Post by BRADDOCK on Aug 22, 2023 14:32:37 GMT -5
Summer of two thousand and one.
He was almost eight years old but he and his foster brother, Tyler (who is a year older than him), were running the streets of Riverside for the past year or so now. Their “parents" worked a lot and, when not working, were often times loaded in a bar. They didn’t just “fall through the cracks,” these two were forgotten by the overworked system. On this summer day, they are breaking in to cars and taking anything “cool" they can find (as well as any and all money, cigarettes, and lighters.) Tyler has a pocket full of change he liberated from several cars already while his brother picked up a switchblade from under the seat of a battered Iroc Z.
”I have, like, ten dollars in quarters here….let’s go to the arcade! I read online some cheats for Tekken Tag and I want to kick that Jerry kid's ass. Tired of him beating me…”
”Cool! I found a knife in that Camaro.”
”Lucky asshole.” he says, punching his brother in the shoulder. It takes them about fifteen minutes to walk to the mall where their arcade destination awaits. As they cross the threshold from the tiled, food court floor onto the carpeted floor of “Tilt,” a cacophony of sound assaults their ears. Bells ring, explosions rumble, machine guns fire, and skeeballs roll up their lane. Two kids are already playing Tekken Tag and a line of three more kids are waiting to challenge the victor.
”Hey, Nestor, Tyler; haven’t seen you two in awhile!” says a kid about their age wearing a Power Rangers t-shirt.
Nestor is Braddock’s birth name. He took on the moniker of “Braddock,” at the age of ten, after the name of the main character of one of his favorite movies. Chuck Norris played a Vietnam P.O.W. in the eighties action flick “Missing in Action 2” and his last name was Braddock.
Chuck wasn’t a muscle bound hulk like Stallone, Schwarzenegger, or Van Dam. He looked like most of the adult men he has seen growing up as opposed to a “movie star.” And while Tyler liked Bruce Lee, there was something about Chuck that caught Nestor's eye (Chuck Norris looks a lot like his father but he was too young to remember that.)
”Either of you guys want to play Time Crisis with me?” the kid asks, hopeful.
”Naw, man, I got a date with Tekken Tag! I’m gonna pick Ogre and King; I read some tips online and I’m so gonna kick some ass!” Tyler was better than his brother at Tekken Tag but, at home on their Playstation 2, his brother wad untouchable at Madden. Having “parents” who were never around allowed them to “acquire” items like the video game console without many questions. On the other side of that coin, food was scarce and nobody, truly, cared for either of the boys.
Braddock pushed his glasses (almost identical to Cory Feldmen's glasses in ‘Stand by Me.’) back up onto the bridge of his nose with his right index finger before they were knocked off his face due to a hard shove from behind. Tyler instantly was on the defense, getting between his brother and the older, barely teenage boy who shoved him. Braddock puck up his glasses, folded the arms down, and set them on the nearby top of a sit down Ms. Paxman game.
The nearby kids start to gather around, anxious to see a fight, and as the older boy opens his mouth to speak, the foster brothers attack at the same time. At the time, Braddock was just under five feet tall and barely weighed one hundred pounds while Tyler was a couple inches taller, they weighed the same amount. Tyler feigned a punch to the face and, instead, kicked the boy in the nuts. He howled in pain, grabbed a this injured testicle with both hands, and dropped to his knees. Braddock used this opportunity to kick his tormentor in the face. The boys nose sounded like an ear of corn being broken in half and blood geysered out from his nostrils. The front of his shirt was soaked in blood and a pool was beginning to form on the floor, in front of his knees, where he kneeled on the carpet.
The brothers scrambled out of the arcade almost leaving his glasses behind. They weaved between customers standing in line at various restaurants in the food court before cutting down a hallway leading to the rest rooms. The hallway ends several feet past the men’s room door in a set of black double doors (the kind with the pushbar about three and a half feet off the ground.) A large, rectangular, red sign hands on both doors and both read the same thing; “Fire Exit Only Alarm Will Sound!” Indeed, a bell begins screaming as soon as they crash through the two doors and out into the sun.
Nobody pays the duo any attention as they race through the parking lot. They run for blocks before both collapse into the brown grass of a strangers lawn, and Braddock vomits up the candy he recently ate. He and Tyler exchange a glance before they help each other back onto their feet. They get their bearings and begin their trek home. Fortunately, they are less than a mile walk to get there. It’s on this walk that they walked past a park where a small Wrestling company was putting on a show. A muscle bound brute, with almost as much body hair as muscles, manhandled a skinny, younger looking man. The brute got in all the offense before ending the match with a vicious Lariat that turned his opponent inside out.
