Not a single cloud was in the air, which made it a perfect day to be out in the sun. Having a picnic or going for a swim would be the ideal plan for a day like this. Instead, a small kid wanders through the streets of San Francisco in search of making big money. Standing only three and a half feet tall, this kid looked ordinary, not a single guilt in his eyes. Black slacks, white short sleeved shirt, big glasses, backpack over one of his shoulders, black hair parted directly in the middle, this boy seemed to be headed for school. A tall Chinese looking fellow approached and stood in front of the young kid. The kid reach into his pocket to pull out a small red pocket size envelope and handed it to the older gentleman. The man responded by pulling out a similar envelope and gave it to the kid. Not a word was traded before the young kid continues to roam the streets. The same process resumed for hours until it got unsafe to walk in the streets. The kid goes down to the BART station and rides the train until he reached Berkeley. He walks home, enters his room and counts the bunched hundreds inside his backpack. Outside his room was filled with many people celebrating the Lunar New Year. He did not want any part of the celebration. In search for food, various relatives hand him the same red envelopes, this time his did not respond with an envelope of his own. Once he found enough food, he returned to his room and counted the rest of the cash.
The phone rings, his sister rushes to answer the phone only to hand over to the kid in his room.
“It’s for you,” she says rolling her eyes.
“Hello?” he asked receiving the phone.
“Tek, it’s Junior,” the voice answered, “what’s the point spread on the Lions versus the Niners game?”
“Seven points, you want in?” Tek asks.
“Five thousand on SF,” Junior responds speaking in Vietnamese, “and put another five on the Dolphins.”
“Aiite, I’ll call it in right now, late,” Tek places the phone back on the charger and walks into his brother’s room.
“Ay Hung, Jay wanna put five on Dolphins and five on the Niners,” he tells his brother.
“Aiite, why ta fuck didn’t he jus call my cell?” he never did get the hang of talking perfect English, but he had always tried.
“Got no idea, don’t really give.”
“Fucking dick,” Hung laughs, “Ay, you seen that biche Tommy?”
“Yeah, last week, he was flirting with some girl on Third and Folsom.”
“So he is back in town, he owe me money, I’m gonna look for him.”
“Whatever man, do whatever.”
“Come on, you come wit me,” Hung says as he grabs his black leather jacket and heads for the door, “we going to the pool hall.”
As Hung parks the car, he reaches into the glove compartment and grabs a chromed out nine-millimeter gun. He checks the clip and clocks the head, sticks it into his jacket and exits the car. They enter Town and Country, a local pool hall where all the gangsters and guys with warrants hung out on their free time. Five other guys followed the brothers into the pool hall, all with leather jackets, slicked back hair, black slacks and a white dress shirt. They looked like Hung’s friend Tek had thought, Hung must have called them earlier to come to the pool hall. Just like they thought, Tommy was standing beside a pool table with two other females sitting on stools. He had dressed differently than the rest of Hung’s friends. He wore a blue flannel that was tucked into tight blue jeans, none of the buttons were buttoned up, a white t-shirt was under, but he still had the same slicked back hair. Hung and Tek approached Tommy, the other five guys kept their distance from the brothers. Tommy did not look too happy to see Hung, his right hand started to twitch a bit and his eyes wandered around looking for escape.
“Dai ca,” he says with a nervous voice. Dai ca meant the big boss in Vietnamese and was also a sign of respect of the person.
“Tommy, where’s the twenty g’s you owe me biche?” Hung roared.
“Dai ca, I just got out, I don’t have it now,” Tommy answered with even more jitter in his voice, “please, give me more time.”
“You suppose to gib me ta money befo you went in, biche,” Hung roared louder. The two girls left pretty quickly, some stared with curiosity while others began to see trouble was going to unfold and left the pool hall.
“You know what happens when you don’t pay?” Hung asked sternly.
“Yes Dai ca, but please just give me more time.”
Hung grabs a pool stick and swings it straight at Tommy’s head. The contact resulted in Tommy flying to the ground like thunder, blood leaked out of the side of his head down his ear and neck. Hung then grabs one of the stools and begins to beat Tommy with it. He kicks his stomach and stomps on his head and chest. Tommy was screaming in pain with every blow that Hung gave him. Tommy began to bleed more and more, coughing, crying and screaming. It seemed like forever when Hung was beating Tommy, time appeared to slow down with every single blow, every drop of blood flying through the air and landing on the carpet. It was not too long before Hung’s friends stopped him from killing Tommy. There was a lot of screaming and yelling, some coming from the crowd watching, but most from Hung.
“One month bitch,” Hung shouted in Vietnamese, “One month you piece of shit, son of a bitch.”
