Story board

Looking at her from above my jug o' water, I could see the beauty that I saw in her when she was still a 'kid'. She hated that I called her that, but I would do it so she would remember that I had 'been there' a little myself. For some reason, she seemed to think that I was immature, and maybe naive. Maybe I am, because I still dreamt like I was a child. But I would also put my back into it, and try to make them happen. You never know what comes if you keep working at what you hope for ... like this fight.

"What is going to happen after this fight, tell me?" she asked. "I have seen this happen to guys before, get a touch of some money and then lose their minds. You have already taken the first step."

"Which was what? Putting a 'could have been something' boxing career on hold, so that I can become a part of the educated underclass? Tell me, since you know so much more than me about what it is I AM trying to do."

"No, you have said yourself that you boxed mainly for 'the fun of it' though I couldn't see what is fun about getting your head beat in. That is probably why you didn't want me to know about it -- you knew I wouldn't have let you do it."

"Whoa, simmer down now! Are you sure that is your pay grade? To tell me what not to do? I guess you don't understand how big this could be for me."

"That's right, COULD BE. Going on and finishing school you will always have that. Our community needs more men with degrees showing the way than we do failed contenders."

"Wait a minute," I said straightening up. "You think that I am going to lose? That is why you got drummed out of the loop, per protocol." Not only did I not 'compete' when getting ready for a fight, I did not allow for anyone to contradict my choice to fight or to put in time with 'what if you don't' conversation. "What do you is going to happen to me?"

"You want me to be real with you? I think you are fooling yourself and that you are going to get beaten, take that lil' bit, because even though it sounds like a lot, it is really just a lil' bit of money, forget about school, forget about Kansas City and ---"

"... and what, Sandie? What?" I was bristly on my end of the couch. I was upset, but I still didn't know where she was going with this. "Simmer down," I told myself. Find out where she is going first. THEN come back.

Five years of unacknowledged love, five years of being behind the 'in case of emergency' glass, yet unbroken, it had come down to this. May not have been the right time, but the right time rarely comes. It WAS now, now for me to find out how much she wanted me.