the problem was. It was the reason why I was still angry with my mom; for not having enough trust in me to tell me what the problem was.

I told him about our problem. I told him how I got to know about the problem and my mom still thinking that I didn't know about the problems. I told him how I was worried that I was sitting around without doing anything to help my mom about it. I told him how afraid I was that we would revert to the way things were in Nigeria. I told Jake everything.

It is in situations like this that I know the beauty of having friends. In a typical Jake style, we started looking at our options. There were a lot of things I could do which would give me money. The problem was that I needed money fast and I needed to do whatever I would do without my mom knowing about it. By that evening we still didn't know any solution to my problem.

We were walking Jake's neighborhood when Jake was complaining about something to do with the way a neighbor's lawn was overgrown. And I was lost to the world. Here I was thinking about money problem and here was the answer to my problems. It was a miracle. God or providence had provided me with the solution to my problem.

I told Jake what I was thinking and he himself saw the miracle in that. I would help Jake's neighbors do their lawns and my mother wouldn't be the wiser because I would just tell her that I needed to be at Jake's house. It will warrant me spending more time at Jake's house but it wasn't unusual spending that much time at Jake's house.

My very first customer was none other than Mr. Parker. I don't know how he knew (okay, who am I even kidding? Of course it was Jake), but he told me one evening that he needed someone to do his lawns for him. That if I was interested, that he would be glad to give me the job. Of course I was delighted. And yes, I got the job. We discussed how much I would accept per hour and settled on ten dollars.

I was speechless. Ten dollars at that time was a lot of money for an eleven year old boy with money problems. Besides, I wasn't thinking about the ten dollars I would take in one hour, I was thinking about the number of hours I would actually work and the total amount I would make in a day. It was enough to render me speechless.

I didn't know anything about lawn mowing or landscaping (which was what I preferred it to be called). But Jake and his dad taught me enough to be able to stand on my own. They also taught me how to clean swimming pool and every other job that comes within the vicinity of my work. I started working on weekends, especially Saturdays. Although mom complained that she hardly saw me anymore, I was determined to do this. Yes, I didn't like lying to my mother but it couldn't be helped. She kept something from me, something I was supposed to know. I didn't think I should tell her about my lawn mowing services. Besides, it wasn't like I was lying. Technically, I was at Jake's house.

One thing I like about education in America is the summer vacation. For a lazy person, it could be boring, but for someone like me, it was a welcomed vacation. Though I didn't do much vacationing, I used it to establish myself as a certified landscaper. My business increased over the summer. Mr. Parker, God bless his soul, recommended me to some of his neighbors. Some of them were bigoted about my age and skin color, but they still gave me the contract. The bigotry I got from them was the only inspiration I needed to do a work that would never be topped by any other person except me. It was funny watching the change in them when they saw the work I had done.

Halfway through the summer, I decided to let my mother know what I was doing. I gave her half a thousand dollars for upkeep. She was surprised, wanting to know how I got such amount. I told her everything, especially my anger towards her that she never trusted me enough to tell me what the problem was. We reconciled with her promising to keep me in the know of everything going on our family. She also advised me to open a bank account and start saving my money. I heeded her advice.

With mom knowing about my landscaping business, my customer base increased. I found myself with more jobs than I could do. So when Jake suggested I hire someone else, I was easily convinced. It was difficult finding someone with my work ethics. Providence yet provided me with another miracle. I found Bryce McNeil, a thirteen year old boy that needed money like me. It helped that he was also a hard worker. Though it was tricky being someone's boss at that age, especially when the person is older than you, I looked at Bryce not as an employee, but as a friend who shared the same vision.

With my landscaping services underway, it didn't allay my fears whatsoever. I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I was born a prince into wealth, but circumstances took all those away. Then, my mom and I suffered in penury for some time. We suffered to the extent that we were almost destitute. And then providence, fate or destiny provided us with a chance at a second life in a new world. There was no way I was going back to being poor again, especially in a strange country.

Though I was making good money that supplemented our family income, I wasn't ignorant of the fact that there is always going to be a problem that such meager money I made wouldn't solve. My worst fear is not being able to provide for the people that I cared about. I was afraid of being poor, again. If I had any say in the matter, it never would happen again.

I talked to Jake about it. As usual, he presented my problem in a practical logical way that was easier to solve when I thought about it.

When my father was alive, he said that he wished he would invest in a technological firm especially firms dealing in computers because to him, computers were the way to the future. My father wasn't alive to see the realization of that dream, but I would see to it that the idea never died. It never occurred to question the rightness of such business idea my father had. To me, my father was a business genius.

There is a proverb in my native land that a snake can never birth something that is not long. There is also another saying that goes that the son of a lion must always be a lion, not a goat or sheep. I have my father's genes flowing in me; I had his business acumen that made him a great, wealthy man. So I talked to Jake about my plans to go into Stock trading.

For some reason, right after I talked to Jake about my money problems and we started the Landscaping business, Jake had this idea in his head that I was building a business empire at the young age of eleven. I don't really know what gave him the idea. It might have been from me going on constantly about my father's business empire which I had lost when my father died. To Jake, this was my chance to build my own empire from the scratch and in a new country to boot. I can't say that I found the idea uninteresting. Actually, it was an enticing idea, one that had me making long term plans of where I would be in the next five, ten years.

Jake's idea went fine with my resolve to not relive my penury days. In life, most of the decisions we make are largely based on the experiences that surround our upbringing. I had witnessed life on the other side; a life where you wake up in the morning without knowing where the money for your next meal is going to come from. It may not have been severe to this point but when you are used to the luxury of having whatever you want, whenever you wanted it, then it becomes synonymous with not knowing how you are going to eat.

