Chapter One

That September afternoonbrought a collective distress amongthose who remained on the scene, mostunable to resist taking in the aftermath ofevents that had transpired throughout theday. This behavior would perhaps comeacross as typical in New York City,where tense situations were notuncommon. But it was a much differentstory in a coastal Virginia town for highschool senior Randall Oliver Stimpson,as he prepared for wrestling practice.He was called Randy by those who

knew him, and he had been on thewrestling team since his freshman yearat Columbus high school. But everyperformance felt like a critical attempt tofill the shoes of his father and brother,who had attended the same school andbeen on the same team. Randy departed his historyclass and struggled through throngs ofother students to his yellow locker. Heknew that most of the students wouldvacate the building in time to board theschool buses which had gatheredoutside, but he hardly felt the need towait for them when he himself hadpractice to attend. The combination lockon his locker released after severalmoments of struggle, and Randy's brown

coat was its typical inches from fallingoff of the hook on which it hung inside.He removed the coat and placed it on thefloor while he unloaded the contents ofhis backpack. The contents included aspiral notebook, his history textbook andseveral pencils which he placed on asingle top shelf next to a small duffel bagwhich contained his wrestling gear. Ahistory test which was to take place onMonday was the furthest thing from hismind as he let the textbook fall like abrick into a steel chamber. It was awaste of time in his opinion to studymaterial which he believed he may aswell already be familiar with. Randy stuffed his coat into thecore of the locker on top of the books,

and finally reached up to the shelf for theduffel bag. A number of the pencils felldown, landing on the floor and rolling indifferent directions. Randy watchedthem go placidly, having looked for anyguiltless excuse to get rid of them afterfailing to make use of them for severalmonths. He picked up his backpack,which he found was pleasantlylightweight having been relieved of itsprevious contents, slammed his lockershut, and headed downstairs to theschool's gymnasium. Randy found the gym to be voidof all people, but not completelyabandoned as he came upon a cockroachwhich was probably American given itsample size and shape. The roach

represented a lone presence in the roomas it skittered at a distance along theedge of the floor and disappearedbeneath a set of bleachers. Randychecked his watch, and found that it wasfive minutes before the start of practice.It was not uncommon for his teammates,even his coach, to arrive at the lastminute, and he was reluctant to leave ashe had so often done, only to discoverlater that practice had actually takenplace. He began having second thoughtsjust as he heard the simultaneousdeparture of school buses outside of thebuilding. “Looks like I missed the bus,”he said. “Guess I may as well waithere.” He sat on the bleachers on the

right side of the gym, adjacent to theones beneath which the roach had nodoubt settled into ideal surroundings.Randy unzipped his loose duffel bag andremoved a push cap bottle of opaque redplastic, through which remnants of waterwere visible. The bottle incidentallymatched Randy's red spandex wrestlingsuit, which he wore beneath his clotheson that day. He gazed inquisitively at alone water dispenser at the far end of thegym. Such dispensers had been placedwith paper cups in most of the school'scommon areas, intended to take the placeof the school’s drinking fountains whichwere said to contain lead. Randy soughtto utilize the water dispensers to avoidfrivolously spending money on drinks

from machines the way his teammates sooften did. But he found that the waterdispensers were empty more often thannot, and even more often void of cups.He could just barely see that thedispenser across the gym was withoutcups, but was reluctant to walk to it onlyto find that it was void of water as well.Nonetheless, he had not checked it forawhile, and figured it was worth goingfor at the very least. With his empty bottle in hand,Randy made his way across the dimly litgymnasium to the water dispenser. Hemade his best effort to tell if thedispenser was empty without walking allthe way to it, but this was almostimpossible due to the contours of the

dispenser, which was as opaque asRandy's bottle and practically the colorof water itself. Randy could see that theinterior of the dispenser was solid,which was a sign of either completefullness or emptiness. He figured thelatter, but was frustrated at being unableto tell one way or the other.Before going any further, Randy casuallylooked over his shoulder to affirm thatno one from his team had arrived. Hethen unscrewed the cap on his bottle,stepped to the water dispenser, placedhis bottle beneath the spout, and liftedthe release tab. The dry spout squeakedas if it had not seen water in ages,which, Randy thought it probably hadn’t. “Figures,” he said as he

replaced his bottle cap while lookingback again, still seeing no one “Where is everyone?” Randythought. He returned to the bleachers andretrieved his belongings, then headed forthe exit. As he pushed through one of thedouble doors, he could see a middle-aged custodian taping a sign to the other.Randy’s bright green eyes scanned themessage:

ALL AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIESCANCELLED FOR THIS EVENING.

He stared at the sign indisbelief for several seconds beforeprogressing down the hallway, hoping invain to see another student along theway. At the end of the hall he made a left

up a set of stairs to the hall along whichhis locker was fixated. He opened hislocker, swiftly removed his coat andwent back down the stairs. Unlike many of his fellowstudents, Randy was without a mobilephone of his own, and as such he soughtafter a pay phone adjacent to the bottomof the stairs. The pay phone had been outof order every time Randy attempted touse it, so it didn't surprise him to onceagain hear no dial tone when he placedthe receiver to his ear. As he ran hisfingers through his shaggy light brownhair, it occurred to him that he wouldhave to go to the main office, wherestudents were generally prohibited fromusing the phone except in an emergency.

In the office, Randy could seethat there was no one behind the frontdesk. He took a seat on one of fourcushioned chairs. As he waited forsomeone to arrive, he noticed acomputer behind the desk with a redmarquee screen saver on a blackbackground. He stood up and tried toread the marquee from his position.Moving in closer, he pulled a muscle inhis leg as he practically leaned over thedesk. This allowed him to catch aglimpse of the words in the marquee,which read:

PROPERTY OF COLUMBUS HIGHSCHOOL. ADMINISTRATIVE USE

ONLY.

