As the wind blew, the white spots of white clouds stood still above the earth.  At a temperature of about 91 degrees Fahrenheit on a sunny April day, the heat didn't seem to bother Rick Prophet and Garth Genter as they sat almost at the top of the ackee tree.

Rick made sure they were positioned in the tree so his grandmother couldn't see them.  His grandmother was terrified that one day Rick would fall from the tree and seriously hurt himself.   The boys loved climbing the ackee tree to sit and talk.  There was always a breeze at the top of the tree and the view was terrific.  You could see for miles.   At 10 years old, Rick and Garth were inquisitive about the world and wanted badly to explore it.  One of the biggest things these boys wanted was the opportunity to visit the land of rose garden.  At a time when most 10 year old American kids wanted toys, and video games these boys wanted the opportunity to visit the land of the roses, America. 

Growing up in Jamaica, Rick and Garth heard a lot about America.  The place sounded like paradise.  They always heard fantastic things about this place.  They didn't really know what made the place so special but it sounded great.  In their minds America was a place you could get anything you wanted.  It was a place much better than were they were now.  They always heard about low prices, abundant toys, play grounds, pools, tall buildings, 24 hours per day multiple color television stations, and a lot more.  One day Rick and Garth saw kids on TV playing in a park.  The park had see saws, monkey bars and swings.  The boys wished they would one day have a change to visit a place like that.  If they did, they'd love it.  Most of what they heard about America was from other people. Everyone talked about going to America.  If someone visited there home town from America they were looked upon as very fortunate people.

Like other third world nations, opportunities in Jamaica were limited.  If you were born poor most likely you were going to die poor.  America is one of the few places in the world were a poor person could work hard and make a decent living.

Rick grew up with his grandmother who he considered to be his mother.  To him his real mother was this stranger that visited ever so often from the city, Kingston.  He disliked going to Kingston to visit his mother.  He knew the lady to be his mother but had a hard time accepting her.  He had a hard time communicating with her and even calling her mommy.  He never really called her by any name until he was in his teens.

Although he never grew up with his mother, she always made sure his best interests were met all the time.  She made sure he went to the dentist at a time when many of Rick friends didn't even know what a dentist was. She made certain he had clothes and would routinely give money to his grandmother to raise Rick.  Rick's mother had been trying for a long time to get visiting visas for Rick and herself to the U.S.  She wanted Rick to visit his father and for her to see what America was actually like.  She had serious thoughts about living in the U.S. One day after months of trying, she finally got visiting visas for Rick and herself. The day she showed Rick his passport he immediately asked if he could take it and go show it to his friends.  All his friends thought he was the luckiest person in the world to have the opportunity to visit the mystical land of America. 

Rick never knew his father until he landed at JFK international airport in New York City.  His father met him and his mother at the airport.  His father is a tall medium built man.  The first thing Rick noticed about his father was that he smoked.

On the way home in the car after his father dropped his mother off, his father revealed to Rick that he had a younger brother and sister, age, 4 and 2, respectively.  That was a big shock to Rick and he thought it was the best news in the world. He always wanted a brother and sister and now BAM he got them.  Rick was very naive at ten years old and never thought to himself that his father was married to another woman. 

Later that night, Rick saw his brother and sister while they were asleep and then was introduced to this woman in a nursing uniform. The woman was introduced to him as Aunt Jackie.  Rick still didn't realize that this strange woman was actually his father’s wife until later that night when they went into the same bedroom and closed the door behind them. 

Not knowing his mother or father never bothered Rick.  So it didn’t bother him that his parents were not together.  To him, his only parents were his grandmother and uncle back in Jamaica whom he thought he was going to see again in three weeks.  After three weeks Rick's father decided he wanted Rick to live with him permanently.  Rick never realized that after a couple of months he wouldn't see his grandmother for a long time.  It would take a while before his father would get his papers to become a permanent resident.  Rick saw his grandmother again four years later and then a year after attended her funeral.

