Chapter Twenty-Five
Leigh wasn’t sure how to proceed after Enrique shared that piece of information, so she simply played the game in silence for a few minutes. Finally, her curiosity and desire to better understand the man sitting before her got the better of her, and she pushed to explore the topic.
“When you say they saved your life, what do you mean?” Her words were gentle and a bit hesitant. Enrique knew she wasn’t trying to pry but genuinely wanted to know. If he wasn’t comfortable sharing, he just had to say so, and he knew she would back off.
For some inexplicable reason, he wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her it all, so that Leighann would know him as well as her brother Curtis did, better even.
He continued playing the game, giving his hands and eyes something to do while he told his story .
“When I first arrived at the boy’s home, it wasn’t under the best circumstances. The nuns and priest who ran it didn’t want me there and made that perfectly clear. I would put fuel on the fire of some of the other boys they had finally wrangled into order and they didn’t need another one like me tipping the scales. Child services reminded them that they received public funds and had room, so they had to take me. I heard all of this, and on top of everything else that had happened, it made me angry. It’s pretty bad when even the nuns don’t want you. Aren’t they supposed to try and save everyone?”
Enrique shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t care but Leigh could see that it still bothered him, her heart ached for him. She didn’t even know the full story and yet she wanted to hug him and tell him that he was wanted now.
“Anyway, my past as a thief got out, and it was used against me. Some of the other boys had sticky fingers, and when things turned up missing, they pinned it on me. It was easy for the nuns to believe, given my record, so I regularly got the switch or ruler, depending on which nun was administering the punishment. I never snitched, but whenever I had the opportunity, I got revenge. Eventually, the other boys got together and decided to put me in my place. They gave me the beating of a lifetime. The only problem was that it wasn’t my first, and I had survived far worse. There is no beating like that administered by the gangs on the streets. If you can survive that, no schoolboy beating you in the locker room is going to kill you. So, I gave as good as I got, paid attention to who delivered what, and plotted my revenge again. Things kept escalating until, eventually, Fernando declared that I was one of his brothers, and if anyone tried to mess with me again, they would answer to all of them. That included my brother Gabe, who was massive even as a kid, so the threat was real. All the boys were terrified of Gabe due to something that happened when he first arrived. So, my things were moved to the corner of the dorm my brothers occupied, and they welcomed me into the family. The only problem was they didn’t ask me, and I wasn’t interested. I didn’t need the protection of some snot-nosed kid and his jolly green giant. No thanks. Well, that rejection didn’t sit well with my brother Julio, who, unbeknownst to me, grew up on the same streets I did. When he decided to beat some sense into me, it was for real, and he fought like I was used to, dirty and for blood. So, we scrapped. Fernando let it go on for a little while until he realized we were evenly matched and equally angry for different reasons, and we were likely going to kill each other. He had worked hard to reform Julio, and I was bringing the street out in him again. Gabe broke us up and pretty much sat on me until I calmed down. Fernando talked my ear off about family and a bunch of other nonsense, but it was in one ear and out the other. Julio and I scrapped at least a dozen more times, each one broken up by Gabe. I thought for sure those idiots would get the hint and leave me alone, but it didn’t happen, and one day, when the other boys came after me, Julio, Gabe, and even Fernando stood by me. When we were all hauled down to the priest’s office for our punishment, I thought for sure they would rat me out and say good riddance, but they didn’t. They took the punishment right along with me. This time, it wasn’t just a whipping, but service hours too. They made us dig a ditch out behind the home. It had to be a hundred degrees that summer, and yet every day, they were out there with me swinging a shovel, never complaining. Well, Julio complained. He let me know loud and clear that the whole thing was my fault and I needed to fall in line. It still didn’t make a significant impact until later that week when I overheard the priest and head nun talking to Fernando. They told him that he was a good kid with a bright future, but if he kept associating himself with the bad boys, then he was going to wind up just like them. He thanked them for their concern and wisdom, but you never turn your back on your family and those boys were his family now. He believed we could change and have a bright future, and he would appreciate it if they didn’t give up on us because he didn’t plan to, and someday, they would all see what good men we would become. The priest laughed, but the nun blessed him for being an honorable child and said she would pray for him. It was at that moment I decided I liked the kid and would be proud to be his brother. That night after dinner, I told them all I was in, but our little band of misfits needed a name. Julio understood having come from the streets... where being part of something meant colors and signs and tags. You weren’t anything until people recognized those things and respected or feared them. So, I decided we were going to be called the Bad Boys Club, BBC for short. Fernando instantly balked, Gabe didn’t care either way, and Julio and I dug it, so no matter how loud Fernando squawked, the name stuck. We were already halfway to our recognition because the entire staff had already referred to us as the bad boys. Now that would have meaning and be a point of pride and validation.”