Randy rubbed his leg andsighed. “All that for some stupidmessage,” he said to himself. He lookedaround on the desk, and noticed a paperthat seemed to have been printed fromthe computer. Among other things printedon the paper were words sectioned offfrom the others: “Brain teaser of the day:draw a square with an X in the middlewithout retracing any lines or removingyour pen or pencil from the paper.” Randy pictured the image in hismind. “Sounds easy enough,” he thoughtwith a shrug. He sat back down andleaned into his backpack, pulling out afolded piece of paper. As he fumbled fora pencil, Mr. Lane, a schooladministrator entered the office. He

seemed surprised to see Randy. “What are you still doing hereyoung man?” Mr. Lane asked, his graybeard moving beneath his jaw. “I missed the bus," said Randy. "I didn’t know the activities werecanceled." "All right,” said Mr. Lane, alittle impatiently. “Is someone coming toget you?” “I need to use the phone to callmy parents,” said a reluctant Randy.Mr. Lane looked confused. “Why didn’tyou go on and use it then?”“I thought students weren’t allowed touse it,” muttered Randy as he walkedbehind the desk. Randy picked up the phone’s

receiver and began dialing his homephone number while Mr. Lane stood by,arms folded and looking restless.Halfway through dialing, Randy heard abusy signal. He hung the receiver up,picked it up again and dialed a 9 beforedialing the number again. The phonerang 5 times before his sister Dana, whoalso attended Columbus as a freshman,answered, sounding out of breath. “Dana? How did you gethome?” he asked. Dana was in theschool band and had practice afterschool daily.“I went home on the school bus,” shesaid with plain sarcasm. “Is dad home?" Randy asked.He knew not to ask for his mother, who

never seemed to do anything except playcomputer games in between loads oflaundry. "I don't know," said Dana. Randy's unease was increasingat pace with Mr. Lane's impatience.“What is mom doing?” he sighed. "Is that a rhetorical question?"said Dana, as if her brother had notassumed their mother was using thecomputer. "Well can you just tellsomebody to come and get me atschool?" “I can,” said Dana. “Thequestion is will I?” “Just do it, please,” said Randy. “All right. Bye.”

Randy hung up the receiver andexited the office. As soon as Randy wasout, Mr. Lane lowered a series of lightswitches, bathing the office in darkness.He then exited the office himself,removed a collection of keys from hisleft pocket and selected one which heused to lock the office door. Randy peeked at the computerscreen through the office window andcould see that it was now dark, thoughthe standby lights glowed like brightgreen lasers in the shadows.

Chapter Two

Randy stood outside and leanedagainst a round support beam in front ofthe school. The beam had been painted

red, but Randy could see a sectionwhere the red paint was chipped away,revealing a previously whiteundercoating and a sea green onebeneath that. About half an hour went bywith Randy becoming lost in histhoughts, the daylight fading fast. Thebrain teaser which he had seen seenearlier came along in the thoughtprocess, at which point he removed hishands from his coat pockets and slid outof his backpack, placing it on the groundin front of him. He removed a pencil anda piece of scrap paper from a backcompartment and attempted to draw asquare with an X in the center. He wasnot able to do it without removing thepencil from the paper or retracing any

lines. Just as he was about to try again,his father Bruce Stimpson pulled up in adeep blue station wagon, playing loudcountry music. Dana sat in the frontpassenger seat, grinning haughtily atRandy as he climbed into the back seatnext to their 6 year old sister Erica. Their older brother Jeff was away,staying on campus in his first year ofcollege. Bruce turned the radio down ashe drove off. “Hey son, how was schooltoday?” he asked Randy in a tone thatmasked his indifference . Randy was notimmediately sure how to answer “I had a really rough day,” hesaid finally. “I’m pretty tired.” “Funny,” said Dana, who was

14. “I had a really rough day too.” “I can’t imagine why,”said Randy rolling his eyes. “Now wait a minute. I didn’tsay it was today,” said Dana. “It wasactually two years ago.” Why didn’t you take the bushome with Dana?” asked Bruce,suddenly petulant. “Because I thought we hadpractice today,” said Randy. “Any othertime I go home early and it turns out thatwe were supposed to stay for practice.” “How could you not knowpractice was canceled?” said Bruce.“Dana didn't seem to have any troublefiguring it out.” “Nobody told me,” Randy

sighed as he piled his coat on his lap andrested his head on it. Erica sat directlynext to him in the middle of the seat andstared. “What are you doing?” askedErica. “Why don’t you sit behinddad?” asked Randy. “You alwayscomplain about having to sit in themiddle.” “You just want me to move soyou can sit here,” Erica insisted. Randy turned his head to facethe window in the opposite direction. The car traveled down a seriesof back roads before coming to a stop ata traffic light in town. An unidentifiedbrick building with a gravel parking lot

stood to the right of the road. Around thebuilding were a few trees, their barebranches blowing fiercely as the he sunquickly set in the west. “It’s about to snow!” criedErica. Randy put his hand on thewindow, leaving a foggy imprint. “Why did you make a mark onthe window?” Erica asked loudly. “Stop doing that!” cried Bruce.“I’m trying to drive.” “I didn’t do anything,” saidRandy calmly. The imprint on thewindow was starting to fade. “Then what’s that?” Erica said,pointing to the window. “What?” Randy asked.

Erica tried to lean over him andtouch the window. Randy rolled thewindow down, erasing the remainingevidence of the imprint. An abrupt coldwind curdled the car's warm interior. “Close the window!” Bruceshouted. “What’s wrong with you?” Erica laughed hysterically. Randy quickly raised thewindow, stifling laughter himself. “Why do I always have to sit inthe middle?” said Erica, rocking backand forth. “You just said you wanted to sitin the middle,” said Randy. “I’m sitting where you are thenext time,” said Erica. "All right!" Dana cried merrily.

"That means I can sit in the front again." “Dana, you know I get to sit infront next,” said Erica, as if aware of hershifting logic. "Okay," said Dana. "Then I'll sitwhere Randy's sitting now." "You can't," said Erica. "Why not?" "Because Randy is sitting therenow." There was a momentary pauseas if in an attempt to process the meaningbehind the words before Dana begancareening with laughter. Erica's lookwas stoic, as if she hadn't intended to befunny and could not see why Dana waslaughing. This only made Dana laughharder, and her laughter persisted for the

rest of the car ride. At home the family piled out ofthe car and onto the porch, where theirgray cat named Mittens lay contentedly.Mittens stood up and walked meowingtowards Dana, who swept the cold catinto her arms. Bruce entered the house,followed by Randy and Erica. In the house, Bruce found hiswife seated in front of the homecomputer, reading text that was on thecomputer screen. “Hi honey,” said Bruce. Heleaned down to hug her. “Hello dear,” said Carol, herattention still fixed on the computer. “You know Jeff keeps talkingabout dropping out of college.”

