As Calm as a Swan

By Steven Kratz

This book is inspired by a true story of an honest individual who is provoked again and again by the bad hats. The story revolves around how he absorbs the attack and fights back.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Jul 2, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543746303

Steven Kratz

Steven writes based on true facts and craftily entwines his fiction which is again based on true personal experiences. The combination of facts, true happenings, personal experiences creates stories which are too near to reality than fiction.

Book preview

Copyright © 2018 by Steven Kratz.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2018947540

ISBN:              Softcover                978-1-5437-4631-0

                        eBook                      978-1-5437-4630-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/singapore

CONTENTS

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Three

Twenty-Four

Twenty-Five

Twenty-Six

Twenty-Seven

Twenty-Eight

Twenty-Nine

Thirty

Thirty-One

Thirty-Two

Thirty-Three

Thirty-Four

Thirty-Five

Thirty-Six

Thirty-Seven

Thirty-Eight

Thirty-Nine

Forty

Forty-One

Epilogue

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ONE

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Stuart Thaddeus was only six years ten months old when he first started working. Kindergarten was non-existent, and was never heard of at that time, consequently, none of his siblings went to kindergarten before going to proper schools. Stuart began year one, in a government funded school, referred to as standard one in some parts of the world. The family was Mexican. However, they were able to speak English at that tender age. His father, who knew a smattering of English bought duo-lingual dictionaries and taught them. Their forefathers were from the Yucatan Peninsula, living in the Maya speaking traditional communities of South America. They were a unique clan of Mestizos.

It was his father’s village friend, also named Stuart, who brought the lottery tickets. He passed one hundred tickets to his father and described in detail the intricacies of selling, getting paid for selling and the most captivating information for his father, not to pay the money immediately! Stuart learned much later that his father was able to use the money derived from the sale of the tickets, as short period turnover capital for his business. A sort of rolling money. He needn’t pay interest in the usage of the money, that was the second advantage. Of course, Stuart also learned from him that it caused him problems too. His father was unable to pay the money on time and experienced some mental torture balancing the family’s expenditure with his trickling income, due to the stagnation of his primary cigar manufacturing business.

The friend even gave his father a solution, by giving him more tickets so that he could sell the subsequent tickets to pay off the old debt. Stuart ended up selling the tickets. He never understood the reason why his father was so enthusiastic, whenever he had sold all the tickets. He never knew who was more disappointed that he was not able to sell all the tickets given to him, his father or him.

His and his brother’s, after school duty was to walk the streets of Mobile, a small town, located on a peninsula, by the seaside of Alabama, to sell those tickets. The first prize was two hundred thousand dollars. The tickets were sold for one dollar. Their commission was merely two cents per ticket. Alabama was not a rich state, nor were the citizens rich. When tea was sold for ten cents, a dollar was a lot of money for the workers whose salary was a mere sixty dollars a month. Stuart and his brother were able to sell about one hundred to two hundred tickets per month. They were only able to breach that maximum quantity when someone decides to buy in bulk, that happens but it is a rare occurrence.

They usually walked about five km per day, from shop to shop in the daytime, persuading the owners and workers of those shops to buy the tickets. After some time, they became their regular customers. Sometimes, they need not be persuaded much, but some refused to buy, giving excuses that the lottery ticket they sold, never struck. After six, they headed towards the eateries in the middle of the town. Here they would walk into the food restaurants and small eateries and offer the tickets to the customers. Sales were quite good as the customers are usually in a more liberal mood. By ten pm they would leave the area and usually take a cab or walk if sales were bad. Their father would sometimes accompany them home after meeting them in his friend, Calvin’s, handy shop, which was conveniently open till ten p.m. This became a norm.

It was during this period that Stuart, who was seven years old then, learned a lot about people. On one occasion, a frail-looking African-American who was sitting on a bench, on the pretext that he wanted to choose a ticket to buy, took all the tickets from him. While choosing, he surreptitiously took one of the tickets and placed it under his thigh. Unfortunately for him, Stuart had seen his act from the corner of his eyes. For two hours Stuart had to wait there and beg him to return the ticket. The fellow could not run away as that would give the game away. Fortunately for Stuart, the adult did not beat him up. Stuart was a mere fifteen kilogram or so, tiny, thin, short, a midget by any standards. One slap and Stuart would have been thrown, four to five feet away. When he did return the ticket, it was wet with his sweat. Stuart just took the damp ticket which was nearly in tatters and walked away.

