Rounding Third (23 page)

    
Rob, Edward and Hudson stood aside as the three students were led past in
handcuffs. Each of them gave Rob a fierce look.

    
Frost came out of the office. “I called the boys’ parents.”

    
Hudson asked, “Did you call the Wardells and tell them their son had been
attacked?”

    
“Mr. Hudson, I don’t think...”

    
“That’s exactly right, you don’t think.” Hudson snapped back. “But think about
this: school districts and school principals have been held liable for failing
to protect their students. You better hope the Schlagels don’t sue you. And
since you’ve been given more than fair warning, you know the Wardells or
DeLallos will, if anything happens to their children. I’m asking you to do your
job, that’s all.” He turned to the boys. “Are you guys okay? Do you want to go
home?”

    
Rob didn’t answer. He was still too stunned by the past hour’s events which had
spun his head more than the slam to the locker.

    
“I’m fine,” Edward said. He touched Rob’s arm, “Are you okay?”

    
Before Rob could take inventory and answer Frost said, “You realize of course,
you boys bring a lot of this on yourselves?”

    
“By trying to go to school and get an education?” Hudson yelled. “Yeah, that
provokes a lot of trouble!”

    
“Mr. Hudson, we can talk privately later, but I don’t think this is the place
to have this discussion.”

    
“Where would you rather have it? The police station? A court? A hospital? The
morgue?”

    
“Oh stop!” Frost yelled. “You’re being awfully melodramatic.”

    
“Mr. Wardell,” the coach said, turning to Rob, “How would you characterize the
nature of Joshua Schlagel’s injuries?” Rob blinked, but didn’t answer. “From
what you told me, they were just short of life-threatening, aren’t they?”

    
Rob blinked again and said clearly, “They almost killed him.”

                  
30

Rob had only been in class for a few minutes when
Mr. Frost appeared at the classroom door. After whispered words to the teacher,
Frost said, “Mr. Wardell.”

    
Rob got up and went with him. As they walked to the office Frost said, “Your
father called. He wants you to call him immediately. He says it’s an emergency.
I tried to assure him that everything was fine, but he insisted.”

    
Rob’s heart flipped inside his chest. What had happened to Josh? Or had someone
attacked the house while no one was around? Rob quickened his pace and Frost
almost had to jog to keep up. Frost showed him into the inner office and handed
him the phone.

    
“Dad?”

    
“Bobby, are you okay?”

    
“Yeah, what’s wrong?”

    
“I got a call from Bill Taylor, Danny’s father. He said you’re pressing charges
for assault against Danny. Did he assault you? Are you okay?”

    
Rob didn’t appreciate that Frost was standing right next to him listening to
every word. He wanted to downplay the attack so as not to worry his dad, but
didn’t want Frost to think nothing had happened either.

    
“Yeah, I’m okay. Some guys roughed me up a little this morning, but they got
arrested.”

    
“Did you hurt Danny?”

    
A laugh burst from Rob. “Me hurt Danny?”

    
“His father was all upset like you did something to him.”

    
“Hardly.”

Rob’s father sat in his SUV in the driveway
that circled the flagpole on the east side of the school. His father looked at
the bruise on Rob’s face and shook his head. “You didn’t have to come,” Rob
said.

“I talked to your mother,” his father said.
“We’re thinking you should stay home until things calm down a bit. Take a few
weeks off.”

“I’m not going to be scared off by them.”

“We just thought...”

“Dad, do you remember when I was little and
asked you why you went to Vietnam?”

There was a silence until Bob Wardell realized
this wasn’t a rhetorical question. “Honestly, no,” he answered.

“You said ‘to fight for freedom.’ Was that
the truth?”

“Yeah, I guess, sort of. But more
realistically because I was drafted.”

“So was the freedom line just some bullshit
you handed your little kid?”

Mr. Wardell seemed a little startled to have
his son swear at him. “No. I believed that then. I’ve been confused since about
why we were there, but at the time, I guess I believed that. What does this
have to do...”

“This is about freedom. Mine and Josh’s. The
U.S. went over there supposedly to bring freedom and security to Vietnam and
Josh and I aren’t even free to walk the halls of our own school and feel
secure.”

“This is very different. I was in supply,
miles from the action. I never saw the enemy. You’ll be on the front lines
every day with no one watching your back.”

“Coach Hudson has my back. And after the
stink he made today, I’m sure it will be a while until anybody tries anything.”

His father shook his head then nodded, “Now I
know how my parents must have felt.” For the first time in a long time Rob
really looked at his father and noticed his father had gray hair.

His father dropped him at the house, went
back to work for a few hours, then picked up Meg as soon as school was out. His
mother had taken Josh into Cleveland to get his eye, wrist and other injuries
checked. It was going to be a full round of doctors and they would be gone most
of the day. When his father came in with Meg, Rob was asleep on the couch and
woke with a start.

His father motioned for Rob to come over to
the gun cabinet.

