A/N: Based on the 1974 movie "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three", with a look at the origin of the least-shown kidnapper, 'Mr. Brown' as he was called by his associates.
Fourth Banana
"What was it this time George?" the woman asked as she led her son from the juvenile detention center of Tuscon, Arizona.
"W-w-what do you think, s-s-same old sh-sh..." he started to explain.
"No need to curse" Gloria Steever interrupted. George had always been a kind and gentle boy ever since he had arrived in the world on New Year's Day, 1944 but a stutter had caused him no end of trouble since he had been old enough to start talking. There had been a doctor in grammer school that had started him on something called speech therapy, and the exercises had shown some improvement. But a death in the family had caused the doctor to move away and Mrs. Steever had found no other that was supportive. As a result, even though his speech had improved George still was ostracized and ridiculed for his stutter. Lately, instead of being shy and quiet he had started to lash out physically at his tormentors. Gloria was proud of her son for standing his ground, but gone was the smile and cheeriness that she had come to associate with her only child.
"I was going to s-s-say 'shinola' anyway" George continued in a lowered voice.
"Slow down and think about what you're going to say before you speak, then tell me about it."
"I w-w-was at football scrimmage today" he continued more slowly "and Joe Jackman s-s-started mocking me. Tom called him out from the stands, jumped the railing and c-c-confronted him and next thing I know w-we started fighting." George was nearly six feet tall and stood out physically from the other fifteen year old students in his class. Tom and his group of rough friends were much smaller but acted like they had a chip on their collective shoulder.
"What did the coach do?"
"Banned Tom and the guys. C-c-coach needs me so I get to stay." He rubbed his cheek, which had quite the bruise and there was a good sized cut on his left elbow.
"Did you get hurt at all?" Gloria asked.
"Nah, I d-d-don't feel pain too much."
"Okay tough guy, I don't like you getting into fights and I know it must be hard getting picked on all the time. Maybe if you didn't hang around that Tom kid you wouldn't get into so much trouble."
"He b-backed me up; no one else does th-th-that" the boy stated flatly.
"I know. I've been thinking about it a long time, and I think a fresh start would be good for you. And for us too. Your uncle in St. Louis has invited us to come there and even has found a job for me. We'll wait until after Christmas and before the new semester begins. Don't give me that look mister!" she said half mockingly.
"It won't m-m-matter, they'll make fun of me there too" George said dejectedly. "But they aren't gonna p-push me around anymore wherever we go."
"Okay George, then let's plan on that but maybe you can find a way to be more assertive without resorting to violence. In the meantime we have to get you home and cleaned up and I want to put something on that cut. Just remember I'm not always going to be able to be there to bail you out of trouble."
"Yes mom."
The End
A/N: George Steevers a.k.a. "Mr. Brown" didn't have much of a part in the movie; he stuttered and got wounded before eventually being killed and was basically the lowly fourth member of the kidnapping group. Apart from that, all we know is on an arrest card shown quickly onscreen; Birth, physical attributes, arrest in St. Louis. But maybe the stutter caused his life to take a turn for the worse and got him in this position; in any case, this was a snapshot of my take on the matter.