His sister, Elizabeth, who was about twelve years old, relatively heavily built was appointed the official guardian by their father when they went about their ticket sales. She was worried that he had not reached a certain agreed targeted area and thus had backtracked to locate him. When she found him, he was still quite close to the place the incident took place. Stuart pointed him out to her. She merely showed the African-American a scowling face and both hurriedly left before he decides to vent his frustration on them.

A kind man was a top official in one of the Road and Motor Inspection Office who bought the tickets from Stuart for one dollar and fifty each. Fifty cents more than the official price. Stuart never memorized the man’s name but remembered his kind face. He usually bought two or more tickets. Stuart looked forward to visiting him. If he was not around, the smiling attendant would inform him that, Stuart’s father was not around, Stuart would be disappointed but never showed it. When his brother visited the official, he did not receive the same advantage, though. The advantage was only for Stuart.

The other memorable experience Stuart had at a similar age was working in a small, off the road restaurant, on the fringe of Mobile. The restaurant catered to the locals, primarily for the Mexicans, who were from the same community as Stuart’s. His duty was to keep the place clean, provide water for drinking and clean the tables after the patron had left. This has to be done three times a day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It also included cleaning the chairs, the internal floors and walls of the shop and the compound during the off-peak hours.

Even at that tender age the shopkeeper, his father’s friend, Kevin, will specifically ask for Stuart and not his siblings. Stuart was paid, of course, a mere ten cents per day. If business was very good, the payment will increase to twenty cents per day, sometimes Mrs. Kevin would call him aside and give him an extra ten cents without her husband’s knowledge. It was not big money, as some will supposedly regard, it certainly never was. Stuart went because his father asked him to and because of the food. He loved to eat, and that Mr. Kevin was an excellent cook. Stuart appreciated the food even more, as it was a luxury to get meat every day. So much so that to-date, Stuart regarded himself a connoisseur of good food.

Stuart was never the aggressive one. He abhorred any form of violence, but you can never say no to Ah Mo. Ah Mo’s great-grandparents were immigrants from China, they were laborer’s then, his parents are still laborers, however, his father had left his mum when he was young. The father did occasionally send some money. Ah Mo’s mother however, to make ends meet, was working in one of the restaurants as a dishwasher.

Ah Mo was sixteen years of age, much elder than Stuart but his younger brother was two years younger than Stuart and his sister was about the same age as Stuart. When he started teaching Stuart’s ten-year-old elder brother, Thomas, to fight, he naturally included Stuart as his student. The surprising thing was he did not teach karate or boxing. He taught them Thai boxing and Bruce Lee style of fighting, Jute Kone Do. It was that period when Bruce Lee was the sensation and Thai boxing was making its mark since Bruce Lee’s Big Boss took place in Thailand.

So, there was Stuart, learning to fight at the tender age of eight. In the beginning, it was so difficult to even carry up his arms and pose, the Thai boxing style. Which included the standing on one leg, while the two hands are carried up to the face, protecting the head. A few seconds, and, Stuart had to put his two hands down, and stand on his two feet. It was too tiring, for skinny Stuart. Ah Mo, however, had other ideas, he persistently trained Stuart. He was able to teach Stuart, to defend himself from people whose kicks were aimed, at the legs, pelvis, chest, and head. Similarly, he taught him how to attack these same areas. However, due to his reluctance and weakness, Stuart was not thoroughly trained. His biggest problem was, he lacked strength and endurance. This was due to the fact, that, he was already very choosy about what he eats and the food available at home was not palatable to him. So, Stuart played truant as often as he could. Of course, he visited his two friends when Ah Mo was not around. But it was no escaping him on the weekends and when the school holidays started.

When Denise informed him about the fight, Stuart was silent. It was scheduled on Thursday. The bully who harassed Denise for the past one year had demanded the fight. Denise family were vegetarian. Affluent but certainly not physically abusive. Stuart’s elder sister was teaching them tuition for a monthly fee. Stuart’s family was obligated to them. Denise was the eldest in his family. His younger brother was spastic. His two younger sisters were also Stuart’s family friend. Theirs was a unique minority community, in fact, an extreme minority. So, when one discovers someone who is from the same community as them, they usually bend backward to help the other to blend in. Understood that this is a universal character of any human being, Stuart was not an exception to that rule. Perhaps Denise regarded him as his elder brother since he had no elder brothers. Stuart agreed to Denise’s request to fight with the bully in place of him.