After spending his first summer in the U.S., Rick didn't know what to expect his first day of school.  At 10 years old, he had just arrived in the United States the previous June.  His first day of school was an experience he'd never forget.  The first day of English class his teacher called upon him to answer a question. Rick properly pushed his chair back, and stood to answer.

In Jamaica when a teacher asks a question, you stand and answer or you'll be punished with a good whipping.  Without realizing, he always stood up in class to answer a question.  Another event that stunned Rick took place in history class that same day.  A girl named Neidra mouthed off to the teacher and the teacher did nothing.  This type of behavior would have had serious consequences back in Jamaica. This blew Rick's mind.  School in this country was very different than back home.  Even going from class to class every 50 minutes, and going to gym once a week was different.  In Jamaica the students in elementary school stayed in the same class room for the entire day and the same teacher taught all the subjects. 

Because Rick spoke with a deep Jamaican accent, the kids made fun of him.  About eight months later having watched many hours of television, Rick was speaking with an American accent. Initially, the kids would also tease him about his clothes.  For the first couple of months Rick still wore his clothes from Jamaica.  They called his sneakers skippies and always told him that the storm was over because his pants were short.  If you didn't have brand name sneakers then you wore skippies and some of the kids would tease him about it.  In Jamaica all the kids wore uniform up until they graduated high school. Because of this Rick was never use to seeing or hearing kids teasing each other about their clothing.          

A couple of months later Rick started asking his father to buy him designer sneakers and jeans.  These jeans often had designers on the rear pockets.  In less than six months, Rick assimilated into an average African‑American male sixth grade student living in the Bronx, New York.  

"Yo man, what the fuck you looking at?” replied a boy named Edward Howard.

"Did you hit me on the back of my neck?” Rick asked while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yea I slapped your freaking neck, what you goin' to do bout it?” replied Ed.

"Can you guys stop the noise back there?  If you don't want to be here, you are welcome to leave", says Mr. Mozes while pointing to the door.  As Mr. Mozes turns his back to walk away, SLAP!

Rick feels another stinging slap on the back of his neck.  Some children in the class start to laugh again. 

"Yo, stop hittin' me man", says Rick, angry but scared.

"This time it wasn't me man, why don't you turn around and shut the fuck up!” replies Ed. 

Burrrr! The school buzzer goes on and the students quickly dismiss themselves ignoring Mr. Mozes announcement of the exam next week.  While Rick is walking to the next class he suddenly feels a swift push to the middle of his back.  Ed ran into Rick while jumping and using his knee.  Ed then runs directly into the classroom as if nothing happened. By now Rick knows he has a problem.  He can't figure out why all of a sudden this bully is bothering him.  As the days go by, Rick tries to stay away from Ed but is persistently bothered by the bully.  The persistent assault of being pushed, smacked on the neck during class, marked on with ink pens, punched in the arms, goes on for weeks.  The only time Rick felt comfortable going to school was when Ed got suspended for being in other fights.

Rick was a tall skinny kid who wasn't use to fighting.  He had gotten into fights with kids but they were just one time incident of playing around and it turned into a fight. Never before had another human continuously assaulted him for no reason. Ed being shorter but bigger was move aggressive physically and intimidated Rick from fighting him.  As weeks went by, Rick didn't look forward to going to school.  He started to become terrified of Ed.  He never spoke to his father, mother or step mother about his problem. The situation got to a point were the homeroom teacher would hold back Ed at the end of the day so Rick could get a head start in getting home safely because Ed was going to bother him. 

Later on that evening Rick's father, Nick, in front of everybody asked Rick if a little boy was bothering him at school. Nick had a way of talking at Rick and never to him.  Whenever he wanted to talk to Rick he'd always just start rambling, never asking questions to find out what was really going on.  Because Rick never grew up with his father, they were not close and they didn't feel comfortable around each other.  Nick had to force Rick into calling him Dad.  Rick had a hard time calling some stranger Dad just like he had a hard time calling his mother mom.  Nick started talking with his shallow Jamaican accent which he only used when he was around Jamaican friends.

