A Good Fight

I drove past Garfield High School on my way home from school and saw a couple of kids running across the street. It reminded me of the days kids would get into fights at school and split as soon as the fuzz or other authorities showed up. Man, we had some good fights.

I guess I'll preface this post by saying that I don't condone fighting for the most part. Junior High. These might have been the best fights. We had a field across the street from our school. One day, I dunno what the happened, but we all knew that Noe and Cris were going to go at it, at about 3:15, after the bell. As soon as school let out, everyone took of to the field. I can't believe teacher wouldn't find out or maybe they just didn't think it was their duty to stop the fight, since it was after school and off school property. Plus, the year before one of the principals had been beat up when he tried to stop a fight.

Nonetheless, Noe and Cris went at it. Man, it was a great fight. These guys both stayed up punching and kicking each other. Cars were honking. Kids were helling. I could see a couple of neighbors running to call the cops. I think the fight must have lasted 5 minutes, but it seemed like 15. After a while, people stepped in and everyone went their way. The two guys, bloody.

My freshman year in high school we had chingos of fights. My school was a freshman center comprised of all the kids in McAllen. I saw two great fights. One of them was before school started while kids were in line waiting for their physicals, to play sports. Two guys from different parts of town, schools, and rival gangs, started fighting. It was a short fight, because the coaches quickly came outside, but man, those guys were beating the crap out of each other. The smaller guy just kept swinging. I'm not sure there was a clear winner.

The other fight that is vivid is when I was taking a restroom break during one of my classes. The halls were empty and I notice a cholita hanging around. I think she was an office aid. When I came out of the restroom, they were already going at it. I'm not sure where this other girl came from, pero palos! it was on. Hair, scratching, clothes tearing. Man, those girls were tough. They weren't even crying. Even when the security showed up to break them up, they kept fighting.

Again, I don't condone fighting, even though I'm no stranger, but damn, those kids running across the street brought back memories.