Hung and Tek headed straight home, without a word, Hung went inside the bathroom to clean up and change out of his bloody clothes. No one said anything except for their mother yelling about how he is always getting into fights. She never did like the idea that he was hanging out with the wrong crowd. Her yelling continued. It did not seem like there was an end to whatever she had to say. However, the words seem to just linger in the air, not touching a single soul in the room. After all the commotion, the people continued to celebrate as if nothing had happened, guess they were used to it by now.
I know I was definitely used to it, Hung had always been the one who loved to give a good beating. That’s me, Tek, I was eleven years old at the time when the world became a different world for me. Hung had always been going in and out of juvenile hall for various things like stealing, burglary, grand theft auto and assault. He hung out with a bunch of my cousins and other Vietnamese guys in San Francisco’s Chinatown. He had told me once that if I was ever in trouble in Chinatown that I could go to his boss, Johnny Chang, for help. Hung was a member of the local mafia called the Wo Hop To Tong, a Chinese organization who had Vietnamese members. The Chinese never liked the Vietnamese, but they needed them to do all the dirty work for the organization. I was still young, I did not know much about mafias and how they worked, but I knew one thing. Trouble and violence was a way of life, you kill before your enemies can even think of killing you. I never looked up to my brother. He was never in my life, never around. He had always lectured me about hanging out with gangs and shit like that. He threatened to kick my ass if I was ever in a gang, the typical brother bullshit. It was a good thing he was not in my life. He never knew that I myself was in a local mafia. The Black Dragons Association had recruited in Stockton when my boss found me boosting a car with a couple of my friends and cousins.
[Flashback] One year earlier.
“Ay bitch, you awake?” Tin asked me. He was the oldest of our group, all bones and no brains. I did not like him, he was always trying to boss us around, but he never knew what he was doing.
“Yeah motherfucka, I’m awake, stop being so loud,” I responded, “are the others outside?”
“They waiting for your bitch ass,” Tin responded, “hurry your ass up.”
“Shut up,” I said as I punched his gut and climbed out the window.
The rest of the crew was all present waiting outside of Tin’s big house on the safe streets of Stockton. It was midnight and Stockton never knew what had begun in its own neighborhoods. There were five of us total, Tin and myself along with Tin’s young brother, Huy. Huy was different from his brother, a chubby little brat who was constantly whining. He was too scared to do anything alone, but he was always a loyal follower. The twins were two Chinese guys who never had any other friends of their own, they were my loyal followers and they had high respect for me. We did not know their real names, we always called them Twin and Tween, they never seem to mind their personal nicknames.
“Sup dog?” Tween began, “we doing this forreal or what?”
“Hell yeah bitch,” Tin replied. He constantly thinks that he is top dog and that he could do anything.
“Let’s go,” I said, “where is the car at?”
"I scoped out a car on Lindon,” Twin whispered, “Toyota Corolla 1987.”
“Aiite, let’s do this,” I responded quickly.
We walked the street as if we owned it, side by side in the middle of the road. We horsed around and teased chubby Huy all the way to Lindon Road, which was ten blocks away from the house. A white Corolla parked it front of a red brick house. It was easy to tell which one it was since all the other cars were Hondas. I do not know why we picked this car in particular, I mean any car would do, but we decided on a Corolla. The rest of the group have never boosted a car before, this was our first boost. I, on the other hand, had been the watchdog for my brothers a few times while they were stealing cars. I had taken a few notes from the whole experience, so this would be the first time I would have physically attempted to steal a car. We approached the car, chubby stood guard making sure that none of the neighbors saw us boosting. Tin crept along the passenger side ready to start the ignition from his side. Twin and Tween just stood watch behind me taking a glimpse of mastery first hand. It did not seem simple, but it came with ease. I stuck a flat head into the keyhole real hard breaking the interior lock and turned the screwdriver to unlock the door. Tween and Twin grabbed the back seat and let Tin in the car. Tin shoved a bigger flat head into the ignition keyhole with a hard twist and the car started. I put the car in drive and steered toward Huy and picked him up. It was a little tough since I was a bit smaller than the rest, but that was not a problem. A modified shoe made it a bit easier to reach the pedal, but it was still hard to steer such a huge thing like a car at ten. Our tires screeched and the car swerved constantly, I was always trying to regain control of the car, but luckily no one heard us. I finally got the handle on things and we drove the car to a near by railroad and parked. The cops are usually not around our area since it was a safe neighborhood and nothing really occurs at night.
“Take the stereo,” Tin yelled, always trying to take control. Shit, I did all the fucking work. “Open the trunk and see what’s inside.”