The impact of that clothesline had quite an impact on young Braddock as well. While his brother thought the younger man would kick out, it wasn’t in the cards for him that night. The brute ground his forearm into the cheek and eye of his opponent while the refs hand slapped the mat three times. Tyler shook his head in disgust while Braddock rushed over to try and get a high five from the hairy brute. He walked past the fan’s outstretched hands and even spit at some but he made eye contact with Braddock before continuing backstage.
”I thought for sure that guy woulda kicked out!” Tyler complained.
”Naw, man, that almost took that dudes head off! Look at that guy…he’s still all loopy and shit!” Braddock said, pointing to the man who lost as he stumbled to the back, really selling the Lariat.
Today…
Tyler enters Braddock’s home carrying a small plastic bag that obviously came in the mail. He enters the living room where his brother is taking a hit from a two foot glass bong. He smiles when he sees his brother and exhales the hit out through the gap of his missing teeth.
”What's up, brotha?” he asks, noticing the package in Tyler’s hand.
”The postman gave me this for you. I saved him the trip. What the fuck did you buy from Mexico?” Tyler asks while tossing the bag to Braddock.
“It’s my mask!” he exclaims, ripping the bag open like a toddler chimp. He pulls out the mask and tugs it on into place on his head and over his face. It’s and all black mask with a red “Chaos" symbol on the face. ”I ordered it from a mask maker in Mexico for my upcoming match in Sin City Wrestling. When in Mexico City….ya know?” he says with all the confidence of someone who doesn’t know they are wrong. His brother laughs at him while shaking his head.
”It’s ‘When in Rome,’ dumbass.” he says while opening a bottle of Dos Equis.
”You know what I meant, right?” he retorts. Tyler nods in the affirmative as he gulps down a couple swallows of beer. ”S.W.F.’s camera crew will be here in a few days to shoot a quick interview with me about my upcoming match; you gonna be here for it?”
He shrugs. ”Sure, why not? Just chicken off camera?” he sounds hopeful and when his brother nodded he beamed. ”Yesssss" he indeed drew out the “s" sound. Braddock takes another rip from his bong before handing it over to Tyler. ”Proud of ya, bro.” he said with sincerity.
”Go fuck yourself!” Ahh, brotherly love….
He was almost eight years old but he and his foster brother, Tyler (who is a year older than him), were running the streets of Riverside for the past year or so now. Their “parents" worked a lot and, when not working, were often times loaded in a bar. They didn’t just “fall through the cracks,” these two were forgotten by the overworked system. On this summer day, they are breaking in to cars and taking anything “cool" they can find (as well as any and all money, cigarettes, and lighters.) Tyler has a pocket full of change he liberated from several cars already while his brother picked up a switchblade from under the seat of a battered Iroc Z.
”I have, like, ten dollars in quarters here….let’s go to the arcade! I read online some cheats for Tekken Tag and I want to kick that Jerry kid's ass. Tired of him beating me…”
”Cool! I found a knife in that Camaro.”
”Lucky asshole.” he says, punching his brother in the shoulder. It takes them about fifteen minutes to walk to the mall where their arcade destination awaits. As they cross the threshold from the tiled, food court floor onto the carpeted floor of “Tilt,” a cacophony of sound assaults their ears. Bells ring, explosions rumble, machine guns fire, and skeeballs roll up their lane. Two kids are already playing Tekken Tag and a line of three more kids are waiting to challenge the victor.
”Hey, Nestor, Tyler; haven’t seen you two in awhile!” says a kid about their age wearing a Power Rangers t-shirt.
Nestor is Braddock’s birth name. He took on the moniker of “Braddock,” at the age of ten, after the name of the main character of one of his favorite movies. Chuck Norris played a Vietnam P.O.W. in the eighties action flick “Missing in Action 2” and his last name was Braddock.
Chuck wasn’t a muscle bound hulk like Stallone, Schwarzenegger, or Van Dam. He looked like most of the adult men he has seen growing up as opposed to a “movie star.” And while Tyler liked Bruce Lee, there was something about Chuck that caught Nestor's eye (Chuck Norris looks a lot like his father but he was too young to remember that.)
”Either of you guys want to play Time Crisis with me?” the kid asks, hopeful.
”Naw, man, I got a date with Tekken Tag! I’m gonna pick Ogre and King; I read some tips online and I’m so gonna kick some ass!” Tyler was better than his brother at Tekken Tag but, at home on their Playstation 2, his brother wad untouchable at Madden. Having “parents” who were never around allowed them to “acquire” items like the video game console without many questions. On the other side of that coin, food was scarce and nobody, truly, cared for either of the boys.