“Poor Fernando,” Leigh exclaimed. “He was working so hard to reform you guys, and you just found a way to solidify your difficult behavior.”
Her empathy was showing, and Enrique loved that she instantly felt for her brother Fernando. “Looking back, Fernando was a saint for putting up with us. You’re right; it gave Julio and me something from our street days to hold onto, and yes, I think Fernando was worried we wouldn’t come around, but he had a secret weapon.”
“Your brother Gabe?” Leigh asked confused.
“Well, yes. Gabe always agreed with Fernando. Gabe is loyal to a fault—we all are, really. Fernando would have made an excellent Gandhi or King. He is patient, peaceful, wise, kind, and really the best human being that I know. But in this case, I am referring to Colin McKenzie, the fireman. Colin was the fireman who found Fernando the day he was abandoned on the Firehouse steps. Over the years, they formed a powerful bond, and he was Fernando’s father figure. As Fernando took more and more boys under his wing, so did McKenzie and his fire squad. Every Saturday, he signed us out and fed us pancakes at the firehouse. We learned how to do simple tool repair and maintenance, we helped wash the trucks, you name it. Those men demonstrated what goodness was. I, for one, had never experienced it. McKenzie always took Fernando off to the side for a little one-on-one, no doubt catching up on all the problems I had caused, and then at some point during the day, we would talk, and he would give me some advice. I was resentful at first, but over the years, I grew to appreciate it. Over time, the street ran thinner and thinner in my blood, and my BBC brotherhood ran thicker. Soon, I didn’t want to do anything that would hurt them or bring them shame, but it took a great deal of time and patience to get me to that point.”
“That is amazing! And you are all still close now that you are adults?” Leigh had stopped playing the game halfway through the story, her attention squarely on the man in front of her.
“Yes, we are legally brothers now,” Enrique replied, pride resonating in his voice.
“What? But how? Did some wonderful family actually adopt all of you? That is amazing!” The joy on her face was contagious. The fact that it made her so happy to think such a thing could occur for him and his brothers warmed his heart.
Enrique chuckled, “Ha, no. We were unadoptable. Well, Fernando wasn’t, but every time someone showed interest in him, he refused unless they took us all. Two families actually requested his brothers be brought down so they could meet us, but when they saw the rag-tag crew that we were, they hit the door running. We actually adopted each other. It is a long story, but we didn’t want to just be a found family; we wanted to be a real one. Anthony got with a family lawyer and somehow made it happen. It was pretty amazing, and I don’t think any of us has ever regretted it.”
“So, do you all have the same last name now?”
“That was a long discussion, but no. We almost adopted Johnson as our family name. Anthony had a good family, one to be proud of, well, almost. His mother was amazing but died. His family wouldn’t take him in. He wasn’t bitter about it but also didn’t feel that Johnson was his legacy. We talked about using a totally new name, one that we chose, but then Fernando argued that we didn’t form the family to become something new but to show that we accepted each other for the people that we are. Our last names were part of our identity, and changing our last name didn’t make us family. Our decision to do it did. He had a slightly different outlook on names, as he didn’t even know what his family name was. He was found with a bracelet that said Santos on it and a document that said Fernando. The firemen and child services used those two pieces to name him. It didn’t really matter to most of us, but it did to Fernando, so we kept our names. Most of us didn’t have middle names, so we all decided to take on the same middle name.”
“How did you determine what it would be?” Leigh was enthralled by his story, and he found it interesting how curious she was.
“Well, you would think we put more effort into it than we did, but we just took Gabriel’s name. He was the only one with a middle name, and his last name was cool, so we all decided that for him not to have to give up one of his names, we needed to take one of his. His middle name is Michael. I know it’s a little weird that he’s named after not one but two archangels, and his last name is Knight. Fernando was always going on and on about how we needed to defend the innocent and less fortunate, and he read us stories at night like Ivanhoe. So, it made sense to us to use Knight. Now, my name is Enrique Knight Rodriguez. I think it’s pretty cool.”
The whole thing kind of blew Leigh’s mind. It was such a strange and unique story but one that made so much sense to the man she was coming to know.
“Can you tell me about your parents? Did you know them?”
“Um, you’re not ready for that particular story yet. Why don’t you tell me about you and Curtis? I have heard a little bit of his side of the story, but I wonder what your take is on being raised by your older brother. We have that in common, you know. I was raised from fourteen on by my brother Anthony and his wife Hannah.”
“Really, I have to hear how that happened. You definitely have an unusual story for someone who grew up in an orphanage. I’ll give you a break and share some of my story first. Don’t get too comfortable, though. Mine is nowhere near as interesting as yours.”