Salt and Pepper

This post is really special to me.  I have been wanting to do this for many, many years!  I have a very good friend out there in the world that I haven’t seen in a very long time, since 8th grade in fact, and I want to let him know that I never stopped thinking about him and I pray for him to this day.

Many of you know that when I was a kid my family moved from Littleton, Colorado to St. Charles, IL (which is about 35 miles west of Chicago).  That is when we moved into the haunted house.  I’m not going into that here this time, but if you want to read about that it is in my book “One Man’s Very Strange Supernatural Life” on Amazon.  Believe me, you want to know about what I talk about in my book.  Strange and supernatural indeed!

The move was extremely hard on me.  I left all my friends and everything I knew and I became deeply depressed.  I was the new kid at a new school and I hated every second of it.

Some kids at the school were nice to me, but some were not.  The first week of school I had a dentist appointment, so I arrived at school late one morning.  I gave the office the note from my Mom and they gave me a hall pass to get to class.  The halls were empty as classes were in session.

As I walked up the stairs to my classroom, another student came around the corner just before I got to the top.  I said hi to him, and with no warning at all, he just attacked me!  He grabbed me by my throat with both of his hands and started choking me as he pushed his thumbs into my larynx!  I was in complete shock!   I wasn’t that kind of kid at all.  I wasn’t a fighter.  I was a calm peaceful kid and I grew up having a lot of friends in Colorado.

The kid who was choking me was bigger and taller than me and he had me good.  I could not loosen his grip and I did not know much self defense training at the time (I do now though, I use a mix of street and Israeli Krav Maga,very effective).  I was only 13, I hadn’t hit my 6’1″ height yet, and I was a skinny kid.

I remember feeling light headed as he choked me.  I remember the anger on his face and in his eyes as he pushed  into my throat.  I had never even met him before, and it was only my first week at my new school!

I was looking at him as my breath left me, and right as I was feeling lightheaded and about to pass out (or die) I saw a big black fist smack right into my attackers face from his left!  Immediately the kid released his grip and I took a huge deep breath of air!

What I witnessed after that is the most brutal and beautiful rescue I have ever seen, and I was the one being rescued!  My attacker fell to the ground as my hero continued to beat my attacker with his fists and feet until he was a bloody pulp laying at the top of the stairs.  As my hero beat my attacker’s face with his fist, he stopped for a moment, turned to look at me and said, “You want some of this?!” as he invited me to join in the beat down.

I was still trying to catch my breath and I was bent over with my hands on my knees.  I couldn’t speak, so I just waved at him and shook my head no.  He saw how hurt I was, and that made him beat my attacker even worse.  Blood was everywhere, I was in total shock, welcome to your new school Ryan!  It was the most violent and chaotic event of my life up to that point.

After my hero was done beating him, he stood up and kicked my attacker in the head for one last good measure, then he yelled at him, “Don’t you ever mess with him again, he’s my boy!”  After that, my attacker got up with a face and shirt full of blood and ran down the stairs!  Not one teacher came out into the hall to see what was going on!  I never saw the guy who choked me again.  I don’t know if he quit school or was kicked out or what, but I never saw him again.  Praise God!

After he ran away, my hero came over to me, put his arm around me, asked me if I was okay, and then he said, “Don’t worry about him.  You’re my boy and you can hang out with me!”  I will never ever forget that, ever!  That big black fist landing on my attacker’s face was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.  It was like slow motion as his fist made contact with the side of his face, and all at once I could breathe again.

My hero’s name is Damien, and brother, if you are out there and you happen to read this someday I just want you to know I love you brother!  THANK YOU FOR SAVING ME!  You are a hero to me and I will always remember you that way!  You didn’t know me at all, but you rescued me and called me your friend!  You introduced me to your homies and I felt loved and welcomed!  You are the man bro!  Seriously, you are the man!  You were a strong man back then when we were just kids, and I would love to see you now!  I bet you are a cop or firefighter or something!  You are a hero and I love you, that is all I know brother!  I bet you have kids too, and I know our kids would love playing together!  Our wives would like each other too!  My prayers and heart are still with you brother!

Damien and I were best friends after that, and I didn’t have any more trouble with anybody.  Before we moved into the haunted house, we lived in a small apartment for about a month.  That ended up being really cool because I found out Damien lived in the apartment complex across the street, so we hung out at school and home.

We were together all the time.  We loved listening to rap and hip hop together.  That is back when Cube, Dre, and Snoop were young and poppin’ back in the early 90s!  Man that music was off the chain back then!  Damien and I were always vibin’ to that!

We hung out together so much that the other kids in school started calling us “Salt and Pepper.”  Damien was taller than me with a tall high top fade for a hair style (Like Kid from Kid n’ Play).  I was the skinny white kid with blonde hair and blue eyes.  Guess who was Salt?  It’s okay to laugh.  Damien and I thought racism was about the stupidest thing on earth!  We rolled together tight like two peas in a pod.  We were homies, best friends, and I knew he had my back!  You don’t want to catch a beat down from my hero!

I hate racism.  With all my heart I hate it!  That big black fist was the most beautiful thing I had seen since we moved!  I was heartbroken and lost from the move.  I was lonely and hurting.  Do you think I cared at all what his skin color was when he was saving me?  Nope!  That was the most beautiful skin I had ever seen!  He was like a big beautiful black angel of power and love!  Man, my attacker received the rod of the Lord through Damien!  Straight up 100% street style beat down!  Man there was a lot of blood!

I hope I can find Damien someday.  I just want to give him a big hug and then chill and talk for hours and hours while listening to some sweet beats bumpin’!  We are still best friends, forever brother!

I lost touch with Damien because his family had to move back to the south side of Chicago before we started High School.  The last time I talked with him, he said the schools had metal detectors and it was very violent every day.  I hope you made it through brother!  I know you were tough enough to survive it, that’s for sure!  The south side is no joke folks!

If you know a guy named Damien from Chicago, and you think this story might have been about him, please contact me!  I pray I find him!

God bless you all, and remember those divisions of the flesh are caused by the evil one.  We are all made in God’s image, and no matter where you live in this world or what color you are, you are my brother or sister!  Squash all that racism nonsense!  Squash it for good!  There is none of that in Heaven!

I love you Damien!  You will always be my brother!

Peace!

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

Jesus speaking in John 15:12-13