“Really?” said Carol, soundingdistracted. “Maybe he should never havegone in the first place,” said Bruce “It’s what he wanted, honey.You know that.” “Well he’s going to have to payback everything he borrows. I haven’tgot the money.” “Most of his expenses arecovered by grants and scholarships. Heonly has a small loan...” Randy’s heart sank as hewistfully considered his own prospectsof attending college the following year.If his brother was already talking aboutdropping out of college, then it would nodoubt give his parents a less-than-

promising perspective of Randy if hedecided to attend. Still he figured theirstance should remain more or lessneutral since they wouldn't be puttingforth any of their own money. Randy -wandered outside, where Dana sat on aporch step with Mittens perched in herlap. The porch light was awash withinsects, which seemed to crave theradiant heat more than ever in the midstof an unusually cold evening. Danalooked around. “I wonder why some insectslike to be where there is light, but otherslike roaches are partial to dark areas,”said Dana in a sudden outburst. “Well you know insects arecold blooded, so they always need to be

someplace warm,” said Randy. “Theyare probably drawn to the heat thatcomes from the light. Also, some insectslike moths get confused by the lightbecause they use the moon to orientthemselves.” “But I read somewhere thatroaches have been found on everycontinent, including Antarctica,” saidDana. “So how do they survive there?” “Roaches can survive just aboutanywhere. I heard that a roach couldeven be born and live out its entire lifeinside a television.” Dana looked skeptical. “How isthat possible? Don’t they need to eat anddrink to survive?” “They can survive just by

consuming dust and debris...” “Okay, stop,” said Dana,looking disgusted. “How did they evenget on Antarctica in the first place?” “It’s possible they wereoriginally brought there by humans.”Randy walked over to the porch steps.“But there was actually a time when allof the continents were connectedtogether as a single land mass…” “Really?” said Dana. “Oh yeah. Now keep in mindthat this was millions of years ago. Overtime the land mass divided into whatexists today as seven continents. But it ispossible that roaches remained on thepart of the original land mass thateventually became Antarctica.”

“Wait. So Africa used to beconnected to America? “It did. Didn’t you learn this inschool?” said Randy teasingly. “No way. I don’t believe it,”said Dana. “If you look closely at a map,you can even see where they used to beconnected.” “Yeah right,” said Dana,rushing inside. Several small insectsslipped in as she opened the screendoor, followed by Randy. Mittensremained outdoors, eating dry cat foodfrom a plastic bowl on the porch. Dana retrieved an atlas from abookshelf in the house and opened to aworld map.

“What are you doing?” askedErica. “Never mind,” said Dana. “Gowatch TV or something.” “I want to see that book.” Dana carried the atlas into theliving room, where Randy sat watchingtelevision. “Okay, now what are youtalking about?” said Dana, showing theatlas to Randy. “Hang on a minute,” saidRandy. He disappeared into a back roomand emerged wearing a pair of readingglasses. “Randy! You all need to come ifyou want dinner!” Bruce called.Randy headed for the kitchen, glasses

and a smile on his face. “Aren’t you going to showme?!” said Dana. “I’ll show you after dinner.” “You just don’t want to showme because you know I’m right,” Danaprotested. “That’s why you’re smiling.” “Now I’m not allowed tosmile?” “Why are you wearing thoseglasses now?” Erica asked Randy. “Take those off while you’reeating,” said Bruce, looking confusedhimself. He set a plate of fish sticks andpeas in front of Erica. “I don’t like peas,” said Erica. Bruce placed a baking sheet offish sticks on the table. “Don’t eat the

peas if you don’t want them, Erica. ” “What about mom?” said Dana. “Honey, are you coming toeat?” called Bruce. “I will as soon as you all aredone in there,” she called back. "You know how it gets." Bruce sighed. “You all just geta few fish sticks.” Erica sat low on a chair next toDana and Randy. “Do you want my peas?” sheasked Dana. “Why don’t you want them?”said Dana. “I do. I just don’t like them.” “Why don’t you like them?” “I don’t know.”

Dana shrugged and swalloweda forkful of peas Erica began slowly eating herown peas. Dana watched her. “What are you looking at?!”said Erica. “Nothing,” she laughed. Shefinished her peas and four out of sevenfish sticks, placing the rest back on thebaking sheet. She studied her hands andlooked at the atlas which she hadbrought to the table, then went to thekitchen sink where she rinsed her dishesand set them aside. She shook the waterfrom her washed hands as she walkedback to the table and retrieved the navyblue atlas. Moisture seeped from herhands onto the atlas.

“I don’t want the rest of this,”said Erica. “Give it here. I’ll take it,” saidBruce., who sat at the head of the table. Erica slid her dad her plate,which was barely void of two out of fivefish sticks and a few peas. Brucescraped her plates’ contents onto his andleft her newly empty plate on the table.Dana sighed and received the emptyplate, taking it to the sink and rinsing itjust as Randy stood up over his ownclean plate. He smiled at Dana andbrought his plate to the sink. “Now are you going to showme what you were talking about or not?” “Sorry, what was it I wastalking about?”

“You said all the continentsused to be connected together. You saidyou could see it on a map.” “Oh right.” Randy retrieved hisreading glasses, reaching across hisdad’s empty plate left on the table. Danaopened the atlas to the map of the world. “All right, now you see howthere is this groove in Africa?” Hepointed to the left of the southwestportion of Africa. “Notice how SouthAmerica fits right into that groove. Andthe top part of Africa fits right into theeast of Florida." “I see it,” said Dana. “So theydid used to be connected!” “What used to be connected?”asked Erica.

“All the continents did. Look atthis.”Erica looked at the map as Danaexplained it to her. “Hmm...sorry, but I have noidea what you are talking about,” saidErica. “How did they get separated?”asked Dana. “It was a slow process,” saidRandy “They only moved apart a littleevery year, so it was millions of yearsbefore they got where they are now.” “Okay, you can stop showingoff now,” said Dana resentfully,snatching the atlas. Greasy fingerprintsleft their imprints on its cover. “You’re the one who asked me

about it,” said Randy. “I wanted to know,” said Dana.“You don’t have to act like you’resmarter than me.” “You’re right, I don't have to"act",” said Randy. “Are you calling me stupid?”cried Dana. “Of course not,” said Randy. “Idon’t think you are stupid.” “That’s what I thought,” saidDana. “…I know you are!” Randycontinued. “Mom!” “All right, relax Dana. You arenot stupid in my opinion.” “Okay.”

“…but then again what’s myopinion against hundreds of others?” Dana ran into the front room,followed by Randy and Erica. Brucewas reading a newspaper with abasketball game on T.V. “Knock it off you two!” saidBruce. “He said I was stupid!” Danacried. Randy fled down the hall to thebathroom, followed by Dana whoentered the bedroom she shared withErica. Somehow they both managed tohear what sounded like their mothergetting up. They made a mad dash to thefront room, where Erica already stoodnext to the computer desk. She gawked atRandy, who barely had his pants up

“I was here first,” exclaimedErica. “Whatever do you mean?” saidDana., attempting to look preoccupied. “All right, everyone back off!”cried Carol. “Dana, you can get on untilnine. Then I want you to take Erica tobed.” “That’s only half an hour,” saidDana. “Do you want to get on or not?” “Yes, mom.” “All right. After that Randy canget on for awhile.” “Can I get back on tomorrow,mom?” said Dana. “You can,” laughed Randy. “Hey, you’re just jealous

because I’m about to get on right nowand you’re not,” Dana teased. “Who cares?” said Randy. "Youwon't be on long anyway." "We'll just see about that." Carol stood up and went intothe kitchen, and Dana instantly slid into the wheeled chair at thedesk, sticking her tongue out at Randy.Erica stood next to Dana. “I want to do something too,”Erica whined. “All right, I guess you can sitwith me,” sighed Dana. Erica climbedonto her sister's lap. Following that evening, Danadid not even think about using thecomputer for the rest of the weekend.

