Joe Riley and Nick

            I have met a ton of misguided kids growing up, but perhaps the craziest one of all was Joe Riley. His girlfriend lived next door to me so I would see him all the time. He was a friend of my older brother; they were both 16 when I was 13. Joe was really into smoking weed and shoplifting. These were not things that I was into by any means, but I hung around him because it was always an adventure. I never knew what kind of mischief he was going to get into on any given day, but mischief would always ensue. It never once dawned on me that I could get into a ton of trouble just for hanging out with him. I just figured that if I didn't do anything, that I couldn't get into trouble. It was just my own young naive way of thinking, but I would learn.

            Joe would only visit on the weekends because he lived and went to school in Pennsylvania. He had recently found out that his girlfriend was pregnant, but it didn't seem to bother him too much. One weekend I went with Joe and his friend Nick to the mall. We went into Foot Locker and Joe took 2 pair of $50 Michigan basketball shorts into the dressing room. A few minutes later, he came out and hung up one pair of shorts back on the rack and we walked out of the store. I couldn't believe how brazen he was. Next, we went into The Bon Ton and Joe and his friend just picked out several items of clothes and just walked right out the door with them. Once outside, we all ran and ran until we got about a mile away. All together, they had stolen about $300 worth of clothes and they were really excited about it.

            On the way home we were about to cross the railroad tracks when Nick made a bold statement to Joe. He was standing next to a Honda Civic and he said; “Hey Joe, I’ll bet you this (stolen) shirt versus your (stolen) shirt that I can punch this windshield and break it”. Joe laughed at him and said; “yea right, you’re on”. Nick wound up and threw a super punch at the windshield that produced a thunderous ‘thud’, but it didn't break. He had hit it so hard that I was really surprised that it didn't break the glass or his hand. All he did was let out a small yelp and then shook it off.

            Moments later a Middle Eastern man in his late 30’s emerged from a nearby apartment completely enraged. In broken English he said; “my car you fucking hit bitch, huh? You want hit my car you mother fuck? I hit you, huh”! His tone got more and angrier as he said it and began running towards us. Nick began running and the guy chased him up onto the train tracks screaming obscenities the whole time. The guy began picking up large stones and throwing them at Nick while he chased him. I was really scared; this guy was crazy and wanted to kill him. Luckily the guy was short and chubby so he couldn't catch Nick. But he kept hollering at him. It was quite evident that his blood was boiling; “I fucking kill you hit my car you fuck. Dumb fuck you I kill your mother”. His broken English was kind of comical looking back at it now. However, at the time I was terrified of him.

            Once he realized he couldn't catch Nick he began walking back towards his apartment. Unfortunately, the direction that Nick had run was in the opposite direction that we were headed. So Nick had to come back the same way as the guy. When the guy seen That Nick was coming back the same direction, he turned and ran towards him again. He was cursing madly and picking up stones and throwing them at him. A couple times he actually came pretty close to hitting him. But again, Nick was just too fast for the guy to get him. This same sequence of events occurred about 3 or 4 more times. The guy would begin walking home and then turn and chase throwing stones. The guy just wouldn't give up, he was too pissed off. He didn't want to call the cops; he just wanted to beat the shit out of Nick.

            Anyways, I think it was about the 5^th time that the guy was running towards Nick and this time he wasn't paying attention. It looked like Nick was tying his shoe and he didn't see him coming. Joe and I started screaming; “Nick he’s coming again watch out”! Just as the guy got about 20 feet from Nick we realized what he was doing. This time Nick came up with a handful of large stones and began throwing them back at the guy. He hit thee guy really hard with some large stones a few times, and now the crazy guy starting running away. But now Nick was tired of this guy and he became the mad one.  He kept pelting the guy while chasing after him. As he ran away from Nick he began hollering in broken English; “OK man, OK, you win then OK. You OK man alright, you OK.” Nick stopped throwing the stones and the man retreated back towards his apartment.

            I was astonished. Here was this 16 year old kid who had just won against an insane 30-something year old man. This Middle Eastern guy was scary, and he was steaming mad, and he had every right to be. I had never seen anything like this before. Obviously what Nick had done was stupid and the situation was his entire fault. But the fact that he stood his ground and got the guy to retreat, well, I was impressed at his bravery. After all that havoc they had caused that day, everybody somehow walked away unscathed.

            The next weekend when they showed up and invited me to the mall, I quickly declined. I knew that it was a bad idea hanging out with those guys. But then somehow they convinced me to go. I suppose I have always been a sucker for peer pressure. And I have never learned any lessons the easy way.

            It was almost like déjà vu when we arrived at the mall. Again, the first store we went into was Foot Locker. This time Joe took 3 Michael Jordan authentic North Carolina Jerseys, priced at $100 each, into the changing room. When he emerges he places 2 of them back on the rack and the 3 of us get ready to walk out of the store. But this time one of the store employees stops Joe and asks him; “Do you have something underneath your shirt that belongs to us”? I could feel my heart drop and my asshole clench up super tight. Joe shakes his head and looks the guy right in the eyes and says; “If I give it back right now can I please not get in trouble”?

The employee smiles and says; “sorry bud that’s not how it works”. Then he tells us to all sit down on the bench and that he has already called security. I told him I didn’t do anything and I just want to leave. But he said it doesn’t matter, none of us are going anywhere. Within moments a security guard shows up and the employee is talking to him.

            While the 3 of us are sitting on the bench next to each other Joe says; “Alright, when I say now, were all going to run right through that security guard, ok”? Nick quickly obliges but there was no way I was running, I hadn't done anything wrong.

            A few seconds later Joe says; “Now”, and he and Nick run right towards the guard. I stayed put in my seat and just watched those 2 crazy son-of-a-bitches smash into that guard and take off running. I told you at the beginning of this story that these kids were insane, and it wasn’t an understatement.

            Anyways, I was taken down to the mall-cop office a little while later and sat in a chair. A few minutes later I saw a few officers walk by with Joe in handcuffs hollering and fighting with them. The police showed up and took him to jail for processing. Apparently, Nick had somehow gotten away.

            They asked me questions for over an hour and I got tired of it. I remember them asking me if I had any tattoos. I answered sarcastically; “Just one, it’s a Harley Davidson logo that takes up my entire back. I got it last week for my birthday when I turned 13”. I guess those guys were starting to rub off on me. All I kept telling them is that I had nothing to do with any of it. I didn't steal anything; all I did was go to the mall with some friends. In the back of my mind I knew that all they could do was kick me out of the mall and call my parents. I was only 13 and I hadn't been caught doing anything wrong. I told them that I knew nothing about Nick except for his first name, which was the truth.

            A little while later my oldest brother showed up at the mall and picked me up. The mall cop told him I was a real wise ass and was going to end up in jail someday. Luckily my brother never told my parents and that was the end of it. I seen Joe a few days later, he said that he got an appearance ticket to go to court in a few weeks. If I remember correctly, Joe and his girlfriend broke up soon after when their child was an infant. Therefore, he stopped hanging out next door on the weekends and I didn’t really see him anymore.

            I learned my lesson; I never hung out with those guys again. In fact, I have no idea what ever happened to Joe Riley. Sometimes troubled youth are able to turn their lives around, but I have a feeling that this one never did. The same goes for Nick, some kids are just lunatics from an early age. Some kids are just wild from a young age. Usually it has to do with the parents, but not always. Be careful who your children are hanging out with because it’s very easy for them to get caught up in a bad crowd. Even if your child is a smart, trustworthy kid, it only takes one bad apple to influence them into doing something stupid.