Lost in all the horrible politics surrounding his death is the story of a boy. Before he became yet another flash point in America's painful and never-ending racial drama, Trayvon Martin was just a normal teenager. Here, at last, is the story of what was lost on that February night.
By John H. Richardson
Published in the December 2012 issue
He wanted something sweet, he wanted to get out of the apartment for a while. He slid open the glass door of the patio and slipped out into the steamy Florida twilight, an ordinary thing on an ordinary night.
Trayvon Martin was three weeks past seventeen that day, which was the day a stranger named George Zimmerman shot him through the heart. He was growing so fast, he'd stretched out like a rubber band, 158 pounds on a five-eleven frame, so long and thin everyone teased him: Boy, you too skinny to take a breath.
He was wearing the hoodie he always wore, lost in his music like he always was. People teased him about that, too. Next door to his uncle Stephen's house, a modest ranch house where he often spent the night, lived an old lady who called him Mouse.
Don't you ever talk? Say something.
Trayvon would just grin.
He strolled down the narrow cement path between two buildings. Trayvon didn't live there, he was just visiting, so it was all fairly new to him. Double glass doors faced the area from apartments on both sides, little white fences separated each little yard, central-air units hummed, televisions lit the curtains with their blue glow. Sometimes a Big Wheel tricycle sat forgotten in the path.
The complex looked nice. The buildings were two or three stories, with neat little lawns with neat little borders. No visible garbage bins, a clubhouse, a little lake. Not as nice as the luxury complex just across the no-man's-land where no one had bothered to build a sidewalk, but pretty nice for a kid from the modest side of Miami Gardens. Last night he had a long talk with DeWayne, his buddy from pee-wee football. DeWayne asked what he was doing.
Just chillin' with my ol' boy, Trayvon said. Trayvon's dad was dating a woman who lived there, a woman named Brandy, and it was looking serious. If he had to change high schools again to move up there, he said, it would be a'ight.
When he got to the gate of the complex, he could have slipped through the pedestrian gate. It wasn't locked. Even after the shooting, they never locked it. Florida is geared to cars, and Trayvon was still a BMX kind of guy. He tooled all around Miami Gardens on that little bike, standing on the pegs or doing the cat-walk wheelie on one wheel. And there was no sidewalk most of the way, just a lumpy depression in the grass, so why walk along the road? A man on foot could walk through trees and sand halfway to the 7-Eleven. <a href=" http://www.esquire.com/features/americans-2012/trayvon-martin-1212"> READ MORE </a>
Published in the December 2012 issue
He wanted something sweet, he wanted to get out of
the apartment for a while. He slid open the glass door of the patio and
slipped out into the steamy Florida twilight, an ordinary thing on an
ordinary night.
Trayvon Martin was three weeks past seventeen that
day, which was the day a stranger named George Zimmerman shot him
through the heart. He was growing so fast, he'd stretched out like a
rubber band, 158 pounds on a five-eleven frame, so long and thin
everyone teased him:
Boy, you too skinny to take a breath.
He
was wearing the hoodie he always wore, lost in his music like he always
was. People teased him about that, too. Next door to his uncle
Stephen's house, a modest ranch house where he often spent the night,
lived an old lady who called him Mouse.
Don't you ever talk? Say something.
Trayvon would just grin.
He
strolled down the narrow cement path between two buildings. Trayvon
didn't live there, he was just visiting, so it was all fairly new to
him. Double glass doors faced the area from apartments on both sides,
little white fences separated each little yard, central-air units
hummed, televisions lit the curtains with their blue glow. Sometimes a
Big Wheel tricycle sat forgotten in the path.
The complex looked
nice. The buildings were two or three stories, with neat little lawns
with neat little borders. No visible garbage bins, a clubhouse, a little
lake. Not as nice as the luxury complex just across the no-man's-land
where no one had bothered to build a sidewalk, but pretty nice for a kid
from the modest side of Miami Gardens. Last night he had a long talk
with DeWayne, his buddy from pee-wee football. DeWayne asked what he was
doing.
