章 2: Taste Of Power

"Shifu?"

He dropped the pole to his side and hid it behind his leg when he saw who it was, Mr Huang from down the hall. The man had a quart bottle of Rheingold in his hand, and Shifu could tell this wasn't his first quart of beer tonight. Mr Huang was a drunk, and he beat his kids, too.

"Your mother know you're out this late."

Shifu shrugged.

"She don't care."

She had fallen asleep listening to the radio, same as every other night.

"You better get in. It's late."

Mr Huang took a swig from his quart and moved on.

Shifu chewed his fingernails as he glared at the man. The bastard didn't give a shit about his own kids, and here he was making believe he cared about someone else's kid. Listen to him: "It's late." Goddamn hypocrite.

But Shifu wondered how late it really was. He didn't own a watch, not one that worked. Suddenly he remembered his confirmation day, three years ago, and that burning humilation attacked him again. It blinded him with rage whenever he thought about it.

Jing Ke had worn a new blue suit, white shirt, silver tie, and the lily white satin armband on his bicep. He looked more like a young hoodlum than a kid going to his confirmation. He must've stolen the damn clothes because he was as poor as everyone else in the projects. But there he was that day, cockier than ever, strutting down the church steps after the ceremony, a new soldier in the army of Christ. More bullshit and hypocrisy from the nuns. Why would God want an asshole like him in his army.

Why would they even allow someone like Jing Ke to be confirmed?

Why?

Because he had a nice suit? Bunch of goddamn hypocrites, all of them.

Shifu had been confirmed that day, too, but he wore the same baggy clothes he wore every day: the brown pants, a worn striped shirt, and his navy blue wool peacoat. It was April, but he had to wear his winter coat because it was all that he had, and his mother had insisted on it. He remembered working the armband up the sleeve of his coat, hoping the elastic wouldn't snap, wishing his mother had put it on for him. But she had to work that day; she had work on Sundays. His little brother and sister stayed with one of the neighbors.

Shifu had gone to church by himself that day, and he did what the nuns told him to do, kneeling at the altar with the others as the priest came down the line, mumbling in Latin, dipping his thumb in holy oil and anointing each forehead, tapping each cheek with the blow of humility before he moved on to the next inductee. Shifu floated through the whole event, feeling blank and empty, and after it was over and the other kids ran to their waiting families, he just started for home, intending to fix himself a sandwich for lunch if there was anything to eat in the icebox.

But as he came down the steps, he spotted Jing Ke with his family. They were making a big fuss over him. Jing Ke was smiling, holding up his wrist for everyone to see. Shifu could hear Jing Ke's mother cackling, "Say thank you to your Uncle Zhu, Jing Ke. Say thank you." Jing Ke had a new watch. It was gold with a gold stretch band. Jing Ke always bragged that he had a rich uncle who gave him things. Until Shifu saw that watch, he had never believed it. His mother hadn't even bothered to tell his Uncle Guang that he was getting confirmed.

As he pushed his way through the crowd, he noticed other kids holding up their wrists, showing off new watches. Even the girls had watches, those tiny little watches so small you could barely read the time. Everybody had gotten a new watch except him.

The next day after school he went to the corner candy store, determined to buy himself something for his confirmation. He'd seen wristwatches there, pinned to a sheet of cardboard hanging over the cash register. He had almost a dollar in change. The watches cost seventy-nine cents each, and his heart raced as he counted out the coins on the counter. The man took down the cardboard and let him pick the one he wanted, even though the watches were all the same. He picked one, and the man wound it for him, set the time, and said, ''Good luck, kiddo." Shifu strapped it to his wrist and admired it.

The next morning when Shifu woke up, he noticed that the watch had stopped. He tried to rewind it, but the stem came out in his hand. He went back to the candy store, but the man refused to take it back.

Shifu wore it anyway, just so he wouldn't be the only one without a new watch. But in his daydreams he dreaded the moment when Jing Ke would notice that his watch did not have the right time and the stem was missing, that the cheap band was cracking and left brown stains on his skin. He could hear what Jing Ke would say, how he would say it, how it would probably lead to another beating if his gang were around. Shifu's heart was thumping, his jaws clenched in fear and anger just thinking about it.