Thursday, was not a day Stuart was waiting for. It nevertheless came. He was waiting in the field, with the bully, the bully’s elder brother and friends, for Denise who was nowhere to be seen. The field was next to Stuarts school, whereas Denise was supposed to come on the same bus as the bully, from another school further away. Stuart was thirteen years old and was merely four feet four inches. Weighing merely twenty kg. He was certainly scrawny looking. Scrawny or not Stuart was able to successfully teach the bully a lesson he would not forget in a hurry. The crowd was silent as they walked away. The crowd suddenly did not exist. They were nearly alone on the field, even the two brothers were already at the edge of the field.

They put on their clothes which they had removed earlier, while Denise put his hands-on Stuart’s shoulder as they quietly walked towards the school bus. The driver had already started the engine. Everyone was getting in. Both of them should not act jubilant, as they were the only two people of the same race in that crowd. Stuart’s neighbor, Ambrose, who is older than Stuart by one year, had heard about the fight and approached and asked him what the whole ruckus was about. Stuart just said nothing and got into the bus. No one spoke to them. No one asked them anything. The conductor wasn’t even looking at them. They were standing in the bus as if they did not exist to them. Stuart looked at the bully. He was silently sobbing, holding on to his two fingers, obviously, he was in pain.

When Stuart was told by his sister and mother that his father wanted to see him in the room, Stuart did not hesitate. He rushed, as he knew it has to be something important. The moment, he entered the room, his father called his name gently and told him that he had to leave permanently for Birmingham to work there. His father hugged him, as Stuart cried away. His tears pouring down in torrents. He asked his father not to go but it was an impossible task as he knew his father would not listen to him. It broke Stuart. His father, knew it would break him as among his seven children Stuart was his special one. That is the reason why he had called him last and told him in that special manner.

Later Stuart found out the actual reason, his father had to leave Mobile. Calvin, the shopkeeper had borrowed money from their father and repaid it so slowly that it broke his father mentally and spiritually. His father was unable to roll the money. The lenders were on his back. Stuart eventually had to collect the money from Calvin, as his father instructed him to collect it from Calvin. The whole episode was so painful for Stuart. He hated that Calvin who was the cause of his father being separated from the family.

His father was forced to work in Birmingham, as a hard-laborer. Work was hard. His father was a good worker and soon earned a good income. He wanted the family to join him, as he had started to build a house on a vacant government land by himself during his free time.

Two years later, the family was reunited. Stuart was able to stop working and concentrate on his studies however due to lack of finance he had to stop full time studies and start full time-work at the age of eighteen. He could only continue his studies at the age of twenty-four, and never stopped learning ever since.

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TWO

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Stuart arrived at the wedding ten minutes late. It was definitely inappropriate. He should have been there earlier. It was Jonathan’s fault. He refused to come along for the marriage, although Pierce was their colleague. Stuart tried to persuade him. Stuart even told him that Pierce’s sister was beautiful, but even that did not attract him. He was his colleague and for the past three months, they were a two-man team of the company selling a German educational product. Since it was Sunday, Jonathan’s adamant behavior was something which Stuart was not able to digest. Stuart rushed to the wedding hall, which was in a school and arrived at the entrance. Pierce’s, sister was wearing a white dress with a simple but elegant ribbon tied around her waist. She was spraying perfumed essence on invitees, as they entered the wedding hall. The moment she saw him she ushered him into the hall. As Stuart was the official cameraman, albeit late, she brought him straight to the ceremony area and left him there to do his work. This was the second time he was meeting her actually.

The first time Stuart met her, she, was tending to her brother in the hospital. She looked cute, thin as if malnourished but petite. She was only twenty years old then and was wearing spectacles just like him. Pierce introduced Janice, to him as his sister and another girl, Beth as his sister-in-law. Stuart was more interested in Pierce as he had come to try to collect some money which Pierce owed him. He was leaving for overseas the next day and needed any amount of money which he could get his hands on. Both his parents had left earlier in the week and Stuart was feeling left out. In addition to that, he had some business plans and his business partner to be, was already in the UK too. Ruskin had gone a week earlier to have his just fun before the heavy deals. The business deals were taking all of Stuart’s attention, any diversions at this juncture were unnecessary for him.

Pierce requested him to send both the girls back to their hostel. Stuart agreed without hesitation. Not because he had any feelings for the girls, he was at that moment devoid of any feelings of love, as he was dejected that Pierce was sending him away empty-handed. His hospitalization being his genuine excuse, it was difficult for Stuart to refuse. Heavyheartedly, he drove the car, not even talking to both the girls. Beth however, quickly informed him where to drop her and Janice. After dropping Beth at her Teachers Training College, Stuart dropped Janice by the roadside nearby her place and drove towards the city as he needed to collect his Flight ticket.