Chapter Three

On Monday afternoon, Randytook his history test with muchconfidence in his performance, though hewas among the last of the class tocomplete it. After class he was atwrestling practice listening to his coach,coach Cook talk of the team’s annualagenda. It was something he had becomeroutine to him after three previous years

on the team.“Listen up,” said coach Cook. “In twoweeks we will be having our first hands-on meeting of the year at an actualwrestling academy. For some of you thiswill be a new experience. However, Iam giving you all plenty of notice, sounless there is a dire emergency I expectto see you all there, especially thefreshmen. Adam, pass these around.” He handed Adam a stack of printedfliers. Randy had become all toofamiliar with the wrestling academy,which he had visited during all of hisprevious high school years, as well asduring outings with his father andbrother. A trip to the academy almost

always reminded him of Wrestler X, anindividual who existed as a secret,random member of the academy. Thesame individual would continue to act asWrestler X unless his identity could bepositively revealed, based on a selectset of components. In the event this couldbe done, the Wrestler X identity wouldbe assigned to a new individual, chosenfrom a list of willing and eligiblecontenders. The identifying individualwould likewise be awarded $1,000 andunlimited lifetime access to the academy,as well as one shot at the academy titlebelt per month, where restrictionsapplied. The allure of these benefits didnot make identification of Wrestler Xany easier, or more likely, however;

rumor had it that the current Wrestler Xhad been in position for years withoutbeing identified. Adam handed Randy a flyer:

TEAM MEETINGWHAT: team meetingWHERE: O’Brien’s Wrestling Academy,1472 Stephens LaneWHEN: Saturday, October 17 at 12 noon “This is on a Saturday,” saidBrandon, a freshman member of theteam. “Yes sir, is there a problemwith that?” said coach Cook. “I don’t know if I can make iton a Saturday.”

“Why’s that?” “Well...I have stuff to do on theweekends.” Coach Cook frowned. “Nowlisten to me son. I had to make this on aSaturday because that was the only wayit could be done. I’m not allowed totake time out of school, you know? If forsome reason you can't make it, let meknow and I'll work with you. Aside fromthat, you have one chance to leave. Thedoor is right there.” “It’s fine,” said anapprehensive Brandon. Coach Cook smiled. “You see,some of you don’t realize how lucky youare to have this opportunity. There areplenty of students at other schools who

won’t ever get to do anything likethis…” Randy looked around at histeammates as coach Cook continued totalk. None of them appeared to haveanything with them. “Okay, everyone form a line atthe far end of the gym,” said coachCook. The team lined up horizontallyacross the left end of the gym. Randynoticed that they had in fact leftbackpacks and other items on thebleachers. As usual the team wasinstructed to run to the other end of gymand back five times. “On my whistle,” Coach Cookblew a whistle. “Go!”

The team ran practically in syncto the other end of the gym, with Randyslightly out-pacing the others. Theycompleted five rounds and stood leaningon the wall and catching their breath.Randy stood near the water dispenser,which he could see was empty. He washappy that he had thought to bring hisown insulated canteen of water, thoughhe had consumed a quarter of it prior topractice. “Anyone who does not haveyour gear, sit on the bleachers,” coachCook said. “The rest of you suit up, andwe’ll build on what we learned lastweek.” Three students took permanentseats on the bleachers, while Randy and

the others retrieved their gear andheaded to a locker room. Coach Cookstudied the students on the bleachers. “Where is you all's gear?” heasked. “I don’t have one of those suitthings,” one student replied. “Could Ijust wear regular clothes?” “You’re going to need the rightgear to wrestle properly. There are lotsof places where you can get it for next tonothing.” “Some wrestlers on T.V. wearregular clothes,” another student said.The others laughed. “Well I can’t imagine it’s verycomfortable,” said coach cook“Anyhow, you are going to ideally need

a full body spandex suit and a headset. Ifyou can’t get anything but shorts and a t-shirt, that’s fine. Just try to havesomething by next week at the latest.” Randy, who like most of thestudents was part of a low incomefamily, had been fortunate to find a redspandex suit of his own size at a second-hand shop, and was given a new headsetas a gift years ago. He had managed tomake use of the same suit and headsetever since, and felt lucky to have them. Randy and five other membersof the team emerged from the lockerroom, all clad in their spandex. Theytook seats on the bottom row of thebleachers. “Well looks like we got an odd

number of guys here," said coach Cook. "So here’s what we’re going to do.Randy, you’ve wrestled at almost everypractice, and I think it’s time some of theother guys got involved. So I’m going tohave you sit this one out and give them achance to get their feet wet.” The other students cast anaggrieved glance at Randy, whoseindifferent expression suggested a lackof cognizance. I want the rest of you all to payclose attention and take notes,” saidcoach Cook. The first students to wrestlewere a sophomore and a junior. SeniorsChad and Adam watched and waited. “This is so humiliating,”whispered Adam. “We do just as much

for this team as Randy, and the coachgives him all the credit.” “Yeah, that’s how it alwaysgoes, isn’t it? The better guys always getthe best treatment,” said Chad. “The wayI see it, the coach is the stupid one if hecan’t recognize what we do for the team.But I sure wouldn’t make myself lookstupid by arguing with him.” “I’m just getting tired ofpouring my heart out for this team andnot having anything to show for it.” “…well you have to admit, halfthe time you’re not even here.” “Pay attention you two. You’renext!” shouted coach Cook. “Dude, it’s not my fault I havethings to do,” Adam whispered.

“It’s not coach’s fault either,”said Chad. “If you weren’t able to behere on a regular basis then maybe youshouldn’t have joined the team.” “I do enjoy being here, I’m justeasily discouraged. I know I shouldn’ttake it out on other people.” “Everyone makes mistakes,man. The important thing is to learn fromthem and not repeat them." Chad lookedat him smugly. “By the way, you wouldprobably get better advice if you toldcoach everything you’re telling me.” The sophomore and juniorfinished wrestling, and Adam and Chadwere up. “Let’s make this a good match,guys,” said coach Cook.

The two 6’1 students matchedeach other move for move, each hopingwith every passing minute that the otherwould tire out. They went on for aboutfive minutes until it became clear thatthey had both reached their limit. As theycaught their breath, Adam suddenlycharged at Chad and wrestled him to thefloor, holding him there until coach Cookcounted to three. “Nice job guys,” said coachCook. “I like how you caught him offguard, Adam.” “Thanks, coach,” said Adam, asif attempting to prove a point with hiswords. “I expect to see the rest of youguys up here next practice,” coach Cook

said to the guys on the bleachers. “I wantto have something impressive to show atthe academy.” “So basically you want toexploit us for your own fulfillment,” saidBrandon. The others looked at him indisbelief. Brandon clearly didn't knowthe coach’s history. He was a tough-as-nails former Marine who had served inVietnam before spending 12 years as adrill sergeant at Fort Bragg. He hadmoved to Virginia 6 years ago, wherehe’d planned to focus his efforts towardcounseling troubled youth, but ultimatelyanswered the call when he heard about adestitute high school in need of a coachto start a wrestling team.

