Shangri-la

Childhood

It was one sunny afternoon, in a pleasant neighborhood, sometime in the early 1950s, when a blood curdling scream erupted from the backyard of a small house.
Laying on his back, in the dirt, with a sickle in his eye, young Ray screamed in pain, his brother, Dave, looking on in horror, unsure what to do. The brothers had gotten into a fight, like they regularly did. It started out as an exchange of words, when Dave got fed up with Ray and grabbed the first thing in sight, and threw it. That 'thing' happened to be a very sharp gardening tool, and it impaled Ray directly in the left eye. Dave backed slowly away, then turned and ran to get their mother, screaming for her all the way into the house.
   Later that night, Ray woke up from surgery, and felt for his eye that was covered in a cotton ball and gauze. He asked the doctor if they could save his eye. The doctor, solemnly, told him no; that he would have to wear an eyepatch from then on.
Little Ray, refusing to cry, took the news in stride. His brother came into sight, and he turned a murderous glare to Dave, showing him the damage he caused. Dave never met his stare, and Ray knew then this was a change in his life and their relationship.