I had gotten into yet another fight, only this one was right in the middle of geometry class and the teacher sent both me and the boy I was fighting (Larry Parela) to the principal's office. Mr. Morano was not pleased. He said seeing me enter his office had become all to expected these days and he was afraid that he would have to take other steps to try to remedy the situation.
"I'm going to suspend you for three days, Vincent." He said.
I dropped my shoulders and gave him a pleading look. "Come on Mr. Morano. Three days for this?"
"I can not have you fighting and disrupting your classes like this all the time. Your grades cannot stand the lack of attention." He told me then he started to write something down on a piece of paper.
"So your suspending me. What do you think that will do to my grades?"
He stopped writing and leaned back in his chair. "All right, then why don't you tell me what punishment I should give you. What is my alternative."
"I don't know, can't you whack me a few times or something?" I asked.
He chuckled. "I wish."
"Look Mr. Morano. I can't go home and tell my family that I got suspended. They'd freak over something like that. Especially my mother.....It would just kill her." I said being over dramatic. "Please. My family's got enough to worry about as it is." I told him.
He tapped his lip with his pen and looked down at the piece of paper he had been writing on. I could see his mind working, trying to come up with something. Finally he dropped his hand down on the arm of his chair. "I don't know what else to do." He said.
"How about if you send me home with a letter to be signed?" I asked looking hopeful.
He frowned. "I've sent letters home to be signed before, Vin....What would be different this time."
"This time I'll actually have it signed instead of forging it." I said.
His mouth dropped open for a second, then he just lowered his head and tried to hide the smile that crossed his face. "And what will that do? Actually having it signed I mean?"
"It means that I'll probably take a beating for it." I told him.
"I thought you said your Mother would be too upset to be able to deal with this." He said looking only half convinced.
I snorted. "It won't come from her." I said.
He studied my face for a minute, then to my relief and delight, he agreed. "All right, one letter......to actually be singed, OK." He said as he shook his finger at me.
"Thank you Mr. Morano...thank you so much. You don't know what this means to me." I said sincerely.
"Yeah, well I just hope you're a man of your word, and I'm not being some stupid shmuck here." He said as he got up from his desk and walked to his door.
Mrs. Malone - his secretary - was sitting just outside at her desk.
"Mary, would you please type this for me real quick?" He asked as he handed the sheet out to her.
She took it, read it, then looked at me. "What are you so happy about?" She asked in her hoarse voice.
"I ain't." I said giving her a _c_o_c_k_y grin.
Mrs. Malone typed the two paragraph letter and gave it to Mr. Marano who signed it then sealed it in an envelope and handed it out to me. I went to crab it, but he pulled it back. "Do you know what honor is?"
I shrugged. "Yeah."
"So on your honor, an actual signature this time, right?." He said.
"I swear on my fathers grave." I said, which was one of the biggest, and most non breakable swears I could have made.
"All right." He said then let me take it from him.
On the way home the reality of what I had just done set in my brain and the letter started to weigh down my pocket like a brick. I mean I had exchanged three days off of school, for one signature that was probably going to get me one hell of a beating.
"_s_h_i_t_." I said out loud.
When I got to the corner my brothers friend pulled his car up to the curb and stopped to let Juliano out. He always had to be let of there because our mother hated Tony (his friend). She said he was nothing but trash, but Jules (we called him for short) didn't agree. "Hey vin." He said when he saw me.
"What's up." I said, my voice kind of dragging.
"What's wrong with you?" He asked as we walked.
I pulled the sealed envelope out of my pocket and held it up.
"What's that?"
"Got into a fight today. I have to get this signed." I told him.
He snorted then took it out of my hand. "_s_h_i_t_, that ain't nothin. Got a pen?" He asked. "I can sign Ma's signature better than I can sign my own." He said and started to open the letter.
I took it back out of his hands. "I got to get it signed, not forged. I swore to Mr. Marano."
