9
Wade couldn’t get the incident at the school dance and the unsettling memory of Janelle out of his mind. If she was in prison, he couldn’t understand her motivation in tracking him down. He wondered if she’d gotten out.
A few weeks after the encounter at the dance, Wade was invited to have dinner at Aunt May’s house, which would mean he’d be near Westbrook School. He called Mr. Pete and asked if he could drop by that day.
Pete said, “Sure, let’s meet at 4:00 pm.
After some initial small talk about school and football, Wade told Mr. Pete about what had happened at the dance.
“Did any of the guys use a gang name or call each other by name?”
“No… I can’t really remember, but I don’t think so.”
“Can you describe them to me?”
Wade gave Mr. Pete a good description of each person, including build, hair, and clothing.
Mr. Pete took notes while Wade described the gang members. Then he said, “I think I know who these guys are, but I want to do some checking with my police contacts to be sure. I believe they are from a gang around here.”
“You were smart not to engage them. If this is the head guy, and I think he is, your confrontation would have been a fight you couldn’t possibly have won. First, the guys standing around all had switch blades or ice picks. The leader is an experienced fighter. He uses brass knuckles, caries blades, and also wears a pistol behind his back in a hidden belt holster. There was no way you could have survived this fight. And if by some lucky chance you’d seemed to be winning, the other guys wouldn’t have just stood around watching. They would have come in, probably with knives. That group is wanted for three gang killings right now. And they may have recently been arrested as part of a big gang war near Pontchartrain Beach two weeks ago.”
“But how does Janelle come into this?”
“If these are the guys I’m thinking about, they’re a split-off of Janelle’s old brother gang.”
“But what does this have to do with Janelle if she’s in prison?”
Mr. Pete explained, “Janelle is in prison, with two consecutive terms of 23 years each, and she’s not getting out. But she’s still involved in gang-related activities on the outside. I think this was a sanctioned hit on you, or else a favor to Janelle from her old gang.”
Wade said, “But why now? It’s been almost two years?”
“People in prison have long memories and a lot of time on their hands. I don’t really know why yet, but I’ll do some investigating.”
“Remember, you were here when Janelle was arrested. You were very close to starting some kind of relationship. She may think you turned on her and were somehow involved in her arrest. At any rate, I don’t want you taking matters into your own hands. If you see these guys again, call the police. I’ll alert my contacts there so your call will be taken seriously — in fact, call this number if you see them, or other guys you don’t know hanging around your school.”
Pete handed Wade a piece of paper with a name and number.
Wade chose not to tell Mr. Pete about the gun he was carrying in his car.
Wade’s football prowess at Monroe didn’t go unnoticed. In the middle of his eighth grade his performance in two close games made the difference in Monroe’s winning and attracted the attention of John Metler, head coach of the football program at St. Johns, one of the large catholic high schools in the city.
Coach Metler was also a long time friend of Coach Baxter and, unbeknown to Wade, both coaches had spoken several times about Wade’s performance and potential in the sport. Wade was approaching the end of his two-year career at Monroe and hadn’t given much thought to high school. It was near the end of the football season, and Wade was no longer looking at a summer practice schedule for Monroe. He had time on his hands to pursue his mechanical interests in motorcycles and cars.
An opportunity came from a classmate at Monroe who told Wade his brother worked on restoring older motorcycles. Wade persuaded his friend to see if his brother needed any help at his shop. Wade didn’t have any experience, but he was willing to work in exchange for a chance to learn.
Wade got a favorable response and soon met with Jesse, his classmate’s brother. Jessie explained that he worked at his uncle’s gas station garage, fixing cars. Jesse was allowed to work on his own projects when he didn’t have paying customers and on the weekends when they were closed.
Jesse showed Wade his British-built James motorcycle, which he was currently working on. Jesse said he bought the bike from a guy who had started taking it apart because it wasn’t running properly. After he got into the repair, the guy realized fixing it was over his head. Jesse got the motorcycle dirt cheap and had slowly been finding parts and repairing it. He told Wade he would show him what he needed to do to get the James motorcycle running again.
Wade jumped at the chance and started coming over after school and on the weekends. Jesse also told him about a 1949 Indian motorcycle he had his eye on. “I might also be able to get this one and rebuild it to sell,” he told Wade.
Jesse was very patient with Wade, showing and explaining each repair procedure thoroughly. They clicked as a team in the rebuilding of the carburetor, cylinder head and gasket set, the exhaust, and the fuel lines. Wade was a quick study, and Jesse rarely had to repeat anything a second time.
Wade really enjoyed his summer work. He soon met Jesse’s uncle, and they also became friends. His uncle would pay Wade when he needed help with the gas station and Jesse was not available. The James was soon up and running, and although it didn’t have brakes yet, the engine that Wade had worked on was running well. Jesse sold the James for a good price and paid Wade a bonus before they got the breaks finished. It was a good summer.
Shortly before August, with high school football practice starting, Wade had still not made a decision on high school. Then he was surprised by a call from Coach Metler. Practice would be starting, and the coach said he would very much like Wade to try out for the team.
Wade made the team and practice started, leaving little time to work at the garage. Jesse and his uncle were a little disappointed about Wade’s sudden departure, but they understood and accepted Wade’s decision. Everything went well at St John’s during Wade’s first year. He played first string on the varsity team his freshman year and settled into school work. He stayed in contact with Jesse and his uncle and helped out at the garage when he had time. The year flew by.
The summer between Wade’s first and second year of high school was spent back at the garage, and Wade worked on a number of motorcycles and cars. He learned a lot about mechanics and repair. After a good summer at the garage, including fixing his own car, August was coming around once more, and football practice would start again in just a couple of weeks.
Everything was going well at football practice until one hot summer day in August. On the field it was a hot 97 degrees with 95 % humidity, and in those days the players were not expected to hydrate as they do today. Need for water was considered a softness that had to be overcome. Players were expected to “suck it up.” It was not uncommon for young players to be passing out or throwing up from the heat and dehydration exhaustion throughout the twice-daily summer practice sessions. The dehydration conditioning was considered part of “getting in shape.”