Marbles And Blood On A Black Stallion Poem by Ron Stock

This is the true story of two passionate young boys: Jack, huge, broad-shouldered, dark, handsome, strong; Jimmy, small, quick, not very pretty, intense. The feud between these two begins in the second grade and brews like boiling poison in their hearts for ten years.
On the playground of an old stone school around a circle scratched in the dust, a crowd has gathered to watch these foes play a game of Cat's Eye marbles. Jack, on one knee, a large red Shooter marble between thumb and forefinger of his right hand, snaps it into the ring. When Jack's marble misses, Jimmy and his comrades cheer. Jack grumbles, and spits in the dirt. Jimmy kneels on both knees, takes a deep breath, fires his green Cat's Eye. When Little Jimmy's Shooter knocks Big Jack's last marble out of the ring and Jimmy wins, Jimmy screams with joy, then turns to shake Jack's hand. The last thing he remembers; a fist in front of his face. Jimmy awakens with blood running from his nose.
In the 6th grade at a country school of mostly brick and glass on a playground with but a few trees surrounded by fields of dry corn, Jimmy bounces out the front door of the long, narrow building at lunch hour, hears a commotion to his right, glances up, and sees Big Jack and several boys in a circle on their knees. They have a skinny blond-haired girl pinned to the ground, her white blouse up, her blue jeans down. Dirty little fingers are probing her secret places. Jimmy races to the office of the principal. Two male teachers yank the boys away from the helpless girl, who weeping, remains down, tightly curled, in a fetal pose. After school Big Jack chases Little Jimmy through one of those dry corn fields, but Big Jack is waaaay too slow and can never catch up, with Little Jimmy.
A year and a half later Little Jimmy is a baseball prodigy on a team where Big Jack thinks he should be the star. They are teammates, and Jimmy now muses, friends. When Jack invites Jimmy over to ride horses, Jimmy, excited, can't refuse. When Jimmy arrives at Jack's farm Jack offers him a horse. Jimmy says, "Thanks Jack. Where's your horse? " Jack says nothing as Jimmy grabs the reigns and climbs into the saddle of the glistening black stallion. Before he can get his feet in the stirrups Jack slaps the animal's rump. The big horse gallops at high speed on a well-worn path around a corner of the house. Jimmy, still bent over trying to get his right foot in a stirrup, glances up and sees a thick oak tree limb taking dead, broadside aim at his belly. He leans back. The big horse thunders through. Jimmy's chest and nose are seriously scratched. He's one angry,13-year-old boy.
Our final scene unfolds on a high school football field. Big Jack, at 200 pounds, is an All-State fullback for the Bay City Buccaneers; Little Jimmy, a 157-pound scrawny defensive safety for the Trojans of Saginaw High. Big Jack has been nothing but baad, all night. Suddenly the defensive line opens up and exposes the black silhouette of Big Jack surrounded by a harsh white light. The hair goes up on Little Jimmy's neck. He doesn't flash on the game of marbles and blood, nor on the innocent, violated little girl in tears in the fetal pose, nor on the black stallion and thick oak tree limb: but something, happens, inside Jimmy's brain. He is now a Jaguar, waiting to pounce on his helpless prey. Jimmy's tackle breaks two of Jack's ribs and cracks Jack's collarbone. The feud, is officially, over.