Play Maker
By
RettaMichaels
“The Queen of Gay Romance”

Disclaimer:

This is my disclaimer for 2009 folks! As you know, I change them, so please read and smile!

This is a fictional character. I'll say that until I'm blue in the face and yet, someone will write to me and tell me I've got something wrong, or he/she is that character, or they're going to sue me because their client has a family member with that name.

I can put disclaimers on a story all day long and still, I get someone who is just about nuts who will do the above paragraph. It makes no sense to me, but apparently, there are people who take themselves so seriously they want to be a fictional character. Well to those of you who choose to be that way, go read someone else's story and be a fuck-tional character.

By the way, if you're reading this to jack off. I'll smile and you hold it in your hand and read until the end. If you've spilled a load, I bet it wasn't reading a scene here! Everyone else who knows my writing is probably laughing their asses off right about now...I know I'm chuckling!

If you can hold it in your hand and type, then please BY ALL MEANS write me an email and send a photo of it. I want to see the man's appendage which can write, type, and just plain want to know it better!

If your appendage says it's straight, get a clue and get to a different site. If you're that confused, go to your search engine and type in Mental Health Help and seek the one in your area. Your appendage has my permission to cut and paste.

Just to make it an official disclaimer, if you're above the age of 18...great. If you're 118, super great...put a napkin over the keyboard and you won't get any drool on it. If you're under the age of 18, please find the off switch on your computer and press it. It'll make your day and mine a lot brighter. If you come back to this site when it reboots, please repeat until you lose interest. If it takes more than once, get a clue you dumb fuck!

Notes From Retta:

This story is written mostly as a retro piece. I intentionally made sure some prices were lower and I made sure the older stars were used in the piece. You need to realize this was written in the era of Bush I (around 1991). I did it from memory, so sue me if it's not completely accurate.

Chapter Fourteen:

“What are you doing?!”

“I lowered Robbie down and smiled. “School sucked so bad, I figured I had to drive like hell to get over here and get a face full of wet pants. It sucks, hand me that rope.”

“Dad! It's not what it looks like! He made me do it!”

“Robbie, he saved your life!”

“Huh?”

“He saw it. He was telling my future and when he got to you, he saw it happening and got me to get on my way over here. Now, how else can you explain we show up at a dead family's house to save you in he nick of time?”

“He's nothing! Nobody! Why would you believe him!?”

I turned to Mike, “Smile, you're on candid camera!”

“Huh?”

“Didn't I tell you he was a hateful asshole to me?”

“Yeah, Robbie, you need to apologize to Jake.”

“Why?”

“Robbie, Jake's said nothing but good about you and even has offered to do you a favor. Instead, you show your appreciation by trying to make others think bad of him.”

“You don't know him!”

“Do you?”

“No! Who would want to know anything about him? He's a low life!”

I asked, “Mike, can I hit him just once?”

“No, Robbie tell him your story. If he can't believe you right here, where else can't he believe you?”

I said, “Firemen are standing out that door. IF we come out with him having rope burns, he goes to a mental unit and you lose a Justice as a son.”

“What!”

Mike whispered really fast. “He can tell the future! You're supposed to be a Justice on Missouri's Supreme Court! Now, you've messed it up!”

I said, “Grant, watch my back.”

“What are you doing!”

I took the noose and put it over my neck. “No rope burns and no one's the wiser. You got to me in time and before they realize they've been scammed, Robbie's out of here. The keys are in my car. Drive it Robbie.”

“Huh?”

“You've got one chance to save your future. Do we negotiate, or do we let them in here?”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Three months at my house this summer. You go back on it, I kick your ass every day on the tennis courts until you beg me to let you hang yourself.”

“Ok”

I walked out, “Guys, I'm ok. They saved me.”

The fireman looked at me, “Who saved you?”

“Why, the Prosecuting Attorney over there.”

“You're ok?”

“Yeah.”

I saw my car roll off. Grant came forward and said, “Guy's, I've got custody of him. He just lied to you so the real person who was in there isn't in trouble.”

“Why?”

“He's a law student. If he messes up, he doesn't ever get to be a lawyer.”

One of the firemen smirked, “I'd hang myself too.”

I said, “Well, needless to say, that'd be three of us trying to get to be well hung!'

He smiled. The other fireman said, “Well, if there's no one to save, we might as well leave.”

Grant said, “Guys, here's fifty. Stop by the restaurant and get the firehouse some lunch.”

“With a fifty?” I asked, “Man, you're expecting them to get the diet platter because they'll sure be hungry afterward!”

The one fireman smiled. I put my arm around his shoulder and said, “I like this guy. He's got a personality.”

I instantly saw he was 'family'. I saw a lot of his images flash in front of me and I said, “Damn guy, you're hot, you on fire?”

“Am I?'

“You running a fever?”

“I don't think so. Why?”

“Man, you felt hot.”

Grant went over and put his hand to the guy's forehead. “Nope, not running a fever.”

I said, “Hmmm, must be me then.”

Grant smiled. “He sees things. He probably got images of your last fire, or something.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it's true.”

I nodded, “Last Halloween, you dressed up as an Asthmatic Aardvark. Don't ask me how I got that, but someone said you sounded like an Asthmatic Aardvark. You were in a costume which looked like a baby...”

“That's enough!!! I know you're telling the truth!” he said smiling

I smiled real big. “Where'd you get that big of a rubber?”

He laughed and Grant looked at me real strange. I said, “He doesn't want me to tell what it was, but it's funny. I guess it was for a private party because only one other person came and came and came.”

He laughed, “Man, you embarrass the hell out of me kid!”

I said, “Seriously, there's a lot there. If you want to know more about it sometime, you know Grant has the station. At nights, we work out there in the gym behind it. About nine, we go to the jacuzzi, so if you're there after that, we'll either be in the tub or in the sauna.”

Grant's look shot daggers at me. I hung out my hand and said, “Yoder, I'm Jake.”

“You know my nickname!”

“Yup, now, tell me you'll see us next Sunday night as that's the next night you've got off and we'll see you then.”

He smiled and said, “I'll see you guys then.”

I went over and shut the door. “Guys, it's been fun, but I gotta go back to school and get ready for a football game.

If you've got a chance, come on out and see us grind Hannibal into the dust. You might send an extra ambulance or three because they've got our whole team pissed off at them.”

“Why?”

“The kid who lived in this house got killed last night. He was on our team. Grant is the coach of the team and asked for a postponement and Hannibal's coach said 'no way'.

Needless to say, our team is going to use that as a battle cry to see how many we can take out before they beg for mercy, or don't have enough men left to field a team. That's when they'll see we'll return the mercy they showed.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah, so send and extra few ambulances and we'll do our job of filling them with the red and the black.”

The one asked, “Is that legal?”

Grant nodded, “It's called trash talk. He psyches himself up to do good and he gets the job done. That's why the pros are scouting him already. By the way, he's got a pro scout who's going to be there tonight.”

I turned and asked, “Really?”

“Yeah”

“What team?”

“I can't say. If you looked at Yoder's cheeks, you'd get the color and the material.”

“Huh?”

Yoder smiled, “The red skins...get it?”

“Oh, those cheeks.”

He blushed real deep again and I took off the noose. “Guys, we gotta go. Now, either give us a ride on the firetruck back to school, or don't.”

“Uh, we can't.”

I smiled, “I could ride on the back.”

“Especially not there! After the lawsuit, firemen can't ride on the back no more.”

[The reason firemen don't ride on the backs of fire trucks any more is due to a lawsuit which happened in Columbia, Missouri. A fire truck was going down Interstate 70 and hit one of it's notorious pot holes. It jumped and launched a fireman off the back. He landed in the ditch and died. His family sued everything and everyone probably all the way down to the maker of the lug nuts on that fire truck. Needless to say, firemen don't ride on the backs of fire trucks any more and they now have fancy cabs for them to ride in.]

I smiled, “I know, I was checking to see if you'd let me hook my hose up back there. Now that I know that's out, I guess I'll let you guys go.”

He blushed and turned to Grant, “You need to keep him off the streets!”

Grant laughed, “He's a comedian. Normally, he just acts nuts. At other times, he goes for them.”

They headed up the driveway and I looked over into our old back yard. I saw a toy in the bushes and went over to get it.

“Oh man! I can't believe this is here after all this time!”

“What is it?”

“My Evel Kneivel dude. He had a motorcycle and you put him on it. I got it for Christmas.”

“You put him in the bushes?”

“I guess I did. He was there.”

I put Evel in my pocket and said, “Man, after all this time, I finally got one of my toys back!”

“How are we getting home?”

“The prosecutor's car should be up here.”

“Huh?”

“He kiped mine, I'll kipe his. He'll get the hint I want mine back.”

“What's the deal you two have?”

“Robbie comes and lives at my house for the summer. We study law and get Robbie ready for the bar exam. When he's ready, we go and pass the thing and that way, he's a lawyer without college.”

“Why not college?”

“He needs to be my attorney now instead of later.”

“Huh?”

“Grant, Robbie is gay. He's judgemental because judging others is a way of getting everyone's focus off him. Mike knows now and I know and now, Robbie knows I'm going to be there to count on him.”

“Why were you so flirtatious with the fireman?”

“You're going to need someone. He's gay and did I mention he was hot?”

“Huh? I didn't think he was...”

“Grant, that man, under those clothes is probably as put together as you. If we could, I'd suggest you putting him in the role of the Spartan tonight and everyone would be thinking we got one who was just as built.”

“I'm bigger.”

“Yeah, but where you're Conan, he's Fabio without his shirt.”

“Really?”

“Just wait, Sunday night, you're going to get wood. It's going to smolder, it's going to spontaneously cumbust, and he's going to play fireman.”

“Nah, I don't want him.”

“Grant, you're an idiot. We might not be together, but it doesn't mean I don't care. It doesn't mean your hard headed ass is going to figure out I'm not going to change unless you're willing to change and if you don't, then we sit it out until you're willing to bend. Until then, my life is going forward.”

“So you think since you point me at someone else, I'm going to jump into the sack with him?”

“Hey, I don't care if you do, or don't. What I care about is you not sitting around and waiting on me to get back. I'll be out with others, so you should too. Maybe, just maybe, someone else will give you perspective you should've changed with me. Until then, I guess you need to wait it out and see if I'll bend. Until then, you just remember it's going to most likely be that fourteen years.”

I walked up the driveway and looked out at the street, no police cars, no fire trucks, no ambulance and no other vehicles.

“Grant?”

“Yeah.”

“Remind me to tell you that Sheriff gets all of my money put behind his opposition in the next election. If you don't think so, you just realize we'll be running commercials non-stop on every channel in opposition of that man.”

“He sure never sent anything.”

“Nope, and he obviously thinks I was filling him full of shit.”

“You really saw Robbie as a justice?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool.”

“Grant?”

“Yeah.”

“He and I are going to be together for a long time.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah. I saw it.”

“Do you think he'll love you?”

“That's not the ultimate question about everything. It's not that he doesn't end up loving me, it's that he ultimately has to make a choice of being on that Supreme Court or being with me. He totally denies me and I come home.”

“Oh kiddo.” he said sounding sick.

“I saw it, at least I know that's a road I could take and with preparation, I know I'll be happy for a while.”

“Why don't we just put it back together?”

“You're ready to bend and make it so we are equal partners?”

“I've never said you weren't.”

“Oh yeah, I forget. I'm just the one who needs my lawyer worse than I need my lover because my lover is too busy selling out if it's not making him look good in front of everyone else. However, if he thinks it'll make him look good, he'll be there in a heartbeat.”

“How are we getting back to the school?”

“I'm putting one foot in front of another and walking. If you walk next to me, I'll tell you what all I promised that 911 operator and Sheriff I'd do if they didn't send an ambulance. Since you're not riding in an ambulance YOU PAID FOR, I guess I've got to keep my word.”

“What'd you tell them?”

“No police cars, no Sheriff's cars, no ambulances, and no donations to their causes. They're fresh out of favors and they got told I've got speed dial to your short and curlies, so I'll pull them the second you think about not charging them a full price on any vehicle in the future.

I also told him I'd throw my money in behind his opposition and he sort of demanded to speak with you.

Obviously, he thought you'd save his ass. I'll tell you the second you put anything in behind him, there's no possibility you're getting back together with me in this life, or any.”

“Ok, so let me tell him.”

“Why don't you call him on this here phone and get us a free ride while we tell him together. That way, the money you've put out is just considered some pretty extreme taxi fare.”