Just chillin' with my ol' boy, Trayvon said. Trayvon's dad
was dating a woman who lived there, a woman named Brandy, and it was
looking serious. If he had to change high schools again to move up
there, he said, it would be a'ight.
When he got to the gate of the complex, he could have slipped through
the pedestrian gate. It wasn't locked. Even after the shooting, they
never locked it. Florida is geared to cars, and Trayvon was still a BMX
kind of guy. He tooled all around Miami Gardens on that little bike,
standing on the pegs or doing the cat-walk wheelie on one wheel. And
there was no sidewalk most of the way, just a lumpy depression in the
grass, so why walk along the road? A man on foot could walk through
trees and sand halfway to the 7-Eleven.
Read more: Trayvon Martin Family Interview - Trayvon Martin Aftermath - Esquire http://www.esquire.com/features/americans-2012/trayvon-martin-1212#ixzz2DXLaLFzI
Published in the December 2012 issue
He wanted something sweet, he wanted to get out of
the apartment for a while. He slid open the glass door of the patio and
slipped out into the steamy Florida twilight, an ordinary thing on an
ordinary night.
Trayvon Martin was three weeks past seventeen that
day, which was the day a stranger named George Zimmerman shot him
through the heart. He was growing so fast, he'd stretched out like a
rubber band, 158 pounds on a five-eleven frame, so long and thin
everyone teased him:
Boy, you too skinny to take a breath.
He
was wearing the hoodie he always wore, lost in his music like he always
was. People teased him about that, too. Next door to his uncle
Stephen's house, a modest ranch house where he often spent the night,
lived an old lady who called him Mouse.
Don't you ever talk? Say something.
Trayvon would just grin.
He
strolled down the narrow cement path between two buildings. Trayvon
didn't live there, he was just visiting, so it was all fairly new to
him. Double glass doors faced the area from apartments on both sides,
little white fences separated each little yard, central-air units
hummed, televisions lit the curtains with their blue glow. Sometimes a
Big Wheel tricycle sat forgotten in the path.
The complex looked
nice. The buildings were two or three stories, with neat little lawns
with neat little borders. No visible garbage bins, a clubhouse, a little
lake. Not as nice as the luxury complex just across the no-man's-land
where no one had bothered to build a sidewalk, but pretty nice for a kid
from the modest side of Miami Gardens. Last night he had a long talk
with DeWayne, his buddy from pee-wee football. DeWayne asked what he was
doing.
Just chillin' with my ol' boy, Trayvon said. Trayvon's dad
was dating a woman who lived there, a woman named Brandy, and it was
looking serious. If he had to change high schools again to move up
there, he said, it would be a'ight.
When he got to the gate of the complex, he could have slipped through
the pedestrian gate. It wasn't locked. Even after the shooting, they
never locked it. Florida is geared to cars, and Trayvon was still a BMX
kind of guy. He tooled all around Miami Gardens on that little bike,
standing on the pegs or doing the cat-walk wheelie on one wheel. And
there was no sidewalk most of the way, just a lumpy depression in the
grass, so why walk along the road? A man on foot could walk through
trees and sand halfway to the 7-Eleven.
Read more: Trayvon Martin Family Interview - Trayvon Martin Aftermath - Esquire http://www.esquire.com/features/americans-2012/trayvon-martin-1212#ixzz2DXLaLFzI
Published in the December 2012 issue
He wanted something sweet, he wanted to get out of
the apartment for a while. He slid open the glass door of the patio and
slipped out into the steamy Florida twilight, an ordinary thing on an
ordinary night.
Trayvon Martin was three weeks past seventeen that
day, which was the day a stranger named George Zimmerman shot him
through the heart. He was growing so fast, he'd stretched out like a
rubber band, 158 pounds on a five-eleven frame, so long and thin
everyone teased him:
Boy, you too skinny to take a breath.