Braddock pushed his glasses (almost identical to Cory Feldmen's glasses in ‘Stand by Me.’) back up onto the bridge of his nose with his right index finger before they were knocked off his face due to a hard shove from behind. Tyler instantly was on the defense, getting between his brother and the older, barely teenage boy who shoved him. Braddock puck up his glasses, folded the arms down, and set them on the nearby top of a sit down Ms. Paxman game.
The nearby kids start to gather around, anxious to see a fight, and as the older boy opens his mouth to speak, the foster brothers attack at the same time. At the time, Braddock was just under five feet tall and barely weighed one hundred pounds while Tyler was a couple inches taller, they weighed the same amount. Tyler feigned a punch to the face and, instead, kicked the boy in the nuts. He howled in pain, grabbed a this injured testicle with both hands, and dropped to his knees. Braddock used this opportunity to kick his tormentor in the face. The boys nose sounded like an ear of corn being broken in half and blood geysered out from his nostrils. The front of his shirt was soaked in blood and a pool was beginning to form on the floor, in front of his knees, where he kneeled on the carpet.
The brothers scrambled out of the arcade almost leaving his glasses behind. They weaved between customers standing in line at various restaurants in the food court before cutting down a hallway leading to the rest rooms. The hallway ends several feet past the men’s room door in a set of black double doors (the kind with the pushbar about three and a half feet off the ground.) A large, rectangular, red sign hands on both doors and both read the same thing; “Fire Exit Only Alarm Will Sound!” Indeed, a bell begins screaming as soon as they crash through the two doors and out into the sun.
Nobody pays the duo any attention as they race through the parking lot. They run for blocks before both collapse into the brown grass of a strangers lawn, and Braddock vomits up the candy he recently ate. He and Tyler exchange a glance before they help each other back onto their feet. They get their bearings and begin their trek home. Fortunately, they are less than a mile walk to get there. It’s on this walk that they walked past a park where a small Wrestling company was putting on a show. A muscle bound brute, with almost as much body hair as muscles, manhandled a skinny, younger looking man. The brute got in all the offense before ending the match with a vicious Lariat that turned his opponent inside out.
The impact of that clothesline had quite an impact on young Braddock as well. While his brother thought the younger man would kick out, it wasn’t in the cards for him that night. The brute ground his forearm into the cheek and eye of his opponent while the refs hand slapped the mat three times. Tyler shook his head in disgust while Braddock rushed over to try and get a high five from the hairy brute. He walked past the fan’s outstretched hands and even spit at some but he made eye contact with Braddock before continuing backstage.
”I thought for sure that guy woulda kicked out!” Tyler complained.
”Naw, man, that almost took that dudes head off! Look at that guy…he’s still all loopy and shit!” Braddock said, pointing to the man who lost as he stumbled to the back, really selling the Lariat.
Today…
Tyler enters Braddock’s home carrying a small plastic bag that obviously came in the mail. He enters the living room where his brother is taking a hit from a two foot glass bong. He smiles when he sees his brother and exhales the hit out through the gap of his missing teeth.
”What's up, brotha?” he asks, noticing the package in Tyler’s hand.
”The postman gave me this for you. I saved him the trip. What the fuck did you buy from Mexico?” Tyler asks while tossing the bag to Braddock.
“It’s my mask!” he exclaims, ripping the bag open like a toddler chimp. He pulls out the mask and tugs it on into place on his head and over his face. It’s and all black mask with a red “Chaos" symbol on the face. ”I ordered it from a mask maker in Mexico for my upcoming match in Sin City Wrestling. When in Mexico City….ya know?” he says with all the confidence of someone who doesn’t know they are wrong. His brother laughs at him while shaking his head.
”It’s ‘When in Rome,’ dumbass.” he says while opening a bottle of Dos Equis.
”You know what I meant, right?” he retorts. Tyler nods in the affirmative as he gulps down a couple swallows of beer. ”S.W.F.’s camera crew will be here in a few days to shoot a quick interview with me about my upcoming match; you gonna be here for it?”
He shrugs. ”Sure, why not? Just chicken off camera?” he sounds hopeful and when his brother nodded he beamed. ”Yesssss" he indeed drew out the “s" sound. Braddock takes another rip from his bong before handing it over to Tyler. ”Proud of ya, bro.” he said with sincerity.
”Go fuck yourself!” Ahh, brotherly love….