Don't Forget To Breath

It's the month of August 1965, in a house located in the suburbs of Los Angeles County, California known as South Central. School is out for summer vacation and six-year-old Eddie Charles sits in his bedroom indulging in his favorite past time. Playing with his toy soldier doll.

Eddie retrieves some plastic cups from his mother's cupboard as well as some old dolls she has saved from her youth. Eddie stacks the cups on top of each other to form a wall. He then gets several pairs of his father's socks, balls them up and place's pencils in them so the pencils stick straight up in the air. He dubs these creations the evil sock people. His mother's dolls are positioned behind the wall of cups. They are the damsels in distress whom the toy soldier would give his very life to defend. The toy soldier fires his rifle at the evil sock people. Eddie knocks the sock people over by flicking them with his finger signaling their demise. Every action is punctuated with dialogue and sound effects. As the last of the evil sock people is vanquished Eddie simulates a celebration including cheers from the damsels. The toy soldier is a hero, just the way Eddie wants it. Eddie decides to perform this scenario again when he hears his father, who has been in the living room watching television, yell several four-letter expletives. Eddie peers out his bedroom door as his mother comes out the kitchen where she had been preparing dinner. The picture on the television shows people in the southern part of the United States being beaten by police officers. Eddie's father shakes his head in disgust. Eddie closes his door and goes back to what he was doing.

The next day Eddie, his older brother James and Eddies best friend Pookie who lives next door are racing Popsicle sticks along the street curb. A neighbor's water hose provides the current they need to make the different colored sticks go. The boys are completely into what they are doing. The race is a virtual dead heat as they slowly walk down to the end of their block that merges with a major thoroughfare. Suddenly a deep, stern southern accent stops them in their tracks. A national guardsman in full military regalia complete with an M-16 rifle and bayonet strapped over his shoulder just like Eddie's toy soldier doll towers over them. James and Pookie take two steps away from this imposing figure but Eddie doesn't move. He quickly examines the canteen on the soldier's waste, his shiny boots, his helmet, his pistol. The only thing that was different about this soldier was the scowl on his face. Eddie sensed this immediately. Heroes don't act like this he thought. Several men in a military vehicle pulled up and the soldier went over to speak with them. Eddie's mother who had come outside called for the boys to come home. That night Eddie sat in his room but he did not play with his toy soldier. Instead he sat and stared at the doll thinking, for hours. Finally Eddie's mother entered his room. She sensed that something was wrong. She hugged her son and told him that he and his brother would be leaving with their father to run an errand. Eddie's father drove a brand new Studebaker that had an enormous backseat. On their way back from the errand Eddie and his brother were wrestling in the backseat. Eddie's father kept telling them to behave.

They came to an intersection not far from their home when two police cars and an ambulance sped by. The sound of glass breaking and screaming became more pronounced. Eddie smelled smoke and he and his brother became scared. Eddie's father ordered his sons to get down. A policeman ran up to their car and ordered Eddie's father to turn around but the traffic was so congested he couldn't do anything but go forward. Eddie peered up from the backseat and saw a man with a bottle of fire in his hand throw the bottle into a building. Directly in front of them, two national guardsmen were holding a man and screaming at him. The man broke free and tried to run when one of the national guardsmen struck the man in the back with the but of his rifle. The soldier turned and looked directly into Eddie's eyes. Eddie had seen those eyes before. It was the soldier on the corner down from their home. Eddie joined his brother on the floor of the backseat. Eddie's father finally saw an opening and shot down a side street to avoid the melee. Eddie and his brother were terrified. Eddie's father cursed the soldiers and used the words honky and pigs as he made his way back home.

Several days had passed since then. Eddie's father was sitting in the living room watching television. The news was showing footage of the rioting in their neighborhood. According to the newsman order had been restored. Eddie sits next to his father who puts his arm around his son. They're both lost in their own thoughts, staring blankly at the television. Eddie's mother enters the room and tells them both to get ready for supper. Eddie heads to his room. His toy soldier sits on top the dresser drawer. Eddie walks over and takes the toy soldier off the dresser. He stares at it briefly. He opens the door to his closet and puts the toy soldier in a trunk and closes it. He heads to the kitchen to join his family.

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