BOYZ FROM THE BRONX One day, Dimitrious, Denzel, and I, Jermaine, were on our way to the school dance when Terrence and Kick stopped us. They are two gang members of the Bloods, a Los Angeles gang, who are mean to everyone. They asked us if we wanted a ride. I didn't, but Denzel and Dimitrious wanted to. Terrence and Rick were getting high on drugs, of course, and that's probably why my buddies wanted to go. They asked if we wanted a hit.
I didn't but Dimitrious and Denzel did want some. I thought it was kind of weird that they asked us because they were normally punks towards us.
We were just driving along and when we got pulled over by the cops. They smelled the Marijuana so they took us to the police department and gave us drug tests. I passed, of course, but my friends didn't.
List of criminal gangs in Los Angeles, California
Washington's signature in front of Grauman's Chine...
D. Washington, Berlinale 2000They have to do community service for the next two months, five hours per day. .
After the two months passed, Denzel, Dimitrious and I started hanging out again.
We decided we wanted to do something for our school, so we joined the Varsity basketball team. Dimitrious is kind of short, so he is going to try out for the point position.
He will probably get it because the only person who stands in his way is Pudgy. Pudgy is a fat, out of shape kid, who thinks he can play ball. He thinks he is good is because for the last five years, in our basketball league, his dad was the coach and played him at the starting point guard position his whole life. Then there is Denzel who is about six feet five inches tall and weighs 190 pounds. He can play ball. In one game he scored 53 points in two and a half quarters, that's pretty amazing. I'll probably sit the bench. I'm not very good at basketball, but I play a good tailback in football. I am also the only one of the three who gets good grades and doesn't do drugs of any kind. The first four games we overpowered the teams by at least 40 points with Denzel being our key man. Then the next game we played we lost. The only reason for this is Denzel hurt his leg. It was a freak accident. He ran into the wall and bruised his knee. He was better by the next game.
After the middle of the season was over, we had to show Coach Walker our grades. I had five A's and two B's. The way my grades have been looking I may get a scholarship to a Division One school to play football. Denzel had a C average, which is good for him since he normally gets D's and F's. Then there's Dimitrious who has the worst grades of the three. He had one C, three D's and three F's. For those horrible grades, Coach Walker kicked him off the team and said, "Maybe by next grade check, Dimitrious, you can play before the last game, but bring your grades up." "It turns out I am taking your spot Dimitrious," I said.
"Get away from me, Jermaine," he said.
"What's your problem Dimitrious?" I asked.
"Oh nothing," he said, then he left angrily.
"Great, now I have one of my best friends not talking to me", I said.
Today is my first game at the starting position of point guard. I hope I don't mess up. The game is ready to start and I am in the backcourt guarding who is supposed to be the best the best point guard in the league. The ball is thrown and we get the ball. I have the ball coming up at half court and I feed it to Denzel. He gives it back to me and I lay it in for two points. As I looked back, the coach said, "Good job Jermaine, now pick your man for defense." I had 24 points, four rebounds, 11 assists and three steals. I was the player of the game next to Denzel.
Now that basketball season is over, Dimitrious and I have finally started hanging out together again. I learned though that Dimitrious had gotten himself into some trouble while we were playing basketball. "So Dimitrious, what kind of trouble did you get into while we were playing basketball?" Denzel asked him.
"Oh, the police just caught me stealing weed and smoking it. No biggie," Dimitrious said.
"So Dimitrious, I heard you were a Blood now," I said. "Yeah, where'd you hear that?" he said.
"It doesn't matter," I said. After I left I heard Dimitrious trying to persuade Denzel into the gang with him. I extremely hope Denzel says no.
A few days had passed and I noticed that Denzel had been wearing an awful lot of red, so I asked him why. He said, "I am a Blood now. You should join fool, they give you free thangs." "Nah man, I'm not screwing up my life, and you shouldn't either," I said.
"Maybe I should start thinking about trying to get out of the Bloods," he said.
"If you stay in the gang you may not get a chance of getting a scholarship for basketball," I said. Denzel went to Terrence and asked to get out of the gang. He said, "Not unless you want to be dead fool. You get into the Bloods, you stay a Blood!" Denzel said, "But please, I don't want to screw up my life. It is all looking good for me right now." Terrence said, "You can either have a screwed up life or no life, you choose." Denzel decided not to go to any of the gang meetings. The Bloods noticed he wasn't going, so they told Dimitrious to kill him or he would be killed. They gave him a sawed off shotgun and told him to do it right away.
A few days later, Dimitrious ran into Denzel and blew his head off with the sawed off shotgun. Denzel fell to the ground like a broken piñata. A couple of hours later the cops found him lying motionless on the ground. 20 years later, the investigation for Denzel's death still goes unsolved. I know Dimitrious did it because he told me months later. He had to tell someone or it would eat at him for the rest of his life. I am now a doctor and still think about Denzel and Dimitrious many times a day. I still don't know if Dimitrious is dead, alive, or in jail. To be honest with you, I don't really care. He shot and killed my best friend and I wish I could forgive him, but I can't. If only Dimitrious wouldn't have gotten bad grades our senior year, he would have played basketball and none of this ever would have happened. I still do care about Dimitrious a little bit because he was a friend from the time we were babies. The only reason I don't hate his guts is because he was being threatened by Terrence to kill Denzel. He should have known better than to get in a gang because gangs think nothing of killing people.
If I wouldn't have said no to Denzel about joining the Bloods, then I probably would have ended up like Denzel or Dimitrious. I wouldn't have any of what I have now.
I received a scholarship to Harvard University and started at running back on their winning football team. I never made it to pro ball because I injured my knee during the playoffs. People said that I had the potential to be a pro running back. My major for college was medicine. I am happy that I decided to become a doctor rather than a football player because I help people. I have a wife named Janae, whom I met at Harvard University, and she is also a doctor. She is a bone doctor and I am a heart surgeon and we are both very good at what we do. I am the proud father of two children named after me, Jermaine and my long lost friend Denzel. They both have the same middle name, which is Dimitrious. Jermaine Jr. is nine years old and wants to be a pro football player. He has the same dream as I did, but maybe he'll turn out to be one. Denzel, who is 13 years old, wants to be a pro basketball player. He has the same dream as his namesake, but I hope he doesn't turn out like him. I am able to afford to raise my kids in an area where gangs are not a problem and put them through good schools. I hope the names Dimitrious and Denzel are carried on by my family in their honor.
THE END
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