Joshua: A Brooklyn Tale Read Online Free Page B

way,” Jerome responded as he proceeded into the street. Joshua watched him cross and kept walking on the sidewalk. Seconds later, Joshua was ten feet away from the Irish kids.
    “Hey guys,” a tall red-head with freckled skin said loudly to his friends. “What have we got here? Seems there’s a new nigger in town.” The others laughed. Joshua kept walking towards them.
    “Hello nigger boy,” another one said bravely, stepping out and blocking Joshua’s way.
    “Hello whitey,” Joshua responded.
    “What’d you say?” the Irish kid asked. He was significantly shorter than the first kid. Jet black hair, very thin. Joshua was confident he could dispose of him with a single blow. Maybe that would scare the rest of them. After all, they were used to beating on the likes of Jerome, totally unprepared for a black kid who fought back. Might make them think twice.
    “You hard of hearing?” Joshua asked.
    “Oh, we got us a wise one here,” the Irish kid retorted, looking at his friends, smirking.
    Joshua stepped forward and pushed the kid out of the way with his body. It was easy. The kid lost balance and almost fell over, but caught himself. He hesitated for a moment and looked at his friends again. They appeared shocked by Joshua’s boldness. Joshua kept moving, pretending not to notice their reaction, when the kid came back at him with a shove. “What d’ya think, you’re some tough nigger or something,” the kid said, pushing Joshua again.
    Joshua didn’t move. Not an inch. He got in the kid’s face, stared into his eyes, and waited for the others to do something. But they didn’t.
    Joshua could have left it at that, could have gone on his way and never had a problem with that group again. But that just wasn’t his style. He pushed the kid back. Hard. Hard enough that the kid flew into the others and fell to the ground.
    The first punch came from the tall red-head, a perfectly solid shot to Joshua’s left eye. The next thing Joshua knew he was tasting blood and holding his eye with both hands. Then the kid he pushed kicked him in the stomach. Joshua keeled over, only to receive another blow to the back of his head.
    He was hurt, and for the first time, a little scared. He seemed almost as helpless as Jerome would have been. He took a deep breath, ignored his fear, and focused on his anger. He straightened himself, and went for the tall one first, the one his instincts told him was the leader.
    Joshua lunged at the tall one and took him to the ground. Their bodies hit the concrete hard, but neither seemed to feel the pain. The others stood over them and took turns kicking Joshua. But Joshua stayed on top of the tall one, pounding incessantly on his face. One of the others even tried to pull him off, but it was to no avail; Joshua just kept punching. The tall one was hurt, and wasn’t even hitting back anymore.
    The next thing Joshua knew, the kicking from the others ceased. Something had distracted them. He looked up and saw that Jerome had come to help, and was now fending off the others. Joshua got up, leaving the tall one lying listless on the ground, and watched his friend in action. Jerome wasn’t being very successful, but his efforts were impressive. The others hadn’t managed to get him down on the ground; they were just surrounding him, landing punches and kicks to his body. Jerome’s eyes were closed and his arms were flailing in all directions. He wasn’t able to see where his fists landed, but managed to get in a few licks.
    Joshua stepped in, pulling two of the Irish kids away from Jerome. The other two saw this and hesitated. They looked over to their leader—still on the ground, his head in a pool of his own blood—and stopped.
    “I’m gonna kill you both, you fucking nigger bastards!” the thin black haired kid yelled.
    “Oh yeah!” Jerome reacted confidently, “come on, let’s do it right now!” he continued as he began to lunge forward.
    Joshua held out his arm to block