He
was wearing the hoodie he always wore, lost in his music like he always
was. People teased him about that, too. Next door to his uncle
Stephen's house, a modest ranch house where he often spent the night,
lived an old lady who called him Mouse.
Don't you ever talk? Say something.
Trayvon would just grin.
He
strolled down the narrow cement path between two buildings. Trayvon
didn't live there, he was just visiting, so it was all fairly new to
him. Double glass doors faced the area from apartments on both sides,
little white fences separated each little yard, central-air units
hummed, televisions lit the curtains with their blue glow. Sometimes a
Big Wheel tricycle sat forgotten in the path.
The complex looked
nice. The buildings were two or three stories, with neat little lawns
with neat little borders. No visible garbage bins, a clubhouse, a little
lake. Not as nice as the luxury complex just across the no-man's-land
where no one had bothered to build a sidewalk, but pretty nice for a kid
from the modest side of Miami Gardens. Last night he had a long talk
with DeWayne, his buddy from pee-wee football. DeWayne asked what he was
doing.
Just chillin' with my ol' boy, Trayvon said. Trayvon's dad
was dating a woman who lived there, a woman named Brandy, and it was
looking serious. If he had to change high schools again to move up
there, he said, it would be a'ight.
When he got to the gate of the complex, he could have slipped through
the pedestrian gate. It wasn't locked. Even after the shooting, they
never locked it. Florida is geared to cars, and Trayvon was still a BMX
kind of guy. He tooled all around Miami Gardens on that little bike,
standing on the pegs or doing the cat-walk wheelie on one wheel. And
there was no sidewalk most of the way, just a lumpy depression in the
grass, so why walk along the road? A man on foot could walk through
trees and sand halfway to the 7-Eleven.
Read more: Trayvon Martin Family Interview - Trayvon Martin Aftermath - Esquire http://www.esquire.com/features/americans-2012/trayvon-martin-1212#ixzz2DXLaLFzI
Published in the December 2012 issue
He wanted something sweet, he wanted to get out of
the apartment for a while. He slid open the glass door of the patio and
slipped out into the steamy Florida twilight, an ordinary thing on an
ordinary night.
Trayvon Martin was three weeks past seventeen that
day, which was the day a stranger named George Zimmerman shot him
through the heart. He was growing so fast, he'd stretched out like a
rubber band, 158 pounds on a five-eleven frame, so long and thin
everyone teased him:
Boy, you too skinny to take a breath.
He
was wearing the hoodie he always wore, lost in his music like he always
was. People teased him about that, too. Next door to his uncle
Stephen's house, a modest ranch house where he often spent the night,
lived an old lady who called him Mouse.
Don't you ever talk? Say something.
Trayvon would just grin.
He
strolled down the narrow cement path between two buildings. Trayvon
didn't live there, he was just visiting, so it was all fairly new to
him. Double glass doors faced the area from apartments on both sides,
little white fences separated each little yard, central-air units
hummed, televisions lit the curtains with their blue glow. Sometimes a
Big Wheel tricycle sat forgotten in the path.
The complex looked
nice. The buildings were two or three stories, with neat little lawns
with neat little borders. No visible garbage bins, a clubhouse, a little
lake. Not as nice as the luxury complex just across the no-man's-land
where no one had bothered to build a sidewalk, but pretty nice for a kid
from the modest side of Miami Gardens. Last night he had a long talk
with DeWayne, his buddy from pee-wee football. DeWayne asked what he was
doing.
Just chillin' with my ol' boy, Trayvon said. Trayvon's dad
was dating a woman who lived there, a woman named Brandy, and it was
looking serious. If he had to change high schools again to move up
there, he said, it would be a'ight.
When he got to the gate of the complex, he could have slipped through
the pedestrian gate. It wasn't locked. Even after the shooting, they
never locked it. Florida is geared to cars, and Trayvon was still a BMX
kind of guy. He tooled all around Miami Gardens on that little bike,
standing on the pegs or doing the cat-walk wheelie on one wheel. And
there was no sidewalk most of the way, just a lumpy depression in the
grass, so why walk along the road? A man on foot could walk through
trees and sand halfway to the 7-Eleven.
