[3] Grainger Park Boxing Gym!

As the saying went, Saturdays were for the boys and myself being the king of boys, was in a good mood.

I woke up early, around 10 am...

It's early for a Saturday ok!

As for breakfast, my mood took a plummet, since it was the year 2007 and I was now living in a relatively poor household, I couldn't enjoy food like I previously did in my past life.

It was a habit I was going to have to break if I had any plans of progressing in the sport of boxing, after all, no matter how talented one was if they didn't look after themselves and eat well to fuel their training, all that will happen is a fast-track invitation to weight watchers ending up at your doorstep.

But right now, a mixture of Weetabix and coco pos were acceptable...

My mother was busy doing her things and I couldn't be bothered to entertain my younger sisters so early in the morning, it was 10 o'clock and they were literally bouncing around the house.

So feeling a headache the main character went on his journey to the local boxing gym.

I travelled mountains and crossed seas, fighting colossal entities in the deepest, darkest parts of the world...

All for one goal, to reach my destination.

The Grainger Park boxing gym...

Yep, it sounded a lot cooler in my head, truthfully it was a 10-minute walk.

Go right from my house and carry on until you hit the main road, then through an alleyway that smelt of pee and wah-lah, a bungalow sized building with minimal windows and one old dusty signboard at the top of the roof.

"Grainger Park Boxing Gym!"

Cut to the story dialogue, you're missing the plotlines...

Action!

Walking into the boxing gym, Ryan felt somewhat nervous, it was to be expected, he had been dropped back into his younger self and supposedly given the talent of boxing. When in actual fact, he had no clue if he was just imagining things and was wasting his mother's hard-earned cash by signing up for this.

Opening up the gym door, it creaked, evident it was a rundown place.

But as soon as the door parted, Ryan was met with the sweet sweet smell of sausages...

As a previous fatty, there is no way his god-given nose wouldn't be able to discern such a scent.

"Hello?" He asked in confusion, unable to see any after walking in.

Sounds of a chair creaking and talking coming from the back room, Ryan was really debating his life choices right now.

"Should I even bother coming to this gym, I could just find somewhere more professional?"

"Yeah, let's do that, this place is kinda scary..."

Turning around he pivoted his backfoot and went to exit the building but then a voice beckoned out from the room that was previously filled with sausage smells and quiet chatter.

"Who are you?" It was a cold voice, Ryan could instinctively tell, it was an old geezer, he didn't even need to turn back around.

The voice carried and it actually made Ryan's hair stand up on his arms.

"Erm... I got lost sorry... Bye..." Ryan stuttered unable to confess his actual reasoning for coming here.

Then the conversation took a turn that would change Ryan's new life forever.

Crunch*

Ryan's fatty senses were tingling...

He has a sausage in his hand right now, doesn't he?

That was all he needed to build p the courage to face the potentially psycho murderer behind him.

"You have any more sausages on the go?" Ryan asked shamelessly.

At the same time, he took the chance to inspect the geezer across from him as did the man toward Ryan.

The man was around his 30s or late 40s, he had a plump body but he still maintained his psychical prowess. Clearly an ex-boxer. His beard was messy and he had the smell of alcohol on his clothes that were clearly from yesterday.

His hair was grey and his eyes were black, on his right arm which was uncovered since he wore a white vest with food stains on, Ryan could see a tattoo of Great Britain's flag.

Hmm, interesting that was the thought that both of them had when they gazed at each other.

The geezer was the first to speak, "You hungry or something?"

To which Ryan could have responded, please sir could I have some more.

(That was an Oliver twist reference if you didn't get it.)

But Ryan just stayed true to himself and answered honestly, "Erm, I just like sausages..."

A moment of silence fell on the small reception area of the boxing gym before the geezer turned away and went back to the room behind him.

Ryan thought he was bored with conversing with him but then he heard, "Come get one then but don't burn yourself on the grill. I won't pay for your hospital bills if you do..."

At that very moment, Ryan was sure he saw the light of a halo form on the top of the gym owner's head and clear white wings peer out from his back.

"He's an angel sent from the almighty God above!"

Yep, Ryan thanked the lord and then began feasting on the dude's small stash of supermarket-bought sausages.

There were only 4 left but he ate them all. Meanwhile, the geezer didn't say a single word, he just reclined back on his wooden chair.

You know the one wherein those old American war movies where the son returns home and his old ass mother is sat on the porch like she hadn't moved a single step in the 10 years he had been away.

That type of chair.

But a few minutes pass by and The geezer finally speaks after Ryan finished the last bite, "You really do take a mile when given an inch, are all the youngsters like this these days?"

"Oh were you planning to have one of those later or something?" Ryan asked slightly concerned he had at the man's dinner.

"No, but I'm pretty sure that I said 'get one'." The man retorted.

"Oh, well you see the sausages were just too good to be wasted... And food should never be wasted..." Ryan tried to flat outcome up with an excuse to justify his fatty tendencies to eat everything in front of him.

"Uh-huh, is that so?" The man replied with a growing disdain for Ryan's visible childishness.

"If you've eaten, get on your way now, I'm busy..."

Unfortunately, the geezer's attempts to shoo Ryan away failed miserably.

You see at this point I had already solidified that this place was better than what it seemed, there was food and a chance to box as I wanted.

Screw going to a professional gym, they probably wouldn't even give me sausages.

"Listen Mr, I erm lied before, I didn't just come for the sausages but that was a plus, thanks for that by the way." Ryan started his confession.

"Really, you had me fooled." The geezer spoke in ridicule, clearly, he knew Ryan had come for another reason.

"Yeah, so basically, I want to learn how to box and since this Is a boxing gym, Can I?"

The old geezer sighed when he heard that, he knew this was coming. But his facial expression was like he was making a tough decision.

I built a backstory for the old geezer, would you care to listen?

The coach is actually a famous celebrity coach, they called him the almighty coach of the gods. He trained many professional boxers and athletes in his prime but was cast aside like a tool when they had reached their fame and he was no longer of use.

Now the coach spends all of his time in a rundown place like this, drinking and throwing his life away.

A cool story right.

Unfortuenelty It wasn't like that.

It wasn't too far off but that's a story for another time...

"What's your name kid?"

"Ryan! Ryan Moore! I'm 7 years old and I want to be a boxer when I grow up!" Ryan replied sternly like he was attending a job interview.

"Whoah, relax there tiger, I only asked a question, stop getting so tense will you?"

The old geezer exhaled deeply, feeling the kid was a headache but something in him was stirring like the kid was special for some reason. He had only eaten four sausages and waffled whenever they conversed but he was sure that the kid could box before they had even put on the gloves.

It was his instincts telling him and they were yet to fail him to this date.

He spoke to Ryan with a stern expression, "You want to box, look around you?"

At this point Ryan looked around, he could see the state of the gym a bit better now he took the chance to focus on it.

It was poor, the equipment was old and dusty, leaving the impression that it hadn't been used any time recently. But everything was there it was good enough to start with. And that's all that Ryan cared for.

"Yep, I want to box, I might not have a lot of money to pay for lessons but I would like to learn please."

"Ah what the heck!" He spoke out loud to himself, firming his decision.

"Let's box!"