Free Body Slammed! by Ray Villareal Page A

directed Jesse’s attention to the photographs on the wall behind the couch. “I snapped those when I took a photography class in high school. I wanted to be a photographer when I grew up, but instead I decided to become a wrestler, something my pops has never let me forget.” TJ stuck his nose up in the air. “My pops is too hoity-toity to watch wrestling. Know what I mean?” He sat on the couch and took another swig of his beer.
    Jesse sat on the ottoman in front of him. “How did you get into wrestling, anyway? Did you play sports in high school?”
    â€œNo, Jesse. Like I said, I was a band nerd. But I was also a huge ACW mark. I watched it all the time. Who knew that I’d be wrestling for them one day?” TJ sat his beer bottle on an end table and leaned back on the couch with his hands clasped behind his head. “Some of my buddies and I were into backyard wrestling. One of the guys, Pete Zagarenski, used to have a professional wrestling ring that his pops found on ebay. We formed a federation called Ultimate Backyard Wrestling. We tried to imitate the kinds of things we saw wrestlers do on TV. I mean, we hit each other with chairs and threw each other through tables. We’d climb up Pete’s roof and jump off onto each other.” TJ shook his head and laughed. “Man, we did some crazy stuff back then.”
    Jesse had heard about backyard wrestling from his father. It was something kids all across the country were doing. His father didn’t think much of it. He said that kids who participated in backyard wrestling were stupid because they were attempting dangerous stunts without any training or supervision. Even professional wrestlers, he said, with extensive preparation and conditioning, always risked getting seriously hurt.
    â€œAnyway, after graduation my pops wanted me to go to college,” TJ said. “He’s a hot shot attorney in Amarillo, and he wanted me to study law. But I barely made it through high school, and there was no way I was gonna survive through law school. So I decided to go into pro wrestling. I Googled wrestling schools and found the Ox Mulligan Pro Wrestling Factory here in San Antonio. Now I’m a superstar on American Championship Wrestling.” TJ picked up his bottle and finished his beer. “And there’s nothing my pops can do about it,” he added with disdain.
    â€œI take it that you and your father don’t get along,” Jesse said.
    â€œOh, we get along fine. As long as he stays in his part of the state and I stay in mine.”
    Jesse checked the time. It was ten after twelve. “I have to go.”
    â€œYeah, okay.” TJ pulled his keys out of his pocket and tossed them to Jesse. “I’ll let you do the honors.”
    Jesse was glad he hadn’t asked the guys to join them. It wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun. The guys were all right. There was nothing wrong with them. Goose was kind of goofy, though. And Bucky’s high-pitched voice sometimes grated on Jesse’s nerves. He realized that Wendell was trying to lose weight, but his body was full of flab that jiggled when he walked. Jesse didn’t want TJ to think that he hung out with a bunch of losers.
    On the way home, they neared Jesse’s school.
    â€œThere’s good old Erastus ‘Deaf’ Smith High,” TJ said. “No offense, Jesse, but that’s gotta be the weirdest name for a high school I’ve ever heard.”
    â€œActually, we pronounce it Deef Smith,” Jesse corrected him.
    â€œAll right. Deef Smith High. Who was he, anyway?”
    Jesse pulled the car to the curb and stopped in front of the school. “I’m not sure. Some famous guy from the Texas Revolution, I think. Didn’t you study about him in school?”
    â€œIf we did, I don’t remember,” TJ said.
    â€œAnyway, that’s him up there.” Jesse pointed to the life-size statue of Deaf