Defend yourself
We’re in high school now – going to Northern High. I haven’t heard from my special friend since that night he told me about the gifts. I kind of expected to hear from him before now, and honestly wondered if the psychologist was right. Maybe I’ve been falling asleep and not realizing I was asleep. That is… until yesterday.
We live on Rosewood Circle, which has always been really quiet. Everybody used to feel safe until one car got broken into. A few weeks later, there was another one. Then someone’s lawn mower went missing. Mrs. Fairly (Kimberly’s mom) started the neighborhood watch, and we put out the lawn signs. Things calmed down after that.
Since Dad is a cop, he took the increase in crime personally, but he was more concerned about mom and my safety. He taught me how to shoot when I was 10 and Mom, since she is ex-army, already knew how. We go to the shooting range every other month. We have a shotgun for the house, and dad has his service weapon. We feel ready to protect our home.
Since I’ve been taking Tae Kwando for years, mom and dad haven’t been concerned about me being able to take care of myself. I had never used it outside of competition and the dojo, until yesterday afternoon when I was walking home from the bus. It drops us all off at Kimberly’s house and we walk to our homes from there.
I was about halfway to my house when I heard a motorcycle coming up behind me. Since nobody that I know of on our street had a motorcycle, I turned around to see who it was. There were two people, and they both had on cool dark red helmets with dark face shields, dark red gloves, and matching jackets and pants. I stopped walking and watched them as they passed very close to me. Once they passed, I continued on walking.
They stopped about halfway between where I was and my house, so I stopped too. They turned around and started coming back toward me slowly – so I took out my cellphone and called 911 just in case; as soon as someone answered, the person on the back of the bike lifted their face shield and yelled, “Hang up that phone!” They had their mouth covered by a bandana, but I could hear them clearly.
I was initially scared, but then I felt that sensation sweep over me and I heard my friend say, “I’m with you, Josiah. Hang up the phone and keep walking.”
So, I hung up and started walking again. The motorcycle went by me, and then slowly turned around to come up behind me again, but I kept walking as my friend had said. My friend said, “Brace yourself,” so I took a firm stance sideways. Just as I did I saw the person on the back of the bike stick out their foot to kick me as they drove by. When their foot struck me, the bike kept going but they fell off.
My friend said, “Defend yourself, Josiah.”
I took a few steps back so that I could see the person who had fallen off the bike and the one on the bike. That person slid sideways to a stop, laying the bike down, and started running in our direction, throwing off his helmet and pulling a knife from his back. Then the person on the ground began to sit up.
I yelled, “Leave me alone!”
The guy reached the person who had fallen off, and she took off her helmet and bandana. There was blood coming from her mouth. The guy asked, “Are you alright?”
She said, “Yeah… get him,” and threw rocks toward me.
I yelled again, “What do you want? Why don’t you leave me alone?”
Then he ran towards me again and lunged at me with the knife. I caught his hand, twisted it away from me, stepped into him and struck him with the palm of my hand under his chin, grabbing his face and driving him backward until he fell. As he fell, I wrenched the knife from his hand and threw it backwards into the woods. I then kicked him in the chest sharply, and he let out a horrible scream!
By then she had gotten up and ran to us with her helmet raised. She swung it at my head. I blocked it with the side of my bicep and forearm and side kicked her. She screamed and stumbled back to the ground.
My friend said, “Run, Josiah.” So, I took off running home. It seemed like only seconds when I got home and I looked back to see if they were chasing me, but I didn’t see anything except a misty fog of purple and green, like the puddle that night.
I unlocked and opened the back door, closed it behind me, locked it, then called 911. My friend said, “Well done, Josiah.”
“911. What is your emergency?” a lady on the phone asked.
I said, “I’ve been attacked by two people on a motorcycle. I’m at home — 3011 Rosewood Circle – Durham.”
The person said, “Are they still there?”
I said, “No. It happened up the street. I ran home.”