Read more: Trayvon Martin Family Interview - Trayvon Martin Aftermath - Esquire http://www.esquire.com/features/americans-2012/trayvon-martin-1212#ixzz2DXLaLFzI
Published in the December 2012 issue
He wanted something sweet, he wanted to get out of
the apartment for a while. He slid open the glass door of the patio and
slipped out into the steamy Florida twilight, an ordinary thing on an
ordinary night.
Trayvon Martin was three weeks past seventeen that
day, which was the day a stranger named George Zimmerman shot him
through the heart. He was growing so fast, he'd stretched out like a
rubber band, 158 pounds on a five-eleven frame, so long and thin
everyone teased him:
Boy, you too skinny to take a breath.
He
was wearing the hoodie he always wore, lost in his music like he always
was. People teased him about that, too. Next door to his uncle
Stephen's house, a modest ranch house where he often spent the night,
lived an old lady who called him Mouse.
Don't you ever talk? Say something.
Trayvon would just grin.
He
strolled down the narrow cement path between two buildings. Trayvon
didn't live there, he was just visiting, so it was all fairly new to
him. Double glass doors faced the area from apartments on both sides,
little white fences separated each little yard, central-air units
hummed, televisions lit the curtains with their blue glow. Sometimes a
Big Wheel tricycle sat forgotten in the path.
The complex looked
nice. The buildings were two or three stories, with neat little lawns
with neat little borders. No visible garbage bins, a clubhouse, a little
lake. Not as nice as the luxury complex just across the no-man's-land
where no one had bothered to build a sidewalk, but pretty nice for a kid
from the modest side of Miami Gardens. Last night he had a long talk
with DeWayne, his buddy from pee-wee football. DeWayne asked what he was
doing.
Just chillin' with my ol' boy, Trayvon said. Trayvon's dad
was dating a woman who lived there, a woman named Brandy, and it was
looking serious. If he had to change high schools again to move up
there, he said, it would be a'ight.
When he got to the gate of the complex, he could have slipped through
the pedestrian gate. It wasn't locked. Even after the shooting, they
never locked it. Florida is geared to cars, and Trayvon was still a BMX
kind of guy. He tooled all around Miami Gardens on that little bike,
standing on the pegs or doing the cat-walk wheelie on one wheel. And
there was no sidewalk most of the way, just a lumpy depression in the
grass, so why walk along the road? A man on foot could walk through
trees and sand halfway to the 7-Eleven.
Read more: Trayvon Martin Family Interview - Trayvon Martin Aftermath - Esquire http://www.esquire.com/features/americans-2012/trayvon-martin-1212#ixzz2DXLaLFzI
Published in the December 2012 issue
He wanted something sweet, he wanted to get out of
the apartment for a while. He slid open the glass door of the patio and
slipped out into the steamy Florida twilight, an ordinary thing on an
ordinary night.
Trayvon Martin was three weeks past seventeen that
day, which was the day a stranger named George Zimmerman shot him
through the heart. He was growing so fast, he'd stretched out like a
rubber band, 158 pounds on a five-eleven frame, so long and thin
everyone teased him:
Boy, you too skinny to take a breath.
He
was wearing the hoodie he always wore, lost in his music like he always
was. People teased him about that, too. Next door to his uncle
Stephen's house, a modest ranch house where he often spent the night,
lived an old lady who called him Mouse.
Don't you ever talk? Say something.
Trayvon would just grin.
He
strolled down the narrow cement path between two buildings. Trayvon
didn't live there, he was just visiting, so it was all fairly new to
him. Double glass doors faced the area from apartments on both sides,
little white fences separated each little yard, central-air units
hummed, televisions lit the curtains with their blue glow. Sometimes a
Big Wheel tricycle sat forgotten in the path.
