Date: Sat, 4 Nov 2000 07:56:27 -0500 From: Bill Porter Subject: My Bodyguard Chapter 3 My Bodyguard Chapter 3 A very special thanks to Ed for editing this chapter. This is a story of love, trust, hope, and commitment. It is not a sex story. However, this story deals with love between two teenagers. If you are offended by stories involving love between two teenagers, please do not read this story. There will be some sex scenes in this story; however, sex is not the main theme. If you are under age 18 or 21 or it is illegal to read this story where you live don't read it. I would appreciate any comments you might care to make. And now the story. ********* This chapter is going to be told from the point of view of Mike's father, Greg Stevens. I surely hope this does not confuse anyone. The next several chapters will be involved with character development. But don't worry, some real action will be coming soon. Ring, ring, ring, the alarm clock went off. I hit the clock quickly and turned it off. 5 o'clock in the morning and one hour to get to work. This is the way it goes five days a week. I get up as quickly as possible, trying not to wake my wife. I go in the bathroom, take a shower, shave, and everything else I have to do in about 10 minutes. I then go downstairs for a quick breakfast. My clothes are already laid out for me. I dressed quickly and off to work I go. The same old routine every day. I normally arrive at work at 6 a.m. and today is no exception. This morning my assistant store manager Nick was waiting for me. Nick works Saturday through Wednesday. He comes in at 6 a.m. and goes home at 6 p.m. Saturday through Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday he works 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. Today is Wednesday, so I was surprised to see him there at 6 a.m. You see, I have a night manager, Jerry, who works 12 to 9 Thursday through Monday. The store is open 9 to 9, 7 days a week. This way, Nick covers for me on Saturday and Sunday. And Nick covers for Jerry Tuesday and Wednesday. And Nick takes off Thursday and Friday. That way there is always a manager, and we each get two days off. "Nick, what are you doing here at 6 a.m.?" I inquired. "Well, Greg, after you went home early yesterday I thought, perhaps, it might be a good idea for me to come in early today," he explained. All of a sudden the events of last night came rushing back to me. I guess going through the same routine every day kind of puts my mind on autopilot. "To tell you the truth, Nick, I am kind of glad you're here. I do have some more things I need to get done today. But, it makes for kind of a long day for you." "That's all right, Greg. I have the next two days off. I'm glad to help out." "Great, Nick, I'll take care the produce order, though. When Sam comes in and gets his coffee, send him back there, please." "I'll tell him, Greg," he replied. I knew Sam, my high school buddy and county sheriff, would be there in a few minutes. I gave all the local law enforcement officers all the free coffee and doughnuts they could eat. I also gave them cigarettes at cost, and a 25 percent discount on everything in the store. My first stop is, as usual, the produce cooler. Time for me get on my soapbox. You see, in the grocery business, produce is where you either make money or lose money. Let me explain. About five years ago I put one of these new computerized scanning systems in my store. It automatically reduces inventory as it is sold. If inventory falls to a certain level, the system will generate an order. This works well for dry goods, but cannot be depended on for produce. I don't have to worry about bread products because I only pay for what I sell. If the bread goes bad, the bread man pays for it. Every day, bread vendors automatically stock my bread, rotating the stock. Milk works the same way. Now, produce has a short shelf life. The price also fluctuates daily. I have seen tomatoes go from ten dollars a flat to fifty dollars a flat in one day. I have also seen lettuce do the same thing many times. Now, I have a butcher who orders and takes care of my fresh meats. But produce, I hyper-manage that every day. In order to make money, I have to sell all the food I bring in. So, every day, like a religion, I go in my produce cooler, check the condition of my produce, put an order together to be delivered that afternoon, and make a list of things I need to put on sale. There is a running joke that the produce cooler is my office. So when Sam comes in, Nick will tell him to see me in my office. The afternoons I spend making my money work for me. I read the market reports and make decisions. Once a week I generate an operating report, which is an estimate of the profit for the week. Once a month we take a physical inventory and then I generate an actual operating report to determine my profits for the month. I pay myself a salary, just enough to live on, mind you, and I roll all the rest of the profits from the store into my market accounts. I had just completed my produce order when Sam walked in. "Hey, buddy, what's up?" he inquired. "I need to ask you a favor," I replied. "Christ only knows that I owe you a few. I would still be renting a house if it were not for that down payment you helped me with two years ago. What can I do for you?" "Let me give Nick this order to call in and I will be back in one minute." I gave the order to Nick and asked not to be disturbed for a while. I grabbed a cup of coffee and made my way back into the produce cooler. "Sam, I will come right to the point. Yesterday my boy Mike was beat up and threatened to make him quit school," I explained. "That makes five students so far, Greg. There is a gang of white supremacists operating at the high school here in town. So far two Hispanics and two African-Americans have left because of threats and intimidation. School officials have not been able to establish who is involved. I met with the Superintendent and the School Board back in August to try to find a solution. They wanted me to put an undercover deputy in school there at the county's expense. I explained that if I did that I would have to put a deputy in all four high schools in my county and the county could not afford that. I did offer them a solution, though. "Last summer my sister's son Mark came to live with me and worked for me in the next town over. He did the parking ticket thing and park patrol 20 hours a week. He is a big kid like I was. He is 6' 8" and is into martial arts and boxing. He was state Golden Gloves heavyweight champ in the 10th grade. I told them they could hire him as an undercover deputy at the school's expense but the county could not pay for it. They said that they could not afford it." "Tell me more about him, Sam," I