“Young man, I want you toleave my gym right now,” said coachCook, pointing to the door. “What did I do?” said Brandon. “Leave the gym now, youngman. I’m not going to say it again.” Tears filled Brandon’s eyes ashe gathered his belongings. As heheaded for the exit, he looked at thecoach, who’s stanch expression wasunyielding. “Do not return to my gymwithout your parents,” coach Cookcalled to him. “This isn’t your gym!” Brandoncried, “it’s the school’s gym!” “All freshmen remain seated,”said coach Cook after Brandon had

gone. I will see the rest of you all onWednesday.” Practice was held everyMonday, Wednesday and Friday.The upperclassmen vacated thebleachers and hit the locker room,leaving only two freshmen. Coach Cooktalked to them about his history andexplained to them how everything he didwas in the best interest of the team.“Do you understand what I’m saying toyou guys? I’m only trying to help you allget better at this. But I’m not going tohelp you if that isn’t want you want.” “I want you to help me,” one ofthem said. “So do I,” said the other. “Good. I’ll see you onWednesday then. Bring something to

wrestle in.” Brandon never returned topractice following that fateful day, muchto the chagrin of his freshmen cohorts.The students who had been withoutuniforms ultimately attained shorts and t-shirts, and made steady progresswrestling over the next two weeks. When October 17 arrived, coach Cookreasoned they were adequately preparedto showcase their skills at O’Brien’sWrestling Academy. Inside the academy walls,practically in the dead center of thebuilding, was a single four-sidedwrestling ring, where top contenderscompeted for the ultimate prize: thecoveted academy title belt. The academy

retained a list of everyone who held thebelt, and those who held it for a monthor longer had their name and photoplaced in the Hall of Fame. Randy arrived at the academywith his dad shortly before noon onOctober 17. He could feel the typicalloud, high-energy atmosphere of theacademy’s mainstay penetrate into thelobby as he and his father entered. Thiswas practically enough to kick-start hisadrenaline all at once. It quickly becameclear that Randy's coach and teammateswere not among any of the individuals ofvarying conditioning whose imposingphysical nature always made Randy alittle uneasy. “What are you supposed to be

doing?” Bruce asked. “I’m supposed meet my coachand teammates,” said Randy. “I don’t seeany of them here.” “Come on,” said Bruce Theywalked to the front desk and waited inline behind a gray haired man. “Can I help you?” the attendantasked when it was their turn. She was inher 40s with curly black hair and browneyes. Randy thought she was wearing awig. “Yes. My son’s supposed to bemeeting with his school team,” saidBruce. “I’m with Columbus HighSchool,” said Randy. The attendant picked up a

clipboard on the desk. “I don’t believeyour coach has checked in yet,” she said,her eyes running up and down theclipboard. “So why don’t you sign inand then you can have a seat and wait forhim?” She pointed to a row of foldingchairs against a wall near the entrance. Randy signed his name on apaper on the clipboard, then headed forthe chairs as a dark haired, blue eyedmale entered the facility along withwoman of comparable height. “Is that one of yourteammates?” Bruce asked “Sure is,” said Randy. “That’sChad.”“His mother is awful tall,” said Bruce.“Well I know how you hate for me to

hang around and embarrass you, so I'mgoing to take off. Do you have thatphone?" "Yeah dad," Randy reached intoa front pocket of his jeans and pulled outa prepaid mobile phone which hismother had recently obtained andallowed him to borrow. "Good. Call me when you’reready to leave, hear?” said Bruce. Randy saw Chad and his motherwalk to the front desk. Randy sat on achair at the end of the row, and saw theattendant pointing at him. Chad walkedover and took a heavy seat next toRandy. “Hey man, you seen coachCook?” said Chad

Randy looked at him indisbelief. “Nope, I’ve never seen himbefore in my life,” came his sarcasticreply. “Right. Well do me a favor andlet me know if you ever do seehim,”Chad laughed. “I’m going to thebathroom.” Randy walked to the doubledoors which led to the performance areaand peered in through a window. Insidewas the wrestling ring, which practicallyenveloped the seemingly small, low-roofed room and was surrounded byfolding chairs which resembled the onesRandy and Chad had been seated in.Wrestlers sat in many of the chairs,along with trainers and uniformed

officials, their eyes all fixed on the ringwhere two male competitors fought eachother. Soon Damien, another of theColumbus teammates had arrived andwas looking on with them. They saw anofficial headed for the door and backedaway. “Coach Cook is outside,” saidDamien. “How long has he been there?”said Randy as they headed outside “I don’t know. I just saw himwhen I got here.” Outside they saw their coach, aburly man of 6’2 with tan, leathery skin.He brandished a cigarette in his righthand as he beckoned for Randy andDamien to come over.

“Is this it?” he said sternly ashe looked at the boys. “I haven't seen anyone else,”said Damien. “How bout you Randy?” “Chad went to the bathroom,”said Randy. “Do you all have gear at least?”said coach Cook. “Yes,” they said simultaneously. “All right, let’s just get inside,”he sighed, looking at his watch. “I don’tknow where the other guys are, but wegotta get moving. We’re behind scheduleas it is.” Randy looked at his own watchand saw that it was a quarter to one.Randy and Damien were joined by Chadas they were led past the lobby and

through the double doors to theperformance area. They entered a lockerroom to the left, where they got into theirwrestling gear. Coach Cook stoodtalking to a trainer in front of thewrestling ring when the studentsemerged. “Okay, listen up,” said coachCook talking loudly over the backgroundnoise. “Here’s what we’re going to do.Since no one is here, we’ve arranged foryou all to compete against some of thestudents here, if you’re up for it.” To theright of the coach stood a man of 6’5 in apowder blue t-shirt worn over blackspandex. The man exuded such a steepphysical starkness he could practicallybring his opponents down without a

fight, though this hardly compared to hisactual competing ability. The man hadhazel eyes and long light brown hair,which he wore in a ponytail. Randy studied the man, whomhe recognized from previous trips to theacademy and had also had encounterswith outside of the academy. He decidedto afford someone else the opportunity towrestle the man should they beinterested. Otherwise he figured,however tentatively, that he would takethe initiative himself. “All right. If no one is going towrestle then I’ll see you all on Monday,”said coach Cook flatly, marking names ina book. Randy stood up. “I guess I’ll