"So you swore. Who gives a _f_u_c_k_."
"I do. It's called Honor." I explained.
He chuckled. Honor....It's called Roman beat the _f_u_c_k_ out of you."
"I does not. Beside I'll give it to Ma." I told him.
"What ever man. You'll see. I tried to help." He said as we went on down the sidewalk.
When we got to our building my sister Vera (Juliano's twin) and her friend Jackie were standing just inside the front door - in the corner - talking and sharing a cigarette.
Jules deepened his voice and shouted. "What are you doing!"
Vera about jumped out of her skin and quickly jerked the cigarette behind her back. Then she saw it was only us. "Jesus you scared the _s_h_i_t_ out of me Juliano. I thought you were Roman." She yelled.
Roman was our eldest brother. He was twenty five now and pretty much the man of the house since our father died. He took care of everything, paid most of the bills, put food on the table, watched out for us younger kids, kept us in line, and made sure we were going by the rules. Smoking was a big no no with him although he himself smoked. He said that it was a filthy habit that he regretted having started, and so he was not about to let us make the same mistake.
Juliano laughed at her. "You should have seen your face."
"Yeah, you are real funny." She said coldly as she took a drag.
"Is he home Yet?" He asked her about Roman.
"NO, but he should be any time now." She said.
"Awl, so you smoking is a real good idea then huh?" He said arrogantly.
"Go _f_u_c_k_ yourself OK."
He gave her the finger and started up the steps to our forth floor apartment.
"You heard what she said right.....Roman's gonna be home any minute. You sure you don't want me to sign that for ya?" He asked.
I was tempted, but I still refused.
Juliano was the first to enter the apartment. "Hey Ma... we're home." He shouted.
"You're late!" She shouted from the kitchen. "I thought you got hit by a bus or something...I was about to call the hospitals." She said.
Jules made a crazy face then rolled his eyes, and whispered the words. "She's _f_u_c_k_ing Insane" just as she stepped into the living room.
"You've been out with that trash haven't you?" She asked him as he began to take off his shoes and jacket.
"No Ma." He lied. "And Tony's not trash. He's my friend."
"Your friend.........He's noting but trouble I tell you." She said.
"He's fine Ma." He said with a sign. "Jesus."
"No he's not and I don't want you to hang around him."
He started to look desperate to get out of this conversation. Unfortunately I was the only one standing there. "Speaking of trouble." He said gesturing towards me quickly. "Don't you have something to tell her Vin."
She turned to me "What is it? Oh my God what is it?"
I handed out the letter. "This is for you."
"Oh Jesus. What is this." She said when she saw the school's name on the envelope. "It's from your school."
"Good one Ma." Jules said on his way out of the room.
She didn't seem to hear him. She was too worried about what she held in her hand. "Tell me what happened."
"I got into a fight." I told her.
She got that panicked look on her face. "Oh my god....a fight. Are you all right?" She asked.
"I'm fine.....teacher broke it up..there was hardly any blood at all." I told her which only made that look of death grow. "No, No. It wasn't my blood. It was the other kids." I said quickly.
Her hand went over her mouth. "Oh my god you made some poor kid bleed in school today?"
Jesus Christ......I thought. This is going to take all day. "It's all in the letter Ma. Just read the letter. Then you have to sign it for me so I can take it back to school tomorrow."
She opened the letter and read it as I stood there and watched her.
"Wait a minute. It says here that this is your forth fight this semester, and that there were other letters.... What other letters. I never saw any other letters." She said.
"What letters?" Someone said from the door. I Jumped and turned around. It was My oldest sister Lana coming up from the laundry room.
"Letters about fights." She told her.
"What fights?" She asked.
"That's what I'd like to know." My mother said giving me a harsh look.
"I got into a few fights." I admitted. "And they sent some letters home."
"So why didn't I see them?" She asked looking kind of shocked.
"I never showed them to you."
