Rims On the Wagon: Chapter 9

Rims on the Wagon:

Chapter 9: The end of the beginning- the beginning of the end

 

Sorry it's been so long. I'm back now. Click here to read chapter 8 if you missed it, or search "Rims on the Wagon chapter 1" to go to the beginning. Moving on, here's chapter 9.

                “Dear people of the Amish faith,” began Preacher James at the ceremony, “you are witnesses here of the charges brought against young Danny Dominici. These charges are charged based on a basis of fact. I am not here to tell you how you should decide his sentence, I am just here to say that this young man is guilty. The aforementioned charges include possession and concealment of a forbidden object of the world and possession and use of occult idols. Here is the evidence against him: the device which he admittedly concealed for over three months, and this occult idol, known to the world as a Pokey Moo toy, which I personally found him using to perform rituals of the occult. What is your verdict?” Danny felt a lump in his throat (not unlike a whale, really) as a slow murmur began in the crowd, which quickly turned into a chant of “AAAAAWWWWWW YYYEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHHH” which was the customary way of voting “guilty” in the community’s legal functions. The words pierced deep  into Danny’s soul. As the outcry reached its peak, the people rushed at Danny to forcefully carry him out of the square. They picked him up and passed him along over their heads through the crowd. As he floated through the sea of angry village people, everything seemed to change. He looked down, and the people weren’t the familiar faces of his hometown. He saw instead a crowd of city rabble, hipsters, and new wave hippies. He immediately realized where he was, as the flashback of his past faded away.

                He was at a concert- his concert. Hundreds of people were there to see him perform. It was the best show in months, and in the excitement he dove into the crowd where he was caught by ready fans who sent him surfing around the arena. It had been two years since he left his hometown, and his dream was beginning to come true. But, unfortunately, I can’t just tell you he lived happily ever after and let you be done with this book. There’s still a lot of story for me to write and for you to read.

                He had walked for three hours to get into the nearest town after being roughly carried out on that 4^th of May. As he was tossed out onto the road to begin his journey, he saw Joseph waiting by the village gate. “May this day always be with you.” Was all that Joseph had said. In the two years since then, May the 4^th had been with him constantly. It haunted his nightmares, and fueled his dreams. It was never so potent, though, as it had been in that concert. That concert was held on the second anniversary of his finding that strange device. It took him several minutes to fully shake off the vision, and the venue went silent as they wondered what was wrong. The show went on, though, and the air was electric. That first free style had inspired him. He developed it into a breakout hit. When he managed to make it back to the stage, he sang that song to end the concert. At that point, the crowd went into a fevered frenzy that would make Mrs. James proud.

                Now, I should probably explain how all this happened. When he arrived in town, he walked around looking for somewhere to stay. He was already exhausted from his morning’s walk, and he soon collapsed on the sidewalk by a small apartment building. He was awakened a few hours later by a young man’s voice, ”Hey. Yo. Get up. What it is with you?” Danny looked up to see a young man (bet you didn’t know that already) with a scruffy red goatee and a shaved head. “What are you doin sleepin on my sidewalk, man?” the young man asked. “You’d best get up before the po po comes and takes you to the happy house for loitering.” “I’m sorry,” Danny replied, “I’ve been walking for hours, and I was too tired to go any farther.” “Well then, homeboy, I’ll see what I can do fer ya.” Said the goateed man. He took Danny into his apartment, and gave him a hot plate of pot roast. The plate was nice enough, and the rice and carrots were delectable, but Danny would quickly find that the beef had roughly the texture of an apple made of meat. However crunchy the beef was, however, Danny devoured it quickly. “Wow, homeboy, you attacked that like a whale shark.” Said Goatee. “Now that you’ve eaten, I should probably introduce myself. I’m Nathaniel. My wife, Chartruse and our baby, Grape should be home in a few minutes.”

                Danny decided to go on a walk around town. He went around the block a few times, then turned down a street towards the middle of town. As he walked past a large grocery store, he saw a commotion inside. He went through the door to see a large crowd of people crowding around a short skinny young man. He was wearing baggy pants which sagged around his knees, a basketball jersey, sunglasses, and what looked like a towel wrapped around his head. He looked to be about seventeen, with short brown hair and a street poet mustache. Danny recognized him immediately. He almost passed out with excitement. He couldn’t believe that in his first day in the city he was about to have a chance to meet M.G. When he found the strange device several months before, M.G. was one of the first rappers he listened to. He immediately fell in love with his stylish beats, his heart felt lyrics, and his powerful voice. M.G. created the best raps Danny had ever heard. As he got closer, he heard M.G. talking, “Man, I see all them TRYIN to hate on me, an’ I sed ‘naw’.”  Every sentence or two, one of his posse would put in a quick “YEAH” or “M.G.!!!!!” as a form of agreement. “I sed ‘naw’, y’all south side wannabes bes’ throw up the towel,” “HEY!!!!!” “An y’all bes’ not mess with this real south side, y’all”. Danny followed at a safe distance. He listened with fascination as M.G. told tale after tale of his experiences in what he called “south side”.