Last night was an interesting night. What to hear about it? Here we go.
The day before yesterday Sgt. Lupe ran across some dumb ass teens, out past the City's curfew. She was foolish enough to allow them to go home on their own, with just a warning. A little later on, that same day, she spots the same three juvies attempting to break into a freaking church, or so she claims. They spot her and take off running, well two did, the other one was too scared to run and she was able to put him in custody. Knowing that I have zero tolerance on these little bastards and their parents, she calls me out to the scene to see if I want to aid him to my list of kids I conduct random bed checks on. I get out there and surprise, surprise. It is one my little habitual curfew violators. We take his dumb ass home, but not before going over to the house of one of the Little angles who ran and gripe out his mom for not know where the hell her 15 year old son is at 3 o’clock in the morning.
Then we take little Leroy (that what we’ll call him) back home to his mom’s house, where he is issued a ticket for the curfew violation. A ticket that his mom can’t afford. Now, since I have already told little Leroy what an embarrassment he is to me, seeing as he looks like me, and how if he was my blood I’d cluck him upside the head with my flashlight; I also feel obligated to let him know that I don't think he is a bad kid but is making some bad decisions. So, this leads him to ask me what he is suppose to do when he mom kicks him out of the house and then the reports him as a runaway.
Gentle Giant that I am, I give and my business card and write my cell phone number on the back. Before handing it over to him I let him know that if he and his little buddy misuse my number, for any reason, I’d come knocking on his door and that there will be hell to pay.
Anyway, fast forward to last night. Guess who called me, before I went into work. Yep, little Leroy. He is at odds with him mom and don’t know what to do. So, I call work and tell them that I am going to be a little late, because I have to make a detour and go pick his ass up. I have decided, with his mom’s permission, to bring little Leroy to work with me so we can have a heart to heart talk and maybe I can be that beacon that leads his ass down the right path. Maybe.
I took him to the station, gave him comic books to read, while I did my work. He was talked to by different sergeants, of different races and various troops and made to stand before our detail. Sgt. Latin even gave the kid tickets to a hockey game (Little Leroy use to play hockey). I mean to tell you if this young man was not known by the police officers on deep nights before, you better believe his ass is now. He will be dumb as fuck to do anything illegal.
Anyway, after our 12 o’clock detail lets out I take him to the crack house….err, sorry, over my mom’s house, because she needed to borrow money and it was part of my route for that day. I introduced him to my slacker, little brother, who was having sex for some reason. Do you know that I didn’t think my little brother had sex? Seriously, I thought he was that damn lazy, but he damn sho’ did have some female all up in his bedroom. Still, he was nice enough to come out of his room and spit some wisdom on the kid. Little Leroy, like most, felt an instant connect with my little brother. He might be a lackadaisical son of a gun, but he can charm the pants off of you. (Don’t worry, my mom lives far enough away that I am not worried about the kid remember how to get back to her joint).
En route to my mom’s place, I tell him a little about my situation growing up. I let him know that life for me ain’t been no crystal staircase. So, by the time we leave from my mom’s house he is willing to open up and tell me about how his dad died, last year, his parents separation, his mom near death experience, how his own grandmother stole his dad’s insurance policy; leaving him and his mom with nothing. The works. The boy has had it hard, and he is acting up as a result. But everyone has their sob stories and I let him know that that is no excuse for him to act the way he does and never an excuse to buck up to his little, frail mom. This kid, is twice the size of mom, folks.
Then I take him to my Ihop, where he gets to meet the wait staff there. The people at Ihop love me, folks. Their world lights up when I come into the door. I don’t care how busy it is, they make time to cluster around my booth and spend a little time with One Man. Talk about your ego boost, and it impressed the hell out of little Leroy who said, “Wow, everybody knows you here.” Of course, that was not the purpose of taking him to Ihop. You see, not only was little Leroy wearing the same thing that he had on the day before, but I had also learned, en route to station, that he hadn’t eaten all day. He swore to me, up and down, that he wasn’t hungry, but we all know that was a lie. What 15 year old, grown boy, isn’t hungry. C’mon now.
Anyway, he ordered a big ass bacon, egg and cheese burger and he got to listen to my group of misfits talk about the things they did, which lead them to were they are in life right now. Plus, they song my praises, which is always good.
After we finished at Ihop I was taking little Leroy home, when all hell broke lose at one of our clubs in South Dallas. It came out as a shooting, but ended up being just a big ass free for all and you know your boy One Man has to be a part of the fray. These men and women at these clubs know I don’t play with them. So, we go there and help break up that mess and then, once again, make a bee line to his house. Well, I’ll be damn if I don’t see another teenager walking down the street, just as calm as you please. I make him get in my car, take him home and as I am writing his ass a citation, this Hispanic male comes stumble pass me. He has had the hell beat out of him, to the point that I have to call an ambulance. Well, sure enough, this unfolds into some drama, that I won’t get into, but once we get it all situated, I take little Leroy home.
It is now past three and we can’t get little Leroy’s mom to wake up, to save our lives. So, we call and leave a message on the machine, that I am going to keep him for the rest of the morning, which I do. Mr. Leroy had one hell of an experience with me last night, because I am what you call a shit magnet. We got flagged down an aggravated assault, he got to see both nice and mean Sgt. One Man, I taught him how to check a person on our MDC. And he got to partake in an arrest of this stupid ass drunk, who broke out his girl's front glass window. It was one hell of a night, but I am hoping that he got something out of the experience. After all, the Dallas Police Department rained down a lot of love and care on that little man.
Yeah, I think I might have done a little too much, invested a little too much time, but I think he appreciated it; I know his mom did. The poor lady is at her wit’s end. Only time will tell if I, with the help of my fellow boys and girls and blue, were able to make a difference in this young man’s life. Your boy, One Man, trying to save the world one thug at a time. LOL
-One Man’s Opinion. Peace.
(Plus, I am under the assumption that if I invest a certain amount of time in his ass, I become authorized to hit him when he steps out of line.)