“Are you indoors?” she asked.
I said, “Yes. I’m in the house with the door locked.”
She said, “Good. We have someone en route to your location. Stay inside and on the line with me. Can you describe the people who attacked you?”
I gave her a full description and, minutes later, I could hear the police sirens approaching. One car stopped at our house and another continued in the direction of the attack.
I told the lady on the phone, “The police are here.”
She said, “Okay, I’m going to hang up now, but stay in the house with the door locked until they come to you.”
They what?!
By the time Dad got home, two ambulances had gone by and two police officers were sitting with me as I stared out the door at all the commotion. A detective arrived just before dad and they talked outside for a few minutes before coming in.
Dad hugged me. “Are you okay, son?”
“I’m fine, dad. Mom just called and said she’ll be here in 15 minutes.”
“This is Detective Holden. She’s going to take your statement and then we can talk. Okay?”
“Sure. Hi, Detective Holden.”
“Hey Josiah. I’m going to record this.” She put a camcorder on the table a few feet away, adjusted the viewfinder, then came back over. “Can you start from the time you got off the bus and tell me everything that happened until the police first arrived at your door? Don’t leave out any details.”
So, I told her the whole story.
When I was done, Detective Holden and dad looked at each other oddly, then dad asked, “Are you sure you didn’t leave anything out, son?”
They both looked at me as if they knew something more. First I thought they were talking about my friend, but they couldn’t have known and I couldn’t tell them.
“No, dad, that’s the whole story.”
“Did you hit either of the two suspects *with* anything?” asked Detective Holden.
“No ma’am. I shoved the guy and kicked him in the chest, and I only side kicked the lady.”
They looked at each other again and one of the uniformed police officers chuckled, which got a leer from Detective Holden. They went outside.
Detective Holden asked, “Do you take martial arts or something?”
“Yeah, he’s been in Taekwondo since he was a little one,” Dad said.
I said, “Yes. I’m a third degree black belt.”
She said, “Okay Josiah. I may have some more questions for you, but I’ll let your dad know and we’ll talk together.”
I said, “Thank you, Detective Holden.”
“Thank *you* Josiah. You’re a brave young man,” she said, before she and dad went outside to talk again. That’s when Mom arrived and they all stood outside talking for a long time.
Mom yelled, “WHAT!?” and looked through the door at me before covering her mouth and looking away. Dad hugged her and shook Detective Holden’s hand. Mom hugged Detective Holden, then shook her hand before coming inside.
“Are you sure you’re okay ‘Ziah?” Mom asked, wiping tears from her cheeks.
I smiled and said, “I’m really fine, mom.” She sat down with me, hugged me, and held me tight for a few minutes. She started to cry.
“Mom, don’t cry. I’m fine. I didn’t get hurt at all,” I said.
A few minutes passed while mom told me what she was doing when she got the call and why she couldn’t come right away. Then how a police officer escorted her home with his lights flashing.
Then dad came back in. He looked at mom and shook his head “no” slowly. Mom covered her mouth and started to cry again.
I asked, “What’s the matter, mom? What’s going on, dad?”
Dad said, “I have some bad news, son, and we’d rather you hear it from us than hear it on the news. The lady you kicked has been taken to the hospital and has a broken coccyx and shoulder.”
Mom said, “A coccyx is a tail bone, son.” She turned to show the area on herself.
Dad said, “Sorry — yeah… And the guy… Well… Son, he didn’t make it.”
I asked, “What do you mean, he didn’t make it?” I asked, “He’s dead? What happened to him?”
Dad said, “That’s the thing. He had a broken neck and a crushed sternum — uhhh, that’s the chest bone that your ribs are attached to. They think his fractured ribs may have punctured his heart and lungs and… he didn’t survive his injuries.”
“Do they think *I* did all that?” I asked.
