Friday, September 4, 2009
Big Joe's Funeral
Baddest Dog In Harlem
Fighter
Angela's Eyes
Angela Luz Colon's father just past away not too long ago. But she was in as much grief as her mother, Theresa. Angela would take walks in the park and go to school but that was before she started to get dreams about people on 145th street. Her first dream was about an old man who worked in Mr.Rodrigez Bodega, Poli.
As the day passed by, Angela stopped by Mr.Rodrigez's bodega. She stopped in front of the window, she saw Poli sorting out the tomatoes. Her eyes started to become watery as she continued to stare at Poli. Mr.Rodrigez was curious of her watery eyes. So, Angela told him about her dream of Poli. She had a dream that she was at school when her father stepped into the classroom, expect it wasnt her father. It was Poli standing in front of her classmates. As Angela told her dream , Poli and a women stopped to listen Angela tell her dream. Once she was done, they looked in The Black Cat Book to see what numbers to play. The dream about the school was 3-5-6, Poli's house number. The next numbers was 2-3-7, Angela's house number. And the last numbers were 0-6-5, for Angela's father's recent death.
The next day, Poli played those numbers and forgot them. Mr.Rodrigez also played the same numbers but had no luck, and then Poli pasted away. Thats when people started talking. A man named Jorge Cruz said that when a man dies violently, they leave their eyes with their child. Angela was an only child, she her eyes are her fathers eyes. Jorge words got out quick, and people started avoiding Angela. People on 145th street feared Angela's ability to see people's death. Mr.Rodrigez did not like that fact that everyone only talked to Angela to her about her dreams. He thought she was a good girl, and her dreams had nothing to do with peoples death, it was coincidence.
It was Christmas, and as usual, Mr.Rodrigez threw a party for his good friends, and best customers. During the party, Titi Sanchez gave Angela the biggest burden. She tells Angela to stop staring at her, Titi feared Angela's ability. She didn't want to be the next one to die. Mr.Rodrigez couldn't take people treating Angela the way they did, so he tried to find a way to prove peoples' death was a coincidence. He had Angela asked Consuela Ortiz to show Angela her pain, and to ask her if she saw anything. Angela did not see Consuela's future, she was so relieved. They solved the problem and said Angela was dreaming about a war, that explained the reason why deaths were happening. Angela was left alone, and went back to her daily routine.
The Streak
Jamie Farrell misses a shot during a big time basket ball game and it changes his reputation. His best friend, Froggy, believes his luck changed from good to bad but then switches around to bad to good. He called it a streak, the number of bad things that happened will be the number of good things that will happen before his luck goes back to normal. Jamie missed a shot and he couldn't see what he did wrong. Everyone started treating him differently, like he was a big failure. Froggy wasn't into sports, so he didn't really know how to relate to Jamie. Froggy's advice was to forget it and move on, but even worse things started happening. The second incident was when Jamie dropped his glass bottle of Wonder Ade on the locker room floor. Everyone in the locker room had to tip toe to get to their lockers.
On the next day, Jamie and Froggy walk to their biology class together and on their way to class they stop in front of a Junior Dance poster. As they were staring at the poster, Celia Evora slaps the back of Jamie's head. She was angry at him for missing the shot. In biology class, Jamie broke the slide he was suppose to use for his project, which counted for 25 percent of his grade. He tried to explain to his biology teacher, Mr.Willis, but he didn't believe any word that came out of his mouth. Mr.Willis put a big red 0 next to Jamie's name. He wanted to give up, he wanted to go home and hide under his bed until the year 3000. Froggy tried to convince Jamie about him being a Streaker, but Jamie kept institing that he did not believe in luck and "the streak". The bell rung for the next class and Jamie grabbed Froggy's milk carton and threw it at the center of the can, but it ended up on Maurice DuPre's lap instead. Maurice had a height of 6 feet, and he had more fingers and toes then his IQ number. Once Maurice stood up, Jamie was out of that cafteria before he could touch him.
Jamie ran home as fast as he could, but on his way home he stopped by a fast food place and ordered. His food was cooked, but when he was getting his wallet, he suddenly remembers putting it in his locker after lunch. He tried to argue with the lady, saying his food was no good, and ran. When he arrived home, he ran up to him room, and locked the door. As he was sitting in his room he receives a call from his english teacher, Mr.Bradley, but as he rushed to the phone he hit his ankle on a dumbbell. Mr.Bradley called to inform him that he failed his English test, big time. His luck was turning really bad.
