LIGHT-WEIGHT

LIGHT-WEIGHT

“I WILL BREAK YOUR FACE!” Riley screamed in righteous indignation as she squared off against the bully.

“Oh yeah?” Marcus mocked her. “You and what army? Just walk away, Scrawn. I don’t have time for this.”

“Important meeting he’s gotta get to,” his two friends scoffed from nearby. “That lunch money don’t just jump into our pockets!” The pair on the sideliines cracked up, while Marcus sneered.

“D’ya get it, little girl? Stop messing around in my business or someone,” He lunged forward suddenly, and punched his meaty fist into this other hand with a horrifying crack, “is gonna get hurt.”

Riley was proud of the fact that she hadn’t flinched from his startling movements, and she lifted her chin defiantly in his face. “That someone will be you if you pick on Andy again.” Her voice had dropped into as menacing a whisper as she could manage.

She grinned as she saw Mrs. Williams come running around the corner to the back of the group home. For once, Riley had gotten in the last word. She smiled mockingly up at the much bigger boy and waved goodbye, just as Mrs. Williams called his name.

The trio of jerks dissipated at the sight of an authority figure, like the cowards they truly were. Riley turned back to Andy, a younger boy who was small for his age, making him a frequent target of the bullies at the Clairmont House Group Home.

“Are you alright, little man?” She asked with concern.

“I am NOT a little man!” He spat ferociously at her.  “And I can take care of myself!”

Riley froze, her concerned face melting into her blank face. The ‘blank face’ was a look that Riley had honed over the years since her mother had died and she’d been sent to live in various orphanages. Of course, no one called them orphanages anymore; they were now ‘Residential Institutions’ or ‘Group Homes,’ but all of the kids who were unlucky enough to inhabit one knew the truth. They were place-holders for kids who had no parents, no love, and, more often than not, no future.

Riley had run away from a few of them, but she had to admit that at least this place tried to keep itself and the kids clean, and it genuinely attempted to keep the kids from hurting one another on the premises. There were group activities and members of the community came regularly to speak to the children about future jobs and how to develop the skills necessary to acquire them. ‘Stay in school’ was repeated so often that Riley often heard it in her sleep. But what was the point, Riley’s subconscious would reply. There was no future for her.

Even though she secretly loved her math classes, Riley knew that she had no chance at a career. The truth that she’d never admitted out loud to anyone was that she actually liked to fight. She did NOT like to hurt people, nothing like that. She got a huge thrill out of boxing, mixed martial arts, that kind of fighting. The aggressive, raw competition brought out some of her best qualities – her ferocity and sense of fairness.

Mrs Williams and the other adults who worked at Clairmont watched over the children as best they could, but the older ones, like Riley, Marcus and his friends, were able to spend a couple of hours after school each day doing whatever they wanted. 

Marcus and company liked to hang out near middle schools so that they could refine their amateur thuggery skills against younger kids when they were released from class each day. Riley, however, had a completely different schedule.

It was a secret, which was a difficult thing to keep at a place where you had virtually no privacy. But every day after school let out, Riley ran almost half a mile down the road to a gym club that had punching bags and a sparring ring. She didn’t have any money, but the young couple who owned the place liked her spirit, especially her sense of fair play, and they graciously allowed her to spend as much time there as she wanted.

Nicolle and Rico even gave her lessons when they didn’t have clients who demanded their attention. Lately, they’d been working with her on what kinds of hits were considered fair in the ring, and which were ‘below the belt.’

She wished she was at the gym now. Instead, she watched Andy and his friends stalk away from her. They muttered under their breaths about not needing a girl to protect them. Speaking of not fair, Riley thought, as she blinked, deliberately unclenched her jaw and exhaled slowly.

“Riley!” Mrs Williams called. Great, Riley thought sarcastically, those ungrateful little punks got me in trouble, didn’t they? She sighed. Although neither she nor Marcus had thrown a single punch, Riley looked crumpled and dirty. She usually did; by choice, it allowed her to keep from attracting too much attention at school. 

When her long, blondish braids were untangled and clean, her honey-coloured hair fell in soft waves around her shoulders. When her hair was clean and she wore pretty clothes, she was hugely uncomfortable with the attention that she received from people. Her disguise was both cheaper and easier to maintain. Perfect combination, as far as she was concerned.

“Riley?” The group home administrator patted her shoulder gently and smiled, bringing her out of her reverie.

“Ah, yes, ma’am, I’m really sorry about that, ma’am, it won’t happen again,” she started, but Mrs Williams put her hands up to stop her, and surprisingly, she smiled, albeit a bit nervously.

“No, no, dear, it’s nothing like that. It’s just,” she paused for a moment and shifted her feet, running her hands through her short hair like she did when she was excited. “I was hoping that you could come inside for a little bit,” her eyes ran over Riley’s appearance, and her hands began to brush the worst of the dust off without thought.

