Hiding in Shadows

I got beat into a corner. I got beat pretty good. Lost a couple of teeth, my sunnys, and ¾ full jug of draught. I was punch drunk and I was drunk, but I was coming round. The punches were knocking the sense back in. They weren't big hitters, I was still up, cornered by three Samoans. Young, not smart. Another was on Matt, and one was trying to lay into Andy under the pinball machine. A good place to be. Smart.

So I was cowering but gathering uncertain courage, the teeth were gone and I stood dumb with shock. The whole bar watched from behind the Samoans. Past the brown fists battering my face and the brown faced attackers I saw them stare. I had the impression that many people awaited a chance for a fist in. Then the blows stopped.

I lifted my boot and laid it into one guy's guts.

I still recall the look of disgust in his eyes. Kicking was against the rules. They all got unbelievably pissed at this. I had missed his nuts. These islanders are pit bulls. Lock-jaw mentality. They came at me again. The front boy worked his bicycle fist style.

He got busy telling me I was nothing, screwing with my mind. Then he said, 'what are you? What are you? Nothing. You're nothing man.' I was about to agree, but the bouncers dragged them out. I straightened my posture and my jacket. I was ready to throw a punch.

It was a strange feeling. The bouncer helping me find my two front teeth. I put them back in place. That hurt. I held them in with the tongue. I found Andrew and Matt in not too bad a shape. A little bloody. Dazed. I checked the rest of my teeth. The Bouncers suggested we leave. We figured the boys would be waiting out front. We took the service entry. Then it was a fast run through the park to the central city, Andy sprinting downtown to get a ride home. Matt called an ambulance; I asked him what happened. I hadn't a clue.

Matt said he felt concussed so they would bring him along. I felt fine. Just pain in the face. A bit excited, they'd had their lights flashing. The lady put a cold pack on my face and said she hoped I got a few good punches in. no.I was a pacifist, I said.

The cops were at the hospital when we got there. Asking questions.I had a mouth full of blood, but a dizzy, feel good head. Matt explained that I couldn't talk. They had an unrelenting way about them also. I talked and a tooth dropped out. I stopped talking then.

The emergency dentist was bummed for me. He suggested I go have another beer. Yes. He had stuck this hunk of wire across my teeth. Called it a splint. It rubbed my cut swollen gums collecting lip skin and flesh. Oh, it looked bad.

A pretty nurse wanted to keep Matt in for observations. She thought him to be concussed. I suggested he stay and be observed. With Matt was a British guy. He had a big cut stitched across his cheekbone. Matt said he'd taken a punch for me. Of the three of us, he looked worst. I kept my mouth shut.

I learned he had stopped the punches for a second. Suggested I'd had enough. That's when I got the boot in. Obviously I hadn't had enough. I was getting mine for suggesting Andrew had had enough, Matt too.

How I see it, these guys were good. You stopped one and two more took over. Andrew had come back from the toilet, a guy chased him. Started punching him in the back of the head. I put my arm between them. Two fellows grabbed me from behind, headed me for the corner. That's where my workout began. Matt was knocked to the ground and told not to move. Also from behind. They worked on surprising your blind side. Went for the shadows, you couldn't see them well there. Too dark. The Pom had stepped in, was hooked from behind and thought better of it.

The bouncer drove us back to the city. He had taken the Pom in for stitches. We headed for the Occidental. The same cops saw us, drove by slowly. Asked if I was good. Could I describe them etc? Said I should press charges. But these Samoans look the same to me -brown and beautiful. Thick dark hair, well tanned, brown eyes, well built, print shirts. There were five or six all up, and hundreds in town.

But they were gone, and all I had ahead of me was a long painful journey of dentistry. Very expensive. I explained this to the cops who reallv wanted to get these guys. They get suspicious of the victims when they don't want to pursue the matter. I thought there would be no real justice any how. Justice to me was a pint of draught. That was before I got the dentist's bill. Then I gave up on my forgiveness kick. Justice became a pint of bitter. Justice is fruitless.

I walked into the Occidental. Bloody shirt, face cut up, teeth strapped together, and ordered my beer. I gave the tender bartender lady a toothy smile, which hurt a lot. Thanked her and turned to muzzle my draught which is what the dentist ordered. Then I got a scotch and soda; I needed a straw to kill the pain.

I got home to have my woman balling over the sight of me. I didn't care. I was angry with her for liking the way these brown guys looked. I poured a glass of port, which stained the splint red. She cried a lot. What was worse was repeating the story to visitors, friends and family. The dentist wouldn't prescribe pain relief, so my teeth were stained red for many days. I had to get drunk before I could brush them. Too much pain.

A week later, five Samoans in their late teens attacked a couple on One Tree Hill. With pit bull mentality they beat the pair. One after the next they got into the rape and sodomy of the lady. Her man was tied up. They told him he was nothing, whilst calling her a bitch. Next morning the couple were found badly beaten, gagged and tied naked to a tree. This news, I felt, provided me with negative insights.

Month's later, teeth fixed, back in work, I bumped into the English guy. I didn't recognize him, until he showed me the scar. We talked a bit, of what was which of late. He suggested a good place to hitch from. With little adieu I trudged on. I had twelve kilometers to walk and wasn't in the mood for hitch hiking. Cold wet and muddy, my head wasn't clear. I walked the concrete path in wet shoes, and ran across cemented teeth with the tongue.

I realized I never thanked him for taking that punch. Nor the Samoans, or the cops, or the ambulance attendants. I had thanked the dentist, who cost too much, and the lady who gave me my beer. Also the bouncer who found my tooth and gave it to me. 'Thank you', I said, and stuck it in.

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