shoe factory, and the building on Second Street that looks like it’s collapsing.”
Pauli gave me half his sandwich and I ate it greedily, scared to death of what I would find in the morning across town.
First, I sauntered around the shoe factory; the back portion was closed off but I noted that for its size it could easily fit a gang of a dozen or so men training to fight. I made my way through a side entrance and snuck through the building; everything was quiet. I sat in a corner behind scraps of materials used for making shoes and waited. There was one round table in the room and cards strewn about the floor, more than likely this place was used for gambling. I waited some more. By mid-day no one had come into the factory and there was no evidence anyone had been in there to train. I decided there was enough time to check out the collapsing building Pauli told me about on Second Street.
In this section of town only the poorest of the poor remained. The building was in ruins, partially collapsed from sewage and farm run off. Tenants of this section were riddled with disease from the unclean quarters they lived in. The smell alone could knock someone off their feet.
I pinched my nose and entered the building, terrified it would collapse or I would catch a disease while I was inside. First, I walked the narrow perimeter hallways and neither heard nor saw anything that led me to believe the Dead Rabbits were here. But as I made my way closer to the interior of the building the smell changed. It went from one of sewage and filth to one of pungent male body odor. I followed my nose and came upon a makeshift gym. There were several squares partitioned off with rope and lying in a corner were rolls of hand tape, jump ropes, free weights, and in the far corner was a punching bag. It was held to the ceiling with a clamp and thick links of chain that I thought looked heavy enough they could bring the entire building down on itself.
My stomach was growling but I had to stay awhile longer to see what happened in this gym.
Several hours later a group of gangly kids were paraded into the gym and taunted by much bigger, fit looking kids. The ruffians were lined up by size and put into rows. They started warm ups with a stretching routine, then they punched into the air above their heads while doing high knees. If they let up and dropped their arms from exhaustion they were met with a swift punch to the gut. Following the initial warm up routine the kids were separated, some went to work on the boxing bag while others grabbed jump ropes, and still others met in the roped off rings with their trainers and worked on impressive combinations. I could hear the trainers yelling, uppercut, jab, right hook, left hook, and jab and began to put the movement with the words. I noted the foot placement for each punch and heard the trainers yelling that ‘proper foot placement gave your punch more power’.
I was terrified of being found in the gym snooping. I settled myself in a corner in the rafters with a good bird’s eye view of the scene below. There were a total of fifteen scrawny kids presumably being taught to fight. They seemed to range in age anywhere from six to sixteen. There were five trainers. Each trainer worked with their own group of kids, some were better at floor work, and others excelled at head and body movement. Still other trainers excelled on the punches themselves. All together they were a formidable opponent for Pauli.
I thought about hiding out here from now on. Pauli would never come here to find me. It would be too dangerous for the Roaches to enter this side of town. My stomach growled again and I began to feel sick with hunger, which reminded me who was feeding me tonight. As the kids finished their training, dried off with towels and left I was intrigued that the five trainers stayed behind. The five trainers got in the ring with each other and sparred. They went for two minute rounds, no head gear, no gloves,
Pauli gave me half his sandwich and I ate it greedily, scared to death of what I would find in the morning across town.
First, I sauntered around the shoe factory; the back portion was closed off but I noted that for its size it could easily fit a gang of a dozen or so men training to fight. I made my way through a side entrance and snuck through the building; everything was quiet. I sat in a corner behind scraps of materials used for making shoes and waited. There was one round table in the room and cards strewn about the floor, more than likely this place was used for gambling. I waited some more. By mid-day no one had come into the factory and there was no evidence anyone had been in there to train. I decided there was enough time to check out the collapsing building Pauli told me about on Second Street.
In this section of town only the poorest of the poor remained. The building was in ruins, partially collapsed from sewage and farm run off. Tenants of this section were riddled with disease from the unclean quarters they lived in. The smell alone could knock someone off their feet.
I pinched my nose and entered the building, terrified it would collapse or I would catch a disease while I was inside. First, I walked the narrow perimeter hallways and neither heard nor saw anything that led me to believe the Dead Rabbits were here. But as I made my way closer to the interior of the building the smell changed. It went from one of sewage and filth to one of pungent male body odor. I followed my nose and came upon a makeshift gym. There were several squares partitioned off with rope and lying in a corner were rolls of hand tape, jump ropes, free weights, and in the far corner was a punching bag. It was held to the ceiling with a clamp and thick links of chain that I thought looked heavy enough they could bring the entire building down on itself.
My stomach was growling but I had to stay awhile longer to see what happened in this gym.
Several hours later a group of gangly kids were paraded into the gym and taunted by much bigger, fit looking kids. The ruffians were lined up by size and put into rows. They started warm ups with a stretching routine, then they punched into the air above their heads while doing high knees. If they let up and dropped their arms from exhaustion they were met with a swift punch to the gut. Following the initial warm up routine the kids were separated, some went to work on the boxing bag while others grabbed jump ropes, and still others met in the roped off rings with their trainers and worked on impressive combinations. I could hear the trainers yelling, uppercut, jab, right hook, left hook, and jab and began to put the movement with the words. I noted the foot placement for each punch and heard the trainers yelling that ‘proper foot placement gave your punch more power’.
I was terrified of being found in the gym snooping. I settled myself in a corner in the rafters with a good bird’s eye view of the scene below. There were a total of fifteen scrawny kids presumably being taught to fight. They seemed to range in age anywhere from six to sixteen. There were five trainers. Each trainer worked with their own group of kids, some were better at floor work, and others excelled at head and body movement. Still other trainers excelled on the punches themselves. All together they were a formidable opponent for Pauli.
I thought about hiding out here from now on. Pauli would never come here to find me. It would be too dangerous for the Roaches to enter this side of town. My stomach growled again and I began to feel sick with hunger, which reminded me who was feeding me tonight. As the kids finished their training, dried off with towels and left I was intrigued that the five trainers stayed behind. The five trainers got in the ring with each other and sparred. They went for two minute rounds, no head gear, no gloves,
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