That was the last time Stuart saw her until today. She was wearing an off-white blouse with brown embroidery and a brown skirt then. Today, since it was a customary occasion she was wearing a full dress fit for the occasion. This time he was able to appreciate her cute looks and femininity. Her welcome smile, interspersed with her gentle attitude, affected Stuart quite deeply, but he did not show it since he regarded his friend’s sister as that, he could not think of her in any other way. He was quite pleased with her treatment as he was nervous about his late entrance. As he got into the action of taking the wedding photos, he forgot himself. His concentration was fully into ensuring the photos are picture perfect and professional. He only realized that he was tired and hungry when he sat on one of the chairs meant for the guests who had all left to take their lunch. He had not taken his breakfast and it was affecting him badly. And like an angel in disguise she came.

Hello, how are you. She inquired as she sat next to him. As he was watching the bride and bridegroom accepting the presents from the well-wishers, he did not see her approaching him until she spoke to him.

Fine, he answered abruptly while smiling and looking at her. As he turned to look back at the wedded couple, he continued.

A bit tired. So how are you and how come you are here. Finished your duties is it?

Yup. Work is over. We didn’t sleep the whole night preparing for the wedding. Am so tired. I just came to take a rest while watching the new couple and noticed you sitting here. So just joined you. She answered quickly.

As the couple walked down the stage, which resembled more of a dais, she gently touched his forearm and invited him to take his lunch provided for in the marriage occasion. He turned to look at her, and she implored him to take lunch again. She pulled his forearm and smiled at him. Stuart agreed. He turned back to see the couple. She noticed him doing so.

They are also going for lunch. So please come along and take your lunch. She was saying as they walked towards the next building where lunch was being served. She directed him to a seat, while she went over to take the food for him. He was a bit surprised, as normally, there are people to serve. She need not do it. However, he assumed that since Stuart was her brother’s friend it was an appropriate excuse for her to serve him. She may, also be returning the favor for sending her to her room the other day or maybe she knew that he was not charging her brother for taking his wedding photos. He was not overly curious about her reasons, as he was famished and his hunger blinded his emotional intelligence for that moment. After serving the food, she sat next to him to have her lunch as well. For a person who was not overly enthused by the opposite sex, he accepted the attention as a mere friendly gesture of a friend, albeit, a new-found friend.

The next surprise was, she refused to follow the bus catered for the marriage invitees, but, insisted on following him in his car as they headed towards the groom’s home. The cameraman needs to be there before the newly wedded couple reach home. Again, he was under the impression that perhaps she too needed to be there before the couple. He did not question her as he was traveling alone in the car, and, an extra passenger did not make any difference to him or the car. He drove fast and overtook the bus as he needed to take the photos of the couple entering the house, enjoying some sweets, before they leave the bride’s home.

After the photography session, he bid farewell and thanked nearly everyone for their kind hospitality. Unknown to him, his day of surprise had not ended. She inquired of him, if he was returning to Birmingham. He answered her affirmatively. She told her sisters that she was returning to her room and was willing to follow Stuart back to Birmingham. When she asked his permission, he did not have any other alternative but to agree.

The ice was broken. He had always been a shy person. He never spoke too much, especially to girls. If he did, it was for business purposes or other mundane matters. The day’s events had diminished his timidity and shyness. It was quite a long journey, and he began to chat with her. Soon the conversation, which touched a lot on personal matters, brought them closer and made them understand each other better. They enjoyed each other’s company, and she indirectly indicated to him that she was in love with him. He realized that he too was slowly and surely falling for her and reciprocated indirectly to her. Both never mentioned it to each other, but both knew that each was in love with the other. The mantra, love at first sight, or perhaps second sight in this case had another two victims in its list. Thus, started their courtship without her family’s knowledge.

Soon her university entrance exam was over, and she should naturally go back home. She did not. She spoke to her brother and asked his permission, to stay in the rented room. That did not surprise him. It should, but he was blind then. Stuart was floating, reality, the epitome of him had left him. He was living in an illogical world; sensibility had left him. He was, however, relieved and happy of her actions as he would be able to see more of her. She explained her reasoning, and he did not question her. As, if that was a natural thing to do. By hindsight, however, it seemed normal. Her elder brother had married out