The complex looked
nice. The buildings were two or three stories, with neat little lawns
with neat little borders. No visible garbage bins, a clubhouse, a little
lake. Not as nice as the luxury complex just across the no-man's-land
where no one had bothered to build a sidewalk, but pretty nice for a kid
from the modest side of Miami Gardens. Last night he had a long talk
with DeWayne, his buddy from pee-wee football. DeWayne asked what he was
doing.
Just chillin' with my ol' boy, Trayvon said. Trayvon's dad
was dating a woman who lived there, a woman named Brandy, and it was
looking serious. If he had to change high schools again to move up
there, he said, it would be a'ight.
When he got to the gate of the complex, he could have slipped through
the pedestrian gate. It wasn't locked. Even after the shooting, they
never locked it. Florida is geared to cars, and Trayvon was still a BMX
kind of guy. He tooled all around Miami Gardens on that little bike,
standing on the pegs or doing the cat-walk wheelie on one wheel. And
there was no sidewalk most of the way, just a lumpy depression in the
grass, so why walk along the road? A man on foot could walk through
trees and sand halfway to the 7-Eleven.
Read more: Trayvon Martin Family Interview - Trayvon Martin Aftermath - Esquire http://www.esquire.com/features/americans-2012/trayvon-martin-1212#ixzz2DXLaLFzI
Published in the December 2012 issue
He wanted something sweet, he wanted to get out of
the apartment for a while. He slid open the glass door of the patio and
slipped out into the steamy Florida twilight, an ordinary thing on an
ordinary night.
Trayvon Martin was three weeks past seventeen that
day, which was the day a stranger named George Zimmerman shot him
through the heart. He was growing so fast, he'd stretched out like a
rubber band, 158 pounds on a five-eleven frame, so long and thin
everyone teased him:
Boy, you too skinny to take a breath.
He
was wearing the hoodie he always wore, lost in his music like he always
was. People teased him about that, too. Next door to his uncle
Stephen's house, a modest ranch house where he often spent the night,
lived an old lady who called him Mouse.
Don't you ever talk? Say something.
Trayvon would just grin.
He
strolled down the narrow cement path between two buildings. Trayvon
didn't live there, he was just visiting, so it was all fairly new to
him. Double glass doors faced the area from apartments on both sides,
little white fences separated each little yard, central-air units
hummed, televisions lit the curtains with their blue glow. Sometimes a
Big Wheel tricycle sat forgotten in the path.
The complex looked
nice. The buildings were two or three stories, with neat little lawns
with neat little borders. No visible garbage bins, a clubhouse, a little
lake. Not as nice as the luxury complex just across the no-man's-land
where no one had bothered to build a sidewalk, but pretty nice for a kid
from the modest side of Miami Gardens. Last night he had a long talk
with DeWayne, his buddy from pee-wee football. DeWayne asked what he was
doing.
Just chillin' with my ol' boy, Trayvon said. Trayvon's dad
was dating a woman who lived there, a woman named Brandy, and it was
looking serious. If he had to change high schools again to move up
there, he said, it would be a'ight.
When he got to the gate of the complex, he could have slipped through
the pedestrian gate. It wasn't locked. Even after the shooting, they
never locked it. Florida is geared to cars, and Trayvon was still a BMX
kind of guy. He tooled all around Miami Gardens on that little bike,
standing on the pegs or doing the cat-walk wheelie on one wheel. And
there was no sidewalk most of the way, just a lumpy depression in the
grass, so why walk along the road? A man on foot could walk through
trees and sand halfway to the 7-Eleven.
Read more: Trayvon Martin Family Interview - Trayvon Martin Aftermath - Esquire http://www.esquire.com/features/americans-2012/trayvon-martin-1212#ixzz2DXLaLFzI
Published in the December 2012 issue
He wanted something sweet, he wanted to get out of
the apartment for a while. He slid open the glass door of the patio and
slipped out into the steamy Florida twilight, an ordinary thing on an
ordinary night.
