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.