The Fighter

Damien Reyes was the kid to beat.

Photo by visuals on Unsplash

There are boys who feel like they need to prove themselves. Damien had always been one of those. I knew it from the first time I laid eyes upon him.

He was whip-smart, but he had a gutsiness to him that rubbed people the wrong way.

“Damien,” I asked him one day when he was in my bodega, “why you have to act like you’re the biggest shit in the room?”

And the grin he gave me — well, he knew his power. “I don’t know, Mr. Calderon. I guess God made me this way.”

Truer words were never spoken.