"Seriously, Coach? You take it from me and smoke it?"
"You don't need this, boy. It's bad for your body."
"I know. I'm sorry. I just had the worst day of my life."
"I can see that," the older man said. "You're nice and pretty with that busted nose."
"Mom said once the swelling goes down, it'll be fine."
"I don't know," the man said. "Come here. Come see. Come over here and let me…" He trailed off. I felt curious, and I felt myself leaning in, trying to hear their conversation.
"Oooouch! Cooooaaaach!"
"Hold still, boy."
"What happened just now?" the younger guy said after a few seconds.
"I just straightened it up a little for you. It's all right. It'll look good. You were a little too handsome before, anyway, if you ask me. We can't have you looking like a mama's boy the rest of your life."
There was a full minute of silence, during which time I slowly turned onto my stomach and then lifted my head above the low armrest of the couch to try to get a look out of the window. I wanted to try to see them. I didn't even care if it made me the Mrs. Harper of the back side of the building. It was an interesting conversation they were having, and I wanted to get a peek.
I did see them. Barely.
It was an older, dark-skinned gentleman talking with the lanky, young, light-skinned man who was sitting with a towel on his nose earlier that day.
"Well, I came over here to talk to you about missing practice this afternoon," the older man said. "I saw where something happened at your daddy's shop today, and I wanted to hear about it from you."
"Yeah. Sorry I didn’t go to class. I didn't feel much like fighting after I got my face punched in. And I didn't feel like talking about what happened."
"Yeah, but it's not just about you, Daniel. Your sparring partner was looking for you. He's counting on you to help him train. He's got a match coming up. He had to pair up with little Charlie."
"I know, I'm sorry," Daniel said. "I didn't want you to see my face."
The older man laughed. "But you knew I'd see it sometime."
"Yes sir, I know. And I was gonna tell you, obviously, but I just didn't feel like going over there today."
"Your dad told me about it, anyway. He was talking about that friend of yours. He said Randall hit him on the back of the head with a glass bottle, and nothing happened—that he looked unfazed."
"It's true," Daniel said, nodding. "He had me in a corner, and Randall snuck up from behind him and busted him on the head. He swung it hard, too. I thought for sure he would go down, but he didn't. That scared me for a second."
"Your dad told me he fought off four of y'all."
"He did," Daniel said.
"Your dad was under the impression that you just had a misunderstanding. He thought he was a friend of yours who just got spooked because Randall misunderstood and hit him on the head. Your dad was telling me I should go recruit him for the boxing program. He told me he could be the next big thing."
"Maybe he could, but Coach Marvin, please don't. He's not my friend. I just told my dad that so I don't get in more trouble than I'm already in."
"Do you know that guy?"
"Yes sir. Kind of."
"Did you do something to instigate that fight?"
"I didn't think I did, but I guess it depends on how you look at it. He wasn't coming over here to fight me. He was just coming for someone else… to ask for… I was taking care of it. If Randall didn't swing that bottle, there wouldn't have been a fight in the first place."
"Well, why did Randall feel like he should swing that bottle if that guy wasn't coming to fight?"
"Probably because he had me cornered. He was telling me some stuff. It might have sounded like threats or whatever to Randall."
"Were they threats? Had you done something to provoke him?"
"Not him. I barely know that guy. He came over here to talk to me for someone else."
"Who?"
"Matty Stills."
"Why would you get mixed up with Matty Stills?"
"I wasn't trying to," Daniel said. "I played some cards the other night with Josh and Eddie and them. I've been doing that sometimes on the weekends. It's no big deal. But the other night, I lost big. That was the worst day of my life, until today. Anyway, turns out it was Matty Stills who covered my debt."
"And now he's trying to collect," Marvin said.
"Yes sir."
"And your daddy doesn't know about any of this?"
"No sir."
My sister came out of the bathroom humming.
I could hear her in the distance. I was already having to strain to hear the guys as it was, so there was no way I'd be able to hear them once she came out here and started making noise. I was just about to motion for her to be quiet, but the noise trailed off as she walked into the bedroom. I tuned into them again.
"What kind of money are we talking about?" Marvin asked.
"Two hundred."
"Two hundred dollars?" Marvin asked, his voice went up several octaves and his tone was full of disbelief. "What are you doing betting that kind of money, Daniel?"
"It wasn't all at one time," Daniel said. "It was over a whole night. I was up a hundred, and I had two pairs, aces and queens. Who beats that?"
"I don't care what you had, son," I heard a low thud.
"Owwww, ohhh!"
"I barely popped you," Marvin said. "And you deserve that for such a bone-head move, Daniel."
"I know."
"How do you plan to take care of this problem? Where are you gonna get the money you owe?"
"I get paid Friday," Daniel said. "I'll ask Matty if I can give him half on Friday and half in two weeks."
"If he doesn't agree to it, you'll have to tell your dad."
"Yes sir, I know. I will. I'll tell him the truth if I can't get Matty off my back."
"You can start by calling him Mister Stills. That man is in his sixties. Criminal or not, people like to be respected. Now, you get on over there and settle things with him so you can stop lying to your daddy, boy."
"Yes, sir."
"You need to take some time tonight to think about your actions, too. Understand that there's consequences to them, Daniel. Your daddy and Randall both ended up with busted up faces."
"I know. I feel really bad. Kenny got knocked out, and got his ring stolen."
"What?" Marvin asked.
"Yeah. Kenny came up and confronted that guy after Randall and my dad had trouble with him. Kenny had on this big state championship ring, and he bragged about putting a stamp of it on the guy's forehead."
"And what happened?" Marvin asked.
"Kenny got knocked out," Daniel said. "And then that guy reached down and took his ring off his finger."
"And your dad thought this was just your friend?" Marvin asked.
"He didn't see him take the ring," Daniel said. "Dad and Randall were standing behind Kenny when he fell, and they had knocked over a big shelf. No one saw him take Kenny's ring. I don't even know if Kenny knows it's missing."