During the weekend, Gabe somehow mao discover that the feared bully of Sheldon was Bobbie Sparks, the six-year-old girl who lived door to the Coopers.
"Bobbie Sparks? You mean Billy?" When I got the information, I spoke with Mr. Cooper, who asked me incredulously.
"No, Bobbie Sparks," I repeated. It was definitely strahat a ten-year-old boy was being bullied by a six-year-old girl.
"Okay..." Mr. Cooper slowly said, nodding as he seemingly stared into nothingness, "thanks." ing back to the present, Mr. Cooper added as he entered his house, closing the door behind him.
"You're wele," I replied, once again speaking to a closed door in front of my face.
"e on, Gabe, let's go get your things," I said to Gabe, aiting on the sidewalk as I walked away from the Coopers' door.
"Finally," my brother excimed excitedly, practically running to 'Debbie.'
The days passed, and the Coopers and the Sparks had some issues. Acc to Mom, who spoke with both women, it all stemmed from the 'absurd' idea that a six-year-old girl would bully a boy Sheldon's age.
Since I had taken care of the Sparks' children a few times in the past, I khe girl, who was usually extremely sweet when dealing with me, so I pletely uood the absurdity of the situation. But Gabe was very sure of his information.
At school, the iions among my friends had ged almost imperceptibly. An was still the same, always calm and quiet, but from what I could see, he was being more and more exhausted each day. David and Geie hadn't ged much, still arguing with each other, eained by whatever the topic of the moment was.
Brock was the one who worried me. As the days went by, his usually cheerful demeanor slowly turned more mencholic. Suddenly, he started leaving his lunfinished and became less ied in versations. In css, he pletely stopped turning in homework, and during practice, he always seemed distracted, earnied reprimands from the coaches. Something was definitely wrong.
"Brock, what are you waiting for? Let's hit the showers," I said at the end of the st practice of the week. Everyone had left under Coach Cooper's orders to the showers, leaving Brod me behind.
"I'll up when I get home," my friend said, f a smile as he put his things in his locker.
"What? Why?" I asked, intrigued.
"No reason, I just want to," Brock replied evasively, obviously lying.
"Is something wrong?" I asked seriously, uo hold bay longer.
"What? No, why would something be wrong?" Brock asked sarcastically, sn as if the idea was ridiculous. "Everything's fine, not as fine as you, obviously, but it's fine, okay?" he added defensively.
"Okay," I quickly said, regretting trying to push him. "You just o know that I'm here, we're all here if you need anything," I added, watg my friend stand up.
"Yeah, sure," Brock said ironically, sn as he quickly walked out of the locker room with his backpack.
"Something is definitely wrong," An suddenly said behind me.
"Yeah," I responded seriously, pretending that his sudden appearance hadn't scared me to death.
"Do you wao find out what's going on?" An asked me slowly.
"No, I still want to give him time to e and talk about it," I replied. "At least a few more days. After that, I'll make sure to force him to talk," I added, annoyed.
Whatever problems my friends have, I would like them to feel fident that they could talk to me about them, at least until I'm forced to intervene.
"Suit yourself," An said.
"How have you been?" I asked, ging the subjed raising one of my eyebrows. He also had some problem he wasn't talking to anyone about.
"Fine," my friend replied curtly as we walked to the showers.
"Sure," I murmured, slightly frustrated.
On Sunday, while Gabe and I were watg cartoons in the living room, there was a sudden and anxious kno the front door. Nudging my brother with my elbow, I silently ordered him to go ahe door.
Obviously a being interrupted during his TV time, Gabe stood up and, keeping his attention on the cartoons, walked slowly to the door. "Who- ah, Mrs. Cooper," my brother said.
"Good m, Gabe. Is your mom home?" Mrs. Cooper asked kindly, standing uhe doorway and holding a box.
"I don't know," Gabe replied. "MOM, MRS. COOPER!" he yelled a moment ter into the house, and as if his job was done, he ran back to the couch.
I smacked Gabe on the back of the head for his anners. "Please e in, Mrs. Cood m," I said as I stood up and walked towards the woman.
"Thank you very much, PJ," the woman said, smiling.