 "Rick, Alston (Mr. Watson), said that some boy is bothering you in school. Why you meck' (make) this boy bother you.  Boy, when I was in school, nobody bother me, yu know.  If anybody started with me, I'd just give them one good lick (hit) and then they would know not fi' bother me nu (no) more.  If that little boy bother you anymore just give him one good rawtid lick as hard as you can and you'll see if him bother you again...."

Before Nick could finish giving his brilliant advise to Rick, Alston interrupted by telling how he beat this bully up back in Jamaica who use to always bother his little sister.  Alston was a good story teller and he had a lot of them.  He was a CPA Account in his forties.  He was a dictator when it came to his family.  He never wanted to teach his wife to drive fearing that she would have freedom to come and go as she pleased.  He had two sons Andy and Jimmy. When his sons were at the age to attend college, Alston choose their colleges and made them go to the same college along with their mother.  He wanted his entire family around him all the time which he ruled with an iron fist.

Alston stood up to tell his story. "One day me sister come crying tears that some boy thief her money and when she tri' (try) fi'(to) get it back the boy lick her in her face.  Me sister was 'bout 10 years old.  Boy when me hear the news, me just grab me sling shot and go down to near the boy yard (home) and climb a tree and sit in the tree fe' (for) about 2 hours waiting till me see the damn boy.  Me couldn't just approach the boy and try fi'(to) beat him up because him did bigga' (bigger) than me, yu know.  So me wait and me wait and me wait.  And since I was in a mango tree me just pick some mango and naym (eat) them.  Boy it was some a the best mango me can remember eating.  So finally me see the boy and him friend a walk down the street fi' (to) go play marbles.  Boy, I pull out a nice size stone you see and then pull back on the sling shot steady you see". By this time Alston has every body attention and he's standing showing with his hands how he pulls the sling shot back and starts to aim.

"And boy back in them days I use to kill 'nough (a lot) birds you see. I could shoot a sling shot. So me up in the mango tree, almost at the top, aiming at this boy with me sling shot and all of a sudden me leggo one shot and miss.  Me reload fast again and aim pan the boy head you see. Then BAM! I lick the boy in a him head and the boy just drop to the floor holding him head and start balling (crying).  The boy ball (cry) loud you 'now (know) and a rub him head.  Boy, me feel good you see.  Now me know how an assassin must feel. After that me jump out the mango tree and go up the boy and him friends and ask wa' happen, like me a idiot."

Every one starts to laugh.  Alston continues, "The reason why I remember that day was because, when me go home me bellie (stomach) run all night because of all the mangos me naym (eat) in a de' tree. Me belly run till me did think me a go shit meself to death", everyone starts to laugh louder.

The next day while Rick was walking down the school hall, Ed approached him and before Ed could react, Rick attacked him like a wild lion.  Rick grabbed him, put him in a head look with his right arm and began punching Ed with his left arm until his lip began bleeding.  A teacher then broke up the fight and Ed was dragged away screaming and cursing at Rick, "....I am going to kick your ass, I better not see you after school." He then realized that his lip was bleeding, "You bust my lip, now you are in big trouble man.  I am going to kick your motherfucken ass.  I better not see you out side after school."

Rick just stood there and watched Ed being dragged away and he felt good, but worried. He felt good about the fact that he beat up Ed, but now he had to worry about Ed coming after him in the near future. Rick decided he wasn't going to worry about it because the home room teacher would hold Ed back after school like he usually does.

When school was over Rick took his time walking home with his friends thinking that Ed was being detained by the home room teacher.  Unknown to Rick, was that Ed was making his way towards him rapidly.  The home room teacher was in a rush to get home so he let Ed go only 5 minutes after he dismissed the class.

Before Rick could react, Ed found Rick and jumped on his back tossing him to the ground.  Kids started running to the scene from all over as if someone was giving away free money.  Ed had Rick in a head lock while cursing,".. you bust my lip man, now you gonna pay mother fucker...." Rick with all his might loosened Ed arms from around his neck then gave him one swift punch to Ed's nose.