I handed him the phone, “Dan. Grant here. We're walking up Concannon, come get us.

No, you heard right, we saved the kid and you never sent us an ambulance. Now, if you didn't get what he's going to do, you listen to that 911 tape and you realize what he said goes double for me. Yeah, that means you have no chance of getting re-elected with the amount of money we're putting behind whomever runs against you.

So if you don't want to come get us, that's fine, I'll call one of the car dealers and get us a car sent, but you need to realize those cars start coming out of your budget and the department's budgets until he gets word everyone on the police, fire, and ambulance boards have been replaced.”

He listened and said, “Do what you shall, I'll start that advertising tonight on the ten pm news advertising we need a new Sheriff and all applicants can apply with me.”

He hung up and said, “Call your Chevy dealer. I just pissed off the Sheriff.”

“So be it. You sort of lied to him.”

“How?”

“You told him you'd double what I threw against him. I'm throwing all I've got, so you got to double that. If neither one of us invests in Australia, we're sort of sucking financially.”

“I guess your new house over there can't be bought.”

“It'll be bought. The wine will probably pay for it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, that auction place is sending a man.”

“When?”

“I don't know, I didn't ask him. He talked to them and if he hadn't been out there getting a class action lawsuit for me and a kid of his out of truancy and a noose, he'd probably had ample opportunity to do his own job. And, that sir, is why I need my own lawyer.”

“Robbie's sort of cute if he didn't try pissing everyone off.”

“He pissed his pants and I told him to get into my car. What a dumb ass am I???!”

“He did?”

“Yeah, and I dove face first into that crotch to lift him with him being wet. Can I get more dumb than that?”

“You did what you could to save him.”

“I needed to, I'm the one who dove under the door and knocked the chair out from under him. He'd been fine if I hadn't.”

He smiled, “That's sort of poetic justice, isn't it.”

“Do you realize that's two kids who've tried committing suicide over Jared and he never wanted either one of them?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Aaron and now Robbie.”

“Hmmm, he had a way with people, didn't he? At least Chris has stayed sane.”

“You admit you're nuts?”

“I admit my nuts would be bouncing off the cheeks of your ass if we were fucking, but we're not.” I turned and glared at him, “Please don't ever think because I chose you instead of him I didn't have feelings for him.”

“I didn't mean that!”

“You meant it as a dig at him and it pisses me off. Why is it you and everyone else think they can dig at a dead man?

Speaking of Jimmy, you need to know I'm going to take out Mark Evan's nuts probably in the first play of the game and then, you'll be lucky if I don't walk over and land some spikes into them. You'll put him off the field and that's when I'll tell Blake aka Jimmy Johnson his nuts are next.”

“What's that mean?”

“Jimmy took a dig at Jared last night. He got his face busted. Be thankful you're catching me at a good moment.”

I picked it up a notch and kept walking.

“You jogging back to school?”

“We can if you want.” I picked it up another notch and said, “Grant, why is it you try landing me on my ass verbally?”

“I don't mean to.”

“That's strange, it's like we're sailing along and I look over and you're throwing another torpedo aimed at us. I maneuver to miss it and then, we're ok for a few moments until the next thing I know, you're over there throwing another torpedo.

Well, if you haven't realized it, we're now separated over that shit and it's like you've got a suicidal death wish for us to be blown out of the water. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but it seems like you subconsciously just want us to not have anymore chances. Is that it?”

“No, I don't think so.”

“Well, do yourself a favor and don't cause a riot when you're up there at his memorial service and slip a phrase like 'he deserved it' or 'he was a cut above the rest' or 'he'd have you in stitches' or 'he'd have the opposition in pieces'...because from what I hear, he never got all his pieces back.”

“What?”

“Hacked, chopped, cut off, sliced up, how else can I say it? The nurse at school said her friend who works in the emergency room said he had all of the above. So don't do any of those statements and you'll not have rotten tomatoes thrown and no riots.”

“I never knew. His parents are some sick fucks.”

“You think about that. They cut his fingers off and he still dialed a push button phone to call 911. I wonder if they gave him as much shit as they did me today.”

“I'm starting to get pissed about that. I can see why you were so pissed now.”

“Don't start now, Dan thinks you're joking.”

“Let me have your phone.”

“Sure.”

He pulled it out and dialed, “Ted, yeah, this is me, I need a ride. We're almost to the corner on Concannon going to the high school.”

He paused and then said, “No, we need you. I want to run something by you. Ok, we'll be here unless we stop in at Owsley's and get a fountain coke.”

He hung up and I said, “They don't make fountain Coke's anymore at Owsley's. He said the syrup he uses now is the same kind which comes out of the soda heads.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, so the one's he jerks are basicly the same as the new kind. Isn't that dumb?”

[Yes boys and girls, I'm young enough to remember them making soda fizz's the old fashioned way where they'd take syrup and put it into a glass and then shoot the carbonated water into it. That's the way it used to always be done until they made the popular soda fountains which mixed it so all the soda pop fizz's tasted the same.]

“I might just get a fizz then.”

“Which flavor?”

“I like strawberry best.”

“I like the butterscotch.”

“Really?”

“It's cool. I don't normally like anything butterscotch, but done up that way, it's real nice.”

“You'd love my mama's butterscotch biscuits then.”

“Really?”

“She makes them and instead of buttery flavor, they're butterscotchy and sticky.”

“Sounds good. Listen, I'll still be close to your mom and dad.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Oh don't worry, what else could I do to have some fun and know you'd get told afterwards you were real dumb.”

He smiled, “That's your plan, huh?”

“Yup, it's full of possibilities.”

“What do I have to do in order to put us back together?”

“Grant, you've got to put me first in all things. I don't mean part time things, but all time things. Now, I hear you talk a good game in front of some, but not in front of all. Some people wouldn't even know we were together.

Then, when I'm neck deep in things, I'm expecting you to be neck deep right next to me instead of me looking up to find the bottom of your foot coming down trying to sink me.”

“You think that?”

“Think it, feel it, and experienced it. You've got that tattle tale bullshit down to the point I'd rather not tell you anything and do it myself instead of counting on you to cover me for anything.”

“You get nuts on things.”

“You bet I do. And you want to know what else? If someone killed you, I'd be in there killing them. You'd not have to worry about it because that's how it'd be. Earlier today, I said if someone was in beating the hell out of you, they'd not get one punch in because I'd already be there standing in front of you taking those shots.

Mike agreed with me, but he also agreed with me when I said I thought you'd probably visit me in the hospital instead of taking the beating for me.”

“You think that low of me?”

“Why shouldn't I? You were prepared to call the cops last night! You were prepared to let my pro career die instead of standing up to Dan Carter. Need I say more?”

“You don't think before you act.”

“You're wrong there. I think to the point it's having those investigator's scratching their heads out there at that explosion. They're wondering what all the plastic is because they think it's rubber bouncing balls from Walmart.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ok, out there at that blast site, they've got rubber pieces all over the place. They can't figure it out?”

“What is it?”

“I'd tell you it beats the hell out of me and have you wondering just like them. But to be honest, they needed to mix that naphtha with the laundry soap. Now, when they do that, it sort of has a buoyancy to it but it doesn't really pack a punch unless it's got an inert gas with it. The problem with it is you put the soap with the naphtha because you want the bubbles to be flammable. If you put air in there, it's flammable and it's only so powerful. If you do it with an inert gas, you've got a mess because you've got these bubbles floating around all over the place and bumping into things like light fixtures and when those bubbles pop, they hit hot light bulbs, and then, kapow, you've got a helluva lot of hot little explosions going in rapid fire succession until it's all up in smoke.

So, do you dare do that with a balloon? Because I'll tell you naphtha is paint thinner, it'll eat through that balloon real fast and you've still got problems. So, what's the story?”

He looked at me and said, “I don't know, I'm not the one who explains explosives like they're kid's toys.”

“You've never done that stuff?”

“No”

“Oh man, you had no fun as a kid. Let me tell you, Chris and I blew up some shit!”

“Really?”

“Yeah, we had it down to the point you'd be amazed at how powerful we'd have some of them blowing.”

“So you did all this and think IT'S normal?”

“I'm surprised you didn't. I mean, you have all the stuff out there at the station and you didn't. How unreal is that, and I thought you and my dad did it all...”

“WE never blew up things.”

“Ok, let me tell you how it goes. You know those 2 liter soda bottles?”

“Yeah.”

“OK, now they've got the five gallons of naphtha and they've got the laundry detergent. They've got the acetylene, but they also had oxygen, helium, and some other welding gases. So, what they did was they put in some naphtha. Then some soap. Then, they shake that around in the bottle and they have this cork with a pipe through it. They hit the gas inside that bottle and it gets filled with all sorts of pressure, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Ok, where Chris and I blew up shit was we'd hook it to the air compressor and would run. It'd blow until the bottle couldn't take anymore and then kaplow, it'd blow up and most of the neighbors would have the snot scared out of them.

The only time we seriously got into trouble was we did it at ten am on a Sunday morning out in back of Chris' house and let a big 3 liter one rip.”

“Ok, so it was extra loud?”

“Yeah, because we put about a cup of gasoline in that one too, but you know where he lives, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Ok, so he lives on that cul-de-sac and right across his back fence is St. Mark's Catholic church. Now, you know ten o'clock mass is their best attended one and his back yard is like twenty feet from the side of the church. Needless to say, we let that one go and the priest went into a cussing frenzy up there instead of latin mass. I guess he was so pissed, he came over an laid into Chris' dad.

Now, get the picture. Chris' dad is standing in his boxers on a Sunday morning after sleeping in. He gets woken out of his sleep by the house shaking and he's out the back door to kill a kid or two, but instead, he's cussed out by a priest in vestments.

Now, I'll tell you it was rather funny because Chris and I were already in the little metal shed drinking our next 2 liter of soda to get ready for the shot when they were all outside in the parking lot. Needless to say, I found it funny.”

“If I'd been Chris' dad, I'd probably thought about killing me two kids too.”

“You never had that sort of fun when you were a kid?”

“No, I never went into explosives.”

“Us neither. WE did our own homemade version which was a lot cheaper. I mean a dollar for a few big fire crackers, or a dollar for three two liters of soda. Hmmm, I'll buy the soda and make my own loud noises.”

He laughed, “So you and Chris made bombs.”

“No, not really. They just blew up.”

“Those are called bombs.”

“NO, those are called ...well, you call them bombs, but we didn't.”

“So you put gasoline in them and what else?”

“Compressed air from the air compressor. That's it. I mean, you've got all that at the gas station and you surely had to know it could be loud.”

“SO the gas burns?”

“Yeah, under enough pressure, most everything burns if it's exploded. I mean, soda pop burns if you leave some in the bottle.”

“I didn't know all this, so you're telling me you told those guys to put the naphtha and soap into the soda bottles, where did you get that many soda bottles.”

“Well, Chris was sort of saving them for graduation day. He was going to have a long continuous one which really made some noise.”

“Huh?”

“You heard me, but needless to say, he thought this was cooler. So, you've got blue plastic from blueberry Hi-C and you've got red from Big Red and you've got yellow from Mello Yello and the light green from Mountain Dew and the dark green from Sprite, but he said Ronnie Brown sort of helped because he had lots of cut pieces of pipe with nuts threaded on the outside of them. He said he used a drill press to drill the holes in all the caps and someone else put all the cut pipes into the holes and they hooked it all up so the little pipes all sealed themselves real easy with some fix a flat and little pieces of inner tube inside the bottle.”

“You guys perfected this stuff?”

“Yeah, I mean you gotta if you want a good display.”

“Or, you could be less likely to go to prison if you didn't and chose to focus your energy elsewhere?”

“Oh, I guess we could've perfected that rope swing from the water tower if we thought about it, but I guess we probably realized that was dumb and decided to move on to things we knew we could be good at.”

He smiled, “How'd I know this was going to be a grand dig at my age?”

“Well, nevermind, but what happened I heard is they put all those bottles full of those gasses out there and they floated up like expected. They kept it up and finally, it was full. SO, they dropped the other gases out onto the floor in long long hoses all over the place so they'd mix real good and when they had Ronnie in the car, they set the timer and blew it.”

“How'd they make it look like Ronnie was in the building?”

“They didn't. That cop they had watching him was asleep. He would've said anything someone said they saw to make it look like he was awake. Needless to say, Raleigh was up there and he sort of helped them out.”

“Who has Ronnie?”

“Man, I'm getting to that, but you expect me to rush right to the end.”

“Are they questioning him?”

