Educational Experience

Chapter Ten

10.

Big Man met me outside the arcade on the nursery floor—yes, it’s a real arcade. We’ve got a movie theater, a bowling alley and a skate “park” on one floor in the other building, too, among other things. Work hard, play harder, right? Said the man who has almost no play time anymore…

Anyway, he’d changed into some of his $500 jeans for the carnival and a black t-shirt that was probably just as expensive, even though it was just a plain black t-shirt that I would’ve bought at Old Navy or something. All about the labels, that man.

“Don’t be lookin’ all mad at me!” he said. “I’m just the messenger.”

“So run it by me again?”

“LeeAnn heard over the radio that there was some kinda—“

“Fire, yeah. And it was Taylor’s place?”

“We’re not totally sure yet, but it sounds like. Cops wanted you to know that crazy ass kid might be headed over here.”

“Oh, he’s not that big a fool.”

“You sure?

“If he doesn’t know better now, he will if  ‘e comes over here.”

“Word,” Big Man said, all proud. He’s the man when it comes to security. And he loves the reputation it’s earned him.

But I had something else on my mind. Some-one else.

“She okay? Taylor?”

“I didn’t get all that yet. It doesn’t sound like anyone was injured, though.”

“I wanna go over to her place. Just…to check, you know?”

“Lil Daddy, you got to quit—“

“It’s with you or without you. What’ll it be?”

He heaved a big sigh and said, “C’mon, Trouble. Let’s go.”

And then he called for backup—I love it when we take our little army with us. It’s just four big guys who ride in two armor reinforced Jeeps, one in front of us, one in back. My favorite is Bubba. He’s this big, bald Aryan Nation looking monster about as wide as he is tall, and he is hella tall. And he’s got these angry eagle eyes—you know, the straight, stern bird of prey brow that looks so fierce, right?  Plus, all kinds of sick tats, too--all over his body including his face. He doesn’t do piercings because he says people grab hold of that kind of stuff in “battle.” But if I saw that sucker comin’ at me, there wouldn’t be any battle. Imagine looking up and seeing all that running your way—you’d get gone fast, right? Yeah. That’s exactly why we hired him.

While Big Man was calling the cavalry, I called the girls, too, of course. Aisha showed up first, on the run, looking all scared.

“Daddy, what’s wrong?” she asked me.

“I need you to sit with Maddie and the kids. We’ll be back in a bit, but—“

“What the hell’s goin’ on now?” Mike interrupted, also on the run. Cat wasn’t far behind, but she’s got a little more body to haul, so she usually lags a little bit. Boy, it’s fun to watch, though—I’ve described her. Imagine all that bouncing around. There you go…

I said, “It sounds like the kid that tore up the classroom got after my teacher at home or something.”

All three women got very still. I knew what they were thinking and what Cat would say. Of all of them, she’s the one who acts the most like a mother, still. She’s the oldest, and has the best chance of getting me to respect her opinions as an “elder.” I’m pretty old fashioned in that respect. She takes advantage of it every chance she gets, of course.