Crime and Punishment part 2

Warning. This is the second part of a two part story. Please read Wed sept 3rds blog for the first part.


Geno had no idea what had happened the day John had blown up my model airplanes. If he had known I'm sure he would have gleefully thrown a few firecrackers at them. On that day he was busy trying to impress some poor girl a few doors down from our house. The girl, like most sane women, wanted nothing to do with Geno.
Geno wasn't ugly, but he was short. But he seemed to think he was much taller then he really was. It was as if no one had ever looked at him and said "Dude , you're really short. " He was like a small dog who always ran up and barked at people . The small dog would hope that no one would notice he was just a small dog.
Also he didn't walk. He strutted. Like a little George Jefferson. Except he was doing it years before George Jefferson ever appeared on television.
So there he was not convincing this girl he was taller then he really was, when another friend ran up and told him Steve was beating up John. Geno took off hoping that he'd get there before it was over. He got to the basketball court just in time to run into John. John had been very humiliated by getting his butt kicked by Steve. And since he thought it was Geno who had caused Steve to do it , he was very happy to see Geno.
John ran up to Geno and before Geno knew what was happening John had hit him. So for the second time in less then an hour John was fighting a brother on the basketball court. They were pretty evenly matched. John was a little taller and stronger , but Geno was fast ,and he fought dirty.
I didn't see the fight start. I was in the kitchen, munching on a piece of chicken, when through the sliding glass door I could see some kids running toward the basketball court. I walked out to the back yard and saw what was happening. I could see my brothers rolling around on the basketball court throwing punches. Smiling I ran over to the court and started cheering along with the other kids.
Less then a minute , out of the corner of my eye, I could see my sister dragging Dad towards the basketball court. Dad did not look pleased. Most of the kids saw my Dad and took off. John and Geno didn't notice Dad until he pulled the two apart.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"
Geno always the first to rat anyone out in our family screamed ,"John started it! He hit me first!"
Dad still holding both boys looked at John , his eyes looking even darker then normal. "Well",he demanded. "What's going on?"
"Steve hit me first!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Dad looked confused. Geno and John both started talking at once. Each of them drowning the other out.
"Shut up! Nevermind!" At this point Dad noticed me standing there with a half eaten chicken leg in my hand."What are you doing here?"
Instead of answering I decided to add fuel to the fire. "John blew up my model airplanes you bought me with firecrackers today!"

"And he laughed at me!" I even managed to produce a tear . Which was remarkable given that I was enjoying this so much.
Dad looked back at John " Are you trying to piss everyone off today?" Dad looked back down at me. "You! Run back to the house and grab the boxing gloves. Rose go grab the camera"
Smiling I ran back to the house. I grabbed the boxing gloves and ran back as fast as I could. Dad had me give them to John and Geno.
"You two want to fight so much, you can fight."
"I don't want to fight !" Geno sobbed.
"Tough."
The two put on the gloves. Dad looked at his watch. "Ok. 5 minutes. And if you start fighting like little girls I'll put on the gloves myself."
So for 5 minutes the two boxed. Everyone stood around laughing. John was so humiliated he started crying. Geno actually seemed to keep a little dignity. I was almost impressed. I tugged on Dad's arm. "They're fighting like little girls."
Dad ignored me.
When it was over Dad made them take the gloves off and put their arms around each others shoulder. Dad held up the camera ."I want to remember how stupid you two are."
He clicked off a couple of quick shots.
Dad almost smiled. " The next time you two want to fight , remember this photo. Now come on. It's time to eat."
John ran the whole way back crying. The rest of us walked. Except for Geno. He strutted. Dad gave me the camera to hold. I looked at Geno and kinda felt a little bad. He really didn't deserve what happened. Maybe I had gone too far this time.
"Dad" I said.
"Yes."
"They really did fight like little girls ."