My girlfriend Tameka and I were out in front of her dorm talking. It was late already so I was about to head back to my dorm so I wouldn't miss curfew when I noticed that there was about 10 to 15 guys who I immediately recognized as members of a posse on Gary called D.O.G.'s (Dogs on Gary) and from their stance (they had this half-kneeling thing they did when about to get into a fight), I knew something was about to go down. They were out in front of the men's dorm next to Tameka's calling out 'one' person who was from Louisiana (The Boot) to a fight. The problem came in that the dorm they were in front of was dominated by men from Houston, which made it a House dorm. So upon learning that something was going on outside a few of the men came out to tell the D.O.G's to get away from their dorm with that nonsense (they were already on probation for being involved in a riot only weeks before. If the D.O.G.'s wanted the guy from the Boot they should catch him away from the dorm. Relations between the House and the Boot were never all that great. But the House wasn't about to let anything happen to someone when the numbers weren't fair. That's one thing I can say about the House's rule: They (we) never tried to run tyrant, and always tried to make sure everyone got a fair shake when something was about to go down…Sounds odd I know, but that was the scheme they had set up over the years.
Slowly more and more guys started to come out of the dorm until the whole sidewalk from one end of the dorm to the other was filled with men. Big O (the largest man I had ever seen) spoke for everyone, telling the D.O.G.'s that they needed to leave, that they were already on probation and if they started some shit it was going to be some and more…The D.O.G.'s still refused to leave, so the House took steps towards them. Seeing that they were by far outnumbered the D.O.G's started to retreat. But by then there wasn't any turning back for the larger group. The D.O.G.'s took off to their dorm to get backup, and when the two groups met again it was about even and it 'was' some shit. It started out with a single one-on-one fight. Someone started speaking on that one and another one broke out, another one, then another, and yet another still until there was fighting everywhere. Security showed up, but they weren't about to do anything to stop it. They just parked on the sides and took pictures. They even had a helicopter out there to take pictures. Anyone caught in the pictures got kicked out if their faces could be made out when security had a chance to examine them. My favorite way to hide my face was with my caps. I kept them pulled down low on my eyes at all times.
At the end of all the fighting, it was learned that the D.O.G.'s wanted to fight that guy from the Boot because he had been spending time with one of their girlfriends. My rule of law: I didn't mind fighting for a woman, but never 'over' her. She'll go with who she wants to in the end either way…
Don't get me wrong, every day wasn't some type of adventure. A lot of times there just wasn't much of anything at all to do. I enjoyed going to the weight rooms a lot; that was something that I did real often as soon as class was over for the day. After that, I'd play basketball until it got dark, and then go to the dorm and listen to my music. That was a strong love of mine…Music such as NWA, Ice Cube, King Tee, Too Short, The Geto Boys, Willie D, Scarface, Too Live Crew, Eric B and Rakim, just to name a few of rap tunes that was out back in those days. But it wasn't just about rap. Babyface, After 7, Surface, Keith Sweat, RFTW, Al B Sure, GUY and Troop, just to name a few of the slow songs that was jumping back in those days. Life was carefree, and I was interested in living life and having fun. I got my first tattoo while in Job Corps. I got my second ear piercing while there. At times when I had nothing better to do I worked on trying to learn how to do wood burning and other art crafts while there. We played pool, and at times would get up a good football game too…These were some hard hitting games, but nothing like my days in Third Ward. And then of course there was the chase. Chasing girls that is…
I started hitting the tracks. It's a term used at Gary for leaving campus unauthorized involving running through the corn fields, cow pastures, a golf course, and then some train tracks. This involved crossing a huge bridge called Big Bertha. And then some more careful walking and running as the local cops were known to hide out in the bushes trying to catch students from Job Corps going back as this was the route to run bootleg liquor (back then the term was running bottles). I never got into running bottles, it wasn't my hustle. I tended to run the books (a store type of system what paid two for one of any item). Mostly my only reason for hitting the tracks was that I was looking for some action to get into. A party in town at the Motel 6, or to head up to the College looking to party with those students. There was always the chase to think about.