Jake took the idea of stock trading so well. He was excited by the challenges of trying to build an empire from nothing. Those were his words, not mine. We had his dad subscribe to Wall Street Journal. The way Mr. Parker was willing to help me; I suspected that father and son shared the same fascination of watching me build my own empire.

With enough data, and his mathematical acumen, Jake was able to write a program that could predict the trends in the stock market with 94.356% accuracy. It was the best we could do given the level of knowledge that we possessed. We could have asked Mr. Parker to help but Jake had this sense of work that he could always do it. And he did do it.

We tested the program, predicting trends that the market would follow and more often than not, we were right. It was when we were satisfied that the program actually worked that we approached Mr. Parker with our idea. He was surprised at the work we have done. He offered to check out the program for us. He did and was impressed with what his son had done. I never doubted Jake because I believed in him totally.

It was Mr. Parker that helped us invest in whatever firm we wanted to invest. As a show of his total faith in us, he also invested some of his money. Of course I told my mother what I wanted to do and just like any other mother; she was worried that I was throwing away my hard-earned money. I wasn't worried about the money. One of the things I learnt from my father was that risk taking is an inevitable thing in life if one hoped to become successful. His favorite quote was 'fortune favors the brave'.

Looking back, I can't imagine the success and dividends we have had just from two eleven year old boys taking initiative to solve a certain problem. My landscaping business was still going strong, as was my stock trading business. I might not be a millionaire yet, but I was quite well off.

With my success, I started taking over some of the responsibilities that my mother shouldered. I didn't want her worrying about upkeep or paying the utility bills or whatever expense that came up. Because we still ate at the Fergusons every other day, I started taking over some of the responsibilities as well, if not for anything but to ensure that the ladies had enough money to spend on themselves. Beth initially protested, but when I told her that I felt like I was the man of the house even in her home, and that my upbringing would never allow me to be a kept man, she relented. I furthered sealed the point when I told her that they could use whatever money they saved to look more beautiful for me. If there is anything that makes Beth tick, it was the fact that I considered her beautiful. She would go to any length to look beautiful for me, even though just looking at her the way she was in her house clothes was more than enough to convince any man, dead or alive that she was beautiful.

One day, we were having dinner at the Parkers where I was explaining some of my business ideas to Gene (yes, I had started calling him Gene at that time) and Jake who were listening to me in rapt attention. I was telling them about my research on some pharmaceutical firms with potentials of their stock appreciating when Grandma Carrie said something. At first we didn't hear her but when she stamped her feet on the floor in a way to get our attention, we gave her our undivided attention.

"You are turning into a serious young man Evans, way too serious for your age," she said to a totally silent audience.

I was shocked by what she said, no one had ever accused me of being too serious if there actually was anything like being to serious. The shock gave way to anger, anger that someone was finding fault with my trying to ensure that my family and the people that I cared about never lacked for anything. I kept my cool though. "What do you mean by that, Grandma?" I asked her, barely containing the anger that was boiling in me.

"What do I mean?" she asked in an exasperated tone while throwing her hands in the air, "sometime ago, a young man walked through that door and we welcomed him into our home. I saw a kid that fate had dealt a very treacherous blow but was still intent on being happy. I saw a carefree, happy young man that enjoyed little things that kids his own age did. Now all I see is someone that is obsessed with making money and being rich. What happened to that young man that first walked through that door?" she asked in an almost sobbing voice.

Everyone was speechless. Grandma Carrie rarely said anything about the businesses we started. I was surprised to know that she thought of my business in this light. And I was still angry. "Grandma Carrie, I am sorry but that Evans that walked through that door is no more," I said in a sorrowful voice. "I didn't want to have the responsibilities that I have now, or do you think I don't wish that I still enjoy talking about the mundane stuff that kids my age talk about?" I was working myself up to a corner. I was letting the anger that I felt show. "The sad truth is that I will never be that ignorant, innocuous young man again. I can't sit back and watch the people that I care about suffer because they are laboring so hard to make ends meet. I want my mother to stop worrying about taking care of me and concentrate on taking care of herself, enjoying her life. I want Beth to stop worrying about how she would take care of Bethany or what life would have been like had her husband never left her. I want Bethany to stop worrying about her mother and how she is going to realize her dream of going to college. Me, I want the people I care about to be happy. And if it means sacrificing my youth and childhood for me to realize that, I will gladly do that." I took a deep breathe, letting the tensions and emotions flow from me. I tried to reorganize my thoughts.

"Grandma, you mean a lot to me. This family means a lot to me. If I went wrong in the way I spoke to you, I am sorry about it, but I needed to say this so that nobody will think that I don't know what I am doing," I said more calmly.

Grandma Carrie looked pale. Maybe I had shocked her by what I said, maybe I had shocked her the way I said what I said, maybe she felt guilty for saying what she did, but she looked like she had seen a ghost. She came to where I sat and hugged, cradling me in her bosom. "It will be alright. God will give you strength," she repeated on and on.

From that day onwards, Grandma Carrie insisted on knowing everything that happened to me. She still missed the innocuous Evans but she was satisfied with this Evans.

And life continued for me. I continued combining my businesses with my studies. If there was anything I wanted more, it was to be the best student of my class and in order to do that, I had to study more than anyone in my class. That was actually tricky because try as I might, I could never best Jake in class. The guy was a guru. We studied together, did our assignments together but he always was a point or two ahead of me.

 
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