Trayvon Martin was three weeks past seventeen that
day, which was the day a stranger named George Zimmerman shot him
through the heart. He was growing so fast, he'd stretched out like a
rubber band, 158 pounds on a five-eleven frame, so long and thin
everyone teased him:
Boy, you too skinny to take a breath.
He
was wearing the hoodie he always wore, lost in his music like he always
was. People teased him about that, too. Next door to his uncle
Stephen's house, a modest ranch house where he often spent the night,
lived an old lady who called him Mouse.
Don't you ever talk? Say something.
Trayvon would just grin.
He
strolled down the narrow cement path between two buildings. Trayvon
didn't live there, he was just visiting, so it was all fairly new to
him. Double glass doors faced the area from apartments on both sides,
little white fences separated each little yard, central-air units
hummed, televisions lit the curtains with their blue glow. Sometimes a
Big Wheel tricycle sat forgotten in the path.
The complex looked
nice. The buildings were two or three stories, with neat little lawns
with neat little borders. No visible garbage bins, a clubhouse, a little
lake. Not as nice as the luxury complex just across the no-man's-land
where no one had bothered to build a sidewalk, but pretty nice for a kid
from the modest side of Miami Gardens. Last night he had a long talk
with DeWayne, his buddy from pee-wee football. DeWayne asked what he was
doing.
Just chillin' with my ol' boy, Trayvon said. Trayvon's dad
was dating a woman who lived there, a woman named Brandy, and it was
looking serious. If he had to change high schools again to move up
there, he said, it would be a'ight.
When he got to the gate of the complex, he could have slipped through
the pedestrian gate. It wasn't locked. Even after the shooting, they
never locked it. Florida is geared to cars, and Trayvon was still a BMX
kind of guy. He tooled all around Miami Gardens on that little bike,
standing on the pegs or doing the cat-walk wheelie on one wheel. And
there was no sidewalk most of the way, just a lumpy depression in the
grass, so why walk along the road? A man on foot could walk through
trees and sand halfway to the 7-Eleven.
Read more: Trayvon Martin Family Interview - Trayvon Martin Aftermath - Esquire http://www.esquire.com/features/americans-2012/trayvon-martin-1212#ixzz2DXLaLFzI
Published in the December 2012 issue
He wanted something sweet, he wanted to get out of
the apartment for a while. He slid open the glass door of the patio and
slipped out into the steamy Florida twilight, an ordinary thing on an
ordinary night.
Trayvon Martin was three weeks past seventeen that
day, which was the day a stranger named George Zimmerman shot him
through the heart. He was growing so fast, he'd stretched out like a
rubber band, 158 pounds on a five-eleven frame, so long and thin
everyone teased him:
Boy, you too skinny to take a breath.
He
was wearing the hoodie he always wore, lost in his music like he always
was. People teased him about that, too. Next door to his uncle
Stephen's house, a modest ranch house where he often spent the night,
lived an old lady who called him Mouse.
Don't you ever talk? Say something.
Trayvon would just grin.
He
strolled down the narrow cement path between two buildings. Trayvon
didn't live there, he was just visiting, so it was all fairly new to
him. Double glass doors faced the area from apartments on both sides,
little white fences separated each little yard, central-air units
hummed, televisions lit the curtains with their blue glow. Sometimes a
Big Wheel tricycle sat forgotten in the path.
The complex looked
nice. The buildings were two or three stories, with neat little lawns
with neat little borders. No visible garbage bins, a clubhouse, a little
lake. Not as nice as the luxury complex just across the no-man's-land
where no one had bothered to build a sidewalk, but pretty nice for a kid
from the modest side of Miami Gardens. Last night he had a long talk
with DeWayne, his buddy from pee-wee football. DeWayne asked what he was
doing.
Just chillin' with my ol' boy, Trayvon said. Trayvon's dad
was dating a woman who lived there, a woman named Brandy, and it was
looking serious. If he had to change high schools again to move up
there, he said, it would be a'ight.
