I arrived at the paper shack and quickly found the hiding place for pot and pipes. The other boys, who were much older than I, formed all sorts of initiations. I had to stuff all the papers, not just my own. And I had to get high. I was thrown into the swamp across the street. I also had to fight the new comer.
That didn’t go so well for me. To this day I have never been in another fight. I had pushed him to the ground and as he was getting up the boys yelled at me to kick him in the face. I wound my right leg up and smashed the bridge of my foot dead center. Blood poured through his nose and all he said was he should have taken the beating from the shack gang and not fought. I can still feel his face pressed in my foot, like a leaf pressed in an atlas, the shape will always be on my mind.

L.L. Yarbrough.
1981
High school sophomore