ISSUE # 31

The man who thinks he can!

" All right, Ian, it's not like the other cell you had, but you won't have to be in here for much longer. Your court date is this Friday. If you need anything make sure to let the guards know and they'll call me, and I'll contact the school. Alright?" Pierce told the boy.

" Yeah, I got it." Ian told the man.

" All right. Take care of yourself kid. I'll see you in court." Pierce replied. He said his goodbye to the kid and then left him alone again to sit in a much smaller cell.

" Well, ain't this just fan tucking fastic. I did good and all I did was trade one cell for another. Some hero." Ian mumbled.

He sat on his mattress, just staring at the ceiling all the time, watching as the guard passed by every thirty minutes to do his rounds. Yeah, just sitting there staring, wondering, doubting. Everything. Himself, most of all. Is this what awaited him all his life? Saving lives, being hurt, and then being punished for it. What could possibly be worth all of this?

Ian began to wonder if he really could do this at all. He knew he could if he absolutely had too. But could he do it and be happy? Because that's all he really wanted. To be Happy.

" You seem tense, son. Is something wrong?" Ian heard a voice speaking to him from the cell next to his and he looked over.

" Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there." Ian spoke. " No, not really. Just doing some thinking." Ian told the man.

" Yeah? That's good, all things begin with a thought." The man spoke.

" Yeah, I guess." Ian replied. He didn't really know what to say to the man.

" Mind me asking what you were thinking about?" The man asked.

" Uhm, I'm sorry I don't really think I should tell a stranger anything about me. Doesn't seem like the smartest of things tae do right now." Ian told the man.

" That's fair. Forgive my rudeness. My name's father Frank." Frank said to Ian.

" Father? What did a priest do to end up in jail? If you don't mind me asking." Ian asked.

" I refused to allow the police to take a child on the run, away from my church, until after I had spoken with him." Frank explained honestly.

" You did that? Why would you do that?" Ian asked.

" Because he was a young boy, who was so lost and unsure of himself. How could I, as a man of the lord, turn my back on such a child who needs guidance?" Frank explained.

" So, doing that good deed got you thrown in here? That's unfortunate for you." Ian told the man.

" Or maybe, it's fortunate for you." Frank replied with a cheeky grin. " Mind telling me, what happened to get you in here?" Frank asked.

Ian looked at the man and saw how he was grinning at him and just shook his head.

" I... I was framed for a murder I didn't commit. I was staying in Alcatraz, but a riot erupted. I ended up helping out the people there and I guess they felt grateful enough to let me stay in a lower security jail. At least until my trial." Ian explained to the man.

" So, you helped people, and they put here? That seems unfair to you. But what you did, risking your life to help others.... That's a good thing. You should be proud." Frank told the young man. " But something tells me, you feel the opposite."

" Yeah.... It's just.... I get it ya know. I did what I needed tae do. People were in trouble, and I was in a position that I could save them, so I did. But I've just been thinking recently that maybe.... Maybe I can't do this after all. Saving people that is." Ian explained. " It just feels like I'm risking my life over and over for people who will never trust me. Or see me as something more than a disgusting abomination created by the devil."

" I see. That does sound like quite the conundrum. But I see no monster in front of me. I see no hero. I just see a young man. A young man who has a life, just like me. A young man who bleeds just like me, eats just like me, sleeps just like me. The only thing that truly makes us different is the color of our skin, but even that doesn't change the fact that at the end of the day, you and I are both the same. Just ordinary men, human beings, children of God, who have been given the extraordinary chance to help others in the same way we have been helped." Frank spoke.

Ian was never a truly religious person, he believed in the Christian God, and he certainly did try to live by that Gods rules, but he was never a fanatic about it. He didn't attend church religiously or even pray. But sitting here right now, he found himself intrigued by what message Father Frank was trying to explain.

" Can I tell you something, son?" Frank asked.

" Sure." Ian replied.