When he got to the gate of the complex, he could have slipped through
the pedestrian gate. It wasn't locked. Even after the shooting, they
never locked it. Florida is geared to cars, and Trayvon was still a BMX
kind of guy. He tooled all around Miami Gardens on that little bike,
standing on the pegs or doing the cat-walk wheelie on one wheel. And
there was no sidewalk most of the way, just a lumpy depression in the
grass, so why walk along the road? A man on foot could walk through
trees and sand halfway to the 7-Eleven.
Read more: Trayvon Martin Family Interview - Trayvon Martin Aftermath - Esquire http://www.esquire.com/features/americans-2012/trayvon-martin-1212#ixzz2DXLaLFzI
Published in the December 2012 issue
He wanted something sweet, he wanted to get out of
the apartment for a while. He slid open the glass door of the patio and
slipped out into the steamy Florida twilight, an ordinary thing on an
ordinary night.
Trayvon Martin was three weeks past seventeen that
day, which was the day a stranger named George Zimmerman shot him
through the heart. He was growing so fast, he'd stretched out like a
rubber band, 158 pounds on a five-eleven frame, so long and thin
everyone teased him:
Boy, you too skinny to take a breath.
He
was wearing the hoodie he always wore, lost in his music like he always
was. People teased him about that, too. Next door to his uncle
Stephen's house, a modest ranch house where he often spent the night,
lived an old lady who called him Mouse.
Don't you ever talk? Say something.
Trayvon would just grin.
He
strolled down the narrow cement path between two buildings. Trayvon
didn't live there, he was just visiting, so it was all fairly new to
him. Double glass doors faced the area from apartments on both sides,
little white fences separated each little yard, central-air units
hummed, televisions lit the curtains with their blue glow. Sometimes a
Big Wheel tricycle sat forgotten in the path.
The complex looked
nice. The buildings were two or three stories, with neat little lawns
with neat little borders. No visible garbage bins, a clubhouse, a little
lake. Not as nice as the luxury complex just across the no-man's-land
where no one had bothered to build a sidewalk, but pretty nice for a kid
from the modest side of Miami Gardens. Last night he had a long talk
with DeWayne, his buddy from pee-wee football. DeWayne asked what he was
doing.
Just chillin' with my ol' boy, Trayvon said. Trayvon's dad
was dating a woman who lived there, a woman named Brandy, and it was
looking serious. If he had to change high schools again to move up
there, he said, it would be a'ight.
When he got to the gate of the complex, he could have slipped through
the pedestrian gate. It wasn't locked. Even after the shooting, they
never locked it. Florida is geared to cars, and Trayvon was still a BMX
kind of guy. He tooled all around Miami Gardens on that little bike,
standing on the pegs or doing the cat-walk wheelie on one wheel. And
there was no sidewalk most of the way, just a lumpy depression in the
grass, so why walk along the road? A man on foot could walk through
trees and sand halfway to the 7-Eleven.
Read more: Trayvon Martin Family Interview - Trayvon Martin Aftermath - Esquire http://www.esquire.com/features/americans-2012/trayvon-martin-1212#ixzz2DXLaLFzI
Published in the December 2012 issue
He wanted something sweet, he wanted to get out of
the apartment for a while. He slid open the glass door of the patio and
slipped out into the steamy Florida twilight, an ordinary thing on an
ordinary night.
Trayvon Martin was three weeks past seventeen that
day, which was the day a stranger named George Zimmerman shot him
through the heart. He was growing so fast, he'd stretched out like a
rubber band, 158 pounds on a five-eleven frame, so long and thin
everyone teased him:
Boy, you too skinny to take a breath.
He
was wearing the hoodie he always wore, lost in his music like he always
was. People teased him about that, too. Next door to his uncle
Stephen's house, a modest ranch house where he often spent the night,
lived an old lady who called him Mouse.
Don't you ever talk? Say something.
Trayvon would just grin.
