Ever wondered where the name Glass Joe came from?
It was the last day of Grade 2. After this day, Katrina would now be in the "big kids" part of elementary school. School was getting out at lunch, and her class was spending the day playing games rather than doing any boring worksheets.
"Do you have any 3s?" Claire asked. Janet Bernard handed her a card. Claire grinned; she was the best Go Fish player in the class.
In the corner, Katrina was playing with a boy named Jackson Rivers. They didn't normally hang out, and they didn't enjoy the same things, but they both liked checkers, and that was the only thing that mattered to them at the moment.
"Okay, kids," said Mr. Jeong, "the bell is gonna ring soon. Be sure you have all your things before you leave; anything left behind is getting donated to charity."
The kids all got their things in gear, and after a few minutes, the bell rang. As Katrina was walking to the door, she passed by two teachers.
"You gonna watch the match tonight? Joseph Beaufort vs. Piston Hondo."
That caught Katrina's attention. They were talking about her dad!
"Come on, it's so predictable. Honda's gonna win. Beaufort's barely got enough meat on his bones to fight off the neighbour's dog. They oughta call that guy Glass Joe."
"It's Hondo, Rich."
"Hondo, Honda, same thing."
Once she was outside, Katrina noticed that her dad wasn't waiting for her. That was weird; he always walked her to and from school. Oh well; she'd walked that route so many times, she could get home by herself. Which she did; she just had to follow the sidewalk, turn right, and pass the big pine trees.
When she got inside, she found her father trying to store a package that came in the mail that morning. He was struggling, because the box was really heavy! She couldn't help him lift it, but she could give him his water bottle. "Here, Daddy."
"Merci," gasped Joe, taking a moment to catch his breath and get a drink. Then he realized. "Attends un second, comment es-tu arrivé ici?" (Wait a second, how did you get here?)
"I walked home," said Katrina. "It's not that far."
Then Joe remembered; school got out early that day. "Oh, oui. Comment était ton dernier jour de la deuxième année?" (Oh, yes. How was your last day of Grade 2?)
"Good," said Katrina. "Some of the teachers were talking about you."
"Vraiment?" Joe was curious. "Qu'est-ce qu'ils disent?" (Really? What did they say?)
"Mr. Thompson says you should be called Glass Joe." Katrina put her bag on her chair to take her things out of it for the summer.
Glass Joe. He rolled the name around in his head for a moment. It felt icy; mysterious. He rather liked it.
Later in the evening, Joe and Katrina went to the arena for the match. Once he was out of the locker room, he went to Pierce for a name update. "Pierce, j'ai finalement trouvé un nom de scène." (Pierce, I've finally found a stage name.)
"Oh, good for you," said Pierce, absent-minded. "What is it?"
"Je suis Glass Joe," he said rather proudly. (I am Glass Joe.)
Pierce looked up. "Glass Joe?" Why would anyone name himself that, he thought to himself. Joe nodded enthusiastically. Pierce cocked an eyebrow, but shrugged. "Alright, then. Glass Joe it is." He wrote it down on a note to remind himself to update his files later.
Soon enough, it was time for the match to begin. "In this corner," said Pierce, giving his usual introductions, "we have our old friend, the WVBA's trooper…" He clenched his teeth for a moment. "...Glass Joe." He felt a little embarrassed just saying it; and it wasn't even his name! What on Earth possessed Joe to call himself that?!
He shook his head. Gotta focus. "And in this corner, we have an ichiban ready to deliver a TKO from Tokyo, Piston Hondo!" Now that was a cool stage name.
And as for the fight? Well, I don't need to tell you how it ended, now, do I?