"Ah, Mary," at that moment, my mom said cheerfully as she walked from the hallway to her room.
"Amy," Mrs. Creeted her with a smile and her usual slightly desding tone. "I'm a bit worried," she added, pg her box on our table.
I know Mrs. Cooper well enough to know that when she wasn't worried, it ecial occasion.
When she opehe box she had brought with her, I saw that it was filled with id magazines. I sighed, looking at my brother, who was still watg TV, thinking about what was ing for him.
"Sheldon was reading this," Mrs. Cooper said, handing one of the ics from her box to my mom, clearly worried. "I know you're not very devout, and that's fine," she tinued, pg one of her hands on my mom's shoulder, obviously not thinking the same thing she had just said, "but I think there are things that children shouldn't see, regardless of their religion."
"Oh..." Mom said slowly, nodding as she flipped through the ic's pages, obviously not buying into Mrs. Cooper's alresent religious/moralistic speech.
"I think you see what I mean—guns, people dying, and the backside of a blue man," Mrs. Cooper whispered, given that Gabe was nearby, although I was sure the boy wasn't paying attention. "I went to that irresponsible shopkeeper, and he didn't care about selling that kind of thing to kids."
Taking the iom's hands, I flipped through the pages of the ic I didn't reize. I could see what Mrs. Cooper was referring to; this ic was a bit too adult for a ten-year-old.
"I don't know if Gabe reads this kind of stuff too, but I felt it was my duty as a good Christian to let you know," Mrs. Cooper said kindly, pg her hand on her chest.
"I'll look into it," Mom said seriously, nodding as she g Gabe, who was still engrossed iV.
"I just hope he takes it better than Sheldon. Now he wants us to treat him like an adult," Mrs. Cooper said sarcastically, thus beginning a versation with Mom.
Mom and Mrs. Cooper walked to the kit, maintaining a calm versation about some gossip from another family oreet. Yeah, very Christian.
I sat dowo Gabe, amused by my brother's ignorance of what had just happened, and forced him into a hug.
I had read a rge number of the ics Gabe owhere were some mildly intense moments, like the death of a character or implications of sexual ses, but other than that, all the ics my brother had, and the ones I made sure he bought, were mainly about superheroes fighting vilins.
When Mrs. Cooper left that day, dragging Gabe along, who didn't uand what was happening, she began a hunt for inappropriate tent. Surprisingly, she didn't find anything out of pce.
"Fortunately, I thought something like this might happen. I hid all the good stuff a while ago," Gabe whispered to me, proud of himself.
Surprised by my brother's preventative skills, I decided to ihose ics myself when I mao find out where they were hidden.
The day, for the first time since we arrived in Texas, the city's tornado sirens sounded loudly at the hospital.
"We have to take cover, kid," House said worriedly as he looked out the window in his ic office at the hospital.
Surprised by the real emotion in House's words, I nodded. "Stay away from the window; we o go to the hospital shelter," I said.
"What?" House excimed incredulously. "No, that's the first pce they'll look," he tinued.
"I don't uand," I said, fused.
"It's an emergency," he said, pointing to the window. "It's all hands on deck," he said with disgust, "we o hide before they send us to the emergen to work," he finally expined, moving as if the idea gave him chills.
That was my bad. I was thinking House had normal emotions. It was obvious he didn't.
House and I 'took shelter' from the tornado winds in the mue, the lowest floor of the hospital. "Everyone here is already dead; no one will e looking for us here," House said as he y on one of the autopsy tables, reading a magazih a small medical fshlight sihe hospital was running on emergency lights.
"Why don't you want to help?" I asked, ied, even though it would be irresponsible for me to assist in the emergen—I had no privileges of any kind.
"Because it's b," House immediately replied, making me regret even asking. "There's nothing iing,
people bleeding with broken limbs, maybe a lucky impalement—that could be diagnosed and possibly treated by a veterinarian," he tinued.
Wheornado arms fell silent, I ignored House, who was now fortably asleep on the special tables for draining bodies, and climbed to the hospital's main floor via the stairs.
Fortunately, aside from dozens of people flooding the hospital hallways, as they seemed to be using the building as a shelter, nothing more serious was happening. I didn't see any broken gss or anyone in need of help.