“We fucking stole a car yall,” Huy gasped, I swear I thought that he was going to cry right there, “we fucking stole a car.”
“Fucking shut up already,” Twin shrieked, “goddamn wimp.”
“Yeah,” Tween agreed.
“Let’s go,” I ordered, “get all tha shit and let’s go.”
I tried to show all of the boys that I was calm, however, my heart was beat faster than the speed of sound. Maybe it was the adrenaline rush or something, but I felt that I had accomplished something great. My mind was focused on getting all of home safely without trouble or being caught. I figured that panic would get us nowhere, but in jail. I do not know exactly how I did everything, it was like everything came to me naturally and I was able to contain a slightly clear mind. If my parents or my brothers found out that I boosted a car I would be totally fucked. Once out of the car, my heart slowed a bit because I knew I was out of the car and able to take a quick dash somewhere. My eyes wandered everywhere constantly searching, questioning every shadow that I saw. Something always looked like it was moving or walking by. The whole three minutes that I stood there, I felt that I smelled people coming toward us, that we were the targets, so I hurried along real fast.
We grabbed a couple of leather jackets that were under a suitcase in the trunk. They were obviously too big for us to wear, but maybe we could sell it for some money. The pull out stereo and the face along with sunglasses and the car speakers were taken out of the Corolla. We slowly walked away from the car with great confidence, not even taking a peek over our shoulders. We were now the bad-asses of Stockton, we have boosted our first car, our first crime and were damn proud of it.
“Hey, someone is over there!” Huy exclaimed, I knew he would be a good watchdog, “run!!”
“Fuck, let’s go” Tin said as he started to dash across the railroad tracks.
“Shit, shit, shit,” Tween kept repeating.
“Don’t trip,” I said, “act like nothing happen and shit.”
“That’s a fucking good job boosting that car at your age kids,” a voice in the shadows whispered.
“Fuck!” Huy gasped.
“Ay, I won’t tell no one aiite?” The voice began saying in Vietnamese, “Don’t trip, I’m on your side.”
A skinny guy stepped out of the shadows. He was not much bigger than us, even looked like a kid himself. We looked at each other as if we regained some confidence through numbers and that maybe we would be faster running then he would be. He had his hands in the air as if he was surrendering to a bunch of small kids. What he was doing in the shadow this late at night never did occur to run through our minds. For a second we felt fear and then we felt ruthless. We had just boosted a car, we are bad-asses, nothing can stop us now, not even this little dick head that is standing in front of us.
“I’m not going to hurt you kids, but you looks like some good kids,” he began to speak to us in a calm voice, “what are you doing boosting cars?”
“None of your fucking business!” Tin exclaimed, trying to show off his control over the situation.
“I’m not talking to you,” he pointed his finger at me, “I’m talking to him.”
Dumbfounded, I looked around and said, “what?”
“Yeah you, what are you kids doing boosting cars?”
“Nothing, it was just for fun, are you going to do something about it?”
“Naw, never came to my mind, I’m no rat?”
“Rat?”
“I won’t tell anyone.”
“Oh, then why talk to us? Why not just let us go and mind your business?”
“This is my business, you are boosting cars in my territory?”
“Huh?” I got confused.
“This is my area, I do all my business here, so whatever you do here is my business too.”
“Um, you going to do something to us then?” I asked with fear in my chest and voice.
“Nope.”
“Then what?”
“I’m looking for some kids just like you.”
“What you mean?” I got more and more confused as the conversation continued.
“I’m looking for kids to boost cars for me.”
“What for?”
“You sure do ask a lot of questions, but it’s aiite. How about this, here’s my number give me a call and I’ll tell you later.”
He handed us a business card with a phone number, his name was nicely written in the middle, Huynh Tran. We all walked away as if the whole incident did not faze us, just a little scratch on our shoulders. After a few steps we started to run for home, we did not want to stay out too late and be suspicious. I was thinking of throwing away the card, I bet Huynh thought I would do that too, but for some reason I did not. A calling maybe, no, it could not be, I was too young for a calling. Maybe I wanted something bigger than boosting cars, at that moment we all felt bigger than the world itself. We climbed back into our respected windows. I knew I would see the rest of the crew for a few days since my parents were not going to return to Berkeley for a week. I could not sleep that night. The whole incident kept repeating itself through my mind. I believe for a quick second in the night I smiled.