“That’s what detectives are trying to find out. They think someone may have hit them with their car after you left. They’re still investigating. Even if it was from what you did, it was self defense. You didn’t mean to do all that.”
“David…” Mom interjected.
Dad said, “We’ll know more after the autopsy, but we see no reason to tell you any more about it. You were protecting yourself — it’s not your fault, and that’s all that matters.”
“Are you hungry?” Mom asked.
I said, “Wow… It didn’t seem like I hit or kicked either of them *that* hard, but they both screamed really loud when I did.”
Mom and dad looked at each other, then back to me. Then Mom said, “Son.” She looked around to see if anyone was listening, then leaned toward me. Dad leaned in too. “You know you’ve had extraordinary strength that seems to have only gotten stronger over the years.”
“I know, but it just didn’t seem like it was *that* much. I only did what my friend said to do,” I explained.
“Your friend?” dad asked. “You didn’t say someone else was with you.”
“Remember the voice that I heard that Shabbat? I talked to him back when I was in middle school, and he helped me today,” I explained.
“Ziah!” mom said, somewhat subdued, and looked around. “Middle school? We thought it was that *one* time while you were in elementary school.”
“Why didn’t you tell us about it? You know we don’t keep secrets in this house,” Dad said.
So I told them both the whole story…
“Rita”
[At Duke Regional Hospital – Two uniformed police officers stand guard outside a hospital room. Inside, Carritta (Rita) Douglas wears a shoulder harness and a splint on one finger. She is shackled to the bed by one ankle.]
“But I don’t remember what happened.” Rita’s shoulder was hurting and she had dull pain in her rear, even though she was heavily medicated. “You’re saying some kid kicked my butt — literally — and killed my brother? I don’t believe it. Lotto wasn’t taken out by some 15-year-old. Something else happened, and while I’m laid up in here y’all better find out what… I know that.”
“According to the boy, it was in self-defense and they’re inclined to believe him since there are no witnesses, you don’t remember anything, and he is just 15. They just won’t believe that a 15-year-old straight-A student would attack two adults on a motorcycle on his way home from school,” said a man in a wrinkled suit sitting by her bed.
“You’re *my* lawyer, right? You’re supposed to be on my side.”
“I’m just explaining where we are with your case. Without a credible story from you about what happened, you’re looking at assault with a deadly weapon.”
“Deadly weapon? I shot him? Good. Is he dead?”
“The boy accused you of hitting him with your helmet. He’s perfectly fine.”
“My helmet? He’s FINE? I always have my Glock on me, why would I hit him with my helmet if he’s killing my brother? That makes no sense. Something just ain’t right about that boy’s story.”
“We don’t know what happened, but don’t you want to know about your brother?”
“You said he’s dead! What more is there to know? I know y’all better take care of his body.”
“Cremation… His ashes should be at the crib by the end of the week.”
“And this kid is just walking around, free as a bird after killing my brother… with what, his bare hands?”
“My advice, as your lawyer, is to just let it go. You’ll get probation and probably won’t serve any real time.”
“I don’t care about time. I’ve done time. I’ll do time. But when I get out, if y’all haven’t done something to avenge my brother, I will. Then I’m going to find out why y’all didn’t do something…
“And what do you mean ‘let it go?’ I’m not letting a #$&^&*&^ thing go. I don’t care how old he is or how straight A he is — he’s going to $#&@ tell us what really happened.”
“With Lotto gone and you locked up, Cut took over of our North Durham expansion. Handling this can be part of that.”
“So you know who this boy is?”
“It wasn’t hard to find a straight-A 15-year-old who’s a third degree black-belt living on that street. But we can’t just roll up on him. His dad’s a cop.”
“I’m sure we can get somebody at his school to find out the real deal. And, why hasn’t Cut been here to see me?”
“He was here when they first wheeled you in here on a gurney. You were pretty out of it with the drugs, and the cops weren’t letting anybody get near you.”
