I lost my brother Gnarly Nigel Wallace, a brave warrior, loyal friend and intelligent in all facets. I often joked with Nigel that some people will talk about the period of time of him. That we all lived in a period of time that Nigel existed. Because Gnarly Nigel was tough as railroad nails and you can’t even begin any story about Nigel without mentioning some of his key ingredients. I can remember the first fight I ever saw Nigel in. We were all headed out to a house party in Greenlake just North of Seattle. We were young kids going to a seemingly partial college party but I didn’t ask many questions after I heard it was a party. Even at this stage in our lives ever single person I knew in West Seattle already had their very own personal Gnarly Nigel story so it was just known where we grew up. Anyway, I was about 15 driving without a license with a car full of West Seattle inside on a fantastic voyage to explore the night. Nigel and all them were a bit older than me but I never felt like a tag along since the inception of my hangouts. Nigel was one of those guys who always made everyone around him feel special. If you were his friend, you were his family and he would immediately do anything for you. We arrived to this house party and very shortly after we get there in an unknown argument near the kitchen everyone just got amped to go outside and this party was about a block away from the main Greenlake avenue road. Some of these guys were College jocks that did sports and appeared to work out all the time so they seemed spicy about the occasion. I had one of those collapsible batons that I ejected out to pound stuff with. I remember opening the Baton and looking around the area and I see Christopher Townsend nearby who was one of Nigel’s best friends but also one that often got Nigel into a lot of fights for various reasons. However, in some situations Nigel would protect him because Townsend was handicapped from birth on his right arm which made that side of his body almost inoperable for combat scenarios. It’s very possible someone could have even made a joke about Townsend’s arm at the party because I could remember Nigel telling them to assemble their toughest and meet him out front. He seriously talked like that before a fight. No shit talking or bragging just some very specific instructions to meet him somewhere and be battle ready. Once we all were outside, I walked toward this enemy with a douche issued baseball cap placed on his head backwards with his letterman jacket squadron spread out behind him. Soon as I start to walk forward Nigel puts his arm in front to stop me which was like walking into the middle of an iron gate. He immediately punches this guy with a south paw left so hard that the guys hat came off but dropped directly downward from the impact. I remember when that happened people started yelling and screaming shit at Nigel. I look to the right and Townsend had one of those architect style x acto blades about maybe an inch long on the end of narrow pen style cylinder. Townsend sticks this guy wearing a deep V neck white t shirt like 3 times with his one arm and the dude was clearly not in major pain but still a shitty wound to have. Townsend tucks the blade away and speed walks out of view with his hood on. Nigel is over in the street fighting another guy and someone comes behind him to try and claim the title. This dude who was about the same size like 6’2 or 6’3 punches Nigel in the back of the head. I remember how it sounded. It was comparable to a person who was trying to pound sand with their fist, so it just made this thud on the back of his melon. The crazy thing was Nigel just kept going like nothing was behind him until his punching job was finished. Soon after Nigel turns around and starts boxing with the sucker punch guy. I remember thinking well that guy is going down so where are our other friends. I spot Aaron Schick getting body slammed by a bro pile of dudes. Then I look back at Nigel and he has this guy on the ground and as he is punching him -left -right -left -right then the guy moves around to try to avoid it and Nigel missed a couple times hitting the concrete. You could hear that noise too but it was more like just skin and bone hitting the ground. That guy was done quickly and when Nigel got up to fight these other guys they all just started backing away and I could hear one guy say, “No I don’t want to fight anymore”. I can still remember how the fear filled the street from these guys witnessing Nigel fighting for only barely even a minute. I look around again and Aaron Schick is already back on his feet and the entire group of opponents were are all focused only on Nigel who was crouched to the ground punching the guy he first knocked down. However that guy never got back up from the first hit and Nigel decided to go back and hit the body areas so that he didn’t kill the guy from head trauma. When Nigel moved away from that mess he just stared everyone down as a couple made attempts to confront Nigel. Almost as if these other guys figured they might as well get their ass beat too so that they could maintain loyalty to their friends that got beat up. I only seen Nigel punch one more guy and it was this quick jab like putting a period on the end of the fight. The guy just took his last hit and regrouped with his buddies on the side of the house. it was chaotic, it was barbaric, it was entertaining, it was discipline and it was Nigel getting gnarly because he wanted to protect his family at all costs. Next we hopped into my 1981 Beige Honda Accord and rolled out talking about it like a Mike Tyson fight that was over in minutes. Nigel was sitting shotgun and looks at me super serious like a meaty pit bull with no neck, with some puppy dog eyes and asks if I remember any of those guys he beat up being smaller than him. I laughed and said no because one of the guys was actually bigger. Nigel said he never wanted to beat up anyone that was smaller than him. Everyone in the back of the car was recapping the events about the fight and Nigel just sort of laughed in relief to his principles of fighting being upheld. Nigel was one of the funniest guys I knew and I felt like the two of us made things even funnier. When Nigel would laugh really hard he would snort and then immediate apologize about it with embarrassment. Nigel had very few immediate family members and lost his mother Victoria Wallace to a drug overdose when he was a teenager and then he lost his father some years ago. Nigel use to get really sad about missing his mother especially around holidays but that’s why we always spent holidays together. We shared some commonalities growing up in the streets with friends we call family and now I finally understand after all the funerals I attended, and all the death related tragedies. That no matter how many years went by Nigel was always still pained from losing his mother and it would never go away. I feel that way losing him. We went everywhere together and believed in each other along side great nights talking for hours at my house and reminiscing with a group that knew the stories best. I write this in tears and last night I went to sleep in tears about this but I was able to dream. I had this dream that Nigel was pounding on some wall to make them let him back into our world and you could hear him yelling and banging on this wall. In this dream Nigel would shout and slam his fists into the wall which would cause this distortion to make him appear in our life for a very brief second but then go away shortly after. I suppose I mention the dream because I feel like the only way I will get through this is if Gnarly Nigel never gives up trying to contact me from the other side. Until then I just need to rely on the comfort in picturing him on a beach somewhere with some black shades waiting to see me again.