User blog:WayfinderOwl/Boom, Baby: The Milo Lopez Experience - Introduction

 On the very day I turned seventeen, I got out of Happy Volts. No longer a patient, I was allowed to shave for the first time. Left a small patch of beard on my chin—a soul patch, and realized it was the facial hairdo for me. And, damn, it looked good. I’d be fighting off the chicks outside.  How did I get in Happy Volts? Well, sit back, and I’ll fill ya’ in.  Got abandoned as a baby.  Adopted by a shallow socialite desperate for kids, so she don’t die alone.  Learned to walk.  Started messing that apartment she loved. (It happens.)  Stole stuff.  Tagged stuff.  Smashed stuff.  Learned to break into cars.  Blew up toasters. Blenders. Any appliance would do. (And it was awesome.)  Turned thirteen.  Wanted to go to the Libertonian.  Mom said no. (Bitch.)  Took her car for a joyride.  Cruised through the ‘hood. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Blew up her car in the garage, and found my life’s purpose. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Got in deep shit. (I wasn’t sorry.) <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Mom went cra-zy. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> I got told I was going to camp. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Dumped in Bullworth. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Learned about flammable chemicals in chemistry. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Blew up a car in auto shop. (Got a taste for it.) <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Blew up another car, then another. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Made a friend – he was brains, I just did shit because I felt like it. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Exploded my project all over the chemistry lab. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Did it again for fun. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Blew my project up for a third time. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> In the words of my childhood hero; “Ain’t I a stinker?” <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Practically lived in detention. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Discovered Blue Skies. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Met the gang. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Blew up a car. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Won the townie’s respect. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Coined the phrase “boom, baby.”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Cut one in the library. (Not important, I just like mentioning it.) <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Moved my talents on across the town. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Got caught rigging a prep's car up to go boom. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Sent to Crabblesnitch. (Big-nosed asshole.) <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Got detention. (Scrubbing the caf kitchen? What the hell?) <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Set my sights on Crabblesnitch’s car. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Got sloppy. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Took out all the cars in the parking lot at once. (Boom, baby!) <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Mom gave up on me. (Bitch.) <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Thrown in Happy Volts. (Party over, bro.) <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Met a crazy chick. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Hit on her. (Biggest mistake ever.) <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Did my time. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Caught up? Good. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> I checked myself out in the cracked dirty mirror, as I cut my hair with a pair of scissors. Damn, I looked good. If I was a chick, I’d date me. Messy but a little spiky. Perfect. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> On the bed was a small pile of clothes. Clint had come in two weeks ago disguised,  pretending to be my dad, to deliver some clothes. Stupid orderlies are too dumb to see he is white, and I’m not. Idiots. Just the essentials, to walk out of this dump in style. Brown boots. Skinny jeans, ripped in neat lines down the legs. Black checked t-shirt, new from Final Cut. Orange shirt, not meant to be buttoned up. Leather cuff, to top it all off. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> I donned my new garb, glad to wear something that wasn’t scrubs and paper booties. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> One last look in the mirror; smokin’ hot. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> This would be my year, I told myself. All the chicks would be after me. I’d pulled in here, granted she was crazy, but I am hard to resist. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> An orderly came in to escort me out. I strutted behind him, chin up, chest out. Glad to breath clean air, as I left the building. The gates opened, and the gang was waiting for me. Clint, big and broad built, like a gorilla. Edgar, my brother from another mother—well, for all we knew. My biological mother didn’t exactly leave a nametag. Otto, he got out a week before I did. Zoe, who I honestly missed. All those nights we stayed up late, smashing shit up at Spencer Shipping Warehouse; hell, yeah, I missed it. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> “I’m back, bros,” I said, wailing on an air guitar. I offered a wink to Zoe. “And babe.” <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> She gave me a playful punch to the shoulder. “Don’t call me babe, you idiot.” <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Edgar gave me a fist bump. “We got a party set up—woah!” <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> A beam of purple light sliced across the sky, as if it were aiming right for us. Came to a stop a few feet away. A man stepped out. He was like no one I had ever seen. Muscular. Wearing some kind of metallic blue space suit. Tight fitting to the shape of his body. Black hair. His eyes—I couldn’t see them. Shielded by purple sunglasses, that obscured the color of them. He had this intimidating air about him, even Clint would think twice before messing with him. And Clint never thought much about anything. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> The guy with the purple glasses looked to me. “You Milo Lopez?” <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> “Yeah,” I replied. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> “Get in the light,” he commanded. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Shrugging, I did as I was told. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> “You lot, too. Get in.” the guy with the purple glasses said, pointing at the others. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> “I don’t know…” Otto muttered, hesitantly. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> “Just get in the light, will you?” I told them. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> Everything started to fade a little bit, as I was lifted three feet off the ground. All I could see was the stranger. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> “Hang in there kid, I’ll find you,” he said. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> “What is your name?” I asked. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> “Johnny Gat.” <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; text-indent: 14.2pt; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"> And that was the last I saw of Bullworth, at least for a little while.

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