inquired. "Well, Greg, his name is Mark. His father left when he was 8 years old. It really was hard on him. His mom and he get along great but he felt that he was the cause of the breakup. He has withdrawn into a shell and has become a bit of a loner. He is afraid to really get close to anyone. He is an only child and his mother works at the diner to try to support the two of them. They live about 100 miles from here. He is a smart kid and gets good grades and wants to be a Doctor. I think that he could make it if he had the money to go to college. "Greg, I know why the other four students left school. Why did Mike get beat up?" "His best friend found out he is gay and told the whole school," I explained. "Poor guy, how is he doing?" Sam asked. "We had a long talk last night and he knows that we love him, no matter what." "What are you going to do, Greg?" Sam inquired. "He wants to stay in school and I want to find a way to protect him," I explained. "Kind of like what I used to do for you when we were kids, right?" Sam chuckled. "Or you might say what we did for each other when we were kids," I joked. "I think I see where you are going with this, Greg. You want to find someone to protect Mike from these bullies, and you want me to ask my sister to talk to Mark about it." "Exactly, if the kids get along. I would be willing to pay him $600 a week. I will set up a trust fund for $100,000 for his college education and will give him a new car of his choice should he choose to help Mike. I hope he does not have a problem with the fact that Mike is gay." "Damn, Greg, that is almost as much money as I make! Are you sure that you can afford that? I mean that is almost $200,000 over the next two years! I know you said that you make some good investments but you don't even own a new car. Can you really afford that kind of money? And no, I don't think from what my sister has told me that Mike's being gay will be a problem with Mark. I will not tell Mark that Mike is gay. I will let them work that out themselves," Sam said, laughing. "Sam, I have enough money invested that I could hire every law enforcement office in this state for the next thirty years. Don't let this out but my total net worth begins with a B." "I will call my sister today and see if I can get Mark down here as soon as possible. I would never have guessed you were so well off, Greg." "I want to keep it that way too, Sam. Also, could you set up a meeting with the High School Principal and Superintendent this afternoon so we can set it up?" "No problem. I will set it up and let you know what time to meet me at the school." "Great, that about covers phase one. We also need to talk about phase two or even phase three. I am concerned that this thing might escalate outside of school and I want to make sure that both kids are safe. Let's talk about your Navy Seal days a bit..." The rest of the day I kept busy. I was trying to get everything done so I would have time to go to the High School with Sam. About 3:00 PM the phone rang. "Hello, Stevens grocery. This is Greg, may I help you?" I replied. "Hi, Greg, this is Sam. Can you meet me at the High School at 3:30?" "Sure, see you at 3:30, Sam." "See you there, Greg. Bye." "Bye." "Nick, I am leaving for the day. Will you be Ok working until 10:00 tonight?" "Sure, I'll be fine, Greg." "Have a good two days off and I will see you Monday." "Thanks, Greg, and have a good weekend." I left and went out to my car. I had a good feeling. Sam and I had worked out most of the details between us. I am good friends with both the High School Principal, Roger Smith, and the Superintendent, Paul Douglas. They had already talked to Sam about having an undercover deputy at the school. As I pulled into the High School, I was reminded about all the memories with Sam and me at this High School. I parked next to Sam's patrol car. I walked into the office and the secretary sent me right in. I walked into the office and Roger, Paul, and Sam greeted me. "Have a seat, Greg," Roger instructed. "Your wife picked up your son's lessons and homework earlier today and I did get a chance to speak with her. I am very upset that we can not do a better job protecting our students. Sam has already shared some of your plan for returning your son safely back into school. So why don't you continue, Sam." "As I was saying, Roger, we need to get a handle on who is involved in this gang activity. The only way to do that is to bring Mark into school undercover. This is dangerous! Lots of things can happen and none of them are good. But it is the only way that we can get a handle on who is involved." "What are you suggesting, Sam?" Roger inquired. "First we transfer Mark to this high school. We give him the same schedule as Mike. Mike and Mark are in the same grade so that should not be a problem. Mark starts several days before Mike's return. "You hold an assembly and lay down the Law that any acts of violence, threats, or intimidation will be met with a zero tolerance policy. Any student involved will be expelled permanently from school. "I require that all my deputies carry a gun. I will also put him on a wire and someone will be monitoring him. If someone tries to engage in another act of violence against Mike, Mark will step in. At that time we will have some idea who is involved and Mark will no longer be undercover. From that point on he will come to school in uniform! He will still have two primary objectives, to protect Mike and to go to school. If he observes criminal activities that don't involve Mike, he will call in another deputy to handle it. I am not going to let this gang sidetrack him in order to get to Mike. We will take care of any problems which might happen outside of school. "Any questions?" Sam inquired. "Just one - Sam said that you are footing the bill, Greg," Superintendent Paul Douglas replied. "That is correct. But before we can put things in motion, Sam and I want to let the boys get to know each other. Sam, did you talk to your sister?" "Yes, Mark will be dropped off at my house tonight by his mother," said Sam. "Great. Why don't you bring him by the store tomorrow morning about 6:30 and I will have Mike there. We will let them spend the day bonding and, if they agree, we will bring Mark by on Friday to meet you and get registered into this school" "Sounds like a plan," Paul replied. We exchanged farewells and Sam and I made our way out. I thanked him for his help and we wished each other good-bye. I went home and had a quiet dinner with my family. Mike seemed better. His mother had kept him busy doing schoolwork all day. I told him that I wanted him to get up early and meet me at the store at 6:30 but I did not tell him why. I watched some TV and went to bed, feeling satisfied with the results of my day.