Hi all. My name is Johnson Murrayfield, A.K.A John Murray, and several other names as I've made my way around Australia. It's kind of weird because until I landed on the wrong side of the law, I never imagined that Australia would have a fake ID industry, but it has! In fact, once you've found your first ID counterfeiter, he or she will put you in contact with others throughout the country.
So, to answer the obvious questionβwhat did I do to need false ID papers, passports, birth certificates, etc.? Well, that takes some time to explain, but here we go.
It began when I was eight years old. I wanted a particular type of bike for my ninth birthday in about three weeks, and my dad didn't want to spend that much money. Of course, at eight, I had no concept of family finances or how poor our family was. All I knew was that I wanted
that
bike! I remember looking at my father intently and trying to 'make' him buy that bicycle. We both staggered back, blood pouring from our noses.
I learnt later that I'd 'Pushed' too hard, and I was lucky I hadn't fried both of our brains. Fortunately, neither of us suffered any long-term problems from my attempt to make Dad buy the bicycle I wanted. Other than the bloody noses and a raging headache that took a day to resolve, I mean.
However, it turned out that my mum had witnessed the sudden nosebleeds and us staggering and almost passing out. Terrified, she screamed, ran inside, and dialled '000' (Australia's equivalent of 911), but by the time the ambulance arrived, Dad's and my nose bleeds had stopped, and other than a pair of pounding headaches, we were fine. Mum insisted that we were taken to the hospital for scans, anyway. The scans showed nothing amiss, so we were given Panadol and sent home.
My birthday arrived, and so did that bike! My immature reasoning skills were enough to work out that something significant had happened, but I wasn't aware of what. Also, the headache and nosebleeds scared me, so I was unwilling to try using my mind to make someone do something again.
Time passed, and as kids are wont to do, I pretty much forgot about the 'bicycle incident'. The next time something abnormal, or more accurately, paranormal, happened was a little after my eleventh birthday. I was at school and had been involved in a bit of a fracas with another boy. The boy accused me of trying to look up his girlfriend's skirt. Now, I did not know the boy other than knowing he was a grade ahead of me, and, to this day, I could not tell you which of the girls at that school his girlfriend was.
The boy who picked on me made a terrible mistake because my dad was in the army for five years before he married Mum, and she insisted he quit. Dad was twice Army middle-weight boxing champion, and he taught his three kids to box before explaining that boxing was typically worse than useless in a street fight. Dad then proceeded to teach us kids what the Australian Army taught him about unarmed combat.
The bottom line was that the older kid swung at me once, and then I hit him three times before he hit the ground. Unfortunately, the teacher monitoring the schoolyard saw only my retaliation, not the events leading up to it. She immediately put me into detention and threatened to instantly suspend me for fighting, which I saw as grossly unfair.
Mrs Givens, the teacher who witnessed me protecting myself, insisted I accompany her to the principal's office. Mr Hoy, the Principal, listened to Mrs Givens and then said that he believed my actions warranted suspension until the school could investigate the incident. I did not consider that fair or appropriate, given that all I'd done was to prevent a bully from assaulting me. Remembering what had happened when I'd Pushed my dad too hard, I concentrated on Principal Hoy and calmly 'told' him that he was wrong and needed to rescind my suspension.
Mostly, I was afraid of what my father would do because, by this stage in my life, my dad was an alcoholic. I understand that some alcoholics are pleasant when under the influence of their drug. My father was not. He was a mean, abusive drunk who beat his wife and family. I did not want to go home under suspension and face him.
Principal Hoy blinked twice as he felt my Push and then turned to Mrs Givens, "You say you witnessed Johnson punching Greg. Did you see any reason for why he would do that?"
"No," Mrs Givens replied. "I noticed a crowd of children standing around, and because that typically means a fight is on or about to break out, I swiftly made my way to the area and witnessed Johnson punching Greg."
"Master Murrayfield, why did you punch Greg Matthews?" Principal Hoy queried.
"He accused me of looking up his girlfriend's skirt, Sir," I explained.
"Did you?"
"I could not tell you which girl is his girlfriend," I replied. "In fact, until I was brought in here, I did not even know what his name was."