“Yeah, but let me get back to this because it's really cool.”

“Ok, I guess I gotta in order to get to hear what I need to hear.”

“Now get this because it was awesome. That place blew and all of the things inside it exploded. Well, who would of thought you could blow the hell out of a snap on tool cart and it'd turn itself into a thousand little missiles? It did and from what Mike said, they're finding tools embedded in houses several blocks down the street.”

“That's cool?”

“Yeah, can you imagine!”

“Yeah, I can imagine trying to outrun a million little sockets flying at me at a thousand miles and hour. Needless to say, you could've killed a lot of people.”

“No, it was late at night, if they were out there that late, they were robbing something and needed to get caught. Can you imagine, a sickle flying by and whacking off your hand as your stealing something from someone? That'd be too much like justice!”

“You really think of these things?”

“It's cool dude, can you imagine? I mean, it'd be like stealing a golf cart at a country club and a million golf clubs flying at you and beating you to death at a million miles an hour. That'd just be neat to watch.”

“I'm guessing you and Chris think of lots of things like this.”

“Yeah, but in one full swoop, we got to pull off a mega one and I got to watch it from way far away and you had no clue he was in on it.”

“So, where'd they take Ronnie?”

“Ronnie's safe.”

“I'm sure he's safe, but where?”

“Closer to you, than me.”

“That's rather broad in scope, most of the town is on my side of the side walk.”

“No dumb ass. Think about it, where would all the guys who are on the football team hide someone if they knew no one but football players could go someplace?”

“The field house?”

“Yeah, so you've been guarding him for us. He's in that janitor's closet back there.”

“And you never told me!”

“Dude, you tell on people, why tell?”

“I'm not going to tell, so who's with him?”

“No one, they sort of got him drunk and gave him some sleeping pills. He'll be out for a while.”

“Did you all tape him and get him to talk?”

“They taped it and yes, he confessed to everything. And yes, to be safe, they put up a backdrop and even some things on the floor so no one can tell where he is.”

“When they going to give him back?”

“ Mike said for me to give him a call and he'll get him.”

“Mike's in on it!”

“Well, yeah, he wants him back. I mean, after all, that's the goal of it is to get him tried for what he's done.”

“I can't believe this! You put my friend in on this and you wouldn't tell me anything?”

“Grant, you were going to tell Jimmy everything. Why do that? I mean, Jimmy's got his own issues now because he's been caught in a lie with me. Don't think I'm going to ignore that.”

“What'd he say and lie about?”

“He said he'd get Mark Evans off the case. He didn't even get him moved over to Chris!

He's still got the guy thinking he's on me! And if they were so good about it, where are they at now? Where were they when Mrs Brown sort of went apeshit on me?

I mean, you've got a lady sexually harassing half the football team and throwing right hooks at your boyfriend and not a one of them are there watching me to see if I'll live. In fact, I've not seen either of them this morning. All I know is Mike said he talked with them.”

“Maybe they both got pulled.”

“No, from what I hear, Jimmy didn't put anything in his report except I assaulted him. Now go figure out how he got that off because his tape recording is getting pulled now so Mike can tell I was telling the truth.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Mike also told me Mark has a wire in his car. He's going to get that pulled and see if that conversation on the phone took place. When he has it, I'll have proof it happened and then, they'll be in trouble and be removed from the case.'

“Why do you want them off you so bad?”

“Grant, look at it, they're not tearing the tires off cars getting the people who need arrested brought in. In fact, the way people stick to other people, you'd think they wanted us all dead. Thankfully, you came along, but in reality, I should have a couple of shadows, but I guess I'll have to ask where they are!”

“Don't.”

“Why not?”

“I like this walk. I might not be hearing what I want to hear, but I feel like it's the closest we've been in a while.”

“Grant, your schedule and mine suck. Even when we're supposed to be alone together, we're not. Or, we're doing it in places where we can't do anything. I don't know why it happens like that, but it's like we've got to have ourselves out in public all the time and we can't be alone.”

“Do you think I like it either?”

“I'm wondering. I mean, if you don't like it, then it's time to make changes where we can be alone and share more things more intimately.”

“Do you want that?”

“Yeah, but I don't want it if you're going to run around being my own worst enemy. I mean, if I wanted someone to run around telling on me, I'd call the police and tell them what I was doing myself. Why do I need to do that when my lover is threatening to do it all the time?'

“I worry about you.”

“Getting caught? I mean that's damned dumb. That's like me saying, “Hey Grant, I worry about you getting ran over by that train over there and then, me tying you up and laying you out on the railroad tracks! That's the way you are. You say, 'I don't want you caught' and you don't waste a second to run to the police and tell on me.”

“I'm sorry, I don't like stressful situations like that.”

“When it's over, it's over. It almost over and the only stressful thing left is Mike taking Ronnie in.”

“That's good.”

“Listen, I did a reading on Mike and you'd be amazed at a lot of the stuff I saw. He's seen some serious shit in his time!”

“Really?”

“I saw all of his case files and the photos inside them are some really sick stuff, but you want to know the sickest thing I saw?”

“What's that?”

“Did you ever jack off with Mike?”

“Yeah.”

“Was his foreskin all butchered up back then?'

“No”

“Well, it's like split into fourths now. I know he didn't do it and I saw him hanging from the ceiling when it happened. The guy who did it was in a hood and I'm sensing it happened in a fraternity thing of some sort.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, I mean, Mike's working with a dick on him alright!”

“It's not small.”

“Hell no it's not! But, what's amazing is what they did to him is absolutely incredible for his wife. It makes his foreskin like a french tickler and I sensed that woman climbs the walls when she cums and it's never been faked.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and he does this thing with his tongue which turns her into a screamer.”

“I don't want to hear this.”

“It's cool. I wish we could do that sort of stuff to each other.”

“What's he do?”

“Tongue wrapped around clit and he sorts of hums. It vibrates and she is driven insane. It'd be like sticking your dick in a vibrating cylinder and then while it was vibrating, someone stuffing all that into a paint shaker. You're thinking it's awesome when all of a sudden, you're cumming and the world is vibrating your inner core.”

“Oh man.”

“Yeah, it's sort of interesting because I'm reading him and I'm all over the place and then I realized I was reading Robbie and yeah, Robbie got Mike's dick, but then as soon as I got that far, I saw Robbie with a noose around his neck and thought for a second he was into S&M when I realized I recognized the garage and he was going to die.”

“That had to be a mixed feeling.”

“No, in the end good within me always wins out. I stuff away all the anger towards someone and I have to think of their safety.”

“That's good.” He turned and said, “Let me borrow your phone.”

I gave it to him and he dialed someone. “Yeah, John, this is Grant Oberling, we're walking because Robbie took Jake's car.

We're going to get lunch at Owsley's and then, we'll be back out there. Yeah, Robbie's safe, but it was a surprise. Jake ended up saving him.”

He listened and said, “Would you do me a favor and see if Jimmy Johnson has been in today? Yeah, I'll wait.”

He held and we walked up town. When we got to Owsley's we went in, “Hi Jake, how are you today?”

“I'm doing well Mr Owsley, how are you?”

“Getting old son. It's just that, I'm getting old.”

“You're not that old.”

“I'm nearly ninety four, that's mighty old to me.”

“Oh heck, you don't look more than seventy!”

“Seventy was a long time ago.”

“Was this all yours from when it was new?”

“No, I inherited from my daddy. He built it and then they had me in order to have an employee. When I got old enough to see over the counter here, he put me to work. Ever since then, it's been my source of living.”

“It's wonderful in here.”

“It is that, but not as many customers as there once was.”

“Who's gonna run it after you?”

“No one, I imagine.”

“You gonna sell it?”

“I imagine they'll sell it after I die.”

“Who's that?”

“My grandkids.”

“How about you selling and running it if you want, or letting someone else come in here and learning it.”

“No one wants to work in here son.”

“If I got someone, would you sell it to me?”

He had a twinkle in his eye. “Son, you don't have enough money.”

I leaned forward, “Try me.”

“The building's worth somethin', and the fixtures are worth somethin', the business isn't all that much no more, but let's say it's worth a hundred and twenty as a whole.”

I sat back and said, “If I order my favorite...a butterscotch fizz and he gets a strawberry fizz, could I think on it?”

He smiled, “Sure kid, I'll give ya all day.”

“Thank you sir.”

Grant leaned forward and said, “What you thinkin'?”

“I'm thinking an air impenger in the back and some greasy cheeseburgers. I'm thinking us advertising in every hot rodding magazine as us being one of the last American mom and pop places and where one can get authenticity. Then, we park several of those old cars we talked about wanting out front and us playing it up for kids to come in and eat here instead of the hang outs up on the strip.”

“They won't do it.”

“Why not? I bet I can single handedly get it to happen if I make people aware they can see me at Owsley's.”

“You're in love with the atmosphere here. Atmosphere doesn't pay many bills.”

“You're wrong there and I can get it to swing a dollar or many.”

“How?”

“Let me think on it because it's going to take some money to turn that dollar.”

“Really?”

“I'll let you think about what I'm going to do, but do you have any of these buildings down here?”

“Three on the other side of the street and two next to each other on the other side of next door here.”

“Who owns next door?”

“Nola Leach.”

“Would she sell?”

“Very doubtful.”

Mr Owsley came back over and said, “What's your take on it?”

“How well do you know Mrs Leach next door?”

“Known her all my life, she's in a nursing home. Her son and daughter-in-law have it now.”

“They interested in selling?”

“I imagine they are, they're losing money each and every month.”

“Where do her son and daughter-in-law live?”

“Almost to the city limits in a yellow house. Grant can show you where, his station is right next door to the place.”

“Ok, I think I know where it is.”

“Dolly is over next door now if you'd like to speak with her.”

“Who's Dolly?”

“The daughter-in-law.”

“Oh, ok, Can I take the glass with me? I'll be right back.”

“She won't let it in her store.”

“Ok, I'll be right back. Make me another and I'll let it settle a bit.” I threw back the fizzy drink and emptied the glass.

“You're a regular heavy drinker there!” he said with a giggle.

I laughed, “Make it heavy on the butter and light on the scotch.”

He laughed, “That's a good one kid.” He paused and said, “Well...I'll be!!! You're his son!”

“I probably am, he worked right over there at one time.”

“He sure did! He said the same thing and when he brought you in! He said the same thing...make it heavy on the butter and light on the scotch...He was a damned good kid...your dad.”

“Yes sir, and his murderers are now sitting in jail, or they will be.”

“Really!?”

“Yes sir, the reverend is one and Ronnie Brown is another.”

“Ronnie Brown killed himself.”

“Well, justice is coming. That it is. Just you wait and you'll see them die for it.”

“Son, your dad got that same gleam in his eye when he was upset. I only saw it once and it was right over there.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, your grandma beat the tar out of someone out front and your daddy went out and cleaned the kid's clock again for attempting to hit a woman in the first place!”

“I heard about that.”

“Well, your grandma was a tough old bird. She left a string of broken hearts.”

His eyes told me something in that comment and I reached out and touched his hand. His images flashed in my mind. He'd liked her but saw the way she looked like Lana Turner and didn't think he could afford her. He talked himself out of her before he even had her.

“You should've asked her. I bet she would've said yes.”

He gave me a strange look, “Well I'll be! You've got it too!”

“Yes sir, I do...I guess.”

“Your daddy had it. He could tell people things about themselves and he knew, he knew...” He looked down and then, he looked up. “Did you find the note in his notebook?”

“Yes sir, I found it not long ago, or I should say he told me about it.”

“You communicate with him...often?”

“As often as they let me. If not, I've got someone who will communicate between us now.”

“Tell him I said 'H'lo' and it won't be long now.”

“He told you when you'd die?”

“He told me you'd buy it and he told me you'd make it bigger than I'd ever seen it. He also said you'd crack the case, but you'd grow hard hearted over it.”

“I have, but I'm trying to keep a soft side exposed.”

“You'll do well. He said you were going to put this town on the map some day.”

“Did he say which way?”

He smiled, “He'd have you in that car seat and he'd hold your little hand. He'd mix you up a dab of vanilla and boysenberry jam. You'd smack your lips and really empty that little mug over there.”

“Thank you for remembering.” I said as tears stung my eyes.

He saw, and then he turned, “Come here Jakie, I wanna show you something.”

I walked over and looked to where he was pointing.

“You see that? That's you, your daddy and me over there at that booth. They snapped that photo and he said you'd take a look at the photo the day you bought the place.”