Jing Ke and his gang had been bothering him for years. But that was going to stop. He was going to show them that he couldn't be pushed around anymore. Not anymore.

Shifu stared hard into the dark shadows across the courtyard. He was staring at the corner of his building, the corner where Jing Ke would be coming from. Lately Jing Ke had been coming out here every night to call up to his gang members and taunt them into coming down so they could smoke and joke and yell up to the girls they knew and say dirty things about them. Sometimes Jing Ke would call up to him. "Hey, Bones, you sleeping up there? Or you just making believe so your mother won't know you're jerking off?"

Every night this went on. But it was going to stop.

Suddenly he saw something in the shadows. He squinted to see better. A glowing orange pinpoint was rounding the corner of the building, coming this way. It was a burning cigarette. Shifu clung to the wall, the pole tight in his fist, close to his leg. His eyes were wide, and he wasn't breathing. His pulse was racing. He didn't have the urge to run this time. He wanted to get this over with. He wanted to show Jing Ke. He wanted to hurt him and teach him a lesson once and for all.

The face behind the orange glow emerged from the dark. The small dark eyes, the wise-ass smirk. It was him. Cigarette smoke trailed off behind Jing Ke as he stepped closer, surprised to see Shifu out there, but also pleased to see him, pleased to have his favourite target right there out in the dark courtyard, alone.

Jing Ke stopped a few feet away from Shifu, took a long drag off his cigarette, and just stared at him for a moment. '*What the hell you doing out here, Bones? You looking for trouble or what?" He coughed up a laugh.

Shifu didn't answer. He couldn't.

"Hey, I'm talking to you, Bones. I asked you what you think you're doing out here."

That vicious bark of his made Shifu blink. It always did.

"Answer me, Bones, or I'll kick your fuckin' teeth in." Jing Ke stepped closer, and automatically Shifu raised the pole.

Jing Ke backed off but then laughed at him. "What the fuck you gonna do with that?"

Shifu was mute, both hands wrapped around the heavy pole.

"What, playing baseball out here, Bones?"

Jing Ke reached for the pole to take it away from him, but Shifu pulled it back out of his reach.

Jing Ke's face turned mean. "Gimme that." He lunged for the pole.

Shifu swung on impulse.

Bam!

It caught Jing Ke right on the cheek, not hard, but it did hit him. It shocked Shifu more than it did Jing Ke. Shifu wanted to run, but he couldn't move his legs. In his heart he didn't want to run. He wanted to go through with this. He wanted to show Jing Ke that no one could mess with him anymore.

Jing Ke glowered at him, his hand on his cheek. "You son of a bitch," he whispered. "You little son of a bitch," he repeated as he went for the pole again.

But this time Shifu swung hard. Jing Ke raised his hand to block it and took the full impact on his forearm. The boy yelped and cursed, holding his aching arm and curling into himself.

Shifu stepped forward and hit him again, this time over the head.

"Hey! Stop!"

Bam! Bam!

Shifu hit him again, harder. Jing Ke yelled louder. Jing Ke was pleading with him to stop. Shifu hit him again, raising the heavy pole over his head and swinging it down onto his tormentor's back as if he were trying to ring the gong at a carnival. Shifu wanted him to shut up. The rest of Jing Ke's gang would hear him, and they'd come down to help him. Shifu kept hitting him. He wanted Jing Ke to be quiet.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

"Shut up," he grunted through clenched teeth.

But Jing Ke didn't shut up. He was screaming like a girl now, and Shifu bashed him again and again, swinging as hard as he could with each blow. Jing Ke finally quieted down, and Shifu felt something he'd never felt in his entire life: Power.

Crunch!

He gained strength with each new blow as he saw Jing Ke fall down on his knees, getting weaker and more helpless. The rush of total control flew through his veins like a drug. It felt good. It felt great.

Bam!

He kept swinging, pounding Jing Ke sideways now, hammering his head the way baseball players hammered home runs. He couldn't stop. He had to hurt Jing Ke. He had to show him. He was Liu Shifu, and no one messed with Liu Shifu. No one. No one.