give it a try,” he said hesitantly. Everyone looked at him as hestepped out from between the row wherehe was seated. “Thank you Randy. Let’s hear itfor him, all right?” said coach Cook. Theteam applauded. At that moment to Randy’ssurprise, the big man standing next tocoach Cook took a seat as there cameforward a young athlete, who was aboutRandy's size. “This young man will be youropponent,” a trainer said wryly toRandy, as if sensing Randy’s notion thathe was to fight the bigger man. Randycould see the spite written on the facesof his teammates, who had clearly

thought the same. Inside the ring, another matchwas starting. “You’ll be next,” said thetrainer to Randy and his opponent. The match in the ring endedwith a pale bald man being declared thewinner. Randy couldn't avert the knot inhis stomach as his opponent quicklymounted the stairs leading into thesouthwest corner of the ring and climbedin. “Okay Randy,” coach Cooksaid. “Get in there and show him yourstuff.” The opponent leaned into hiscorner of the ring as Randy slowlyascended the stairs to the opposite

corner. Randy climbed in between thetop and bottom rope, trying his best toappear confident. He was genuinelytimid by nature, a trait which seemed topersist no matter how many times hewrestled. The bell rang, and thecompetitors each rushed to the center ofthe ring. Randy was quickly taken downby his opponent, but he wrestled out ofthe hold and used the ropes to pullhimself up. “Come on Randy, you got it,”coach Cook shouted. Randy gained the upper hand,backing his opponent into a corner of thering using a series of maneuvers. Hisopponent seemed suddenly to rush

forward, essentially sending Randy rightback to where he started. The back andforth continued, with Randy dealing themost damage in spite of his opponent’sindisputable efforts. At some point, theopponent’s eyes darted to the man whohad been standing next to coach Cook.The man donned an admonishing gaze, asif somehow daring the opponent to losethe match. The opponent returned acontemplative look, followed by abarrage of punches and kicks directed atRandy. All at once however, his effortsseemed to come to a passive halt. Randyseized the moment, taking control of therival who did not resist being pusheddown and covered. The official in thering knelt next to them and slapped the

mat three times, making Randy thewinner of the match. “All right Randy! You did it!That’s my boy!” Coach Cook grinned. The official in the ring held upthe right arm of a worn-out Randy.Randy exited the ring between the topand bottom rope and descended thestairs. He was surprised to run into theman who had been watching hisopponent. “That was a great match kid.I’m impressed,” the burly man said,placing a hand on Randy’s shoulder. “Thanks,” said Randy, as hebacked away modestly.The man’s probing gaze remained fixedon Randy, who was overcome by

enthusiasts. The man ultimately caughtup with Randy’s opponent, who hadmade an effort to remain scarce. Theopponent seemed relieved to get by withonly an icy glare from the man. The crowd had dispersed bythis time, their focus having shifted asthe final match of the day was gettingstarted in the ring. Randy streakedtoward the locker room as he fumbled inhis bag for the mobile phone he hadbrought with him. Randy managed to stayaware of his surroundings as he tookpart in the atypical practice of dialing anumber while walking. He soon had hisdad on the phone and took less than oneminute to arrange to be picked up.

Chapter Four

Bruce Stimpson arrived at theacademy about an hour after his son’scall. Randy’s teammates had alreadygone, as had most everyone else, andRandy sat with coach Cook. “Hey Randy,” said Bruce, Theyhugged each other. “How’d it go?” Randy looked around,surprised. “You came by yourself,” hesaid. “Yeah. The girls were watchinga movie.” Coach Cook walked over to

them. “Sir, I have to tell you, you’ve gotone heck of an athlete here. You shouldbe proud. I know I am.” “That’s great to hear,” saidBruce. “Yes sir, my plans wereoriginally to go over some material, butmost of my guys didn’t show up,” CoachCook continued. “I was happy to haveyour son here to step up to the platetoday. He is just about the only one withwhom I have any consistency.” As they continued to talk,Randy paced aimlessly around the lobby.He examined a billboard on which wasa list of upcoming classes. Each classlasted for at least a three week periodand took place on varying days a week,

for up to four hours at a time. The cost ofeach class was $1,200, and there was anotice that those unable to keep up withthe class would be dismissed after aweek and refunded the $1,200, minus anon-refundable deposit of $200. Nearby was a stack of paperslisting 10 items for identification aboutWrestler X. Each item had a blank to fillin the information, and redemption of theprize required that every question beanswered as correctly as possible.Among the questions were:1) What is Wrestler X's real name? (givefirst and last name)_________________________2) How old is Wrestler X?_______________________

3) How long have they been Wrestler X(from today's date)? This can be given indays, weeks, months or years_____________________ Members of the academy couldoften be heard asking such questionsseemingly innocently of each other, oftenin exchange for alleged informationabout themselves and others. This poseda number of risks, including one or bothparties lying to the other. It was said thatthe smartest among members refrainedfrom revealing information in the firstplace. “Let’s go Randy. They’reclosing up,” called Bruce.Randy picked up three of the Wrestler Xpapers before joining his dad. They left

the academy just in time to see its lastfew occupants follow them into thefrigid darkness that had formed outside,though it was barely 6 p.m. Somewhere along the nearbyshores of the Atlantic that same evening,a young O'Brien student namedMordecai stood around a bonfire,shivering in the gloom of the earlyevening, hands buried in the pockets of aleather jacket he wore. The self-proclaimed “Fearless Mordecai” hadproven himself around the academy asan intrepid being who never backeddown from a challenge. Though hesecretly took great pride in his identity,he kept himself in check by refusing tobrag about it.

Between the wind, the current and thelack of additional fuel, the bonfire diedout quickly as Mordecai was surroundedon either side by two individuals he hadmet at the academy. “What are we doing hereguys?” asked Mordecai. His demeanorwas relatively calm, as was his typicalbehavior even in acute situations.The elder of his two acquaintancesshook his head. “Look at him, Bill. He’spathetic. I don’t know about you, but I’msure not gonna be caught living with thiskind of saddle on my back.” “Actually, I’d be okay with itGreg,” the other said in plain mockery.“It’s just too bad we don’t see eye to

eye.” Mordecai had met them when hebegan taking lessons at the academy aftergraduating high school. On the verge ofhomelessness at the time, Mordecai hadaccepted an offer to live with Gregoryand Bill, though he found he was oftenthe subject of their indiscriminate tacticswhich could never be officiallyinterpreted as kind or cruel. Yet as hardas they seemed to try, Gregory and Billnever managed to get a rise out ofMordecai, and he was determined tokeep it that way. “So Greg, what do you suggestwe do?” “Funny you should ask,” saidGregory. “You know what…I’ve got anidea.” He turned to Mordecai. “Take off

your jacket, kid.” Mordecai glared at him. “Whyin the world would I do that?” heremarked, inevitably shivering in thecold. His gray eyes never left the dyingembers which seemed to represent hisown true situation, hidden behind yearsof false courage and symbolism. It wasperhaps by pure virtue of his intensephysical ability that he was able toconvey a courageous front, a fact whichhis acquaintances sought to disclose byany means. “Come on, kid,” said Gregory,who was dressed himself as though itwere the middle of summer in theSahara. “You call yourself an athlete?Prove it!”