" This life of ours is unfair. You can try to be a hero every day. But let me tell something real son. See when you first come into this world, you really are just a collection of someone else's personalities. You're parents. You learn from them; you live through them. Growing, speaking, talking just like they do. But eventually there comes a time when you must come into your own being. Whatever that looks like is up to you. There are so many stories where some brave hero decides to give their life to save the day. And it is because of their sacrifice the good guys win, the survivors all cheer, and everyone lives happily ever after. But the hero.... Never gets to see that ending. They'll never know if their sacrifice made a difference. They'll never know if the day was really saved. In the end they just have to have faith. But what is that hero? At the end of the day, a hero is just a Man. A Man, who thinks he can. A Man that through action becomes a hero, and in death becomes a legend, and over time through centuries and beyond, that legend becomes a myth, and that myth inspires a Man to think he can."

" If you think you are beaten, then you are. If you think you dare not, you don't. If you like to win but think you can't. Then it's almost certain, you won't. If you think you'll lose, you're lost. For out of the world we find, success begins with a fellows will! It's all in the state of mind. If you think you are outclassed, you are. You've got to think high to rise. You've got to be sure of yourself before you can ever win a prize. Life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man. But soon or late the man who wins.... IS THE MAN WHO THINKS HE CAN!" Frank exclaimed. " Do you think you can, Son?" He asked.

Ian sat there, marveled at what Frank had said to him. His message loud and clear.

" You know something, Father? I think I can." Ian replied. He looked at Frank and for the first time that day, he smiled. " You mind sharing more of your stories?" Ian asked.

" Son, I got as long as you want." Frank told the boy. " Let's start with my own. I was born in Birmingham Alabama, to a poor family. It was me, my three brothers, Jeffrey, Johnathan, and David. And our two sister Elise and Claire. My mother had a hard time trying to raise all of us while dad was away, see he was a military man. But for a black man, during that time period, it wasn't as good of a thing as it is now. Even with the little benefits we did receive we struggled. I mean it was so bad, we used to look for possums and racoons to eat. We had a neighbor named duke, who had a pet Racoon named little Steve. Well, one day me my brothers and my sisters went over to see Mr. Duke and to play with Steve. We knock on his door, we're so excited and he opens it up. " Hey kids. How are yall doing today?" He asked us. And we of course said we were good." Frank explained.

" He said, " Hey, you kids hungry?" And we being so poor replied yes! So fast he nearly jumped up. So, he brought us in and sat us down at his table and brought out this pot. And I'll tell ya kid it smelled so goood!!!! He places bowls down in front of us filled with this stew. Now, we assumed it was regular stew, nothing too out of the ordinary we ate it all the time. After we were done, we were like, Hey mr. Dukes where is steve? And I swear! He looked at us and laughed. He said, " Why he's right in that there pot." And then it hit us, we just ate STEVE!" Frank exclaimed.

He and Ian both started laughing, not because it wasn't grim, but because it was funny.

" So, you ate the racoon?!" Ian asked.

" Oh, yeah. And he was delicious." Frank replied.

" Oh. dude that's gross." Ian laughed.

" Hey, when you're poor and hungry even a racoon will taste just like chicken." Frank told the boy.

" Anything else?" Ian asked.

" Well, let me tell you about the time, I was in the army and one of the other sergeants was up on stage talking about how he loved and supported the general at the time. I was sitting in my seat and as I listened to him talk, I rolled my eyes and whispered you kiss ass. The entire crowd went silent and all of them looked at me. BOY!!!! I'll tell ya. My damn CO looked at me and said, "Frank come here." I walked up to him, and he laughed and said, " Just because it's true don't mean ya gotta say it out loud ya damn fool." He laughed and laughed and then he took five dollars from me, Cuz that was the punishment for cursing in public. You were charged five dollars." Frank explained.

" You were in the army?" Ian asked.

" Oh, yeah. I was in for twenty years. and in that time, I experienced many different things, foods, cultures, and perspectives." Frank spoke.

" Hey, we got time!" Ian told the man.

" Yeah, I guess we do." Frank laughed. " I guess we do."