“OW! &$^#” Rita yelled when she tried to shift in bed. “I need some REAL pain killers!” She pushed the Nurse’s call button repeatedly.
One of the cops came in and said, “Rita, you’re going to have to be quiet. There are other sick people in here that need their rest.”
“Well get the &%$% nurse in here to give me some pain medicine then,” she said, wincing.
Just then a rather large male nurse came in the door behind the cop. “Ma’am, you’ve had all the pain medicine you can have for now. I’ll bring your next dose in 45 minutes. It will help if you lie still and not get agitated. Where does it hurt most?”
“It’s my butt! My butt is killin’ me!”
The lawyer said, “Let me go so I can check with your associates. I’ll be back tomorrow around the same time.”
The nurse helped Rita turn over on her side, opposite the injured shoulder and broken finger.
“Does that feel better?” asked the nurse.
“It still hurts, dumb *&&!,” she said, still wincing.
“Rita…” the cop cautioned.
“Well it does, but it’s a little better. Why don’t you rub it for me, big boy?” she flirted.
The cop chuckled as the nurse walked out. “Try to relax, Ma’am. I’ll see you in about 30 minutes.”
“Can’t wait,” she flirted — winking and waving goodbye playfully.
ND-X
[A man sits behind a long dark red conference table typing on a laptop, flanked by TV screens. Three large screens show CNN, FOX, and MSNBC on one side; on the other side are The Bloomberg Terminal, WRAL’s Local Crimes web page, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, along with a bank of CC TV screens.]
“Information is power, people. Being ignorant and acting ignorant won’t propel our movement forward. ‘Cause you see, the *man* has the system rigged, but if you become educated about *their* system, and learn to use their system, it is to your advantage.
“Ever notice that most of the people who pimp the stock market are white? Yeah… *They* gamble, and it’s all legal. Look how much they gamble — all day long, nobody goes to jail for that &#!+, but let us play spades for money and they want to throw our ^$$@$$ in jail.
“They sell drugs and it’s legal. All day long selling drugs in a — get this — ‘drug store’; advertising on TV and everything — legal! We can’t sell a blunt without us being slammed against the ground and having our lives taken if we protest too much.
“So guess what? We will use their system AND our system; our system to get the investment capitol so we can use THEIR system. That’s what our senior counsel has been planning, and that’s what we will do. That’s where you come in. Welcome to the inner circle.
“Rita wants you to take over where we left off. We are what you call Senior Management, and you are middle management. We’ve trained you and watched you take over what we started in the projects. Now that you’re educated and have your business degrees, we expect our investments in your education to pay off so we can stop getting our hands dirty.
“North Durham is our next expansion area. Rita and Lotto were looking at a house for sale in that neighborhood when they got jumped. A nice quiet neighborhood that we can use as a base of operations for that expansion. You see, the nice middle class families in that area deserve our services too.” He grinned.
“You know those family men’s wives don’t treat them right, so we’ll give them a little something they can pay for to make up for their deficits. Karen?”
A beautiful woman in a dark red business suit pulled her tinted glasses to the tip of her nose.”Cut?”
“Organize your girls to provide those services.”
“Of course,” she said, pushing her glasses back up her nose, uncrossing, then crossing her legs in the opposite direction.
“Thank you, ma’am.” Cut smiled.
“Curtis. The ladies would like to make their high-end purchases at a discount, so we’ll provide a suitable retail establishment to make house-calls and home-deliveries.”
A man with a bald head and white beard rubbed his beard. “Yes sir. Consider it done.”
“Thank you, sir.” Cut said with a smirk.
He looked at a monitor on the seat next to him. “That leaves you, Nomad. The teens… they want to get high and party like everybody else. We can provide them with quality products on the down-low so nobody gets sick, and nobody gets caught.”
A computerized voice responded. “We already have assets in place at Carrington High School. We’ll build a reputation with discounted sales and infrastructure there and expand.”