As usual Mordecai became lostwithin his own surmise. Was Gregoryserious this time? How was he to tell? “Believe me, you don’t wantme to do that,” said Mordecai finally. Hestarted to leave the scene, and wasstopped by Gregory.“All right kid, now I’m giving one shotat this, you hear me? Either take it orleave it. Your choice.” “If you insist,” said Mordecai.“But you can’t say I didn’t warn you.” heremoved his jacket and held it in hisshaking hands. He wore a plain white T-shirt beneath it. “That’s more like it,” saidGregory. In an abrupt instant, Gregoryknocked Mordecai to the ground and

swiped his jacket. “Really? All of this…over ajacket?” cried Mordecai. The jacket hadbeen given to him by his recentlydeceased father, and was one ofMordecai’s few prized possessions.Mordecai picked himself up and cameimperatively toward Gregory. “Ah, I wouldn’t do that if Iwere you,” taunted Gregory. He dangledthe jacket near the remnants of thebonfire. Mordecai eased away, adisgraced look on his face. “Tell me something, Mordecai.Do you really want this back?” The decision to try reversepsychology entered Mordecai’s mindlike a rock he’d previously thrown into

the ocean. “All right guys, you win. Goon and do what you have to do. I’ll justbe getting out of here...” “Kid, what kind of fools do youtake us for?” Gregory had experiencedfirsthand what Mordecai was capable ofphysically and was not about to allowhim to gain the advantage. “I’ll tell you what, make onemore move and this thing is history. HereBill,” Gregory tossed the jacket to hisbrother, who received it with open arms. “Hey Greg, I might just keepthis for myself,” Bill tittered, though itwas far too small to have any hope ofever fitting him. Gregory set his sights back onMordecai. “Now then, I believe the two

of us have some unfinished business. SoI say we get right down to it.” “I couldn’t agree more,” saidMordecai. “I just need a minute to getmyself together if that’s all right.” Gregory gave him a inquisitivelook. “ Take your time, kid,” he said,pulling a pack of cigarettes from apocket on his worn jeans. “I trust youwon’t make any stupid moves.” Mordecai couldn’t help butlaugh at that lament, coming from a manwho was himself ready to make a stupidmove. Having achieved a particulardistance from Gregory and Bill,Mordecai seemed to pick something upas he faced the almighty roar of thegrand ocean. He couldn’t help but

wonder if he’d be able to pull off whathe had planned in enough time to avoidsuspicion, though he had already lost thetime it took to consider it. Getting asclose as possible to the violent, murkywater, he allowed an oncoming wave todeposit its yield into a small plastic cuphe had picked up. He had previouslynoticed the cup on the ground and couldscarcely believe he was dependent uponthe object, cracked and permeable as itwas, to work in his favor, having beenlucky to find it in the first place. Mordecai carried the leakingcup of water to the spot where Gregoryand Bill stood by what still remained ofthe bonfire. Before any reaction could behad, Mordecai tossed the water onto the

remnants of the fire, extinguishing itcompletely. “All right Greg, I’m readynow,” said Mordecai, stomping on dampembers. “So am I,” said Gregory, whohad come covertly up behind Mordecai.Despite being prepared for anything,Mordecai was indubitably surprised tosee Gregory walk right past him, withoutso much as a glance in his direction. Hewas all too sure to mask his ongoingbemusement, however, as he and Billfollowed suit to Gregory’s dingy,distantly parked vehicle for the rideback to their lodgings. Mordecaicontinued to follow suit, though he wasconfused and concerned about Gregory's

intentions. Perhaps he intended to takeaction when they reached the car, orwhen they reached their destination. Hefigured only time would tell. Over the course of the nextweek, Randy received a phone call fromthe owner of the wrestling academy. Theowner instructed him to return to theacademy on Saturday for reasons thatwere undisclosed in the phone call.Randy’s anxiety consumed him, thoughhe was sure not to let his team know lestthey speculate on something he was noteven sure of himself. That Saturday Randy and Brucereturned to the academy, perhaps eachjust as anxious as the other if not fordifferent reasons. They entered into the

lobby and spoke with the front deskreceptionist, who gave them permissionto enter the performance area. Gregorywas seated among Bill and Mordecai,watching another match that was takingplace. Randy and his dad were caughtoff guard by a gravelly man who hadbeen standing next to them. “Hey there, that was a goodmatch last week,” the man leaned intoRandy. Randy could feel the obliginggape of people around him as heremained subtly focused on the match inthe ring. By this time Mordecai had crepthis way over to Randy. "How's it going?" askedMordecai. Randy was amazed to findhimself face-to-face with the same

person he had wrestled the week before,and he hardly knew what to make of it.What would Mordecai have to say tohim? Was he upset about losing lastweek? “So that was a pretty goodmatch we had last week,” Mordecaicontinued. “I'm Mordecai. You're apretty good wrestler.” “Thanks man,” said Randy“You can call me Randy.” Just thenRandy recalled that Mordecai had beenstanding with Gregory, and asked aquestion that had been weighing on hismind since their initial meeting. “Do you know that dude?" saidRandy, pointing toward Gregory. Mordecai's eyes faced the

ground as if he were studying animaginary object. “Oh, Gregory? I methim here,” he blurted out, never lookingup. “Nice,” said Randy, unable tointerpret Mordecai's embarrassment. “Ithought I was going to have to wrestlehim last week instead of you.” Mordecai continued to lookdown, speechless. Finally he looked upand over at Gregory, then back at Randy.“There's something else I think youshould know,” said Mordecai, his tonesomber. Randy suddenly panicked. “Ohboy,” he thought. “This dude's got it infor me. He's going to get Gregory topound the living daylights out of me, and

then I'll be toast. Well, I might as wellget it over with.” He stood tall and facedMordecai. “What else do I need toknow?” “I'm living with Gregory,”Mordecai admitted, “him and his brotherBill.” Randy looked at him surprised.“No way,” he said. Then a thoughtcrossed his mind, and once again hepanicked. “Why are you living withhim?” Mordecai sighed. “Well to behonest I met him when I started takinglessons here after high school. I’d prettymuch been living on my own ever sincemy dad died, so I decided to accept anoffer to live with Greg. I figure if

nothing else maybe I could learn a thingor two from him.” “Interesting,” said Randycynically. “You know I've always hadkind of a funny feeling about Gregorysince I've been seeing him.” “That I can understand,” saidMordecai, though he would often admitto being ashamed of his dubiousresponse to Gregory’s open-endedbehavior. In the back of his mind,however, he was prepared to leave histemporary home at a moment’s notice. “So listen, I was wondering ifyou might want to exchange contactinformation,” said Mordecai. “I’ve beenin the game for awhile and I can giveyou advice if you need it.”

