In the last millennium, I was at my drawing table when sudden flashes of light flooded my eyes and thunder filled my ears. What was that, I wondered apprehensively.

They shot Alvin, two girls screamed under my window.

I bolted down the stairs and up the block where cops were parting the crowd like Moses parted The Red Sea. I looked into the eyes of a cop who stopped me from entering the crime scene. He let me pass when he saw how blue I was. Then I saw Alvin’s hand fall from the gurney and I knew my little brother was gone. My sense of humor that entertained him so much was killed when a drug dealer had used him as a shield against bullets fired by rivals. My blood ran cold on the streets of The South Bronx of America.

I went into shock for seconds that seemed like an eternity of silence.

Then I heard people screaming for Jesus and God in the same breath. This is what was left out from The Daily News list of children killed by illegal handguns.

Once upon a time, I held a gun to protect myself from a gang after I had beaten one of their own in a fistfight. Danny, this is not who you are, Alvin said. He’s right. I didn’t want to end up like the criminal in the last scene in Angels With Dirty Faces. I used to be a U.S Marshall when I was a kid with The Lone Ranger Silver six shooters. Still I was aiming to break the law that states there are no second acts in American lives

I found a way to bring people of all colors to a police line-up in black and white. Mark this as Exhibit A at The Bronx County Courthouse gallery. I was going to take as many of you as I can with me. I was going to frame you as a family. Still am. Another idea was to turn people into artists with chalk to create the outlines of bodies on hard streets. After the rains washes them away, I wanted them to help me draw stars and the names of celebrities that grew up in our town. It would’ve created a path to Yankee Stadium for a homecoming game. But it was The Magnificent Seven meets High Noon: they wanted someone to clean up the town like Hercules did with the Aegean Stables and most didn’t wanted to get involved. Were people afraid of The Empire State striking back? I understand. It’s scary to hear I wanted to put on line-up former South Bronx boy NYPD Commissioner Howard Safir to bring a balance to The Police Force. Who am I?

I’m not Spider Man breaking his butt on Broadway or movies. It’s been real.

In yet another draft of the good, the bad and the ugly, I’m a mild-mannered eyewitness to creative vision akin to a red sun that went super nova eons ago.

You’re seeing the light of ancient history travel to new millenniums.

People cry out for heroes to fix everything?

Picture yourself.This is for you Alvin and others like you