Never Again: Life and Times of Ray Smalls- Chapter 1 intro

Source Code

          In the Spring of 1981, I was twelve  years-old. At the corner of my street was a  candy store. A couple friends of mine would run up Lakeview to the corner of  Temblett to buy candy once we were done with baseball practice. This candy store  was not your average candy store you could get whatever you wanted from this store and I wanted toys. After that we would race across the street home to change clothes. 

       There were four apartment  buildings where I lived and together it  housed about fifty-eight units.  My street was long, about a mile in length  and it had several streets that branched off  of it. I knew people on every street. On  Sunday, my friends and I would wake up  around 6 a.m. We would ride up and  down those streets and take the  newspapers; as many as we could handle.  We would dump them off at my little brother Sam house and go get more. Once  we had a certain amount we would began  to sell them. 

       The candy store always  opened up at 9 a.m. on Sunday, so we  would have twenty papers ready for the candy store. The owner always gave us a  couple of dollars, candy and toys for the papers. Between my friends and I, we made fifty dollars each from the Sunday papers.  

      Ryan was the tallest and skinniest of the  four of us. He also was the blackest,  fastest, and also looked like he was an  African. Matter of fact, he was African, his  mom and dad traveled to America from  Nigeria a few years back.  

       Sam was the shortest and the fattest but  he was also fast and smart. Sam was the one who came up with the idea to collect papers on Sundays and pretty soon, he had just about everyone in the four buildings buying papers from us. So many  people began to buy papers from us, that we eventually went to the Plain Dealer and  landed our own paper route. 

       Jackie was the only girl that helped us with  the papers. She was the best baseball  player on our team. From looking at  Jackie, you would’ve never believed  that she was a tom-boy, but she was a  natural athlete. She was good at most  sports, including baseball, soccer, and ice  hockey, just to name a few.  

      I had many other friends, but these were the friends I could trust with my toys and  money. I had so many toys that when I got  tired of them, I put them in boxes and into the closet. I didn’t play with my toys or even open them. I collected toys,  among other things.  

      I lived with my grandmother and at first that bothered me, it was just me and her.  No one ever came to visit us, but then I  got used to it. My grandmother did not have a  job so she was always at home and  involved at my school. She always had  dinner ready at 6 p.m. sharp. Out of all my friends, my nanny allowed Sam to come in the house, Sam was allowed to spend the night and come over for dinner. Sam was over for dinner quite often during the  week. The only day he did not come over  for dinner was on Tuesdays and that was  because he went to St. Aloysius with me and my nanny for free dinner. I used to tell  people that Sam was my little brother. Every day of the summer was routine for us.  

    Rick was the number runner in our  neighborhood and he always made it to my nanny at 5 p.m. sharp. I made it my  business to be the one that opened the  door for Rick. Sam also was normally with me when Rick came to pick up the numbers from my nanny. He also came to pick up the numbers from me and Sam. I think my nanny only let Sam come over  because Sam always picked winning  numbers. Rick also knew Sam was good  with numbers. Ryan and I were allowed to  shoot craps at Rick’s after-hour  spot that was up the street on Tuscora,  because of Sam. 

        I nicknamed Rick, Rick the “Ruler” because of an  incident that happened at his after hour spot one night. I think it was July 17th to be exact. Rick would always introduce me, Sam, and Ryan to people as his nephews. Rick ran numbers for this guy name Bruiser. One night Bruiser came into Rick’s after hour spot and pulled Rick to the side. He asked  him why he let us come and shoot craps at the tables. They got into an argument about  it, along with something that had to do with two numbers. I will never forget those two numbers; 7 and 8. Rick told everyone to go home. He said that he was moving the after hour spot down the street to Hopkins, and it would   re-open in a week. Bruiser and Rick  disappeared mysteriously before Rick  opened the other house. Two years later  Rick came back to Lakeview and opened  the house on Hopkins. The name I gave  him stuck and people began to call him,  Rick the “Ruler.”