Jim by William H. Johnson

His Laughter

 

Marvin decided to plan

On what to do to those fools,

When he saw them again

On his way back from school.

–

Most evenings he ran

Taking the longer way.

Getting home tired,

Sweaty, but mostly angry.

–

For feeling like a coward

As he caught his breath,

Sitting on the steps

Near his front door.

–

He would go inside

With revenge on his mind,

Until one day he decided

On how to get back at these guys.

–

To put an end to the harassment

Or it would never stop,

And he spent every moment

Fine tuning his plot for payback.

–

Today was the day

As he turned on his street.

He started walking towards them,

The four guys who stood chatting.

–

The first to see him coming

Laughed and said to the others,

“Well if it ain’t this punk?

Fool! Pay or you don’t pass!”

–

Marvin quickly responded

“Not today, Pay my ass!’

The leader of the idiots

Grabbed him by the collar,

–

“What did this boy just say?”

Marvin pushed him off

And shouted, “Are you all vines

Why ya’ll leaning on me all the time?”

–

“You parasites, taking my coins,

Hustling me every evening.

Ya’ll must think I’m your daddy,

Or I owe your momma something!”

–

People heard the shouting

And many started to laugh,

Marvin started laughing too

Catching the clowns off guard.

–

Marvin suddenly got dead serious

And said in a low tone,

“If you hassle me again

I’ll kill one of you assholes.”

–

Never doubting it was true

After that encounter,

Marvin had no more trouble

From those thugs anymore.

–

They remembered his father

Was a cold blooded killer,

And Marvin was just like him

They had heard it in his laughter.

 

Ria – 2015

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