Chapter 1

BECKY/GINGER

Hello, we are ‘The Girls’. That is how most people have referred to us since we were in the 3^rd grade. You see that is when we met. Ginger’s grandmother had died and left her mother a house next door to ours here in town. Her dad drove a delivery truck for a company in Memphis. They were renting in Memphis and with this free and clear house they could live a lot better and raise their daughter in a better environment. Ginger and I met the day they moved in. We became more than friends, like sisters. No, more like twin sisters. We seemed to know what each other was thinking. We started finishing the others’ sentences!

We spent nights at each other’s’ houses and did all the fun things girls in the third grade do. One day our world changed. No, not anything bad but it changed. Let me explain.

BECKY

It was my mom’s day to pick us up from school, but Ginger’s mom was there to get us. We asked why and were told that there was some trouble at the high school and my mom and dad had to go ‘see about it’. Being so young we did not think any more about it until that night when we were all at Ginger’s house eating dinner. We did that a lot; our parents had become good friends. Mrs. Stanton asked what that meeting at the high school was all about. Tim, my brother who was in the 9^th grade, asked if he could tell the story, and my dad said okay. Tim stood up and he started.

“I was at my locker getting ready to go to lunch when these two senior football players come up to me. I know they are seniors and I know they play football because I am the equipment manager for the team. (He was proud of this. Tim had a heart condition since birth, and the doctors would not let him play but he loved sports. He was always trying to help and be part of any team). They wanted me to keep something in my locker for them. It was some hand rolled cigarettes. I said no. They started to push me and tell me I was going to do it. That’s when this guy Jack, who has a locker near mine, tells them to leave me alone. Now Jack is tall but thin and these two seniors are bigger than him. One of them pushes Jack and tells him to stay out of it. Jack hit him so fast he did not know what happened. Right on the nose! The guy sat on the floor, blood everywhere, crying like a baby!”

We saw Tim tell this story a hundred times over the next 10 years but that first time is what we always remember. He was jumping around, swinging his arms wildly. He was so funny.

“Then the other guy grabs Jack in a bear hug. Jack does something with his arms and breaks free. He hit this guy with his left fist, right on the chin. He goes down and he is out for the count! Jack threw two punches and both of those big, tough seniors were out of the fight. It was so cool!”

“So, the meeting was about a fight at the school?” asked Mrs. Stanton.

“Not really,” says my dad. “You would think Jack would be in trouble but remember those 4 marijuana cigarettes? And of course there is the bullying. The new principal is not going to put up with any of that. She suspended the two seniors with the drugs for 10 days. She called the football coach into the office and told him that she knows all about the football players bullying the other students. She said if she hears of any of them trying to get even with Tim or Jack, she will cancel the entire football season! She turned to Jack and said she would not put up with fighting in school.

That’s when John O’Shea stood up and said she would not have to worry about Jack starting fights or bullying anyone. He told her there are 3 kinds of people in this world. The first are sheep. They must be protected because the second are wolves. They feed on the sheep. He said the third are sheep dogs. They take care of the sheep and protect them from the wolves. He said he did not raise sheep and that his son was no wolf.

Dad said he had known John O’Shea all his life and there was no finer man. He told us that John’s mother was an Apache Indian and his dad was an Irish immigrant who served 6 years in the U.S. Cavalry.