Uncle Joe kept visiting me from time to time when I would get into trouble. I remember when I was twelve, I was hanging out with some of Jack's older friends when they pulled out a pack of cigarettes. We were supposed to go to the movies to hang out, but Jack couldn't make it, so we went to the basketball courts. These guys were about 19-23 years old. I wanted to be cool and fit in with them so I tried it. I started to cough and Uncle Joe came up behind me, grabbed the cigarette and snapped it in half. I turned around to see him standing with his arms crossed. I told the kids I'd be back in a few minutes. They didn't hear me because they were already so drunk and high.
I walked over underneath the streetlight with my head hung low. I stood there until I saw Uncle Joe's feet on the ground below me. "Come on Xavier. This isn't how I raised you. You can be better than this. I'm really disappointed in you. How would you feel if your uncle found out about it?" I started to say something but stopped before I said something I would have regret.
I finally managed to say "Sorry Dad. I should have known better. I need a ride home though. I left my phone in Uncle Danny's off-duty car."
He looked at me and said, "Already done, you Grandpa is going to get a phone call from someone saying they saw you smoking." I immediately looked up with fear in my eyes.
"Really? Are you serious Dad? I don't want to let Grandpa know I'm smoking! Plus I only had one! Please, Dad, don't tell him, please?"
He started to laugh and said, "I'm just kidding with ya buddy. But… I am going to have to tell Danny." I looked up at him and rolled my eyes.
"Can't they just beat me up or something?"
I had spoken too soon. The guys I was with walked over to me under the streetlight and the biggest one looked down on me and said, "Did you break my cigarette you little punk?"
I hesitated and then said, "Yeah on accident, I dropped it and I don't have my glasses on so I tripped and crushed it." I knew I was lying but he didn't. He turned to his friends who chuckled, then he turned back to me.
"I guess I'm just going to have to accidentally trip and crush your face, Reagan." I looked at Uncle Joe and as soon as I did, I fell to the ground from the force of the first blow.
They all jumped on top of me and started kicking and punching me. I started screaming for Uncle Joe to help me, but he never pulled them back or anything. I heard the kids start hollering and cheering and then they weren't hitting me anymore. I stayed curled up in a ball, rocking back and forth, crying. I heard two pairs of footsteps get closer then run past. Then I heard them yell "POLICE, GET ON THE GROUND!"
Uncle Jamie ran over to me and turned me over. According to him, I didn't look too good. The kid that first punched me in the face had some type of ring on, to where it made a three-inch scar on my right cheekbone. They had broken two of my ribs, all the fingers on my right hand, except for my pinky, and my nose. He picked me up and asked me what had happened. I just kept crying because I was in so much pain. Uncle Jamie leaned over to his radio and called for a bus.
The other two police officers called across the waves and said they had six out of the nine kids in custody. Uncle Jamie verified, and he held me as I started to go in and out of consciousness. Uncle Jamie kept tapping me gently, saying "No, no, no, no, no, kid, kid stay with me. Don't you lose consciousness." He leaned back over to his radio and yelled into it something I couldn't make out. Uncle Jamie always told me he said something along the lines of "Hurry up with that bus," but it didn't sound like that. I finally couldn't hold on anymore and slipped out of consciousness.