Ed felt a crack and immediately saw blood running down to his shirt.  With disbelief, Ed got up off the ground, took a couple of steps back while holding his nose and started cursing even more at Rick."....I'm going to kill you, you son of bitch.."  Suddenly, Ed withdrew a pen knife from his pocket and started coming towards Rick.  The crowd started to back up and silence fell. Rick now felt his heart pounding as if it were going to explode.  He had no where to go, no one to scream to for help to, no time to run. Before he could react, Ed stuck the small pen knife in the side of Rick while trying to put him in a head lock.  Without thinking Rick placed his entire mouth around Ed's left ear, biting real hard.  Ed started to scream with terror as Rick with his sharp teeth ripped off Ed's ear.  Kids started to scream with disbelief at the bloody scene.  There was blood every where.  They boys now had blood all over them.  There was blood from the pen knife wound to Rick, the wounded nose and severed ear from Ed.  Rick's mouth was full of blood as he spat Ed's ear to the ground.  Ed started screaming and crying simultaneously as if he were dying.  Rick stared at Ed as if he had won the fight and felt no compassion or mercy for what he had done.  He knew that from now on things would be different.  There was no way in hell Ed was going to mess with him now.  Rick was amazed at what damaged he could inflict on another human.  He only wished he had done it earlier.  From the first day Ed picked on him, he should have not been a coward, he thought to himself.  He should have fought back. 

One that fatefully day, Rick swore to himself that he would never let another human being intimidate him.  From the beginning he would fight back, with all his might as if he were a savage beast. "No body, absolutely no body will mess with me", Rick thought to himself as two teachers rushed to the bloody scene.  Soon after an ambulance was on the scene. Rick's pen knife wound was merely a small cut.  Ed spent the next five hours that day in surgery having his ear sowed back on.  Ed was expelled from school because of excessive fighting.  Because of that his mother decided to put him in a catholic school where he calmed down but no one dared bother him. He would never forget that day he almost lost his ear.  Every time he looked at his disfigured ear, he remembered Rick and how much he hated him. As he got older, he thought on numerous occasions to find Rick and cut his ear off.  Deep down he knew he deserved his disfigured ear but he still hated Rick.

He started to investigate some flying colleges around the U.S. He became particularly interested in one in Florida.  The school was Embery Riddle.  His parents ruled it out because it was too expensive.  Rick then decided he was going to study Aerospace Engineering.  It was the next best thing to flying for now.  If you can't fly them, then at least study them.  As the semesters went by Rick had the opportunity to go to career fairs and speak to recruiters about engineering and summer internships.  A few recruiters advised him not to study aerospace engineering because the market was weak for aerospace engineering.  One recruiter from Gruman Aerospace strongly advised Rick to study mechanical engineering while minoring in aerospace. He advised Rick that the market for mechanical engineering was much broader than aerospace.  The problem with aerospace engineering was that many of the aerospace companies worked off government contracts.  Companies such as Gruman,  Lockhead, Raytheon, McDonald Douglas and Boeing. As soon as congress decided to scrub a project then the company in which it affected would just lay people off, which included many aerospace engineers. 

Rick decided to live home while attending college because his father and older cousin talked him into staying home.  They claimed that going away to college was a waste of money.  His cousin was attending college also while living home.  Rick would commute to school every day on the subway, and he hated it.  He felt as though he was still in high school and had plans to transfer to the State University of New York at Buffalo the next academic year.  Most of Ricks friend went away to college or the armed forces.  He felt his life was boring because his school had a small amount of females and he spent most of his time studying, which a typical engineering student had to do to survive.  It was time for a change.  It was time to meet a nice young woman Rick debated.  At times Rick would talk to himself.  He'd talk a lot to himself when he was alone, especially when he was in the bathroom taking a shower or a crap.