He
strolled down the narrow cement path between two buildings. Trayvon
didn't live there, he was just visiting, so it was all fairly new to
him. Double glass doors faced the area from apartments on both sides,
little white fences separated each little yard, central-air units
hummed, televisions lit the curtains with their blue glow. Sometimes a
Big Wheel tricycle sat forgotten in the path.
The complex looked
nice. The buildings were two or three stories, with neat little lawns
with neat little borders. No visible garbage bins, a clubhouse, a little
lake. Not as nice as the luxury complex just across the no-man's-land
where no one had bothered to build a sidewalk, but pretty nice for a kid
from the modest side of Miami Gardens. Last night he had a long talk
with DeWayne, his buddy from pee-wee football. DeWayne asked what he was
doing.
Just chillin' with my ol' boy, Trayvon said. Trayvon's dad
was dating a woman who lived there, a woman named Brandy, and it was
looking serious. If he had to change high schools again to move up
there, he said, it would be a'ight.
When he got to the gate of the complex, he could have slipped through
the pedestrian gate. It wasn't locked. Even after the shooting, they
never locked it. Florida is geared to cars, and Trayvon was still a BMX
kind of guy. He tooled all around Miami Gardens on that little bike,
standing on the pegs or doing the cat-walk wheelie on one wheel. And
there was no sidewalk most of the way, just a lumpy depression in the
grass, so why walk along the road? A man on foot could walk through
trees and sand halfway to the 7-Eleven.
Read more: Trayvon Martin Family Interview - Trayvon Martin Aftermath - Esquire http://www.esquire.com/features/americans-2012/trayvon-martin-1212#ixzz2DXLaLFzI
Published in the December 2012 issue
He wanted something sweet, he wanted to get out of
the apartment for a while. He slid open the glass door of the patio and
slipped out into the steamy Florida twilight, an ordinary thing on an
ordinary night.
Trayvon Martin was three weeks past seventeen that
day, which was the day a stranger named George Zimmerman shot him
through the heart. He was growing so fast, he'd stretched out like a
rubber band, 158 pounds on a five-eleven frame, so long and thin
everyone teased him:
Boy, you too skinny to take a breath.
He
was wearing the hoodie he always wore, lost in his music like he always
was. People teased him about that, too. Next door to his uncle
Stephen's house, a modest ranch house where he often spent the night,
lived an old lady who called him Mouse.
Don't you ever talk? Say something.
Trayvon would just grin.
He
strolled down the narrow cement path between two buildings. Trayvon
didn't live there, he was just visiting, so it was all fairly new to
him. Double glass doors faced the area from apartments on both sides,
little white fences separated each little yard, central-air units
hummed, televisions lit the curtains with their blue glow. Sometimes a
Big Wheel tricycle sat forgotten in the path.
The complex looked
nice. The buildings were two or three stories, with neat little lawns
with neat little borders. No visible garbage bins, a clubhouse, a little
lake. Not as nice as the luxury complex just across the no-man's-land
where no one had bothered to build a sidewalk, but pretty nice for a kid
from the modest side of Miami Gardens. Last night he had a long talk
with DeWayne, his buddy from pee-wee football. DeWayne asked what he was
doing.
Just chillin' with my ol' boy, Trayvon said. Trayvon's dad
was dating a woman who lived there, a woman named Brandy, and it was
looking serious. If he had to change high schools again to move up
there, he said, it would be a'ight.
When he got to the gate of the complex, he could have slipped through
the pedestrian gate. It wasn't locked. Even after the shooting, they
never locked it. Florida is geared to cars, and Trayvon was still a BMX
kind of guy. He tooled all around Miami Gardens on that little bike,
standing on the pegs or doing the cat-walk wheelie on one wheel. And
there was no sidewalk most of the way, just a lumpy depression in the
grass, so why walk along the road? A man on foot could walk through
trees and sand halfway to the 7-Eleven.
Read more: Trayvon Martin Family Interview - Trayvon Martin Aftermath - Esquire http://www.esquire.com/features/americans-2012/trayvon-martin-1212#ixzz2DXLaLFzI