“Well, he was right on that. I wish he'd made it so he could've been here with me as I did it.”

“He knew he was a goner. You don't know how upset he seemed. He'd talk about your future and then, he'd get quiet and he'd get a far away look in his eyes and he'd bat those long eyelashes of his and say, “Make it good for him. Make the deal good. He probably isn't going to have much money.”

I asked, “Can I see that photograph?”

“Son, buy the place and it's yours. I stare at that photo and I think to myself how good those days were when people could show their heart and you knew they were real people.”

“He was real. I just wish I had gotten to know him REAL well.”

“It's turned out how he said it'd be. He said you'd find love and it'd be with a heart break of his.”

“His heart broke over Grant?”

“It ended a friendship. He had to choose what he knew had to be chosen in order to get the best for his time. If he hadn't, there would've been nothing to show for his time while here.”

“So he knew?”

“He did, I think he didn't talk to many, but he would sure come in early and talk and then, he'd come in late and talk also. You know he walked her home and then would walk himself home, didn't you?”

“Huh?”

“That car of his was lousy. It was ruined brand new out of the box. More often than not, he'd walk her home and then, he'd walk himself home and on the way from there to there, he'd stop by here and talk. You do know he hated to sleep at home, didn't you?'

“I've been told that.”

“He did. He made it so he got in late and made it out early.”

“That's quite a sacrifice.”

“It's a part of his loving someone. He gave it his all.”

“I wish I could find someone like that.”

“Make him realize it. If he's holding back it's because of the hurt he once had. If he's thought he's lost it all again, he'll do what it takes to get it back.”

“I'll probably have to do that.”

“Do it sooner than later.”

“Sir, can I still use your name on this place?”

“Sure! Use it and use all you can about it.”

“Did my daddy leave any clue as to what I was going to do with the rest of the buildings?”

“Buy it and I'll show you something.”

“Alright, let me go talk to Dolly. I'll be back.”

“Leave him here, he'll be fine.”

“Thanks. Just dust him, he won't move.”

He giggled, “You've got his personality.”

I went out and over next door, I saw a woman towards the back with longer hair done up in a bun. She walked toward me with a half smile and gave a hello which had a bit of an accent to it.

“Hi, I've just came from next door and it seems I'm about to buy it. He told me it might be possible to buy your store.”

She nodded and smiled, “You're the kid he keeps talking about. Your dah-d was killed.”

“Right, what's your accent.”

“Cah-nady-n, I'm a Canook.”

I smiled, “Is that somewhere near Canada?”

She smiled big, “That'd be the best part of Canada, Saskatchewan.”

“I like your accent.”

“I like yours too.”

She said, “This is a woman's apparel store. As you can see, we're thriving with business. Women love it, but they loved it when the clothes were popular...somewhere back in the late '40's and early fifties.”

“It seems the way my grandma dressed. From here to there and nothing shown in between.”

“You'd be right.”

“I like the style of it in here. It make it look really a lot bigger than it is.”

“It uses mirrors and the dressing rooms set at angles to break it up. What's startling is it looks like it's forever far to get back there and when you get back there, it looks like it's not far at all to the front door. I think she should have had it built the other way so the customer got to the back in no time and then thought it'd be an all day trip to get out.”

“I like the colors...not quite tan, not quite khaki, and not quite mustard.”

“That's called antique yellow. You put yellow on the walls thirty going on forty years ago and let it age. It's amazing how antiqued it looks over that period of time.”

“Well dusted.”

“That's all I've got to do here.”

“How much do you want for it? And no, I'm not interested in cross dressing, so have a going out of business sale.”

“Hon, I've been having that sale for the last ten years. It's a whole lot less painless if it all hits the dumpster.”

“Let me ask my drama teacher is she wants it. She'll probably use them in some production.”

“I'll give her a call if you buy. I'm selling it for sixty five thousand. Not a penny less and certainly not a penny more.”

“Ok, I'll cut you a check. Will you be in at four pm?”

“You got that sort of money?”

“Yeah, unfortunately, I do.”

“What's that mean? It's never unfortunate when you've got it.”

“My daddy told Mr Owsley to cut me a good deal because he thought I'd not have much money.

What he didn't count on was my grandma making very wise choices in investments. She did and I'm probably way better off than his best figures would've guess.

If you ask me, I would've rather had him standing next to me today telling me I was broke instead of me having him dead and finding out he was wrong.”

“Oh son. I'm sorry.”

“It's ok, it's a day of finding out some more things about him I didn't know. He predicted I'd buy this whole block and he was right. I'm gonna do it, however I've not a clue what I'm gonna do with it. Mr Owsley said he has some drawings my daddy did and he said he'd show them to me after I got him paid.”

“He's a cynical old guy. He doesn't trust himself under a bird because it'll take a crap on him, but he doesn't stand next to a bird because he says he'll get hen pecked.”

“Then tell him to stomp the hell out of it and trust it's dead.”

She laughed real big. “All these years, I've never had a come back and now, you give me the best one of all!”

“He'll probably tell you I told it to you and I heard it from my daddy. It seems my daddy and him were real close.”

“He said he loved someone like a son once, so I imagine that's who he meant.”

“It probably is. My daddy seemed to think a lot of him for being over here as often as he was.”

“Your daddy had the touch from what I hear.”

“He told you?”

“Yeah, he told me there was one time he gave him the touch and told him the rest of his life. He said he wishes he'd never gotten told as it was just as boring as the first half.”

“He says he's about at the end of the road now.”

“Do yourself a favor and get rid of the refrigeration system over there. It's ancient and when the thing kicks on, the most part of this block does a brown out.”

“Really?”

“I don't know what he pays to run the thing, but he doesn't keep enough in it to warrant that big of a unit.”

“Maybe the compressor can be replaced and keep it affordable.”

“I don't know. You'd have to have them check it. I've heard they don't even make parts for it anymore.”

“Probably not. I know I've got an idea of what I want to do, but I'm not sure how to throw it all together.”

“Give me an idea.”

“It's all a bunch of throw backs to the fifties. This all screams the late forties and early fifties. Back then, we had places like Mr Owsley's, this place, all night diners. Rock and Roll diners, and little record stores with dance floors.”

“That's your tie in?”

“I want a long restaurant with ice cream from Mr Owsley's menu, a great breakfast menu twenty four hours a day, a great cheeseburger, and a place where kids can hang out and feel free to have their music, but dance if they'd like.”

“You're going to pull them all in. It's called a bar without a drink.”

“We've got the fizz's at Mr Owsley's.”

“You're right!”

“What I like about it is the kids go home and then, the parents come by for breakfast before they go home from their own night out. Then, they can come in and get breakfast before going to work.”

“Let me show you some things.”

She led me to the back and said, “Watch your step. If you land on me, we'll both go to the bottom.”

We went down some really steep basement steps which seemed to go forever. At the bottom, she pawed for a light string and then, pulled it. The florescent flickered to life and I saw the ceiling had to be at least sixteen feet up.”

“Man, this is amazing!”

“What?”

“The room!”

“Really? I'm down here to show you this furniture.”

“I'm looking at the room. If all these places have this sort of space, then this is the bar for the adults. It's got a clandestine feel of a speakeasy and could rightfully be called the “underground”.

“I like your thoughts kid, but in case you forgot, those steps aren't anyone's friend. They'd own the place after one time down them the wrong way.”

“An elevator here and three other sets of steps to get down.”

“Well, here's that furniture I thought you'd be interested in.”

I went over and saw the faded bright red colors with white. “Man, is that Naugahyde?'

“Vinyl in it's infancy. Yes. There's booths there, and there's counter stools over there. She bought them from the old Kresge building when it went out.”

“It's amazing, there's probably enough to take the entire upstairs to being a diner.”

“Really?”

“I want space. People seem to think it's cool having someone elbow the back of your head from the booth behind you, but all it takes is a saw to cut those booth sofas into two separate units and put the backs on.”

“What's your plan?”

“I'm seeing it with booths at angles like the style upstairs. Someone can look in and see everyone at a glance and see on back to the kitchen.”

“You sure you want to run a restaurant in this town? I mean, there's a lot of competition up on the strip.”

“Yeah, the strip doesn't offer what this has and they don't offer all night eats. It'd be popular with the pregnant crowd too for those pickles and ice cream sorta gals.”

She smiled, “Hon, if someone tell you she got you pregnant, you tell her she's a cold blooded liar. You've got no chance of that.'

I laughed, “No, but it's not that I wouldn't mind having a child.”

“You'll have a better chance going out of the country and adopting.”

“I'll do that.”

We went back upstairs and I said, “Four pm, sixty five grand and not a penny less.”

She laughed, “Hon, if you need more time, let me know.”

“If I do, it's because my lawyer is busy. If that's the case, I'll need to be seeing you tomorrow afternoon.”

“You know where I live?”

“Yeah, right next to my partner's gas station.”

“Grant?”

“Yeah.”

“He's your partner, or business partner?”

“Life planned partner. If he refused to be that, I've got the rest of his life planned to happen and be over with real fast!”

She laughed, “He's a sweetheart, he had that fence out there custom built so it'd look best for our property. Then, he planted trees on his side so it made the light not be able to come through late at night.”

“I like that about him. He's considerate of other people's needs.”

“Ooh hon, sit down, I just heard a huge vacant hole in your heart and that scared me.”

I sat down and she said, “Ok, what's he not fulfilling in yours?”

“He doesn't put me first. He does when it makes him look good, but doesn't if he might get a bad look at him.”

“Dump him, he'll come to his senses or he'll lose you.” She paused, did an exhale, and put her hands in a clasp, “Let me tell you something...I met my husband when I was cooking in a logging camp. He was a trucker and I was the cook. It was good money and he got me away from all of that.

I used to say there were two times Michael would love me, when he was out on the road and when he was out on the road.

As you can see, we got along great when he was out on the road.

He'd come home and when he was here, he'd have me asking him when he was going back out on the road.

He got the hint and for almost a year straight, he was out on the road. He'd call and we got along great and when he'd close off that phone call, he'd ask, 'Are you ready for me to come home yet? And I'd tell him 'no'.”

She looked up and to the right and said in a fainter voice, “I waited too long.

One day, I got a call here and it was from a hospital out in West Virginia. He'd laid the truck over on it's side and gotten crushed. He was alive, but they didn't know if he'd make it.

I left and drove straight through, I walked in and he said, “My home away from home. It looks like I'm about to go home, but not to my home with you.”

She looked at me and the tears started streaming down, “If I had to do it over again, he'd gotten told to come home and I would have taken trips out on the road just so as I knew he'd still be there.”

I hugged her and she clung to me. “If you need someone to work for you...I'll work for you.

It's not that I need this place, it's that I need this place. It keeps me going and it keeps me sane, it's not my house where I cooked, cleaned and waited for him to say the words he never got around to saying in those phone calls...that he needed me.”

“You didn't think he needed you?”

“I know he didn't. It was like he came home to check to see if I'd kept everything up and his mother was well taken care of, and then, he'd be back out the door. He'd say the token words of love, but never the ones of him missing me and needing me.”

“Did you tell him?”

“I told him, but he never listened. It was the same day after day, visit after visit.”

“Did you tell him he could come home and see if it had changed?”

“No, if it wasn't said over the phone, I knew it wasn't felt in his heart.”

I stood up, “Dolly, I'd be happy to have you as my employee, but you gotta be like a den mother to them.

If they don't know how to treat people, you gotta teach 'em. If they don't know manners, you gotta teach 'em. If they're just plain idiots, you gotta fire 'em.”

“I can do that.”

“I'll tell you now, I'm gonna need you because my goal is to play football in the pros. If you can...come out and give me a cheer while you watch me play. It'll make me feel good.”

“You on our team?”

“Yes ma'am, I'm the quarterback.”

“You any good?”

“They say I am. I've gotten us undefeated so far, but it's not been as easy as I thought. It's bad to say, but I think I'll find it easier to play in the pros. Those fellas are bigger and should be able to keep 'em off me.”

We climbed the stairs and when we got up 'em, she said, “The lights.”

“Leave 'em on, I'll turn 'em off when I show him the building after I get it bought. Whatever the electrical costs, don't fret over it, I'll pay it and get it all put into my name.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Hon, it's like this. What my goal is, is to have this to be known as a local hang out.

There's liable to be football players working here as well as other sports jocks. They're to be nice and they're to get free eats providing they aren't feeding the neighborhood. If they do that, I'll see they're out in that neighborhood instead of working here. As I said, I don't want idiots working for me.”

