Off The GridIron

Chapter 37: Hate

Tuesday February 18th, 1992

4:30am

Kelvin

I walked back and forth in the waiting room of the hospital, my mind on one thing and one thing only and that was Willie. I remember when i got the call late yesterday i was working, i got a message from Leon on my pager telling me that he'd call me on the payphone and he'd let me know what was going on, and he did, i can't tell you how quick i rushed from work straight to West LA Trauma Center over on the corner of West Adams Blvd. My heart was racing and pounding that whole time while I was on my way to the hospital last night, i rushed through about 2 hours of traffic or so going what seemed like 80-100 miles per hour. Had to come all the way from Colton, California but it was nothing I'd rather do than be by my man's side. As I was thinking, the doctor came to me.

"Hey doctor, how is he?"

"He's stable, he needs a lot of rest, it's honestly a miracle that he survived. He took 3 bullets, luckily they didn't hit any major arteries." He told me.

"Good, I need to be in there with him, I need to make sure he's okay with my own eyes." I said as tears ran down my eyes.

"Right now I wouldn't recommend any visitors, just for the next few hours. If you want to go home and rest and come back then you're more than welcome to." He said.

"Please doc, he was there for me in my time of need, i need to be there for him in his." I pleaded with him.

"Alright....He's in room 3A." He told me. He pat me on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Willie is strong, he'll be just fine." He reassured me.

I walked back to his room and I looked at him laying there, prone, vulnerable & just helpless. The heart monitor was beeping and he was breathing which is good. "Hey Willie, I don't know if you can hear me." I said, getting a chair and sitting beside him. "It's going to be alright, I want you to know that I'm here for you. I don't know what to do, i want to go get revenge so bad, i want to but i don't want to lose my life or even worse throw my whole life away, i have too much to live for and so do you, you fight and you come back to me, to all of us and you come back better than ever." I told him as I held his hand. I saw Willie open his eyes and look at me and he smiled. "Willie!" I smiled.

"Quit acting like a damn bitch 95." He said, struggling to laugh and coughing. "Where's Leon & Junior?" He asked.

"They've been here too but left a while ago to get some things from your place then they were gonna come back here." I told him. "This whole situation is just a mess, all of this because of Free's bitch ass!" I said, then looked at him. "I'm sorry, i know how you feel about him...."

"Yeah but that's my past, that guy was such a negative influence and his old goons still trying to pay me back for doing the right thing. Kelvin saving you on that field that day man, that was one of the best things I could have ever done in my life." He said. "It was the right thing to do, you mean so much to me man, i mean that." He said as tears started streaming out of his eyes.

"Now who's being the bitch?" I said laughing. "But in all seriousness it's sad when someone has that much HATE in their heart and for what? I mean seriously all this gang shit nonsense where does it really stem from?" I said. "All of us were fighting over colors, meaningless colors, or because we live 5 or 6 blocks in the wrong direction or because one person has it better than another. It shouldn't have to be like that, violence begets violence and what's the point in bringing heartbreak to others, it's just damn senseless!" I said, rubbing his face. "I'm just glad you're okay, you go ahead and get some rest. I'm gonna stay here and watch after you."

"No you have to get back home, you have work and school." He said.

"Fuck that! You come first, if i have to take a few days off from both then damn it i will!" I told him. "You mean a lot to me and you know that. So you rest up and then we'll figure out what to do next." I said as i left his room.

******

******

5:15am

Leon

"Alright Junior we need to get a few change of clothes and some food for Willie, that hospital food ain't shit at times, shit taste nasty and has no taste what so ever." I said as we looked through some drawers in Willie's room. We was at his place trying to get things straight for him.

"You think he'd wear something like this?" Junior asked, pulling out these ugly looking jogging pants.

"Dude the hell is that?" I said laughing. "That came out of his closet?"

"Yeah, I mean it's comfortable."

"Yeah but I don't think he'd wear something like that."

"Well if it was in his closet it means he probably would at one point."

"But look at the color and design of it."

"I don't think he's worried about that, as long as he has something to wear then that's what matters." Junior said.

"True but find something else."

As we continued to look around and find stuff for Willie we heard the front door creak open.

"Yo did you hear that?" Junior asked.

"Shhh" I told him. "See if you can find something around here like a bat or something."

We tipped around looking for something to use, we couldn't find anything, we looked under Willie's bed and found a steel pipe. We tipped around the house looking around for the person that was in the house, we saw where the front door was half way open, we looked around for the person and we saw the person in the dining room, with a bat tipping around too.

"Yo!" I said, the dude froze and slowly turned around, it was Rodney.

"Oh you scared me." He said. "I saw lights on in the house and I saw two guys and an unfamiliar car in front of the house, i didn't see Willie's car, so I thought his house was being looted." He said. "Where's Willie?" He asked.

"Rodney, he was shot last night, 3 times." I told him.

"Shot....Willie, no. Is he....."

"No he's not dead." Junior chimed in. "He's on a machine at the hospital, he's alive, but critical. Kelvin is there with him." He said.

"Well who did? Do they have the person in custody?"

"No not yet, but we know who did it and you know that's not how it works here, here it's a matter of street justice." Junior said. "It was Willie's ex friend C-Co." He said.

"Yeah his bitch ass rolled up on him yesterday while we were all hanging, trying to pick a fight, Willie fought him off and then he got shot for defending himself, which is bullshit!" I said, pissed. "So it's gonna get taken care of, we got his number."

"Don't say that." Rodney said. "Look all of y'all have bright futures, don't let one person's idiotic moves dictate what y'all do, let the police handle it. Look i know it hurts and something like this definitely will hurt but don't risk ruining your lives over it, none of y'all." He told us. "Now look, I'm going there to check on him as well, y'all get some more clothes, i'll meet y'all there." He said.

We got more clothes and we headed back towards the hospital. We got back there around 6:15am. We had a small backpack with some water, 3 or 4 pairs of clothes and some snacks. Me and Junior got clearance from some of the security guards there and we went back to Willie's room, when we got back we didn't see Kelvin there. Willie was still awake, weak but awake.

"Hey Willie, where's Kelvin?"

"He left, he said he needed to go and take care of something, i hope he don't do anything stupid."

"How long ago did he leave?" I asked.

"About 10 minutes ago or so."

"Shit!" I said. "I got to make a call."

End Of Chapter 37