 “I’m not sure how long it’ll be until
things settle down. And you saw the attitude of the police when they came. In
the meantime...” He handed Rob and Meg each two small keys. “I had these made
for each of you today. Keep them on you.” He walked to the gun cabinet and used
a matching gold key on his own key chain to open the drawer. In it was a large
.45 caliber revolver. Rob wondered where the .22 was that his dad had grabbed
two nights ago. “You guys are old enough now to be trusted with keys to this. I
think it would be best if Josh didn’t know what was in here or that you had
keys.” The older Wardell looked pointedly at his son who got the message and
nodded. “The little silver key opens the lock box in my nightstand. My .38 is
in there. Both of those guns are kept loaded.” He pointed back to a box of
bullets in the drawer. There are more shells for this one in here. And...” He
held up a set of keys from the drawer. “This is the key to the rifle
rack.”  He tapped the locked doors of the cabinet. “The rifle and shotgun
shells are in the second drawer.” He showed them another key on the ring. “The
rifles and shotguns aren’t kept loaded, so if you need them, you’ll have to
load them. You both remember how?”

    
Rob looked at Meg. She was as frightened as he was and swallowing hard. Their
father caught their worried looks. “Don’t be frightened. I really don’t think
you should ever have to open this drawer. But like knowing how to use the fire
extinguisher, it’s something you should know. You remember what I taught you
about gun safety?” Rob and Meg nodded as gravely as they knew their father
wanted them to. “I know it’s been a while for both of you, so if either of you
don’t feel comfortable, we can go to the shooting range and practice.”

    
Meg nodded and Rob shook his head, both meaning the same thing; they didn’t
want to go.

    
Rob watched his little sister swallow hard again. They watched their father
return the keys and the bullets to the drawer, lock it, and pocket his
keys. 

    
“I have some work to finish up, so I’ll be in the sewing room. That great smell
is chocolate chip cookies your mom baked before she left.”

    
After their father went upstairs, the kids headed into the kitchen for their
snack. Meg opened the Tupperware and offered it to her brother. He took a
cookie but just stared at it.

“Bobby, I don’t think I could shoot anyone,”
Meg said.

    
“Neither did I until a few days ago, but when I see what they did to Josh, I want
to track down each one of them and kill them. And his fucking parents!” Rob,
finding his stomach suddenly churning, put his cookie back into the container.

Meg set down the container and took her
brother’s arm. “I’m sorry I upset you.”

    
“You didn’t. They did. You’ve been great, Meg. Thanks. Just one more thing to
be pissed at them about. A few years ago I couldn’t shoot a stupid deer and now
they have me wanting to commit murder.”

    
Meg hugged him. “You’re not a murderer. You just love Josh.”

    
He hugged her back then broke the clinch. “I’m going to take out my
frustrations on some weeds.”

    
She patted his shoulder as he left the kitchen to go upstairs to change.
Instead of going to the yard, he put on his sneakers and ran and didn’t come home
until he was completely drained.

That evening’s movie was uninterrupted
although they all sat in tense poses. They had gone to bed but Rob wasn’t
sleeping when a car racing by made him sit up. Shattering glass and obscenities
spoiled the warm, peaceful night. The car did a high-speed U-turn returning
with more bottles and epithets. But then the car stopped. Car doors opened.

    
Rob grabbed his pants off the floor, not bothering with underwear or a shirt.
When he got to the hall, his father was already there wearing nothing but
boxers and carrying a pistol.

    
“I’ll check on Josh, you stay up here with your mother and sister. Your mom’s
calling the police.”

    
His mother came out of her bedroom with the snub-nose .38 in her hand. They
stood at the top of the stairs and heard the front door open and his father in
a sterner voice than Rob had ever heard him use yell, “I’ll shoot the first one
of you that sets foot on this property!”

    
There was scurrying of feet and then the car doors opened and the car sped off.

    
By the time Rob got downstairs he was surprised to see his father sitting on
the bed on the sun porch holding a trembling Josh.

    
After much hemming and excuses, the police agreed to “...look into the matter.”

    
“Just so we get clear here, officer,” Mr. Wardell said as they stood on the
front porch, “I have filed two complaints. If I end up shooting anyone for
trespassing or attacking any members of my household, I want it in writing that
you were warned this was going to happen. Next time they come by, I’ll shoot
out their damn windshield before I call you.”

    
“Mr. Wardell,” the younger of the two policemen began, “I don’t think you
should be making threats...”

    
“We’re the ones who are threatened here. If you won’t do your job and protect
us, I will.”

                   
31

The weekend was
awkward for all of them. The good news  that Josh’s eye was healing,
although he’d need to keep it bandaged a while longer, did little to cheer any
of them up. Rob worked at Greiner’s Farm Market and found himself the subject
of whispers and stares from several customers.

     Rob felt
bad that he was working and leaving the task of trying to brighten Josh’s mood
to his family, but since he seemed to be making no more progress than they
were, he was glad to escape the funereal house. Meg’s attempts at being the
entertainment committee had all fallen flat.

     Josh
remembered his car was still at school and Rob and his father went to get it
half expecting it to be vandalized, but it was still there, intact.

     Rob and
his father helped Josh climb the stairs to take a
shower.     When Josh was done and helped back to his room
he said, “You can put the mirrors back up. I’ve seen myself.”

     “Oh
shit. I forgot about the ones upstairs,” Rob said.

     “It’s
okay. I was going to have to see it sometime.”

     “Once
the swelling goes down and the bandages come off, I’m sure you’ll be good as
new.” Rob checked the door to make sure no one was near and gave Josh a peck on
the cheek.

         
*                     
*                     
*                     
*                     
*

     Monday
morning Rob again felt like he was entering enemy territory. He had driven
Josh’s car to school in case he had to escape. When he passed Edward DeLallo he
got a “How’s it going?”