She laughed, “I appreciate your keeping me on.”

“I like you. You make me feel at home instantly and that's what I'm going to need when I'm in town from being famous.”

“You're really planning on that pipe dream, aren't you?”

“Let me give you an idea Dolly, it's easy to dream on pipes when you buy the steel mill. That way, they're not rusty and they're not cheap. Everyone else buys them from you and it's a dream because you can always see the end of the thing from the other end. If you can't, then throw the thing back into the melting pot and look at another without defects.”

She laughed, “I like that attitude.”

“Thanks, just remember one thing and it'll all be worth it.”

“What's that?”

“When life grabs you by the balls, take it's balls out. When it's groveling on the ground in pain, you go over and kick it in the teeth just so it forgets about you taking out it's balls. No one likes to remember you got them by their balls!”

She laughed another big laugh. I looked at her and said, “Dolly, you remind me of someone and I don't know who that is. Your laugh and your way of looking at life, it all makes me be reminded of someone.”

“Really?”

“Your laugh especially.”

“Well thanks, I wonder who it was?”

“I don't know, it had to be over fourteen years ago because all the people in my life have stayed the same in that length of time.”

“Before your parents died?”

“Yes ma'am.”

“I'm told I remind people of a woman who acts on television.”

“Really?”

“She was on a ballsy show called HOT L BALTIMORE. She was the big girl and she always had a dirty joke to crack. Her name was Conchatta Ferrell.”

“Never heard of her.”

“She's acted in some movies, but because she is a big gal, she doesn't get many parts.”

“That's a shame, my grandma was a big gal, but not real fat. She looked big because she knew how to carry herself.”

“What happened to her?”

“She got killed out at our house not long ago. Some inmates came and killed her.”

“That was your grandmother?”

“Yes.”

“Then check to see if you remember a woman named Emily.”

“Emily as in my grandma's sister?”

“Yeah, that's my mother.”

“Really?!”

“Yeah, she took off to Canada to love my father. She never came back.”

“So you'd be my mama's cousin, huh?”

“I guess I would.”

“Did you know her?”

“No, I never met her.”

“I think I might've met your mama once a long while back. If I did, it had to be a real long time ago.”

“She was back in 1977. It was the late fall of that year.”

“That's when I had to have met her. I would've been like three and a half.”

“You remember back that far?”

“When those you love die, you remember everything around you because it might disappear at any time. You want to remember it because what you once had disappeared and it's not a good feeling.”

“I know what you mean, you long for what once was, and nothing else seems to fit into those puzzle spots. However, when you find one which fits, it's sure a good feeling.”

“I know. I had one of those pieces and he got killed last night along with his sister.”

“Man, you sure have death around you.”

“Yes ma'am, but the man who killed them is who killed my parents. He's going to pay for that now.”

“I'm sorry to hear about your loss. It's never fun.”

“Dolly, had my grandma known you were around, she would've been happy to have you as part of our family. You need to know that.”

“I never thought about contacting anyone down here. I figured there had to be a reason my mama left and I didn't want to stir up ill will with me just starting my life here also.”

“I understand, but you're family of mine and you need to know I'll keep ahold of ya.”

She smiled and said, “I'm glad. It's like we need each other.”

I hugged her and said, “I'll be back around four.”

“I'll be here, but if you don't make it, I'll see you at the game tonight.”

“Sit in the family section. I'll reserve you a seat.”

“Ok, I'll do that!”

I went out the door and over to Mr Owsley's. When I went in, Grant turned and smiled, “You back?”

“Yeah, I've got it bought, but I'm keeping her on as an employee. She's great and surprisingly, she's family.”

“Huh?”

“She's my mom's cousin. My grandma's sister, Emily, is her mom.”

Mr Owsley nodded, “Emily was the prettier of the two sisters. Your grandma was a bombshell, but Emily was a Spitfire. One took care of the battle and the other got you out of it. Emily took off with a man.”

“Yeah, she went to Canada.”

“He was a logger. He said there wasn't any money down here.”

“Probably wasn't.”

Grant asked, “How much did you get it for?”

“Sixty five thousand, but I told her to donate the dresses to everyone who would take them. I sure didn't buy it to run a dress shop.”

Grant said, “Drink your fizz and let's get you back to school. They've got that memorial service at one pm, so we've got to get you back there.”

“I understand, but as soon as football season is over, I'm done with it.”

“We'll see.”

I looked up slowly at him and said, “I SAID I'm done with it! Now, which part of that didn't you understand because if I recall, the fucking paper got signed today! The part of you seeing anything is over.”

“Cool off, simmer down.”

“Eat shit...chew slowly... It's like I'm supposed to totally deny I've got a point of view around you. If you don't realize it, that's what's the problem. You're trying to throw me in quicksand instead of letting me drain the swamp.”

“I want you to savor what will have meaning to you some day.”

“What I'll have meaning about some day is I got a start on things and didn't waste a moment of it. WE're living on borrowed time and we've got to do all we can while we've got the chance. You will NOT slow me down on that anymore.”

“Ok, but I guess I can't have an opinion about things anymore if we're to stay together.”

“Find a different way of making my decisions for me. If you'd find a way of getting your opinion across in a question, I'll tell you no. If you tell me you think I should DO something or shouldn't, then it's probably best if you ask me my opinion on it and then remember it like it's preventing the next big argument we have because it will if you forget.”

Mr Owsley said, “Someone very wise once told me ass chewings are Alzheimer's arch enemy. They make you suddenly remember everything.”

“They do if that person doing the remembering thinks you mean enough to them to make that effort. If not, then it's easier if they just go away to some home where all they forget isn't as painful as they let it become.”

Grant turned to me, “You think I don't think you matter to me?”

“I'm wondering how little if any I matter to you.

As I said, I tell you things and you never remember. You choose to remember what you wanted and forget what I wanted. Now you've gotten told again I'm moving on with life and I'm buying a fucking pro ball team. When it's bought, I'm out of here and I'm practicing with them.

Yes, I told you I'd be here for this season, but that's it. I've got a life out there calling for me and I'm answering it when season's over.”

“Where are you buying?”

“I don't know, what team's interested in me beside the Redskins?”

“None yet, that's the only one I know.”

“Washington, is that East Coast Washington? Or West Coast Washington?”

“East Coast.”

“Why do they have the name Redskins if they're there?”

“I don't know.”

“Do you know any skuttlebutt about any teams for sale?”

“No.”

“If you hear, let Mike know. He's got permission to get me into debt over it.”

“How far into debt?”

“As far as needed.”

“Are you sure you want to do that?”

“Yes, I'm sure. The reason is my stocks are accruing in value so fast, I don't want to lose their value. Instead, I'll borrow money and pay for it with the dividends.”

“Do you want me to buy into your house with you?”

“I've thought both directions on that one. Yes, I'd love for you to buy in, but no, not a chance in hell of it happening if coming home to you being there means it's a reminder we're still not together. Now, that's the honesty you deserve, so you tell me what your opinion is on it.”

“I want ownership in our house we live in together. I'll own half and move in when we're back together. Until then, I guess I've been ordered to play the field.”

“It's smarter than jacking and shooting yourself in the eye...a whole lot less painful.”

He smiled, “That's funny.”

“It is if someone else does it, but not if it's your friend Chris who does it standing on a sink and nearly fell off.”

“He did that!”

“He hasn't admitted it, but then again, he'd have to admit as to why he was bent over so far he shot himself in his eye.”

“Oh.” Mr Owsley said, “He'd have to be looking at it.”

“I sort of thought the same thing, but if the mirror is right there, why are you looking at it in that manner unless you're trying other things?”

“Can people do that?”

“I've never done it, but I've heard of some people who can.”

Grant gave me an interesting look, “Really?”

“Yeah, you'd probably know them.”

“On the team?”

“No, well, none that I know of, but I read one this morning.”

“Really!”

“Yeah, so go figure.”

“Man!”

Mr Owsley said, “A man's got to be desperate to do that, I've never gotten that desperate. I'm afraid I'd most likely get too excited and break my neck and die. Then how do you think it'd look when they found you?”

I smiled, “It'd look even better because you'd have more down than you actually ever had, so you'd get the envy of all the guys on the ambulance crew.”

He smiled, “As well as their gossiping tongues to flapping.”

“But just think, when they tell that story, it's all going to be saying how much you got down and you know how stories are, the tale grows taller on down the line, so not only would you not just be known as a cock sucker, but you'd be known as a long cock sucker.”

“Then everyone would know it's a lie for sure!”

“That's the point, those who stare in the shower know you're not working with ten inches when they never saw it touching your chin. So, they'd not believe it. It works out well in the end because those who DID believe are then wishing they took the chance on you and those who didn't believe are actually giving you credit for what you actually did do!”

“Not many my age who would have ever had fantasies about me and although I might actually want to do it, I'm afraid if it did happen, it'd probably knock me into the death your dad predicted.”

“How'd he say you died?”

“Shocked to death. Now, was it shocked because I did that and it worked? Orm was it for something else? I don't know.”

“Speaking of that, don't operate that refrigeration unit back there until I've got a man in here replacing or repairing it. It seems this whole block knows when that thing kicks on. If it's causing that much of a brown out. It's not safe.”

“I'll do that. It's been needing repaired for quite some time.”

“Good, that takes care of that risk. So let's have that shocked to death be you getting it good from someone who's fifty years or more younger than you.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, that way if it's someone only twenty years younger than you, you're not shocked so bad you die.”

He smiled, “Ok, that's a positive outlook. Both ways, I'm still getting some!”

“Right.” Grant said smiling.

I said, “Speaking of things, I wonder if that cat died from being shocked to death your dad killed in the car wreck.”

Grant smiled, “You're still stuck on that old wive's tale he keeps telling.”

“Yeah, we need to make it sound a bit more far fetched.”

Mr Owsley winked and said, “He switched it to a cat because it used to be a squirrel and it died biting the hell out of a nut...my nut...when it got crushed to death by the telephone man who was on the telephone pole he ran over with the car.”

Grant laughed, “As you see, dad had a cohort with the jokes. Mr. Owsley has always been there with him.”

I nodded and said, “We really need to get to the school.”

“What's the press?”

“I'm feeling us needing to be there. Now, I can go and you can stay, or I can make like I don't care, or you can go with me. I'll tell you if I walk out that door alone, you'll be a lot more sorrier than me.”

“Ok, man, you can be pushy.”

Mr Owsley said, “Grant, learn to bend, it's best for you in the long run.”

We went out the door and Grant asked, “What's the rush?”

“You need to know something and it's called a lesson in not messing with divine things unless it's an intervention. We messed with one earlier and we were messing with one just now.”

“I'm not following.”

“Ok, he absolutely HAS to call that repair man to get that refrigeration unit fixed. IF he doesn't, you're not seeing the consequences which happens.”

“He said he's shocked to death.”

“Yeah, but while he's being shocked to death his clothes catch fire and he burns down the block. That refrigerator is O'Leary's cow for Moberly. Now, do you want him to get it fixed? Or, do you want him to die that death in which his name is synonymous with the great fire for our town?”

“Are you sure?”

“Do you want to trade him? IF you'd stayed, you would've made it so he didn't call to get it repaired.”

“He might've not called because he didn't have the money.”

“Don't let him fool you. He's sitting on a lot of money.”

“Then he's fooled because I happen to know more about his banking situation than you do!”

“What's that mean?”

“I do his check book for him. When there's not much left at the end of the month, I do what I can to help him make it by buying groceries.”

“What about his other accounts?”

“There aren't any. You must be having him confused with someone else.”

“You want to bet?”

“I know there aren't any.”

“Ok, Take your marker and write these numbers down on your arm.”

“Why?”

“Because I'm so dumb I can't help but seeing things all over the place with him. Now, write down these phone numbers and account numbers.”

He did and then, I handed him my phone. “Call them. See if those accounts have balances and see if they check to him. If you need his social, I'll give it to you.”

“You get all that?”

“On some people where it matters. On others, I don't get a thing. With you, I get a lot of stuff.”

“Since when?”

“Since I stopped trusting you. Since my stock certs got threatened. Since my bank account got threatened and since I turned all that over to your friend who is my attorney.”

He called the first one and said, “Man, where's that bank?”

“Wells Fargo in San Francisco. He was a Wells Fargo agent a long time ago. He put money that account before he went to World War II and he never took it out. Apparently, he's forgotten about it, but he had all his pay chits from the military in there. After he went down on the Indianapolis, all that stopped. Did he lose his memory there?”