Jamie went downstairs to the kitchen to get some ice for his ankle, when his sister, Ellen, came home. Ellen and Jamie fought all the time, but during their fight Jamie's luck turns backwards. He went to the fridge to get an egg to throw at his sister for being so annoying, but instead tosses it in the sink. The egg doesn't land in the sink, but in the egg carton. His luck suddenly went from bad to good, so he called Froggy and they counted how many bad things happened. They counted 7 minus the egg was 7. He had 7 good things coming his way, his priority was asking Celia to the dance before his luck ran out. His luck was starting to go away, he had only one good luck left, and he used it on a basketball game to make the winning shot. He was so sad, because he wasn't able to ask Celia to the dance. But Celia shows up at the dance and asks Jamie to be her date. His luck was not going away after all.
Monkeyman
Monkeyman was quiet, he liked reading books and he kept a lot of things to himself. He was called Monkeyman because he would go to the park, climb up trees and read. Monkeyman was the kind of person who didn't get in your business unless you were in his. On his way home, he saw one of the Tigros, a hood gang, and Peaches fighting. Peaches won the fight, but as he continued walking two of Lady Tigros came after Peaches and held a blade up to her. Monkeyman defended her, but he noticed that one of them went to his school. The Lady Tigros that went to the same school as him warned the entire Tigros gang and everyone knew he was in huge trouble.
At school the next day, there were signs all over the school, saying MONKEYMAN MUST DIE and MONKEYMAN GOT TO FALL! The Tigros gang was really upset, but they waited to make their move on Monkeyman. Everyone got together to talk about the situation of the Tigros gang, Peaches suggested they tell the police, but that was too dangerous. The only solution was for him to get a gun, they respected guns. Two weeks pasted since he saved Peaches from the Lady Tigros, within those 2 weeks a new guy comes into the Tigros gang. His name was Clean, his story was that he came from L.A and was with a gang called Crips. Fee, a friend of the Monkeyman, looked at his school record and found out Clean was really from a place in California called Lompoc. Clean was practically making up his story. He started hanging out with some people who introduced him to The Tigros.
Before you can get into any gang, you'd have to prove yourself. Clean didn't know how to prove himself, until he heard of the Monkeyman. He brought a knife to school to get back at the Monkeyman but was caught and was suspended. Since he was suspended, he would just wait for Monkeyman in front of the school. He confronted him, and told him to bring his whole gang and they'd fight in Jackie Robinson Memorial Park at 11 o'clock. Monkeyman had called him out in front of everyone, his friends and the Tigros gang. Monkeyman's friends didn't know what to do. So, they showed up at the park without Monkeyman and went to defend him. Monkeyman showed up a couple of minutes later with his grandfather and his godmother. He didn't come with a gun or a knife or something to protect him. His plan was to stand up to Clean, his friends thought he was crazy. He could die if he lets them just attack him with no weapon. But Clean wasn't brave enough to ambush him, and just walked away. The Tigros never bothered Monkeyman, Peaches or any of his other friends.
Kitty & Mack : A Love Story
Mack was athletic, he played baseball and ran track in the winter. Most people on 145Th street played basketball, but he was into baseball and track. Mack played left field for Ralph Bunche Academy, the couch of the track team kept him on the team in case he wanted to show up for a meet. He was a star, the couches loved him, but his attitude wasn't the best. Teachers gave him C's when they would've given him P's for pitiful. He was smart, but he acted as if he didn't care about his grades.
He was a senior at Ralph Bunche Academy, it was the first week of senior year when he met Kitty. She was the granddaughter of Duke Wilson, he owned the barbershop on 145Th street across from the church. Everyone expected her to be smart, since her grandfather was Mr.Wilson, but she wasn't just smart, she was a genius. She was just into books as Mack was into baseball, she was a 16 year old senior. During the first week of school, their English teacher had them write a poem to someone they admire. Kitty wrote her poem to Mack, and he was deadly in love with her after she recited her poem in front of the class.
Kitty and Mack went out for a while but she was curious if he loved her. He did, and started planning his life. While she was getting her law degree, he was playing major league baseball. Until the day before Christmas, two guys were running down the street. The ran across Powell Avenue, almost got hit by a cab, the cab swerved but stopped before hitting a guy on a delivery path. A black mustang drove by and started shooting, someone screamed DRIVE BY and everyone hit the ground. The guy on the delivery path was Mack, the guys in the mustang injured him. He was rushed to the hospital in time to take the 2 bullet out of his ankle. The 2 bullets took his whole foot out, Mack was so devastated. His whole life plan went down the drain, he couldn't play ball anymore.
After he was admitted home he didn't want to talk to anyone, even Kitty. He told his mom to not let her in the house.Kitty didn't know what to do, so she stayed at her grandfathers barbershop until Mack came down. She didn't care about school, she only wanted to take care of Mack. She was only 16 she still has more time to go to college and get her law degree. Mr.Wilson loved her and couldn't kick her out so he left her stay.
Mack never came down until one day, his friend, Peewee, called and told him that Kitty was not going to school, he told her she needed his help. So, he finally went downstairs and talked to her. He didn't know what to do anymore, and neither did Kitty, but that didn't stop her from loving him.