Bugsy the Clown: Part 6

Bugsy the Clown: Part 1/ Bugsy the Clown: Part 2/ Bugsy the Clown: Part 3/ Bugsy the Clown: Part 4/ Bugsy the Clown: Part 5

Part 6

   It’s been two years. I get into trouble at school too often. Uncle Leo thought Kung Fu would get me disciplined. I go there everyday after school. I have to say my boxing background helps me out. My devotion to Master Hsin’s teachings helps me move up higher in grades, faster than most. 

   Master Hsin has owned his school of martial arts for over twenty years. It’s the best in town. He’s a rather small man, by the look of him you wouldn’t guess that he’s a Kung Fu master but his knowledge of the art is ancient, passed down from father to son for innumerable generations.  

   I have the privilege of being able to say he is a good confidant of mine, I trust his advice and he gives me valuable insight. I often stay after classes to talk with him about what’s troubling me. He’s encouraging and I’m lucky he’s around because Uncle Leo’s rather busy these days. I’ve been able to control my temper and concentrate on finishing my studies with Master Hsin’s help. I don’t know what he sees in me but he’s given particular care for my well being. Maybe he sees right through me and knows without me ever having told him … how my father … how he …    

   However, for every good there must be an equally powerful evil, balance as they say. Shan Tsai, the son of the notorious businessman Huo Yuanjia, who for the last ten years has seized control of all downtown, studies as harshly as I do. Shan Tsai and I have what many would call an unhealthy rivalry. He competes ferociously to match everything, or most often surpass what I know. He pays particular attention to me, but not the kind of attention one likes or desires. For every good comment I’ll get in class, he’ll make sure I leave the dojo with my head down, discouraged with his insults. I’m too good at kung fu for a white man and he sees it as a disgrace. Master Hsin is smart enough to keep us apart during sparring.   

   The economy revolves around Huo Yuanjia’s business but everybody else seems to suffer from it while his family flourishes. Shan is a spoiled brat with the power and money backing him to do what he pleases. I know little about Shan Tsai outside of classes but aside from his stooges, nobody goes near him, maybe it’s the family reputation. We hate each other and yet know so little of one another, yet my gut feeling is that this guy is rotten, rotten to the core.  

   Blur.    

   Uncle Leo gave me a job, got me to be responsible for myself. I work at the docks for his company on week-ends. I drive a lift, move crates around. It’s nothing too hard, gets me a small pay.    

   Finished school. Work full time for Leo. Don’t really call him “uncle” anymore around work, don’t want to sound like a sissy around the guys. I’ve got just enough to get my own place now. It’s an old apartment with this great big window that opens up on the street outside. I love to sit a my kitchen table, I set it right next to the window and I look sometimes for an hour or two at the people walk about and live out a life that seems so much more calm than mine. There’s these kids holding their parents’ hands and they’re smilin’ and everything. They’re all neatly dressed and seem to have all the hopes in the world. I usually stop looking when it gets me thinking about how messed up my upbringing was. And then I think, can I still have a chance at experiencing the happiness that this kid has? Is it too late for me? Regrets overwhelm me.    

   Blur. ‘Richard Nooooooooooo! Stop hitting him!’ Blur.