“I don't know.”

“Does he talk about the war?”

“No, my dad would know more about that than anyone.”

“Call him and see. I know we'll find the proof after he dies, but you might casually ask your dad to check and see if he called the repairman.”

“Why?”

“Grant, it needs done! You don't realize it's imperative. Once I said I would buy that place, the time clock started ticking on his death and it's like it could be real soon...like tonight maybe.”

“Ok, let me call my dad.”

“Tell your dad I want to know where the speakeasies were located in this town back in prohibition. He's not that old, but he should know from when people have talked about them.”

“I know some of them.”

“I know, but we need a complete list of them. I'm going to tell you we're going to go to that basement of the pharmacy and you're going to find another.”

“Nah, I've been down there. It's nothing but a bunch of junk.”

“Grant, you really irk the shit out of me. You know that? Call your dad and I bet you he tells you Mr Owsley ran one of the best.”

“I'll call.”

“I'll walk this way. When you find out, hang onto my phone and then, you think about what you just did and when you can't come up with it, you ask your dad what he'd do to you if you called him a liar three times in a row.”

“I didn't call you a liar.”

“Call him Grant. I'm fed up with you and have no desire to even be seen with you on the street right now.”

I turned and went up McKinley instead of Williams like he was walking. He stopped and stared and I kept walking.

I knew he was still standing there, but I was at the breaking point. Either he had to start learning his own lessons, or he had to be cut off completely. Either way, I wasn't backing down on it.

When I got the the street where the school is located, I put it into a jog and went onto the football field. I saw Principal Jackson preparing for the memorial service and went over to him.

“Hi Jake, you just getting back?”

“Yeah.”

“Where's Grant?”

“Probably still standing on the street corner where I left him. He's got to speak to some people to decide if I'm lying or not. When he finds out he's never trusting of me, then we'll be able to work on our issues.”

“It going to affect the game?”

“Not between he and I, but the game will have issues.”

“Those two never showed today.”

“Keep them off the field and preferably out of the school.”

“I can't do that.”

“I'll keep them off the field. Don't worry.”

He looked at me and said, “What's going on there?”

“Mark Evans aka Sappington called someone and offered to pimp me out to them after bragging up he had some really glorious sex with me. The story is so far fetched even Mike Musselman didn't want to believe it, but we've now got a way to get it proven. When that tape is listened to, he's going to be requesting Mark's removal from my case period.”

“Really?”

“I'm so pissed about it, I'm done with preliminaries about keeping his name clear. If he wants to mess with my security, I'll mess with his hence me using his real name instead of his undercover name.

I'll also tell you once I tell the team he's a cop and what he did, you can best bet they'll vote him off the team. If you or Grant make us keep him on, I'll walk off the team and out of this school. I don't need the school any longer and am only here to finish the football season.”

“You've got to finish!”

“Why? Because of some scholarships? Because I'm being scouted by pros? I'll tell you I've got my lawyer out looking for a pro team for me to buy. When he gets that team, my future is secured. I don't need to graduate high school with more money than I could ever spend in this life.”

“Your grandma would want you to complete it.”

“My grandma was a practical woman. She'd tell me not to let something like high school hold me back from my potential. If I can get on that pro team, you can best bet I'll go that direction.”

“What's Grant say about it?”

“He got pissed and told me to channel all my activities through my attorney since I'm obviously now a delinquent.

Since I'm a delinquent, he thought he'd take my bank account and stocks. That got stopped because I got emancipated this morning, so now Grant's power trip is quelled.

If he dare goes after them, then you'll see a legal eruption take place in this town which will have me seizing each and every thing he owns and him having his bank accounts frozen. I'll not let him think he can get rid of my things without me playing havoc with his financial well being.”

“Does Mike know this?”

“Mike's protecting all my assets. Do I trust him? I'll tell you that's in a limited arrangement. They're friends and they've got investments together, so as my attorney, he's been compromised.”

“Robbie showed up in your car and nothing got said. He didn't look like he felt real well.”

“Did you see the rope burn?”

“No, he was wearing his jacket.”

“Can we talk off the record?”

“Yeah.”

“Robbie's got some things coming up which are going to really be causing dissention in the rich kids of this town.”

“Really?”

“He's gay. He's been dating the judge's daughter as a cover. Now, the problem there is she knows it, but she's willing to be used for that class status she's got and he's willing to sell himself out for that class status.”

“So where's it going to change?”

“It changed when I saved his life today. Mike and I made a deal where I get Robbie for this summer to give him a crash course in law.”

“Why?”

“I need an attorney who I can trust and who will work for me full time. Mike's doing a great job, but I think it'd be a great for Robbie to get his start in a position which isn't a grunt for anyone's firm.”

“He'd have to pass the bar exam in order to do that.”

“Yes, and I've promised Mike that by the end of the Summer, I'll have Robbie at the bar exam and we'll pass it together.”

“Can you do that?”

“Yeah, I already know a a lot of law. You'd be amazed at how I went through the Missouri Statutes after I was about to be arrested.”

“What did you find?”

“Lot's of flaws, whole laws which are nullified with the insertion of some commas, and a lot of outdated laws which just don't apply to anyone anymore.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, now, what's funny is I could be a real asshole and nitpick someone to death on the laws.”

“How so?”

“Ok, let's say you bug me and get on my bad side. Then, I see you drive off the parking lot and you didn't break any modern laws, but you didn't know a ton of the older laws are still in effect.

So, I go to my friend John who's the cop and I tell him, “John, I'd like to make a citizen's arrest of Principal John Jackson and here's the charges. He was driving more than fifteen miles an hour which is a state law. He was driving without someone carrying a red flag behind him fifty feet, and he certainly hasn't paid his enclosed motor car taxes which are up to but not exceeding the cost of his said car.”

“What!”

“Yeah, so what you don't know is that speed limit fine there for exceeding fifteen is a three dollar fine. That flag thing is a fifty cent fine, and that enclosed motor car tax is outside the jurisdiction of the Department of Revenue and is payable directly to the general fund. No one pays it anymore because they skirted it by having all taxes and motor vehicle revenues collected by the DoR.

Now, since you didn't know, it doesn't mean you shouldn't have been ignorant of the law. I could get you on another statute which states you have to be knowledgeable in Missouri Laws and Regulations in order to be a citizen of the newly formed state.

What you don't know is those laws and regulations back then were comprised of sixteen whole laws. They never repealed it when it got so complex.”

“So you could legally harass someone and as a peace officer, John would be obliged to arrest me?.”

“Here's what you need to know about citizen's arrests for our state. John is a sworn police officer. As a sworn officer, he's automatically bound to have citizen arrests supercede his other duties, personal desires, and familial responsibilities.

That means if you want to mess with a cop, you ask him when he gets off work and you go up to him five minutes before he gets off work and you ask him to do a citizen's arrest. He'll have to stay on and of course, you now know some of the little known laws, so you can go down Morley and point at anyone and get those counts placed on anyone.”

“That's terrible!”

“Yeah, but it's a loophole I could see a mile away. Now, do you want to know the really cruel thing about that law?”

“What's that?”

“Let's say John's set to retire and today's his last day. You walk up to him again five minutes before he gets off work and you tell him you want to make a citizen's arrest and he says, 'go ask someone else, I'm off work in five minutes.' What you then do is chuckle inwardly and say, “Oh really? Since you refused a citizen's arrest, we'll see how you retire with all your retirement and years of tenure stripped from you. You make the complaint and because his papers are already applied, they'll stamp denied on them and send them back to him with the explanation he has no years of accrued tenure and no retirement benefits available due to his willful disregard of the law.”

“That's beyond terrible.”

“That's the importance they put on the citizen's arrest. Some officers don't even know what it can do to them if they refuse.

A lot of them will point you in the direction of the Prosecuting Attorney which is clearly a violation of it. They think that's what they've got to do, but as soon as they do that, they've lost their title as “Officer of the Law” and get this... because it's a huge loophole in this law.

If a cop looses his title and shield, then their department loses it's membership into the Fraternal Order and Brotherhood of the Police Association. That means his refusal just got all the cops stripped and their department shut down.”

“Oh man.”

“Yeah, but get this because you break it all the time too. Did you know you and all your teachers are required to stand outside of the school house at least forty five minutes before each class and ring a bell for at least ten times and not to exceed fifty because that would be considered peace disturbance?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, now guess what that would cost you if you didn't do it?”

“What?”

“Fines of at least twenty five cents and if you do it often enough, it could cost you your license to teach.”

Grant came across the field and handed me my phone. “He's getting it repaired now.”

“Thank you.”

“My dad said for me to tell you the next time I lie to you to break my jaw and then give him a call so he can bring the razor strap to you. He said he did that when we were kids and he'll do it now.”

“I'll tell him thanks tomorrow.”

He stared at me and said, “Anything else to say?”

“I was about to ask you that myself. Since there's no apology, I guess there's nothing left to say to you.

Leave me in peace and I'll certainly leave you alone. When you think about us possibly speaking and putting anything back together, you ask yourself if I've gotten an apology for being called a liar multiple times and then, you realize I'll not entertain any thought about speaking with you.”

“He said he knows he went to the military. He thought he heard he was on the Indianapolis, but he never knew. He said when he got home, he was broke and went back to work at the pharmacy.”

“You need to see how much money is there. With all those years of interest, there ought to be quite a bit of money.”

“It's not as much money as you'd think.”

“Why not?”

“It compounded interest annually and didn't have but three thousand in it at the time. It's not been getting him much since then.”

“He's got a guaranteed interest rate of almost seven percent annually. If they've been giving him less, you tell them he was one of their agents and he's guaranteed that locked in rate. They've never repealed it and what's that other account have in it?”

“Quite a bit more.”

“Did you let him know?”

“I thought you might let him know yourself.”

“I don't know why, I mean, how could he possibly want to believe a liar and after all, you're the one responsible for his financial situation.”

“I'll tell him.”

“Grant, I'll need to speak with the team tonight. I'll want them to know why I'm not going to continue on any longer with them.”

“Do it after the game.”

“Why? I want them to know my coach thinks I'm a liar, and since nothing I seem to do is believed until it's verified to be accurate without apologies, I'll not need to be there. Jared would understand and he'd probably tell you to get fucked himself if he was here, so don't play the sentimental card.”

Principal Jackson said, “Coach Oberling, you owe him an apology. He's not requested anything formal up to this point in regards to your issues. The second he withdraws from this school, I'll have to put an attachment on his withdrawal it was due to personal issues between you and he which I witnessed. I hate to say this, but he'll probably take most of the team with him when he walks.”

“One man on the team shouldn't think he has that much power. I'll remind the team.”

I said in a steely voice, “I'll kindly remind them the pot calling the kettle black just spoke at that time. He thinks because he's got a title, he's supposed to be believed at all times and can control people.

Well, you messed up, you attempted to bring your job home and control me there. You took your home life to school and thought I'd let you play me here. Now I'm done and I don't care what it means to you or does to you in any manner.”

I turned to Principal Jackson, “Forget that team meeting, I imagine I'll see a few of the players on my way through the school to the parking lot and will of course need to speak with Robbie Musselman in order to get my car keys.”

“Sure, let's go.”

“Later Grant. If you have anything left at the house, get them and get me back all my keys via your father. I'll give him the key to use in an emergency when I get the new house.”

Principal Jackson and I walked off the field, “He's not real smart.”

“You need to let him make some mistakes, but even I'd say he made some large ones.”

“I think he's got a built in self destruct button. It's like he gets to a point and he totally just wants to end it.”

“Do you think he's afraid of you becoming more famous than him?”

“I don't know. That would seem far fetched to me.”

When we got to the school building, we went to the Principal's office and his secretary said, “I've got a request from a Dolly Leach to be in the family section at the game tonight. Who's family is she a member?”

I said, “She's my mom's cousin. Let her in. I'll play the game.”

She gave me a look and he said, “You sure?”

“I'm not going to embarrass my family. She didn't ask to be a part of this.”

“I'll let Grant know.”

“Let him stew. IF he thinks about replacing me, be prepared for fireworks.”

“He might.”

“That's when I'll take his Spartan costume out to center field and tell him to come get it because it's obviously what he should be wearing and then, I'll take my uniform off and burn it.”

“You'll be charged for it.”

“So be it. My point will have been made.”

“I don't like you two fighting battles with the team being the battle ground.”