A couple of days went by without seeing Twin or Tween, it takes them a while to sell the stolen goods to people. However, we met up again during the hot afternoon just to hang around the neighborhood. We walked our usual route down Fourth Street looking all badass and real tough. For a bunch of little Asian kids who were not even four feet tall, we surely acted like adults. The group approached three white kids on the sidewalk, they looked about the same age, but definitely taller. The tallest kid was scrawny, he was wearing a skin-tight purple shirt with a picture of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle on it, blue jeans so tight his nuts could not breathe and a fake stick on tattoo on his right arm of a small dagger. The kid in the middle wore a blue shirt with a couple white strips on the sleeves, an old colts shirt I think. He repeatedly tossed a football into the air with a little spiral spin. The last kid was the shortest out of the three and he wore a plain white shirt and tight blue jeans. We thought that they looked really silly and giggled as we passed by them. The middle kid intentionally bumped Tin in the arm. It was a bad idea because Tin is known for a very short temper.
“What the fuck?” Tin shouted, “watch where you are walking.”
“You watch where you are walking,” the tall kid replied, “ching ching chong wa.”
“What bitch?” we all shouted.
They walked faster, turned around repeating the words ching chong ching chong. At this point, we all became very angry at the remarks shouted at us. It was a unanimous decision that we had to show them we were not weaker than them. I do not remember who made the first blow after we chased after them. I was beating the middle kid, socking his jaw repeatedly, kicking him and stomping him. I could remember how his jaw would move slightly to the right as my fist forced itself upon his sweaty face. Sweat was flying and even drops of blood fell upon my shirt, I gained more anger and kept punching and kicking. It was apparent that I was the only one beating up this kid. The other had their hands full with the other two kids. The taller kid knew how to fight a little bit. He tossed Twin to the side and pushed Tween backwards who fell to his butt. The kid then sat on top of Tween and punched his face repeatedly. Blow after blow, Tween head swayed left and right. Twin seemed to be knocked out after the impact he had with the cement wall. Tween was in trouble, I had to help him and the kid I was beating up was not going to go anywhere. It happened so fast as I pierced through the air running toward the tall kid. My hand quickly pulled out a chrome butterfly knife with a dragon engraving on the side. It twirled around revealing a three-inch long blade and with a shine of the chrome its swiftness made contact with the kid’s side under the rib cage area. I pulled the knife out before any blood was shed as I felt a push from behind and we all started to run. There was lots of shouting as we ran away from the scene. I could not exactly make out what everyone was saying. All I could hear was mumble and all I could see were lips moving and air blowing by us as we ran. I do not remember how we ended up at the railroad, but Huynh was there as if he never left from two days ago. I was still holding the knife as we approached him. My friends explained the whole ordeal because I became speechless.
“Du ma, ruthless little bitch, du ma?” Huynh said. Du ma meant motherfucker in Vietnamese, everyone used it and it always came in the beginning and the end of a sentence.
“Shit shit shit, fucking shit,” chubby Huy repeatedly, I bet his heart was racing faster than mine.
“What should we do?” Tin took control.
“Come in this house with me,” Huynh answered, “we’ll clean things up.”
We all agreed to go to a red house that looked a little beat up. All the windows were all were blocked out by curtain and dark black tint. We all went straight to the kitchen where I cleaned up all the blood that was on my hands. I still have not mentioned a word to anyone that was around me.
“You alright kid?” Huynh asked.
“Uh, yeah,” I finally spoke.
“You look like a ghost,” Huynh noticed I was pale, “it’ll be alright, you are safe here.”
“What is this place,” Tin asked with lots of curiosity.
“This is my safe house,” Huynh explained, “Whenever kids like you get into trouble they could come here, you could stay here as long as you want, do what you want. Here, let me show you around.”
The first room that he showed us had six kids a little older than we were sitting on the couch playing video games. Once the saw us coming into the room the paused the game and all said dai ca, showing respect to Huynh. In another room there were more kids watching television and smoking cigarettes and weed. A couple of the rooms look like just ordinary bedrooms, there were plenty of sleeping bags on the floor and there was no bed in sight. There was a pretty big kitchen and a couple of bathrooms in which everyone shared. All the guys seem to be pleased that they could do anything they wanted here. I knew that this was the beginning of something bigger than us, but I did not care. I was still partially psyched and scared from the whole fighting incident that seeing myself hanging out here would not happen. Plus, I lived in Berkeley, I was not going to stay in Stockton all the time without my parents knowing and my dad would kick my ass if he found out I was here. Huynh had asked where we were all from, I told him that I lived in San Francisco so that he would not know where I lived exactly. He told me that there were a couple of house like the one we were in located in San Francisco as well and all I had to do was call him. At this very moment, I knew we became apart of something bad, but we did not care because we felt that we were bigger than the world. Nothing was going to stop the fearsome five from accomplishing anything. We will beat anyone we want, steal anything we want and do anything we want, we were in the big times.
[End Episode]