“Excellent,” said Cut, as he rubbed his hands together. “Rita gets out tomorrow. She’ll be pleased to hear of the plans and progress.”
“What about the boy who claims to have taken out Lotto. Do you want us to get rid of him?” asked Nomad.
“I’m going to handle that item personally,” he said as he looked at a CCTV screen showing JET’s front yard. “If we take him out, it will bring too much attention to our operations. We don’t need that kind of heat right now. We must be about the business of the business. We’ll call this business expansion code name “ND-X” short for North Durham Expansion. Nobody is to know about this level of our operation but the people in this room, Nomad, and Rita. Now, lets get busy…”
Solace
[Rita sits behind her long dark red conference table typing on a laptop, flanked by TV screens. Three large screens show CNN, FOX, and MSNBC on one side; on the other side are The Bloomberg Terminal, WRAL’s Local Crimes web page, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, along with a bank of CC TV screens.]
“So let me get this straight. Tony has a crushed wrist and broken jaw. Big Pip has a broken jaw and arm, and all three of them have been arrested. What the hell is going on with NDX?” Rita was perplexed.
“Tony and Pip got simple possession charges and carrying without a license. The Grip only got discharging a firearm within city limits,” Cut explained. “The Lawyer said it was JET and two others involved, but they were nowhere to be found while the police arrived and made arrests. The cops found Tony and Pip laid out behind the store and called ambulances for them.”
“This JET boy is workin’ my last nerve!” Rita said.
“Say the word…” leered Cut.
“We agreed — that wouldn’t be smart… and we have to be smart. I want to avenge my brother too, but Lotto wouldn’t want us to risk messing up the operation just for that satisfaction.
“You said there are three of them now? Are they Karate-kids too?”
“We don’t know that yet, but Big Pip said the girl ran halfway up a wall, and The Grip swore he shot both of the guys point blank. You know he doesn’t miss. He said the bullet just bounced off one guy and the other guy dodged a bullet — literally — before they both jumped on top of the roof.
“The bullet bounced off…?” Rita asked.
“Bounced off,” Cut replied.
“Dude dodged…” Rita demonstrated “…a bullet?”
“Dodged it,” Cut replied with a grin.
“Jumped from the ground… to the roof of a building?” Rita asked.
“From the ground to the roof of a building,” Cut replied.
“What the #$$*(! is that?” Rita yelled, and pushed back from the table.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think The Grip was smokin’ some serious *product*,” Cut said.
“Right?!” Rita replied. “What is going on! Every time I hear about this boy ‘JET’, something CRAZY is going on.
“Talkin’ ’bout ‘serious product’, what’s the Chemist say about our *new* product?”
Cut explained, “Animal trials are underway with promising effects. Mice on the product experience complete relaxation while remaining conscious. When I say complete relaxation, I mean they sit down, then lay down on their side and their breathing is slow and steady. The problem is it only lasts about five minutes, after which they run around the cage like they’ve lost their minds before falling asleep for three hours.”
“Is that what he was going for?!” asked Rita.
Cut said, “He calls it ‘Solace’ because it produces a sense of soothing calm.”
“Until they go bat-$^*# crazy,” Rita quipped.
“So far — pretty much. He thinks its a matter of balance, tweaking the dosage, delivery, and a combination drug — said we could try adding it to pot to be smoked. He plans to try that with rats today.”
“Alright, what about the NDX operations. All three sectors doing well?” Rita asked.
Cut answered, “They were gearing up well until The Grip got arrested. He’ll probably get off with a slap on the wrist then get back in there.”
“Let’s make sure that he does. I’m going to have a talk with this JET boy,” mused Rita.
“Didn’t you just say…” began Cut.
“Just a talk… I doubt he’ll recognize me without my riding suit. I’ll be cool,” Rita said as she looked at the CCTV footage of JET’s front yard.