“I apologize for that, but you think about it seriously. IF he's jealous over my becoming more famous than he, he only decided to get interested in anything about me after he saw my abilities. Then, he stepped forward and gathered the coaching position. If it's about a systematical approach to attempt to knock me out of it, then I'll have him outsmarted by buying my own team and getting there.”

“I don't think he saw it that way.”

“I'll be going back out to the field house to let him know my opinion. Leave us be in there until we either walk out and have a truce called, or we've got me walking off the team. You might ask Mike Musselman to come to the field house.”

“I'll do that. At least it'll either be progress or not.”

“Robbie Musselman too. If he's going to be my attorney, I'll need him there.”

“I'll page him down here now.”

He made the page announcement and I waited. Soon, Robbie walked in. He looked down when he saw me and I went over and hugged him.

“I need you.”

“Where?”

“Field house.”

“Why there?”

“We'll talk on the way.”

“Ok, does this excuse me from classes?”

“The memorial service starts at one, so we need to make it snappy.”

We went out and then out the back doors.

“What's going on?”

“You changed pants.”

He smiled, “Yeah, they were wet.”

“I can't believe I gave you the keys to my car with you having wet pants.”

“Me neither. I wiped off the seat with vinegar.”

“Ooh”

“I didn't want it to smell!”

“Ok, but all that cleaner and protectant probably got stripped. Oh well, it can't be helped now.”

“Umm, I owe you an apology.”

“I owe you one too.”

He stopped ant turned to me, “Jake, please?”

“Sure, anytime you want, but you gotta dump the girlfriend.”

“Huh!”

“I mean, you're cute and all, but I'm not going to go out with anyone who's got a girlfriend.”

“I didn't mean that.” He said blushing

“Oh, what are you asking me please for?”

“Let me apologize.”

“Ok, but you still owe me a summer.”

“I didn't make the deal.”

“Ok, then be a has been before you get started. Your dad's going to pull your college money, you know that, don't you?”

“Why!”

“That's the deal. We made it with you being nice to me and not treating me like shit and you totally blew that out of the water in front of him which was way better than I could imagine...even if I did get my face in your peed crotch...nice package by the way.”

“Man! You!”

“Don't ever lie to me. That's second rule in our relationship. Don't call me a liar either especially when you don't know if what I've said is true or not.”

“Dude, I don't even know you!”

“But you wanna, right?”

“You scare me.”

“And you will get used to me. I mean, you're afraid of what you don't know.”

“Why do you want me?”

“I need you. It's down to just that. You're perfect in so many ways for me and I need you.”

“You sure?”

I stopped and he stopped. He looked at me and I stared deep into his steel blue eyes. “Robbie, what I feel for you is scary already. I want you in ways, but I realize you're perfect in what you can do for me and what I can do for you.

You need to get a shingle and I need to get one too in order to help you get yours. That's cool, but when I go into my daily life, I need a full time lawyer. Your dad's great, but he's got his hands full and you would be a super asset in his firm being my lawyer.”

“Why?”

“I'm about to buy a pro football team. You'll be my lawyer and I'll be it's quarterback. I'll do promotional endorsements and together, we'll make loads and butt loads of cash.”

“I don't know any of that stuff.”

“Yeah, that's what's cool. You and me, we'll learn it together and because we're not a part of the scene, we'll call bullshit what it is and we'll make deals which make sense.

What I require first and foremost is long term contracts. You get me a fifteen year deal on everything and don't talk to the company unless they give that contract at fifteen million a year with all the standard percentages.

If I sell more than fifty million worth of a product with my name on it, those percentages double for each additional fifty million in sales. That means if I sell a hundred million in product, that percentage is then four times the amount it normally was up until forty nine million nine hundred thousand. Ok?”

“Sure.”

“Whatever there is out there to plug, I want my name on it. Whatever you do, don't get my face or my name on feminine hygiene or napkin products. That'd be too gross.”

He laughed, “You're nuts!”

“My nuts don't go on any product unless they really get paid. However, if there's a real popular starlet who wants to have my kid, let me know and we'll sell sperm. It'd be cool to know I've got kids who might be famous and I didn't have to get near a cootch to get her that way.

You make that deal showing she and I out in public for three weeks so the pregnancy is legitimized and I've got parental rights if I so choose. One thing you don't do is sell my rights away and you don't get into me for child support based on my income from that sperm sale. Sheesh, that'd be stupid.”

He chuckled, “That's legalizing prostitution.”

“Call me a ho', but I've already told your dad when they put the term 'name whore' in the dictionary, I want my smiling face proudly placed beside it. You might call Webster's to see if we can do that as a promotional endorsement free of charge for them.”

“This is too much! What are we doing now?”

“As my soon-to-be lawyer, you're about to learn things and see things which you're to be there to witness and do nothing else. Your dad's coming to take out the trash, so that's one good part of it, but the other part is a formalized breakup of me and my soon to be ex.”

“Who's that?”

“Come along, we need to get there.”

We went to the field house and inside. Grant was in his office and rose up with a start, “Hi, what are you guys doing here!”

“Came to get the trash ready to take out. Mike's coming to get Ronnie.”

“I forgot about him.”

“I didn't. What we need to do is get him ready.”

“Ok, let's get him.”

We went back to the Janitor's closet and Grant unlocked it. Ronnie was laying on the floor hog tied with his hands and feet in front of him and bound. He was awake, but seemed very drowsy.

“Ronnie, we're getting you up.”

“Uhhhmmm”

“Yeah, I need to get rid of this tape. I want you to speak to me.”

I ripped off the duct tape and handed it to Robbie. “Hang onto this in case he starts trying to scream.” I pulled Ronnie's head backwards and said, “Look into my eyes and tell me why you did it.”

“You're gay, you're the Devil's spawn.”

“Thank you dumb ass, I was three years old. Now, look into my eyes and let me see into your soul. If it's spotless besides the deaths of my parents, I'll take you at your word.”

I put my hand on his temples and looked into his eyes, “Gladys Munger, Jeff and Janet Martin, Erin Warfield, Tracy Gibbons, and then, we've got a power rape of Erin Warfield, various assaults, and we've got all the things done to my parents and me.

Tell Mike to investigate Gladys Munger intensely because this man used an electric knife to terrorize her before he killed her. He did it when he was fourteen and did it because he kept throwing a baseball into her yard and she'd keep it. His final way of brutalizing her was stabbing her with a barbeque fork. He damaged organs and he caused massive bleeding.

Mike can get all the evidence in the case from a private burial site at the stop sign on the corner where Mrs. Munger lived. Her address was 1703 Tinsley Street.”

Robbie said, “Ok, I've got most of that.”

Ronnie yelled, “Who are you!”

“I'm Jake Martin, because of you, I lived without parents. I'm here to personally gather the evidence it will take in order to get you the death penalty and it firmly established. You'll die but you'll die many times over.”

I turned to Robbie, “You ready for the next one?”

“Sure.”

“Erin Warfield, this clown liked her in school. He asked her out and she told him to get lost. He waited and he watched outside her bedroom while he masturbated nightly to thoughts of him getting to see her naked. What he didn't know was the window he watched wasn't even her bedroom, it was her parent's bathroom and that window was up too far to see anything.

What he did do was he kidnapped Erin from the fairgrounds out there and took her to the Thomas Hill power plant cooling lake. There, he threw her in and thought he was making himself a hero to her by repeatedly saving her and dragging her out.

The mouth to mouth would turn into his sick form of foreplay and he'd rape her. Then, when it was over, she'd beg him to let her go and he'd take her and throw her in the lake again. He let her go alright, only to be there and 'save her' all over again.

When she finally did drown, he raped her again and then buried her body minus her hands, head and feet by the picnic area number four. There's an evergreen there which was young then. She's up under it's canopy now. Her head, hands, and feet were thrown into the intake of the power plant. The constant flowing water there have gotten rid of everything.

One thing you must know is Erin's body will have his dna on her and in her...if it's able to be retrieved. The blanket he wrapped her in will have his dna also. Now, up under the collar of her shirt will be a spot of his dna. He bit her there.”

Robbie asked, “What about the others?”

“Tracie Gibbons and my parents were all done the same way. I'll pull what I can out of there, but I don't expect much in surprises.”

I put my hands on his temples again, “My parents were after Tracie. They were done much at the same time, but at different intersections.

He got the order to kill my parents first. Hold on, this is confusing...he got the order to kill me first. This was about him wanting to kill me, it wasn't about him wanting to kill my parents. Tom had the order to kill my parents. He couldn't get that done, so the reverend gave the order to get me killed above them.

His thought that night was to kill me. Little did he know my grandmother had came over to pick me up instead of my parents dropping me off. He was waiting at the intersection they normally drove which went across the train tracks.

He thought they'd either hit the tracks and a wheel would fall off, or a train would be there and they'd not be able to stop. That's why the wheels were done too.

He waited there and they never showed. His curiosity was drawn to sirens and found they'd been killed at the intersection by the semi. Since it was a new form of murder to him, he stayed and that's when he got caught up in the photographs. Not once did he think the photos would incriminate him.

After my parents died, Tracy was the next Saturday night. No one was suspicious of her death at the time until the investigator found the cut brake lines....”

I stood up and said, “I need to read that investigator. He just told me the guy is in their church. That's why the brake lines weren't taken as evidence and he was allowed to go take them off the car.

That investigator's name is....oh man, you're going to shit yourself here, “Eric Williamson...the coach's brother!”

“What!”

“Grant, the coach and his partner came here because the coach's brother was here. His brother investigated my parent's murder. Do you think the coach told his brother we could be onto him?”

“I don't know, but it's getting to be a tangled web with that church.”

Mike Musselman came in, “Hi Mike, Robbie's been taking notes and I've got a lot for you. Here's Ronnie and his stuff, you need to realize we've just found a problem.”

“What's that?”

“The detective who handled the evidence for this case is Coach Williamson's brother. He's also a member of their church.”

“Huh?”

“You heard me, you'll find it out but you need to get all the records subpoenaed from that church.”

“I've got several phone calls into the FBI already, so this is yet, but another one?”

“Ok, well, here he is so get him taken in for us as him turning himself in.”

“They're going to do a drug screening of him and find him with those drugs in his system.”

“Can I offer a suggestion?”

“What's that?”

“Take him to Thomas Hill reservoir and let him get the treatment he gave Erin Warfield.”

“ Erin Warfield had something to do with him?”

“Yeah, he killed her.”

“She disappeared, I remember that, but no news. Everyone thought with how pretty she was, she ran away to be a star in Hollywood.”

“Her last night, she was in a horror film in this guy's mind. I just watched it.”

“You ok?”

“I found out his original intent when he killed my parents was to kill me instead. The reverend put out a hit upon me. Now, you could offer him immunity on those because it's a lesser crime now instead of murder two, but he's got plenty of murders to solve. The plus is his testimony on the hit ordered for a three year old would be a good news media attention grabber.”

“You shouldn't have to think about anything like that.”

“No, you need to know I'm not hung up on how they try or how they receive their penalties as long as the end is the same.”

Mr Musselman came over and hugged me. I looked at Robbie and said, “Mike, Robbie is in it for the haul. You need to know he knows I know about him and I'm fine. He sees I didn't run off and you're right here with him.”

Robbie looked scared, “You know dad?”

“Yes, I know. It's not a problem with me.”

“You don't mind?”

“No, come here.”

I stepped back and Robbie ran into his dad's arms. There were mutual sobs shared by both and I turned to Grant, “We need to talk.”

“What's going on?”

“I'm going to finish the season. That's job one. You need to know I'm going to probably handle it weirder than you ever had anyone deal with you, but I've got very little trust left for you and it's how you've dealt with things.”

“What's that mean?”

“I care for you otherwise, I'd let all the negative feelings I have flow out of me at once and I'd do my best to kick your lying ass. Instead, I'm going to be here, do my job, and then, I'm stepping back out of things.

You get me for practice and that's it. I've got enough money to buy my own equipment and work out at my new house. I'll also build my own jacuzzi and sauna instead of going out there.

Tomorrow, I'm going to buy that house and it doesn't matter if it's the pit from hell financially, but it's happening. It's also happening with just my name on it. You'll not have one speck of control over me after the end of this season.

If you attempt to exert control or fuck me in any manner while I'm on this team, please note I'll step in front of the team with Principal Jackson and we'll have a coach-less meeting where I tell my viewpoint exactly as to what happened between you and I.

In regards to those two cops on the team, they're benched. If you think of playing them, I'll go to center field and I'll tell the school who they are, what they are, and why I'm doing what I'm doing. I'll also front you out as to who you are and what you are and why you're on the team. I'll carry over your Spartan uniform and you can either take the thing and wear it, or you can be ran out of the school as being a manipulative jealous has been football player who saw my potential and decided to keep me down.”