I recall once when I was at the dorm and I got a call from this one girl wanting me to come into town to meet her. I got a few friends together as it wasn't a good idea to hit the tracks alone, and we left. Once we got to town, we got some drinks and took them to an overpass to drink as we were underage. I stayed with them for a while, but mostly my mind was on getting to the Motel. So I took off, and when I made it there she had a few friends over and it didn't look like they planned to leave anytime soon. So I left and met back with my friends under the overpass. My friend kept telling me that I needed to slow down. But I was intent on drinking as much as I could. And they had some of everything: gin, E&J, Boone's Farm, MD 20/20, Crown Royal, Olde English beer and Budweiser. I wanted to show that I could drink heavy and hold my liquor. I knew my limits, so I thought I was okay. The thing was that I had never drank so much and then had to walk so far. And walk is what we had to do as we headed back to Gary.
On the tracks we met up with some more people we knew who had set up a little campsite and still had a whole case of beer left. We stopped and got a few beers from them and was off again. I was walking a little faster than the rest of the group and ended up making it to Big Bertha way ahead of them. So once I got to the other side I sat down to wait. I have to admit that I was feeling pretty good, so the rest was welcomed. Once they caught up with me I again gained a lead on them. But as I gained this lead I started to chunk those big white rocks they have on the track…I don't know why, I just love chunking those rocks. I didn't have anything to throw at so I was throwing them now just to see how far I could throw. It was still light outside I guess, around six o'clock or so, so we still had time before curfew. I blanked out…
Whenever I hit the tracks I wore dark colors to help me hide while coming back on campus. I know I had on a black L.A. Raiders cap, a black tee shirt, black jeans, and some black Nike's…When I regained consciousness my cap was gone, I didn't have a tee shirt on, and one of my shoes was missing. It was about two in the morning and I was walking on train tracks that were usually very busy. I had lost around seven to eight hours. And I still wonder how it was that I wasn't hit by a train that night.
Just so happened I was close to the infirmary, so it didn't take me long at all to figure out where I was. So I jumped the barbed wire fence with my one shoe and made it to my dorm. The R.A. (residential assistant) on duty that night must have been waiting for me, because as soon as I knocked on the door he was there to open it and lead me to the office where he had a 12.88 ready for me to sign. He didn't even ask any questions, so I signed and went to bed.
The guys that were with me the night before came by around breakfast time to see if I had made it in, and seeing that I was knocked out they let me sleep, but came back around lunchtime to make sure that I didn't miss lunch. When I woke up I was in a real bad state, I had a killer hangover and a headache to go with it! And my right eye, MY RIGHT EYE! The whole left side of my eye was bloodshot red…
We went to lunch where I could barely eat, A girl I knew came by and when she saw me she knew that I was tore down so she sat there with me and fed me while my friends filled me in on what happened the night before. They hadn't known that I was moving on instincts until I walked across a busy highway without stopping to look left or right or even jogging to make it across. Somehow I made it across with no problem at all. I did the same thing to this bridge that was called 'Lil Bertha. With Big Bertha, you didn't have to worry about falling through the logs as they were placed real close together. But that wasn't the case with 'Lil Bertha at all. It would have been easy for a boy my size to fall through on a wrong step. But they told me that I walked across it with no problem until I got to the other side where I fell and rolled all the way down to the landing. I got back up, nothing was wrong with me, only when I started walking I was walking in the wrong direction. They told me they tried to guide me in the right direction, and at one point had even tried to carry me as I was starting to stumble and fall, but my dead weight was too much for them. Mike, one friend from Fort Worth that hung out with us Houston Boys, tried to stay with me and help me walk back. But he was much shorter than me so it was very difficult for him to handle me as I was totally out of it by then. So he ended up leaving me as not to miss curfew himself, which is how I ended up spending a night out on the tracks. As for how I lost my shirt and shoe, I'll never know. But they had gotten my hat as everyone knew how I felt about my caps. I kept them neat and clean at all times…
I went to the infirmary after chow to get my right eye checked on, and they told me that I had busted a blood vessel in my eye. They told me that I should be careful with it because there wasn't anything they could do but put a patch on it. From then on I never drank hard unless I was where I intended to stay for the night or unless I had a ride to get me where I was going. There is one other time I had a run in with drinking, but that's to come…
