By the time Dad got home, two ambulances had gone by and two police officers were sitting with me as I stared out the door at all the commotion. A detective arrived just before dad and they talked outside for a few minutes before coming in.
Dad hugged me. “Are you okay, son?”
“I’m fine, dad. Mom just called and said she’ll be here in 15 minutes.”
“This is Detective Holden. She’s going to take your statement and then we can talk. Okay?”
“Sure. Hi, Detective Holden.”
“Hey Josiah. I’m going to record this.” She put a camcorder on the table a few feet away, adjusted the viewfinder, then came back over. “Can you start from the time you got off the bus and tell me everything that happened until the police first arrived at your door? Don’t leave out any details.”
So, I told her the whole story.
When I was done, Detective Holden and dad looked at each other oddly, then dad asked, “Are you sure you didn’t leave anything out, son?”
They both looked at me as if they knew something more. First I thought they were talking about my friend, but they couldn’t have known and I couldn’t tell them.
“No, dad, that’s the whole story.”
“Did you hit either of the two suspects *with* anything?” asked Detective Holden.
“No ma’am. I shoved the guy and kicked him in the chest, and I only side kicked the lady.”
They looked at each other again and one of the uniformed police officers chuckled, which got a leer from Detective Holden. They went outside.
Detective Holden asked, “Do you take martial arts or something?”
“Yeah, he’s been in Taekwondo since he was a little one,” Dad said.
I said, “Yes. I’m a third degree black belt.”
She said, “Okay Josiah. I may have some more questions for you, but I’ll let your dad know and we’ll talk together.”
I said, “Thank you, Detective Holden.”
“Thank *you* Josiah. You’re a brave young man,” she said, before she and dad went outside to talk again. That’s when Mom arrived and they all stood outside talking for a long time.
Mom yelled, “WHAT!?” and looked through the door at me before covering her mouth and looking away. Dad hugged her and shook Detective Holden’s hand. Mom hugged Detective Holden, then shook her hand before coming inside.
“Are you sure you’re okay ‘Ziah?” Mom asked, wiping tears from her cheeks.
I smiled and said, “I’m really fine, mom.” She sat down with me, hugged me, and held me tight for a few minutes. She started to cry.
“Mom, don’t cry. I’m fine. I didn’t get hurt at all,” I said.
A few minutes passed while mom told me what she was doing when she got the call and why she couldn’t come right away. Then how a police officer escorted her home with his lights flashing.
Then dad came back in. He looked at mom and shook his head “no” slowly. Mom covered her mouth and started to cry again.
I asked, “What’s the matter, mom? What’s going on, dad?”
Dad said, “I have some bad news, son, and we’d rather you hear it from us than hear it on the news. The lady you kicked has been taken to the hospital and has a broken coccyx and shoulder.”
Mom said, “A coccyx is a tail bone, son.” She turned to show the area on herself.
Dad said, “Sorry — yeah… And the guy… Well… Son, he didn’t make it.”
I asked, “What do you mean, he didn’t make it?” I asked, “He’s dead? What happened to him?”
Dad said, “That’s the thing. He had a broken neck and a crushed sternum — uhhh, that’s the chest bone that your ribs are attached to. They think his fractured ribs may have punctured his heart and lungs and… he didn’t survive his injuries.”
“Do they think *I* did all that?” I asked.
“That’s what detectives are trying to find out. They think someone may have hit them with their car after you left. They’re still investigating. Even if it was from what you did, it was self defense. You didn’t mean to do all that.”
“David…” Mom interjected.
Dad said, “We’ll know more after the autopsy, but we see no reason to tell you any more about it. You were protecting yourself — it’s not your fault, and that’s all that matters.”
“Are you hungry?” Mom asked.
I said, “Wow… It didn’t seem like I hit or kicked either of them *that* hard, but they both screamed really loud when I did.”
Mom and dad looked at each other, then back to me. Then Mom said, “Son.” She looked around to see if anyone was listening, then leaned toward me. Dad leaned in too. “You know you’ve had extraordinary strength that seems to have only gotten stronger over the years.”
“I know, but it just didn’t seem like it was *that* much. I only did what my friend said to do,” I explained.
“Your friend?” dad asked. “You didn’t say someone else was with you.”
“Remember the voice that I heard that Shabbat? I talked to him back when I was in middle school, and he helped me today,” I explained.
“Ziah!” mom said, somewhat subdued, and looked around. “Middle school? We thought it was that *one* time while you were in elementary school.”
“Why didn’t you tell us about it? You know we don’t keep secrets in this house,” Dad said.
So I told them both the whole story…
JET (The Hero) 