4 minute read
Story Story - Luck's Embrace
LUCK'S EMBRACE
by Aphonso P. Spain
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Apolice cruiser drove down the street, its siren lights flashing red and blue and its high-pitched whine piercing through the nighttime silence. Two police officers sat in the front – the sheriff, a portly man with a thick brown mustache sitting behind the wheel, and his partner, a thin young man with a clean shaven face and short blond hair. The young deputy turned in his seat and looked towards the prisoner in the back. The prisoner sitting in the back seat looked as though he couldn’t pass for a criminal. He looked about the same age as the young deputy, around 18 or 20, but his hair was a dark brown, like the driver’s. His skin was lightly tanned, but it looked pale in contrast to his black sweater. His baggy denim jeans were worn down at the ankles, and his white shoes were tinged with a coat of dust. His head was held low, and when the deputy listened in, he could only make out, “…need to know…did she…her answer…”
The sheriff shifted his eyes to his young partner, still facing the road, before he let out a sigh and answered, “He murdered his mother.”
The deputy raised an eyebrow at that before turning back to the apprehended criminal. ‘Murder?’ he thought. ‘Petty robbery, maybe, but he doesn’t look like a killer.’ Aside from the fact
that he was mumbling to himself, he would’ve passed as, well, perfectly sane.
“I know he don’t look like much,” the sheriff continued, almost reading his partner’s mind. The deputy turned back to the sheriff as he continued, “To tell you the truth, he didn’t show the signs of a serial killer, or any kind of criminal for that matter. He was a good boy, went to school, did his homework, and followed the rules. Hell, his mother pretty much came out of a fairy tale, so he didn’t feel unloved or anything.”
The sheriff pulled the cop car to a stop at a red light and turned in his seat to face the young man in cuffs. “Lord knows what caused a good boy to go bad.”
As if on cue, the young man lifted his head up to face the cops in front. “Do you…” he started, his voice quiet. His green eyes were asking, no, begging, as he finished, “Do you have a… quarter?”
The sheriff and deputy were confused; it’s not every day that a delinquent asks for something as simple as a quarter. Normally, they would demand a lawyer or try to convince the cops that they were innocent. Still, it was a simple request. The deputy reached into his pocket and pulled out the coin before sliding it through the metal mesh, where it fell into the young man’s awaiting hand.
The young man took the quarter and, under his breath, asked seemingly to himself, “Will you help me in my time of greatest need, milady?” He then flipped the coin into the air and caught it with his closed fist. He opened his hand, and the coin had come up as heads.
The young man smiled, and the light turned green.
The cop car started forward, but was suddenly thrown to the side as an 18-wheeler tanker truck plowed into the side of the car.
ABOUT ALPHONSO P SPAIN Alphonso P. Spain grew up all over the state of Texas—small towns, cities and sprawling metropolises. At the age of 3 he was diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, and through his own determination and the help of fantastic teachers and therapists he was able to develop into a fully functioning and adjusted young man.
A gifted child in spite of his “disability” Alphonso learned the alphabet at 18-months, was reading at 2 ½ years of age and taught himself sign language at the age of 3.
At 4 his mother disconnected his computer and removed it from his desk for bad behavior. He simply went into the closet and hooked it up himself, away from his mother’s eyes. While most children were eating mud-pies, he was immersed in books for readers twice his age. As a first grade student, teachers for a sixth grade class asked him to help teach older student how to read.
When Alphonso’s family welcomed a younger brother into the household, he would read him bedtime stories and instill a love of the written word in his brother that continues to this day. While attending charter college prep middle and high schools in Houston, his teachers helped him focus his writing, encouraging him to release his literary creativity. He was accepted into the prestigious Creative Writing program at University of Houston. He published Escape Hatch, a collection of short stories in 2012 before graduating from high school.
