Chapter 15: Dyno Mutt

Trent “Dyno Mutt” Dade was the first person to start following me over to Jason's garage. His mother passed away when he was very young, and his dad worked a full-time job as a plumber. He was mostly raised by his older sisters.

I had first met Trent in school when I was a Junior. He was a grade below me. One day I was standing in line to buy food during lunch. The line was at least ten students in front of me. This younger student with short brown hair and fucked up teeth just walked up to me and handed me a slice of pizza. I had never met him before. He was just some random kid as far as I knew.

"Thanks. Where did that come from?" I asked.

"My family is poor, so I get free lunch every day." he replied.

"Oh." I wasn't really sure what else to say.

"My class before lunch always gets let out early and I am first in line at the Pizza cart. You like pizza, right?" he responded.

"Ya, that is literally what I am waiting in line for." I told him.

"I heard you're on deck. Gotta bong rip you could spare?" he asked me.

After that, Trent and I became friends. The school had Domino's Pizza as an option for lunch so every day Trent would trade me a slice of pizza for a bong rip. I always gave him a decent sized rip. Truth be told I really liked that pizza.

He was the random kid who traded me pizza for weed for a few years. Eventually he moved up to actually buying weed from me. It was mostly five sacks. When I went out of business due to my arrest, Trent was one of the people I recommended to Jason. With Jason's permission I let Trent tag along with me over to Jason's garage and that is how the two of them met. After that Trent was a regular at the garage like me.

Jason and Trent were friends, but they had a habit of talking shit to each other after a few drinks.

"This fool looks like he's gonna bite me with his wild ass snaggle tooth coming out of his mouth. Fucking Snaggle tooth mother fucker." Trent always picked on Jason's fang like tooth.

"He's talking shit on my teeth? He looks like his dad fucked Barraka from Mortal Kombat!" Jason fired back.

Everyone laughed. Even Trent a little bit.

"Hey Barraka! I think I'm gonna sock ya!" Jason playfully rapped as he threw a soft punch into Trent's arm and then sat back down.

I tried to ease any tension by adding my own two cents.

"Jason is a vampire. He's got the pale skin and dark hair. But with only one fang he's actually a baby vampire. You see what movies and tv have gotten wrong all these years is the height of vampires. They are actually very tall."

Trent laughed.

"As for Trent, he looks like that one breed of dog. Yeah, his dad was a dog, and his mom was actually a t rex. He's got little t rex arms and the shape of the top of his head looks kind of like a dinosaur. His face looks more like a dog with any ears. He's half dinosaur and half dog. This fool's nickname should be Dyno Mutt!" I said.

Jason fell over laughing.

"I know exactly what you mean, I see the dog comparison. It's like the dog from the Target commercials." Jason chimed in.

"Bullseye, the dog's name is Bullseye!" I added while laughing hysterically.

"That's right he's a bull terrier!" Jason said.

Trent was quiet for a moment.

"Come here let me draw that little red thing around your eye!" I motioned to Trent while holding a red pen.

"Fuck you guys!" said Trent.

From that day on, the nickname Dyno Mutt stuck with Trent. They even started calling him that outside our circle of friends. Everyone at school and in the neighborhood called him Dyno Mutt. Initially Trent hated it but over time he grew fond of the name and even adopted it as his graffiti tag.

We had one main rule at the garage. If you showed up on a night when we were all drinking and smoking and expected to drink or smoke, you needed to contribute. You could not show up empty handed. You needed to bring money, weed, or drinks.

Dyno's family was poor and he never had any money. Or weed. Or Drinks. Most days he would earn bong rips and shots of alcohol by doing odd jobs for Jason or myself. He cleaned bongs and pipes. He often ran to the nearby 711 and grabbed snacks and drinks with our money. He was like the original Uber Eats.

They knew him so well at the pizza place around the corner they started giving him free food when he picked up our orders.

Dyno would also provide entertainment. Sometimes he would let you shoot him a few times with a pellet gun or film him doing an embarrassing dance with your phone if that meant he could drink and smoke with the group for free.

Dyno was notorious for asking people to sell him five sacks ($5 worth of weed) which I mentioned before no drug dealer wanted to do. Jason would never meet up with someone or deliver a five sack but if Dyno was already at his house, it was hard to say no.

Dyno's favorite song was also “I got five on it” by Luniz. We made it his official theme song.

Jason would hear Dyno walking up the path or expect him momentarily and get the song ready for his entrance. We would play it as he walked in the door. Dyno Mutt would talk shit immediately.

"Fuck you guys, stop calling me a mutt and stop playing that song!" Dyno would say.

"Who you prefer who let the dogs out?" I had asked him.

We would turn off the music. Dyno would take his seat on the couch.

"What about that five sack though Jason?" he always asked.

We would all laugh.

I may have picked on Dyno from time to time, we all did, but deep down I really liked him. Most of the time he was a good kid and I tried to look out for him.

Chapter 15: John Ripley