What is going on? Riley wondered, starting to get a bit nervous herself.

“There is a lovely couple here who would like to meet you, Riley.”

*****

Fifteen minutes later, Riley was wearing her cleanest jeans and hoodie and was ushered into one of the small, comfortably furnished rooms that existed for just this reason. Someone, or some couple, had an interest in meeting a kid.

Riley’s nerves had shot into the stratosphere at Mrs Williams’ pronouncement, but the more she thought about it, the more she thought that it must be some kind of mistake. A clerical error, perhaps. Older children almost never got adopted. 

Older kids who had a penchant for fighting almost always ended up dropping out of school and ending up in jail as soon as they were eighteen. That was the career arc that Riley expected for herself: prison, not a nice new home with people who cared about whether or not she got a hot meal.

The moment she entered the room and laid eyes on the Collins’, she knew without a doubt that there’d been a mistake. They looked like they were in their late 30s, extremely well-dressed and…nervous.

Wait, why would they be nervous?

“Riley,” the man stood, smiled and reached out his hand. “I’m LaMarcus and this is my wife, Keisha. We’ve been hearing about you for a while now from some friends of ours; Rico and Nicolle down at the gym on Olsen Street?”

Riley was stunned. They knew her. They were here to see her on purpose. They knew about her secret.

The tall, elegant woman beside him rose and shook Riley’s hand as well. “I’m an orthopaedic surgeon down at St Luke’s, and LaMarcus is a retired boxer.” Her lips rose into a warm smile. “I’ll give you one guess as to how we met.”

Riley snorted, then nearly died of embarrassment. She still hadn’t thought of anything to say.

LaMarcus laughed and raised his hands in surrender. “Can’t deny it! But I’m playing it safe these days coaching football at the local high school.” He paused for a moment, and his nerves seemed to reassert themselves. 

“We, Keisha and I, were wondering if maybe you wanted to grab some coffee and have a chat. Rico says you’ve got some awesome moves.” His smile became a bit more tentative at her continued silence.

“I…,” Riley still felt as though she were having an out-of-body experience. “Are you looking for boxing students on the side or something? ‘Cause I can’t really afford stuff like that—"

“No, sweetheart,” Keisha smiled again, and Riley could almost feel the warmth reach her own chest when Keisha smiled at her like that. “We were hoping that perhaps you wouldn’t mind meeting us a couple of times a week for a while - we don’t have to get coffee, we can get whatever you’d like – and hopefully we could all just…get to know each other.” She paused for a moment. “We aren’t able to have children of our own, but we’ve got more than enough love and support in our lives for just the two of us.” She took a deep, slightly anxious breath. “We were hoping that maybe if you got to know us…maybe you’d like us.”

Both of their smiles were so heart-breakingly genuine and hopeful that, at last, Riley found her voice. “I’d really like that,” she whispered, then cleared her throat and lifted her chin. “That sounds…incredible. Thank you, I would really, really like that.”

LaMarcus’s sigh of relief was so strong that he leaned over to rest his hands on his knees after noisily expelling it, while Keisha laughed, her eyes glistening. 

“Rico told me you were tough, but man,” he laughed heartily, “you’ve got an excellent poker face! And a wicked right hook, Nicolle tells me,” he added, as they all relaxed into the chairs and laughed.

“She did not say that!” Riley dropped her jaw in disbelief. “She’s constantly fussing about my form!”

“That’s how you know she likes you,” LaMarcus chuckled. “If you’re so terrible that you wouldn’t last one round against a mannequin, she’s nothing but nice to you.”

They all laughed again, as Keisha cut in, “And we hear that your math grades are excellent as well. Have you considered any careers outside of the ruthless ring?”

Riley paused and could feel the blush rising up her face. The truth was, she’d never considered much of anything about her future, because she hadn’t really thought she had much of one. 

Keisha and LaMarcus seemed to understand this without being told, and Keisha reached out a tentative hand for Riley to hold. “Don’t you worry about a thing, honey. We’ll support you no matter what you want to study. All I ask is, at least consider something other than face-bashing,” she finished, throwing a loving look at her husband.

“Hey, face-bashing can make some serious cash!” He defended himself in mock indignation.

Keisha squeezed Riley’s hand and winked as she replied, “But there is oh, so much more money to be made stitching you all back up again.”

The three of them laughed again. 

“Hey, Riley,” LaMarcus smiled, “how do you feel about that cup of coffee?”

She couldn’t speak. Her mind was racing to rearrange every single thought she’d ever had about her future. New possibilities bloomed in the infinite garden of her imagination. She nodded, grinning, with her eyes shining.

Keisha led Riley outside with her arm around Riley’s shoulders, and the warmth of her touch set off little fires all along her nervous system.

For the first time in her life, Riley began to think about the future; and everything about that future suddenly seemed blindingly bright.