ELI
The heat made playing baseball feel like running a marathon with a winter jacket on. It was July in the small Kentucky town of Clarksville. Eli and his buddies always played ball down behind the old abandoned schoolhouse in the field near downtown. It was about a five minute walk from downtown. The field was pretty hidden because nobody really went down more of the old roads any more. To the boys their field was a guardian from troubles. Eli was a strong kid. He wasn’t just strong for a thirteen year old either, he was strong for anybody. People in town knew Eli for his accomplishments in football, wrestling, and baseball. At thirteen years old Eli was five feet ten, and a hundred and ninety five pounds. He could hit a baseball well over 380 feet.

It was Saturday and Eli and his friends went down to the field to get a few games in. It was never too serious, but a lot of fun. Just as big Eli was up to bat, he remembered he had to be home at noon to help his Dad cut down a few trees. “Damn!” Eli said as he trotted back to where his back pack was. “Sorry guys I have to go help my Dad, see you guys later!” Eli scooped up his stuff and headed home. . The woods were a great place to go to cool off. The trees hung slanted inward towards the small dirt road and overlapped each other creating a vast green canopy. As Eli started down the road, he began to hear some voices chattering.
His jogged turned into a quiet walk. There was a break in the trees where an old strip of railroad track laid. Eli then eyed a blue pickup truck off the dirt road with four guys, maybe in their twenties hanging around it. Eli tried to ignore them as he continued down the path. One of the guys got off the hood of the truck and strolled over to Eli.
“Where you going punk?” asked the guy. Eli glared at him; he had long hair with too much grease in it, and yellow teeth. He was wearing a black tank top with jeans and some old cowboy boots.
“I’m goin’ home.” Eli finally responded. The guy gave a laugh of superiority and then got real serious with Eli.
“How much money you got kid?” Eli thought it was funny that this twenty something year old guy was smaller than he was, was calling him kid. Eli had about twenty bucks on him for some new running shoes he was planning on buying in town, before he remembered he had to be home at noon.
“Why are you askin’ about my money?” Eli asked coldly. This annoyed the guy. By this time his sidekicks had come over to what was being said.
“Give me your money, or we’ll kick your ass,” The guy said. One of his buddies chimed in,
“C’mon Roger, you don’t need that little punk’s money.” So his name is Roger, Eli thought to himself. Roger then stepped up to Eli, about an inch from his face.
“Let’s have it,” said Roger. His breathe smelled like cigarettes and cheap beer. Eli just turned and started to walk away. Usually Eli didn’t like to get into confrontations out side of sports; he also didn’t like to keep his parents waiting. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Roger half-running towards him with his fists clenched, coming from Eli’s blind side. Eli had been wrestling since he was four, and he had three older brothers, so he knew how to handle fights. Eli ducked into Roger and picked him up about four feet off the ground, and slammed him of the compact dirt with ground shaking force. Eli cautiously got up and stepped back, just then one of the other guys sucker punched Eli on his left cheek. Eli had been in his fair share of brotherly fights so it barely fazed him. He took a quick hop back then struck the guy in the jaw as hard as he could. The punch knocked the guy out cold and he crumpled face first into the brush. Eli prepared for some more action as the other two came towards him. One of them rushed in to tackle him, but Eli easily hurled him aside, while the other one began swinging his fists wildly, connecting on a few into Eli’s head. The crook who he threw down was back up and grabbed Eli from behind and put him in a chokehold for a few seconds. Eli struggled with the two, but with a couple solid strikes, Eli left them sleeping in the dirt like the first guy. Eli had almost forgotten about Roger who he had slammed. Roger seemed to be pretty seriously injured. Eli walked towards the dirt road, he passed Roger, and without even looking his way, he said with bored confidence “See ya later kid.”
When Eli arrived home a few minutes later, he jogged around the back of his house. There was hid dad, chopping up the trees he’d taken down himself. “Sorry I’m late dad, something kinda happened.” His Dad wheeled around and noticed Eli’s shirt had a tint of blood and dirt.
“What happened?” his Dad asked with a look of parental concern. “Some guys tried to take my money, and I got in a fight.” His dad was inspecting his battle marks. “You got in a fight with all of them? How many were there?” Eli hadn’t really thought about it before, but it was pretty impressive he took on four guys.
“Four. They don’t go to the High School though.” Before Eli’s Dad could hear the whole story, they heard a car pull up in their gravel driveway. Eli’s mother called from inside,
“The police are here!” Eli’s Dad gave him a look that can only be described as upset. Eli cautiously followed his Dad around the house to the front porch. A county sheriff stood there, in his blue uniform, badge glistening in afternoon sun.
“Mr. Brennan, I need to speak with your son,” said the officer. What is this about? Eli wondered.
Eli followed the officer into the living room, and sat down on the green and blue plaid couch. “What happened this afternoon Eli?” asked the officer.
“Some guys tried to steal my money, and I fought them. I had to,” Eli said.
The officer looked at Eli’s parents who were standing in the doorway leading to the kitchen. The officer looked down and took a deep exhale.
“Eli, one of the guys who you punched is in the hospital with a sever concussion. He can’t even breathe on his own right now.” Eli felt a heavy uneasiness on him from the seriousness of the officer’s tone. Pretty much everybody in town knew Eli, including the officer who was sitting on his couch.
“So what does that mean for me?” asked Eli.
“Well, because of the severity of his injuries, you may be facing legal trouble Eli.” Eli couldn’t understand why he was in trouble when he was just defending himself.
“What kind of trouble?” asked Eli’s Dad.
“Well he’ll have to court and tell the story. Then his discipline will be decided.”
Eli blankly stared at the officer in utter disbelief. He should have never even exchanged words with those crooks Eli thought to himself.

One week later, Eli found himself sitting in the county courtroom. Eli’s muscular leg nervously bobbed up and down like a piston under the large oak table. The courtroom was uncomfortably hot, with only a small fan in the back of the room. The guy who Eli hit was still in the hospital, and he lived alone. Only a lawyer sat across the aisle to defend Eli’s attacker. The judge reviewed the story, as well as the extent of the injuries, and he sat prepared to give Eli his fate.

“Although it is clear these boys were the antagonists, one of the men you hit is not severely injured,” The judge said to Eli. “However, given the nature of the incident, and the potential danger you were in, Eli Brennan you are required forty hours of community service.”

Eli’s parents gave a small breathe of relief as they heard the decision. Eli felt sick. He had worked so hard to become the athlete and student he was, and now he had a mark against him.

“I do hope you’ve learned a lesson here Mr. Brennan,” the judge said to Eli.
Eli just nodded and looked down at the old table before him. Eli knew that if he wanted success in his life, he needed to know how to separate priority and distractions.