"PJ," in one of the hospital's hallways, my mom called out worriedly, carrying her purse. "Where were you? Why didn't you go to the shelter?" she asked as she quickly checked my fad arms.
"I'm fine. I was in a safe pce," I quickly replied, avoiding telling her about my stay in the mue.
"Good, we o go home, the lines are down," adjusting her purse on her shoulder, Mom said, incredibly worried as she dragged me through the hospital.
Seeing how worried she was, I quickly followed her without b to stop for my things.
"We're going in my car," Mom ordered without any iion uing as she dragged me to her car. At least 'Debbie' was intact from what I could see—amazingly dirty with trash stuck to it by the water, but intact.
The road home was pletely dirty, full of mud, branches, and the occasional fallen tree in the middle. Si was the only road to the hospital, the fire department was w to remove the obstacles so that ambunces could pass.
"Everything is going to be fine," I said calmly, wanting not to worry my pregnant mother, hiding my own s as we saw more ambunces pass by.
"Yes, Teddy and Gabe were at home; your dad should have beeoo," Mom said, breathing anxiously as she repeated herself several times while driving.
During the drive home, the only sound in the car was the radio with the report of what had happehe tornado hadn't passed near our neighborhood, which at least calmed Mom down a bit. School had been celed for the few days until further notice, and all the churches had set up shelters in case you o spend the night there.
From a distance, our house, like the rest of the neighborhood, seemed intact; a couple of broken windows and some mess in the gardens were all that could be seen.
"Oh, your dad's truck," Mom said sadly, pointing to Bob's awful truck, whiow had a branch stig out of the windshield.
"At least he was home," I said, making Mom ugh despite the tears in her eyes, obviously from relief.
Everyone was fine; my siblings were ihe house, sitting on the couch doing nothing sihe electricity still hadn't retur might not e back that day—and Bob was outside, looking to see if anyone needed help.
"It was awesome! I was watg TV when a message appeared, then the arms went off, and Teddy was super scared," Gabe eically expio me.
"You were scared too," Teddy, who was in a hug with Mom, said angrily. "Dad had to pull you out from uhe bed."
"That's not true," Gabe quickly told me, nervously.
"It's okay, buddy, I was scared too," I said calmly, hugging my brother's head.
"Really?" Gabe asked, incredulous.
"Yes, being scared is normal," I said, gently pushing the boy's head. "Mom, I'm going to see if Dad needs help," I added, hugging Teddy's head as she separated from Mom.
"Yes, I o prepare the fshlights and dles before it gets dark," now much calmer, Mom quickly said as she stood up.
" I go too?" Gabe asked, running to my side.
"No," Mom immediately responded without even looking at Gabe.
"What? Why?" my brother asked, disappointed.
"It's dangerous out there; you could get hurt. Besides, because I said so," Mom responded seriously, with no iion of ging her mind.
"You heard her," I said, shaking Gabe's head, making the boy, still disappointed, lower his head. "Help Mom," I ordered my siblings before heading out.
Along with Mr. Cooper, Bob, and Geie, we walked around the neighborhood looking to see if anyone needed help. Aside from a few cuts and bruises, fortunately, no one had suffered anything serious.
" I go check if Case is okay? He lives in his trailer," I asked Bob as we walked bae.
"That's right," Bob said, suddenly remembering about my martial arts teacher and looking worried. "Let's go together; the road could be dangerous," he added.
After Bob and Mom hugged each other with relief, Bob told her where we were going. Once again, Gabe offered to go, apparently bored of being stuck at home, and once again, Mom immediately refused to let him go.
On the way to where Case lived in Mom's car, the road was much clearer, making our trip easier.
"Oh no," Bob said when we finally arrived at the lot full of tainers where Case lived, as we looked at the disaster that used to be our training ground.
There was trash everywhere. All the 'equipment' that Case had made was o be seen. Tree braires, rocks, and even, strangely, a car door were scattered all over what reviously our training ground.
It would be very difficult to everything up.
"Case, are you okay?" I shouted to the muscur man, who was throwing away the trash near his home as I got out of the car.
As I approached, I noticed that the side of his trailer had a rge dent and the windows were missing where gss should have been.