"Then how did they get signed?" She asked, but immediately knew what the answer was going to be, and she said it. "You forged my name."
"Yeah." I said softly and dropped my head.
She looked down at the letter and read it again, then she folded it back up and slipped it back in the envelope. "How could you do this.....Don't I have enough on my shoulders as it is Vincent."
"I'm sorry Ma." I told her.
She started to shake her head. "You're not sorry, but you will be. Go to your room and wait for your brother." She said.
I rolled my eyes and gave her a pleading look. "Come on Ma, can't you just punish me?" I asked.
"I would have punished you had this been the first time you did this, but this isn't the first time. This is the forth time, and you've been forging my signature...... OHHHH....you get to your room." She said.
I turned and went slowly down the hall, passing Juliano on the way. He was grinning. "I told you to let me sign it." He whispered.
I went into my room which I shared with Roman and Jiliano - Roman had a single bed and Jules and I shared bunk beds. Mine was the top buck, which I climbed up into.
Twenty minutes went by and I was in the middle of reading one of Juliano's comics when I heard something. I looked up and Roman was leaning against the door frame with his arms and legs crossed. "Hey." I said sounding a little nervous.
He didn't say anything at first. He just stood there, his jaw flexing - which was not a good sign - then he said three words. "Hand or belt."
I gulped hard. "What?"
"Hand or Belt?" He asked again.
Man, he wasn't wasting any time. "Hand." I said finally.
He pushed off the door frame suddenly and stepped into the room. "Get down here then. Take your pants down."
I gulped again. "Right now?"
"Yeah right now!" He shouted. "What do you think?!"
I tossed the comic then quickly climbed down and stood between the beds and just looked up at him for a minute.
"Well? What are you waiting on?" He asked.
I raised my hands and slowly started to undo my fly as he took the chair out of the corner and placed it in the center of the room, then sat down.
"Come on I don't have all night." He said as he watched me slowly poke along.
I slid my pants down and just stood there starring at him looking fearful and breathing heavy.
"Get over." He said gesturing down at his lap.
I swallowed hard then moved toward him, my eyes fixed on his lap. It was right at that moment that I regretted not letting Jules sign the _d_a_m_n_ letter. I mean what was so great about honor if it cost you a few layers of skin off your backside. Huh?
I leaned into his right thigh then he pulled me the rest of the way over till I was parallel with the floor. "You know why you're getting this?" He asked.
"Yeah." I groaned.
"Then hang on." He said, and with that he yanked my underpants down just past my butt and brought his hand down with a loud resounding SMACK.
I jumped so hard that I bit my tongue. "OWLLL."
SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, SMACK......
Roman had perfected his ability to spank since the last time, I realized. I contributed that to all the practice he got with Juliano, who had been in this position - or one similar - more than anyone else in the house up until then. Now it was my turn.
"OUCH....OWL....Roman...please...UHHH....It Hurts." I said as tears started to roll down my face.
"Uh-huh." Was his only reply as he continued to slap his hand down.
SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, SMACK......
"OOHHHH...UHHAA.....Ouch Roman....Please I'm sorry." I cried.
SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, SMACK.....
The heat was terrible and the sting incredible. I was definitely loosing a few layers of skin...perhaps all my skin, but still he kept it up. No matter how hard I cried or screamed or kicked he brought his hand down.
SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, SMACK......
"AHHHAA.......NO...NO...Roman, please don't. I'll behave. I'll behave." I was screaming.
SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, SMACK!
The last smack landed then up came my underpants and a second later I found myself standing on my feet at his right side, rubbing and crying like a baby.
Man was I on fire. I could feel the heat right threw the cotton.
"You can come out for dinner when you've settled down, but after that I want you right back in here, you got that?" He asked.
I nodded my compliance, then watched threw my tears as he got up and walked towards the door.
As soon as he was gone I hopped over to Juliano's bed - Jeans still around my knees - then flopped down face first and cried into his bedspread.
To be continued...........