Have a little talk
I couldn’t help but wonder what people would think to know the things we know now. If someone had told me these things, I’d think they’d lost their minds and were stuck in some fantasy world. Only it was really happening. The seemingly impossible was not only possible, but undeniably so for me and those around me. Now there were so many others involved.
I now held in my hands two extraordinary spheres. One that came from someone in the skies and one that came from someone on earth, connected with someone in the skies. I looked forward to showing Arya the sphere and seeing how it affected her. It had affected Kimberly, Mo and me so differently, but gave us the same gifts; or so it seems. Yet, each of us manifested the gift differently than the others. It seemed to enhance what we already had within us — our human abilities that we nurtured before were now superior.
“Are you a juggler, young man?” A tall, beautiful woman was standing by our table at Pizza Hut.
“Ma’am?”
“Usually jugglers have at least three of those, don’t they?” she said, pointing at the spheres I had been staring at while thinking and waiting for Kimberly and Mo. I had arrived early, as usual, but this time I was even more excited to connect Arya to the Sphere.
“Ah. Only have two so far.” I smiled at the lady.
“You look familiar,” she said as she leaned back to get a better look. “Do people call you Jet?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m Josiah, but most of my friends call me Jet,” I explained.
“Oh, I heard you got into a tussle with some pretty serious characters a few years ago,” she said with a smile. She was so beautiful she made me a bit nervous.
“You look familiar too, ma’am, though I can’t quite remember how. Someone as pretty as you are, I can’t imagine forgetting,” I said without thinking.
“Ohhhh, you’re a smooth talker Mr. Jet,” she winked.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean…” I started.
When she stepped closer I got chills, and she smelled so good — I was instantly in awe. “I’m flattered, young man. Never be ashamed to pay a lady a compliment. If I were younger I’d be inclined to see where you’d take things. But since you’re so young…” She stood back up straight, her smile went away, and she leaned back again and asked, “Aren’t you some kind of karate-kid, hands like lethal weapon? –killed some gangster or something, right?”
It had been a long time since I even thought about that incident. It was almost like I had forgotten it. “The most horrible day of my life, ma’am. I was just defending myself and had no idea anything like that would happen. If I could do it all over, I sure wouldn’t want anybody to die.” I told her as sincerely as I could, but also as a matter of fact. Then I remembered her.
Rita could sense the sincerity in Jet’s response, but saw in his face that he had remembered. “You remember me now?”
“Yes. I remember you. Why did you attack me — grown people against a middle school kid?” I asked.
“We were just messin’ with you. But when you knocked me off the bike, I got mad,” she replied.
I replied, “I didn’t knock you off the bike…”
“I guess you didn’t kill my brother either, huh?” she said, folding her arms.
“I told you I didn’t mean…” I started.
“Yeah, yeah, you didn’t mean to, but he’s dead by your hands and that’s a debt that can’t go unpaid,” she interrupted.
“I’m not that little middle school kid anymore, Rita. I wasn’t afraid of you then, and I’m not afraid of you now. I suggest you let the past stay in the past.”
“Oh you suggest, do you? Do you know who I am? Do you know what I could do to you?” She twisted her neck and pointed her finger at me.
“I know what you THINK you can do to me. You were wrong before, and look where that got you.”
“Oh, you gon’ lip off at me huh?” she said.
“You started it, you get it,” I said.
She stood staring at me for a few minutes as I took a sip of water, staring at her.
“HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA,” she laughed; she stomped her foot and clapped her hands three times. “Wooooooo! Boyyyyyyy!”
I slid out of the booth and stood in front of her.
As I did, two teenage girls and a guy who were sitting nearby stood up. We all heard the bell on the door jingle and turned to look at who was coming in the door.
It was Mo and Kimberly. Mr Lee came out of the kitchen at the same time, so it was the three with her eyeing the three with me.
Rita looked back to me. She smiled while nodding her head, then leaned toward me (no less beautiful and smelling better than before) and whispered, “Another time, young man.”