“You think that?”

“Grant, you had no interest in me until I threw you those balls and then you were suddenly offering me the moon and the stars. I'm sorry, but my first impression of you was suspicion and I should've went with it. Instead, I got enraptured by your body, beauty, and your personality which wove around me like a python attempting to squeeze the life out of me.

Systematically, I've lost and recovered....lost and recovered...and lost and recovered. You've been there to have me question my sanity and make me feel vulnerable each step of the way. You've lied to me and you've lied about me. You've manipulated and now, you've got nothing left to appeal to me.

We're supposed to be lovers. We can't even be friends. You want to manipulate and you want to try playing each and every little ounce of threat you have to offer. Well, you just got told that in front of my attorney and my future attorney. You got told because if Mike dare goes back on his word to me for you, I'll use every ounce of everything I can to fuck you so hard you'll never recover in this town.

Over there is Robbie. You know I know what I'm expecting with him and you know I know how long it's to happen and keep me happy. When it happens, and when it ends is my business. If you dare say one word of what you know, I'll start all my take downs of what you've got.

Think about that because I've now got legal means to do it. I'm emancipated, and I'll see you in court every fucking day until hell freezes over just to mentally take you down.”

“You're not getting on a pro football team.”

I turned to Mike, “My coach just threatened me. Lay on the first lawsuit for sixteen billion dollars. That's how much my lifetime career potential is, so if he dare decides to make it so I'm injured by a jealously guided call, you file it.”

Mike nodded and said, “Grant, he's offering you a better package than what you would offer him. He's not trying to do anything but separate from you. You counter and you lay out threats or whatever non-stop. At first, I thought it was insecurity leading you, but now, I'm wondering if it's you attempting to pay him back for how you hurt after Jeff told you it was done.

And yes, I know Jeff told you. I also know why he did it and I also know Jeff had a choice. He could either be straight or gay and he knew he had a date of death in which he had to have what he could done by then. If he'd stayed with you, he would have been a footnote in your life. If he got together with Janet, he got benefits of having a family to carry on his talents and his legacy.”

Grant said, “I had a career until I outed myself over his death. That's when it ended for me.”

I nodded and said, “Grant, it was different dates and times. Things are different now. You skulked in the shadows and you paid the price for having a light shine on what you were. You've been giving an opportunity now. Instead, you're threatening it with your actions.”

“There'll be others after you.”

“You're not getting it Grant! If I withdraw from school, Principal Jackson is putting the recommendation for your removal on that withdrawal form.

That's not my doing but him seeing you're bringing something personal onto the team and making me regret personally I'm a member of it. I told him I'd stay until the end of the season and you've got until then to show your adjusted. You've been shown a way out with the fireman and if you decide you just can't do without trying to mess up my life after today, I'll gladly start messing with you each and every way I can.”

“You don't want me?”

“I wanted you, but you didn't want me unless I was in your glass jar doing the tricks you wanted me to do. Guess what, the glass jar was suffocating and it made me hate you. You now know we've got a date with destiny and if you fuck it up again, I can and will go right on past that and find happiness once again. Are you going to let me go? Or, are we going to start the legal system and the media to talking about the latest thing we've done to each other?”

“Can we see each other and just update each other with what's happening?”

“I don't even want that now!

I wanted that until your latest round of bullshit today. Now you've got me out there but you can get your updates through my visits with your parents and that's it. If you attempt to manipulate those appointments, then know I'm done and I'll take it legal. You hearing this?”

“Yeah.”

“Good, now this part of my life is over. I've got to check in to play football, but the morning after that last game, I'm done here.

If we go to state, I'll play, but I'm going to probably be absent from school a lot. If they decide to sit me out, then I'll cancel off the team and withdraw. You pay that penalty because I withdrew before the season was over.”

“Don't do that.”

“You're not getting it. I don't need this place. To me, it's not about being a part of a crowd. It's not about being a part of what people expect of me. I don't need it as a prerequisite for college and I sure don't need job skills when I've got what I need already to get the job I want.”

“You're not thinking it through. You're going to be promoting to kids all over the world it's ok to drop out of school.”

“I'll get a friggin' GED. We'll throw that down on the third Tuesday over at the civic center. It's simple to pass, so I'll take it and have it. Now, care to throw out another obstacle?”

“Can I have a hug?”

“Yeah”

I hugged him and he said, “I do love you.”

“I know. I loved you too. We've still got a date with destiny and if you want that, you've got to earn it...not me. If we strike out then, that's your last chance.”

“I'll try.”

“That's all I ask until then and then, it'll be an action verb called DO. If it's still try, I'll try not beating feet out of that meeting and getting the fuck away from you.”

“You'll be here tonight?”

“Yeah, now I'm going to forewarn you about tonight because I'm going to be out there to make a point.

That coach over there is a bigot. He's a racist and he's just scourge of the earth. He's got a particular hang up about people who are developmentally challenged and calls his team retards quite regularly. Some other things he calls them is fags, queers, pussy boys, kikes, wops, niggers, and wet backs. He does all this and he screams, cusses, and blackguards them.

We're going to embarrass, but we're also going to embarrass him...so be prepared to go out and challenge that motherfucker to a weight lifting competition to show everyone he's really a pussy.”

“Huh?”

“Which part didn't you hear?”

“You want me to go out and lift weights against him?”

“Yeah, I mean, you ARE a part of this team...so if you're not in it, I can arrange for you to see the game from the street outside. Wanna bet I can't?”

“I'll do it. He's powerfully built too.”

“Then you best get ready because tonight is going to be a non-stop lesson to that man and his team we don't take it kindly when we should be grieving a team mate, we've got to be playing a game.”

“Anything else?”

“Bates needs to be my nose guard. If he says more than one word to me, I'll have you out there doing the job because Bates will need his broken jaw mended. And yes, I've got a wee bit of an attitude with some of the people on this team because they're just not even supposed to be on it.”

Mr Musselman said, “Both Blake and Mark Evans have disappeared.”

“I didn't have a fucking thing to do with it. You might take a look at those numbers and you need to look at Blake's house. He's not going to leave that kid and he's certainly going to head that direction because he knows from me 'nita will be the one for him.”

Suddenly, everything started flashing at me. I said, “Hang on a second, you need to get ambulances, police, and fire over to Jimmy's house. In the basement is where they are. Mark's got Blake there and he's torturing him into telling him what I told him.”

“You sure!” Grant asked. So help me, I reached out and touched him in the mouth.

“That's the last time you doubt me and call me a liar!”

I grabbed Robbie and said, “Come on, we'll go prove them wrong.”

Mr Musselman said, “Grant, you're a dumb ass. You put this guy back in that closet and you sit on him while those of us who believe him go check it out.”

“I believe him!”

“Too late...you questioned him. After all he's done and all you've seen, you have gall to question him?”

We went out and I got into my 'vette. Mike jumped in and Robbie dove in the super small grocery area. I started it up and handed Mr Musselman my cell phone. “Call them because I've already called once today and they didn't believe me.

Speaking of which, find out who's running against the Sheriff and tell that person I'm throwing all I can into their election fund.”

“Alright”

He dialed, “Yes, we need the police, fire, and ambulance over on Myra Street.” He turned to me and asked, “What's the address?”

“It's two houses west of the Riefsdel's on the same side.”

“It's approximately 1311 or 1315 Myra. It's two houses west of the Riefsdel's on Myra...the same side of the street. Two undercover detectives are in danger there. One might have the other held hostage, so please use a silence on the radio in case the one is using a scanner.”

He paused and then said very angrily, “This is Prosecuting Attorney Michael Musselman, should you not send the equipment I've asked for, I'll be there personally to press charges for dereliction of duty!”

He hung up and said, “I'm calling FBI. I don't know if they're sending me anything because that girl just got charges. It isn't her job to question who I am or what my authority is when someone's life is in danger.”

My cell phone rang, I looked at the caller id and said, “Unregistered means it's the cops, you talk with them.”

He answered, “Yes, I ordered it and you put that dispatcher on arrest, I'll prosecute it and anyone else who wishes to jeopardize my cases and my authority.

Yes, you get everything rolling and you have them enter that neighborhood quietly. We've got a potential hostage situation where one detective has the other held hostage. Both are undercover and I've already requested FBI intervention on this as they've both gone missing.”

He stayed on the line and I said, “Mark Evans is going upstairs. He's wearing blue jeans and a denim shirt. He's got blood on his shirt and I'm not getting any signs from Blake.”

I went around Concannon corner again and went into full throttle. “He's on his way out the front door and moving towards the black Caprice Classic.”

Grant told them and I rounded the corner onto McKinley.

I saw the car moving towards the highway up ahead. I said, “Robbie get up here and drive. Follow him and I'll go check to see if Blake's ok. I'll use the house phone there to call 911.”

I stopped and Robbie dove up into the driver's seat. I said, “He's going over into the industrial park. He's looking at a yellow metal building which has a white roof. It's out across from that lighting place. In there, he's got several undercover trucks. One of them is a electrical pole planting truck. He's planning on digging a hole with that auger and burying Blake in the hole.”

I ran down the street and into the house. As I walked hrough the house, I yelled, “Blake! Blake!”

On the steps, I found Blake crawling up them. “He's coming back to kill me. He's went crazy.”

“I saw you being tortured. They're sending everything this direction.”

“He's got the tapes.”

“Which tapes?”

“The tapes our transmitters recorded. He said he's going to kill you for incriminating him.”

“Too late, I've already got enough evidence on him, the tapes aren't needed.”

“Help me get out of here.”

“Where are you hurt, you're bleeding?”

“Superficial, he beat me up, but it's not bad.”

“I was worried about you. I'm not worried about him.”

“HELLO! ANYONE IN HERE!”

“Back here! I've got Blake here injured.”

He looked at me and said, “You need to use my cover name.”

“As pissed as I am at both of you, I'm not going to do that. You have already been told to remove yourselves from my case.”

The same fireman came into the back room and looked down the steps, “How come when I see someone injured, you're always with them?”

“Because you won't take the hint and hook up with that guy I was trying to get you together with.”

“Is he serious?”

Blake smiled, “He's serious. He can see things you and I can't. If he told you it would work, you need to do it.”

I said, “Yoder, Grant is a nice guy. He's sweet, but he's not the person for me. We split up and you're completely welcome to him.”

“Why'd you split up?”

“He's a high school football coach. I'm going to the pros. He's upset and jealous instead of being happy for me. We could hold it together if he'd grow up, but that's not happening.”

“You'd not get rid of him advertising him like that!”

“You'll love him. Me, I'm still hurt and pissed. I loved him and still care for him, but now isn't the time for us.”

“You really see the future?”

“No, I can tell you everything about your future, past, and present. I saw yours and you know it.”

“That's weird.”

“When I'm in touch with someone like Jimmy here (cough cough)...must be dust or something down there...Well, as I said, Jimmy is someone I could tell was in trouble. I saw it and knew where he was. Now, we're rescuing him.”

Yoder said, “Come on, let's get you to the ambulance.”

“Was that ambulance crew the same on who was working earlier?”

“Yeah.”

“Who decided they weren't to come?”

“The Sheriff.”

“Ok, I'll deal with that man.”

“You're pissed!” Jimmy said

“Yeah, Robbie was over there hanging himself and I called to get everyone rolling to save him. His dad and I got there and he had just started to swing when we saved him. The only ones to show was this hot fireman and his partner out there who is a bit homophobic.”

“He's not homophobic, he's my ex. He's upset because I'm considering getting together with your ex.”

Jimmy laughed, “Man!”

“Tell that man I can find him someone if he'd let me have a chance.”

“No one's old enough for him. He gets off on older guys.”

“Tell him I've got one for him.”

“What!”

“Forget it, take Blake over to the ambulance and I'll go talk with him.”

I went over to the back of the fire truck and said, “Hey, upset because life's passing you by?”

“None of your business kid.”

“Ok, I was going to hook you up with someone, but I guess I'll forget it.”

“You've done me enough favors.”

“You did that for yourself. Just remember when one person is on the pity pot, no one else can sit there with them. I'll not sit on your lap because I'm definitely the wrong direction age wise for you.”

“I'm not throwing a pity party.”

“Oh no you're not, I'd say it was over a long time ago but you forgot to take off your hat and stop blowing your little horn. Maybe you can dance to that music, but I'm not.”