"Yeah," Case responded slowly, surprised by my presehere.
"Let me give you a hand with that," Bob quickly said beside me, approag Case, who was having trouble lifting a really rge branch out of the way of his home.
Helping to clear some of the trash from the path to his trailer, it took us a few minutes—much less time than if it had just been two people, or worse, just Case.
When we finished clearing the small area, Tim arrived in his truck.
"Wow," my giant friend said, incredulous at the mess.
"I know. Everything okay at your pce?" I asked, greeting my muscur friend.
"Yeah, my mom was at work, and my siblings were a bit scared, but everything's fine," my friend responded kindly as always. "What about you?"
"All good. Dad, this is Tim Newhouse; he also trains with Case," I quickly introduced them, seeing the surprise on Bob's face—Tim was even taller than Bob.
"o meet you, Mr. Dun," Tim said kindly, giving Bob a firm handshake.
"Likewise," Bob said, smiling, though a bit intimidated.
"What are you going to do, Case?" Tim asked the other muscur man, who was staring seriously at the entire area. "It's too much to by hand."
"Yeah, it is. And by tomorrow, it'll be ied with rats and other animals," Bob added.
"I o move," Case calmly decred. "This pce is lost," he added with some disappoi in his voice.
"If you need, you park it in front of our house," Bob offered calmly, surprising Case.
"I don't want to be a burden," Case quickly deed.
"Nonsense," Bob immediately replied. "We live on the er of the street; lenty of space to park your trailer. You stay there as long as you need until you find another pce or until this one is ed up," he added.
"Are you sure?" Case asked seriously.
"Of course, and it's the perfect excuse for that barbecue—I promised you o Christmas, after all," Bob said cheerfully, patting Case on the shoulder. "Let's see if it starts or if we have to tow it with the car," he added, walking towards the front of the trailer, ign anything else Case might have to say about it.
"You have a great dad," Tim said, amused, kig a small stone on the ground.
"Yeah, I know," I responded, equally amused.
After ing the broken gss from the driver's seat, Case started his trailer, allowing us to say goodbye to Tim before heading home, where Bob expined his idea to Mom.
"My man is a great person," Mom said 'excitedly,' hugging Bob.
Yeah, I didn't want to see that.
As I went outside with Case, I found him taping neer over where the windows of his trailer should be. "Need anything else?" I asked.
"Nothing, thanks," Case said, taping the st piece. "We train in te dressed," he added as he threw the tape and remaining neer inside his trailer.
"What?" I asked, surprised, watg as he stretched to grab something from inside his trailer.
"Today's a training day. Tim had to go home, but it's just you and me here. Go ge; we're going to practi the ground," Case said, holding a surprisingly rge fshlight in his hand and positioning it over his trailer so that it illuminated a rge part of my front yard.
Incredulous at the situation, my brain couldn't process what Case had just said.
"What are you waiting for?" Case asked harshly, snappi of my trance.
That day, my training with Case was one of the toughest I'd ever had. Usually, with Tim, I had time to rest after each teique. For some reason, Case avoided resting.
He wasn't taking out his anger over losing his training ground on me, was he?
I hadn't noticed, but at some point during my training with Case, the people in my house, along with some neighbors, had e out to watch the show. My yard, as well as the Coopers', was filled with garden chairs and people enjoying themselves, eating and drinking. How had I not noticed them arrive?
"That was the best thing I've ever seen, so cool," Missy said excitedly, sitting in a garden chair o Teddy, pletely focused on my bare chest.
"Thanks," I said, trying to cover my body with my arms, a little unfortable with my semi-nakedness, as I walked bato the house, feeling all the eyes oreet on me. I could hear whistles behind me, making me qui my pace.
That night, with the neighbors who came out to enjoy the show, Bob and Mr. Cooper brought out their grills, turning the bad experience of the tornado into a neighborhood barbecue.
"I o go," Case said nervously, avoiding the gaze of some women. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who had caught people's attention.
---
Author Thoughts:
As always, I'm not Ameri, not a doctor, and not a fighter.
With that said,
I think that's all. As always, if you find any errors, please let me know, and I'll correct them immediately.
Thank you for reading! :D
PS: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW.