“Pencil me in,” I whispered back with a wink.
She giggled. “Good one… ‘pencil me in’… I like that.” Then she turned and walked out — her three companions walking backward to the door before turning to go out behind her. Rita moved with such grace, and her figure was flawless as she walked away.
Thorny Roses Forever
“Long time, officer,” Rita said as she slid her glasses down to the tip of her nose to get a better look.
“Oh, it’s gon’ be like that, Rita?” Sarah smiled as she settled into the booth with Rita.
“I don’t know, officer. Is this an official visit or a class reunion?” Rita asked as she pushed her glasses back up and resumed reading the menu.
“I didn’t come here to arrest you or any of your crew, if that’s what you’re asking. I just wanted to have a little talk,” Sarah explained with a slight smile.
Rita thought about the ‘little talk’ she’d had with Jet earlier that afternoon.
“Can I buy you a drink?” Rita asked as the waiter came to their table.
“I’ll have a double bourbon — straight with a water back,”sShe told the waiter. “Separate checks please.”
“Ohhh ho hoooo, okay. I guess you’re off duty, huh?” laughed Rita.
“Can’t a girl just catch up with an ole friend? See what’s happenin’? Might have a favor to ask — never know,” Sara said as she looked over the menu.
“Favor? Sarah ‘Goldilocks’ Dean wants to ask her old criminal of a friend for a favor?” She pushed her glasses down again and laid the menu on the table with a grin. “This I have to hear.”
“What are you having?” Sarah asked as she downed her bourbon.
“Oh, I always get the same thing. I don’t know why I look at the menu. It hasn’t changed in years. I thought about buying the place — add some soul food dishes to the menu along with this Americana stuff.” Rita smiled.
“So what do you always get?” Sarah pressed.
“The glazed fried chicken and steamed vegetables,” Rita replied. “It’s hot and spicy like I like it.”
“I’ll have that too, but can you bring me an order of cheese fries with the cheese on the side?” Sarah asked the waiter.
“Sure, Sarah. And the usual for you, Ms. Douglas,” nodded the waiter. “Another bottle of champagne, ma’am?”
“No, just water with my dinner, my good man,” Rita replied, and shooed him with her hand.
“Now… before we reminisce, tell me about the handsome fella that came in ahead of you — sitting at the bar.”
“David Thompson — he’s with my unit,” Sarah said without looking.
“Oh, is he your body guard — in case something shady goes down?” she whispered as she leaned toward Sarah.
“Oh, don’t you mind him. Hey — remember that time we were cheering at our last Northern/Riverside game? That boy that kept staring at you in the end zone?” Sarah said, grinning.
“Noooo! That’s him?” Rita giggled, pointing at David. “Mm! He turned out to be quite handsome with that beard,” Rita mused, waving at David and laughing.
David waved back slightly with his wrist still on the bar.
“Still shy, I see,” Rita said.
“Married with a son,” explained Sarah, giggling along with Rita.
Rita said, “Ohhhhhhhh…”
Sarah continued, “… matter of fact, it was his son who put you in the hospital.”
“Get outta here!” Rita said loudly. It completely surprised her. “His son is Jet the karate-kid? Well, small world… killed my brother, too,” she said with a scowl, pointing her finger at Sarah.
“Self defense and you know it. He was just a kid against two seasoned adults,” Sarah said, pointing her finger back at Rita with a scowl.
“Wooo hoo ooooo, still have that fire in you I see. I remember you would take on 10 kids by yourself back in the day. Kicked most of them’s @*& before I stepped in too. The boys couldn’t understand how the pretty girls could fight too.”
“Thorny Roses Forever,” Sarah said, raising her hand for a high five.
Rita slapped it hard. “‘Thorny Roses Forever…’ You know I never had a better friend than you — even ’til now.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Rita…” Sarah said will sincerity. “We’re not still friends?”
JET (The Hero) 