Against the Grain by Freeze Page B

more times. But this gave the Asian time to get himself together and ease up behind Phife. The Asian was so quick that the four men didn’t even see what hit them. In a matter of seconds, it was over. All four men were lying on the floor unconscious.
    The Asian rushed out on the tier and called for Officer Johnson to come quick. Officer Johnson rushed upstairs and saw that Kay needed medical attention. He hit the panic button on his walkie-talkie and within minutes the dorm was crawling with officers and staff. They rushed Kay to the prison hospital and everyone else was put on lockdown. A few hours and a few stitches later, officers were escorting Kay to the hole where all the participants of the altercation were being held. They put Kay with his celly, who was sitting on the edge of the bottom bunk with his head down. He looked up as Kay came into the room, and he spoke to Kay for the first time in two years. The Asian stood up and said, “Are you alright?” Kay was stunned, so he just stared at the Asian.
    “Just some flesh wounds,” he said.
    The Asian walked over and extended his hand. “Thank you very much. I owe you my life, as well as my family. If those men had violated me, I wouldn’t have been able to continue living and if I had taken my own life I would have disgraced my family back in my homeland.”
    Kay shook his hand with a firm grip and told the Asian that he didn’t owe him anything because he knew he would get his blessings in time.
    “But I have treated you so badly since you arrived,” he said.
    “I understand though,” Kay said. “You don’t know me, and I don’t know you. We both come from different backgrounds. Trust me, it’s okay. I think you would have done the same for me.”
    “Well let’s change all of that now. I am Yang Guam You. You may call me Yang.”
    “My name is Arkadian Frost, but you can call me Kay.”
    “Now that we have properly introduced ourselves, I want to know all about your background and culture, and I shall teach you of mine,” Yang said.

5
    Kay stood and looked around the visiting room until his eyes focused in on his first visitor since being in the penitentiary. He smiled and walked in her direction. Ms. Janice Frost, known to everyone that knew her as Mama Frost, stood and ran into her son’s arms. No matter how big or how grown Kay had become, he was still her firstborn, her baby. She held her son tight and began to cry. He held onto her also and wanted to cry because he missed his mother so much. Knowing that this wasn’t the place to be seen shedding tears, he quickly got himself together.
    “How are you, Ma?” he asked.
    “I’m fine. How are you doing in this place?” Mama Frost asked. “Are they feeding you right? Are they giving you proper medical treatment? Do you sleep well at night? Have you made any new friends?”
    “Yes, Mama, I’m fine. Everything is alright with me. They give me three hot meals a day plus I’ve got plenty of food in my locker. I sleep fine and no, I haven’t made any new friends.”
    “Well, you look good. Have you been working out? Your daddy used to work out.”
    •         •         •
    The last time Ms. Frost had seen her husband, Donte, was the night she came home from the hospital with their son, Caleek. Donte had been in a bar celebrating the birth of another son when he heard another patron say that Caleek might not even be his. Someone told him that the baby belonged to Sonny, who was Mike’s uncle from D.C. This enraged Kay’s father and when his mother returned home all hell broke loose; Donte beat her up real bad. Kay was angry and frightened. He had seen his father lose his temper one too many times. That night he turned to the one father figure who never let him down—Scatter. Scatter’s crew grabbed Kay’s father. They gagged him and threw his ass in the trunk of a car. Then Scatter sent a couple of his guys to move Kay’s family into one of his houses. Scatter