"Why do you think Greg decided to accuse you? Or are you in the habit of peering up girls' dresses?"
Blushing bright red, I mumbled that I wasn't and didn't think I'd been doing that when Greg attacked me. Then I pointed out that I'd seen him bully other kids and assumed that was what he was trying to do to me. I could see that Mr Hoy was equivocating on his decision to let me off, so I concentrated and sent, 'I am innocent of anything other than defending myself from a bully'.
Principal Hoy blinked twice before saying, "Master Johnson, wait for me on the seats outside my office." He turned to Mrs Givens and said, "Find Master Greg Matthews and bring him here. I believe we have some questions for him."
Mrs Givens nodded, and I followed her from the office. Sitting where I'd been told to, I waited to see what would happen next. Greg entered with Mrs Givens a few moments later. He'd been in the infirmary, but other than bruised pride, he hadn't suffered any serious injury.
The discussion between the Principal, Mrs Givens, and Greg was loud enough for me to hear, and even though I was only eleven, I figured out that Greg had made a stupid mistake. Without thinking it through, Greg vehemently stated that he'd tried to punch me because I'd peered up his girlfriend's dress.
"You admit to trying to punch Master Murrayfield?" Principal Hoy chillingly stated.
"Yes!" Greg stated firmly. "He was being a perve, and I wanted to teach him a lesson."
"Why did you decide to take things into your own hands?" Mr Hoy said icily. "Why did you not bring it to the attention of Mrs Givens, who was monitoring the yard?"
"Because she's my girlfriend," Greg answered, unwittingly digging his hole deeper.
"And this mysterious girlfriend," Principal Hoy stated. "What is her name, and will she back up your story?"
And, of course, that confirmed Greg's lie because he stammeringly refused to answer Mr Hoy's question.
The end result was that Greg was suspended for fighting and lying. Unfortunately, because I'd retaliated, my parents were phoned and informed I'd been spoken to for fighting. Luckily, my dad was having one of his better days. After questioning why I'd punched Greg, he congratulated me for successfully defending myself and said no more about the subject.
Again, I tried to put my seeming ability to make others do what I wanted out of my head and concentrated on living my life. High school was coming in another year, and I looked forward to attending a larger school where, hopefully, I could have a few friends. I think that knowing I was different from the other kids had made me a bit of a loner, and I hoped I'd find more kids I could relate to in a more populated school.
I was fourteen the next time I used my ability to Push people into the decision I wanted them to make. I'd already gained some fame and popularity in the school because, in my first term at my new school, I'd won the Greater Brisbane Secondary School's under fourteen 400m and 800m championships. Plus, I'd won the Queensland championship in those same two events. Unfortunately, I'd developed a massive crush on Sheryl German, a girl a year and a grade ahead of me. I wanted to take her to the school dance, but she was reluctant to be seen with a boy a year younger than her, even if that 'boy' had some admiration and approval from the rest of the school.
Clearly, I couldn't Push her whilst she was in a group of her peers, so I needed to get her alone, but how? I considered turning up at her place and knocking on her door, and in a fantasy world where I had lots of self-confidence, that's what I would have done. Well, I didn't have that kind of self-confidence, so that idea was a non-starter. Then I considered sneaking around her house, figuring out what bedroom was hers, and trying to Push her from the nearest window. But what if I got caught? Not only was I mildly afraid of what the cops and courts would do, but I was terrified that I'd have to face my father's wrath.
Part of my daily athletic training took me past the German's place, and one day, Sheryl happened to be outside as I jogged past. I pretended not to notice her until I was only a few metres away. Then I caught her eye and firmly thought, 'You will go to Friday's school disco with me when I ask you tomorrow'. I continued running as if I'd done nothing, but when I turned my head to look back, Sheryl was looking at me wonderingly.
Sheryl had her 'girl posse' at school, and during the lunch break, I approached her and said, "Sheryl, will you do me the honour of being my date for the disco on Friday?"
I'm sure her posse expected her to brush me off with disparaging remarks, but Sheryl blinked and replied, "I'd love to, but I need you to call and ask my parents. Will you do that for me?"