While taking a dump one day in the toilet Rick started talking to himself, "Man, I need some ass. All I do is go to school, come home, eat, shit, watch t.v., study, sleep, go to school, come home, eat, shit,  watch t.v., study sleep, go to school, come home, eat, shit, watch t.v., study sleep.  Man I am sick of this shit. I need some ass bad.  I need some pussy adventures.  I need to meet some honies.  My school sucks, there's only about three percent females, of which two percent is ugly.  And the one percent that's left got boyfriends and everybody is trying to push up on them.  Man this is my fucking years. I should be boning like crazy.  Every night I should be fucken.  I'm strong, healthy, and got a big black strong Jamaican dick.  I watch these porno flicks, them white boys don't got a dick, I got a dick.", Rick starts to laugh to himself while farting.

When Rick is bored he usually talks to himself to amuse himself.  The things he usually says to himself he'd only say to another guy who was a good friend.  Sometimes he felt that himself was his best friend. Rick was a partial introvert.  He liked people and being around them.  He like having lots of friends but never really liked hanging out too much.  He didn't mind hanging out with one or two people but hanging out with more was a hassle.  Rick was very independent ever since he was a young boy.  He always did what he wanted to do and not let others intimidate him.  He experienced peer pressure like every other kid but he dealt with it real good.  He could never figure out way people liked to hang out on the streets and doing nothing.  He once lived in a housing complex, and some guys would always hang out by the little shopping center in the middle of the housing complex.  No matter what time of the year, how hot or cold it was outside, these guys would be there hanging out.  He could never understand why.  To him it made no sense.  Instead of hanging out side all night, "I'd rather be in my warm house watching t.v., sleeping, or boning like crazy", Rick would often say to himself.  Rick was the type of person that if he was with a group of  people and every one wanted to eat chinese food and Rick wanted pizza, Rick would leave the group and go off by himself to get the pizza.

"Man, I need to go out.  I haven't been to a good party in years. Tonight I'm going out.  Let me make some phone calls and see if any of my home boys want to go out.  Tonight is the night. I feel good", Rick thinks to himself.

Still on the toilet Rick starts to sing aloud," I feel good, I'm need to get boned, I feeeel good, I'm need to get boned, so good, so good......"  He then stops singing, realizing his buttox is becoming numb from sitting so long on the toilet.  He then starts to rub his stomach saying to himself,"Damn what the hell did I eat today, man I've been shittin like crazy all day.  Damn!  This shit be stinkin too.  Must be that damn chinese food.  That egg foo young fucked me up."

He then wipes his ass, fixes his cloth, washes his hands and heads straight for his phone book.  He flips and flips the pages and realizes he doesn't have many options as far as friends to call.  Most of his friends and cousins his age either went away to college or in the armed forces.  He then decides to call one of his cousin but decides not to.  His cousin will be his last option.  He first calls Dave, but his mother claims he's at work.  He then calls his friend Debby but she claims she's broke. Rick quickly thinks whether he should offer to pay her way, but decides not to.  The clubs in New York city cost $15 to $20 for admission.  For two people it would cost $30 to $40 dollars which was a lot of money for a college student.  Besides he wanted to meet a new girl.  Debby was a girl he had a fling with in high school who liked to play games with the boody.  After making a couple more unsuccessful calls, Rick finally calls his cousin Erick.  As Rick thought, Erick started complaining that the clubs in New York City are too dangerous and too expensive.  Erick was an engineer who still lived home and was always scared about going to clubs in New York City.  Besides he was cheap. Rick agreed that the clubs in New York City, especially the black ones were indeed dangerous.  But if you minded your business, you shouldn't have any problems. Rick then started contemplating whether he should go alone or not. It would be nice to have company.  Just then a commercial announces over the radio, "La, la, la, la .... live at the Red Parrot will be a male and female review, with the best in hip hop, house and reggae.  Come out and enjoy yourself at the Red Parrot, 54St and Broadway in money making Manhattan.  Popper dress code and i.d. is a must.  Security is president Bush style." The music in the background made the commercial sound appealing.

" Red Parrot here I come", Rick said aloud.  He started to dance and blast his portable stereo while he got ready.