Silver Lining

            It was about a year after the playstation 2 came out when I went and bought one from Sears. It had come up to about $450 for the console, the second controller, and the new John Madden game. I have never really been into video games; I think they are a waste of time and money. However, my friends and I really wanted to try out this particular game, and I had a plan to do it for free. I had just recently gotten a Sears store credit card with a $500 limit on it. The store had a policy that if the game console was returned within 30 days, I would get the money refunded onto my card. So I figured I had nothing to lose by purchasing it, using it for a few weeks, and returning it. Sure, it was a sneaky little way to try out the system, but I was only 18. My friends and I used to do tricky things like that all the time back then, and I’m sure we weren’t the only ones.

            Anyways, the very first night I had gotten it, the play station was stolen from my apartment. That night I had a bunch of “friends” over for a party, and in the morning it had vanished. I had explored every avenue rather frantically to try to recover the game, but to no avail. The fact that I had just got it that same day, and now I would be responsible for almost $500, had naturally pissed off. Plus, if you know anything about store credit cards, they rape you with interest rates when you don’t pay them off in full within 30 days.

            Earlier the next day, I had taken the receipt with the serial number to several pawn shops to see if it had been sold. They said my only hope was to file a report at the police station for stolen property. I knew that it would be a lost cause, but the pawn shop recommended it. They told me that I needed to have a police report in order for them to do anything if the item were to come in.

            So, that night I asked my friend Gabe to come with me to the police station to file the report. It was right when we were about to walk into the police station when we heard a loud commotion going on directly across the street. A man had a woman pinned against the wall of a building and was screaming at her. Another woman was standing next to them pleading that he let her go. But the next thing we seen was the man hitting the woman several times in the face. We could see him swinging and hear the smacking sounds of hands on flesh. She had curled up into a squatting position with the man still over top of her. He was still yelling at her and pulling her hair. Both of the women were screaming frantically for help. 

            Gabe and I quickly ran across the street to the man and confronted him; “Hey, what the fuck are you doing, man”?

            The guy was decent size, probably in his mid 30’s. He turned his attention to us and puffed up all turkey-chested trying to intimidate us. But Gabe immediately grabbed the man by his arm, went chest-to-chest with him and said; “Why are you hitting a woman? DO YOU WANT ME TO HIT YOU”!?!?!?

           Gabe had screamed it very angrily and aggressively right in his face, I thought for sure that Gabe was about to hit him. Meanwhile, the one lady helped the victim up and they quickly ran off together.

            With Gabe in his face, the man had clearly gotten nervous. But he still told us to “mind our own business”, and “we don’t know what the fuck was going on”. He was still acting like he was a real tough guy, even though Gabe was in his face, and even though he was just beating up a woman. He told Gabe to “get the fuck out of his face”. I don’t know what this guy’s problem was; he didn’t smell like alcohol so maybe he was on drugs? I can’t believe Gabe didn’t hit this guy, he certainly deserved it. Gabe told him that he is lucky the police department is directly across the street or else we would kick his ass. I remember calling him a “fucking punk bitch for hitting a woman”. But he had still responded with some type of smart comment.

            Once the women were long gone, we left the man alone and went out separate ways. While we were walking away our blood was still racing. We were still enraged at that guy for what he had done, and the fact that he was giving us shit for breaking up the scuffle. Once we were about 100 yards away from the man, Gabe said; “Dude, I was gonna fucking nail that guy.”

I said; “yea I know. We probably shoulda busted his ass, huh”?

It was at that exact moment that Gabe stopped walking and looked at me with a sinister grin. I knew exactly what he was thinking, and I said; “Ya wanna”?

            It was those two small words that changed the ending of this story. Gabe had immediately turned around and started jogging in the direction the man had gone. I was right behind him as we scoured the area to see exactly where he had went. Once we rounded the corner and seen him walking through a vacant parking lot, I realized that this guy was about to get exactly what he deserved.

            I was about 5 feet behind Gabe as we approached the man, he had no idea that we were coming. As we closed in on him, Gabe began winding up for a super punch. Finally, he did a little crow hop, and with all his momentum and bent up anger, Gabe threw a meat hook that would have knocked this guy straight into outer space. I say the words “would have”, because just as Gabe was throwing this haymaker the man must have heard him coming. He must have heard something because at the last possible nanosecond, the man kind of turned and crouched in fear. Gabe had completely whiffed with his knock out swing, and when his momentum collided with the man, Gabe did a complete somersault over him and onto his back.

            The guy tried to get on top of Gabe but I hit him with some type of flying knee that knocked him down. Gabe got up just before the man did and grabbed him in an under hook type of headlock while they were both standing. While Gabe had him in this position, I punched him 5 or 6 times as hard as I possibly could in his kidney area on one side. Gabe gave him a jumping knee to the head and then flung him spinning across the concrete.

             Miraculously, the man had gotten right back up. And perhaps even more miraculously, he was still running his mouth. Gabe went after him again and the man took off running in fear. Gabe chased him for just a moment and then let him go. And so, that was how the fight had ended.

            I believe that men who beat up women are amongst the lowest of criminals. I believe that the guy deserved a lot worse that what he got. Violence never does solve anything, but a little poetic justice certainly didn’t cause me to lose any sleep that night.

            Gabe and I went back to the police station and I filed my meaningless report for stolen property. Needless to say, we didn’t mention the scuffle outside to the officers. And also needless to say, my stolen playstation 2 was never recovered.

            As the months passed, Sears continued to send me statements accruing interest that finally surpassed $1,000 before it was sent to collections. In fact, it still remains on my credit report to this day. I never found out who was responsible for stealing the playstation either.

            But looking at the situation from a larger perspective, if it had never gotten stolen, who knows how badly that woman would have been beaten that? Certainly Gabe and I would not have been where we were to rescue her if it hadn’t been stolen. And in the end, I am willing to bet that “god” will judge me more for my good actions rather than my credit score.