Randy studied Mordecai’shumble expression as he took out a penand a scrap of paper. On the scrap ofpaper he wrote his mobile phone numberand his email address. “Got any more paper?” askedMordecai. “Sure thing,” Randy had madescrap paper out of various printouts hehad received at school, the majority ofwhich had been solely for informationalpurposes and were otherwise usedsparingly, or not at all. He wrote hisinformation on a scrap of paper andhanded it to Mordecai, along withanother nonessential blank scrap.Mordecai wrote his information on theblank scrap and handed it to Randy.

“Thanks,” said Mordecai, “I’llbe sure to keep in touch, Randy.” “No problem,” said Randy. Thematch Gregory had been watching wasstill going on in the ring. “This is a long match,” Randyremarked. “No kidding,” said Mordecai.“Oh that reminds me, Greg’s gottawrestle again today.” “When is his match?” “I’m not sure. I should probablybe headed back that way.” “All right. Well I’ll see youaround Mordecai.” No sooner had the wordsescaped Randy’s lips than a winner wasdeclared of the match taking place in the

ring. Randy could see that Gregory wasnowhere to be found, which put him in afit of panic. To his sundry relief, hewitnessed Gregory emerge from thelocker area seconds later. Gregory’s opponent stoodanxiously outside the ring, and enteredas soon as the previous wrestlers wereout. Gregory studied his opponent as hemade his own way to the ring andentered on the opposite end. Theopponent was slightly smaller thanGregory and had an average build. Heheld his own throughout the majority ofthe match but was ultimately taken downby Gregory, seemingly unable to get up.Gregory was just about to cover hisopponent, when his opponent suddenly

and swiftly jumped up, knocked Gregorydown and held him there just longenough for the official to count to three. “Aw, you gotta be kidding me!”thought Gregory's brother Bill fromwhere he sat. “Two weeks in a row?How could this happen? Bill waitedrestlessly as Gregory got out of the ringand spoke to a trainer, before finallymaking his way towards his company. The trainer to whom Gregoryhad spoken soon confronted Randy andBruce. “Hello. May I speak withRandy for a moment?” the trainer said Randy peered hesitantly at thetrainer. “Sure thing,” he said. “What exactly is this about?”

said Bruce. “Allow me to explain. My nameis James, and I represent the owner ofthe academy Dr. Mark Benz. We aretrying to invoke publicity for theacademy, and we would like to offeryour son a few free lessons here basedon his performance last week.” The truthwas the academy typically offered a fewfree lessons to anyone who was willingand capable, in the hopes that theywould go on to pay for training. It waspractically the only way they couldafford to stay in business. Randy wasaware of this approach, as was his dad,but both figured they had nothing to loseby merely talking to a trainer. “We can offer you free lessons

for three Saturdays,” James said toRandy. “If you prove capable after thattime, there is a possibility that you couldcompete for the academy title belt.” “That sounds awesome,” saidRandy, still mindful of the pressuretactic. Randy looked around for Gregory,who had mysteriously disappeared. Billand Mordecai were also gone. “We’ll have to talk this overbefore we make any decision,” saidBruce. “Absolutely,” said James. “It isa big deal, and we couldn’t expect you tmake a decision right away. But dounderstand that this is a limited timeoffer. You’ll have until Friday to think itover.”

Gregory, Bill and Mordecai hadretreated to the locker room area uponGregory’s command. Gregory and Billconversed quietly, each taking care toavoid discussing the possibility of anambiguous truth regarding the outcomeof Gregory’s match. Men entered andexited the locker area sporadically,without particular regard for the noisethey made. Mordecai played a game on hismobile phone, though he listened asintently as possible to the conversationtaking place between his roommates. “I already told you,” saidGregory uneasily, “and I’m not going tosay it again. Not right now at least.” “I just want you to be sure

about this, Greg,” said Bill. ‘You knowthere’s no room for doubt if you want itto work.” “All right look, we can talksome more later. You know, like whenwe have a little privacy.” Gregoryglanced at Mordecai, who continued tostudy his phone. “Darn,” thought Mordecai. Heset the phone aside and buried his headin his hands. Randy and his dad continuedtheir discussion with the trainer, even asanother match had started in the ring. “I’m just not sure if it’s the bestthing for you right now,” said Bruce.“You’re still in school, and I wouldn’twant anything to interfere with that.

Randy realized that he couldvery easily take the free lessons, with noobligation to continue on and pay fortraining. He just wondered if his dadunderstood it as vividly as he did. “Dad, you know I would neverlet anything come before school,” saidRandy. “I promise I'll keep my grades upand make you proud. You just gotta giveme a chance.” “We have to leave it up to yourdad, son,” said James, as if trying tonegate any assumed persuasion. “Well Randy, I want you tohave every opportunity you can,regardless of our financial situation,”said Bruce. “If this is what you trulywant, then there is no way I can deny you

of it, and certainly not when it is comingfree of charge.” It was clear that Brucehad the same understanding of thecircumstances his son did. “When can hestart?” Bruce asked James. “Be here next Saturday atnoon,” said James. “You got it,” said Bruce. “We’llsee you then.”

Chapter Five

The relatively warm afternoonturned into a bitterly cold evening, acommon occurrence during the autumnmonths in the region. Upon leaving theacademy, Randy and his dad had gonestraight home in an attempt to arrivethere ahead of the blitz of Randy’smother and sisters. This was in lieu oftheir original plan to stop at an areapark, a plan which they had abandoneddue to their unexpected hour ofdeparture. They nonetheless arrivedhome to find a brick red minivan parkedin front of the house, a direct indication

that the others had already arrived.Randy sighed as he relinquished anyprior prospects of using the computerthat evening. After loitering in the car forseveral moments, Randy and his dadslowly and grudgingly made their way tothe house, expecting at any moment to bemet with the desires of their three femalerelations. They had barely escaped thecar when they were met as if out ofcontempt by an eager Mittens, whomeowed as he followed them up thewalk. The cat hesitated at the entrance tothe house, as if unsure whether to passthrough the screen door held open byRandy. “Randy, close that door for

goodness sakes,” called Bruce, who hadalready settled in. Mittens remainedoutdoors as Randy practically had toshut the door on him. Meanwhile Gregory and Billwere at their shared house, along withMordecai. The house of old wood hadbeen inherited by Gregory and Bill whentheir single mother died only yearsearlier. It was falling apart at the seamsand badly in need of repair. Gregory and Bill sat in a dimlylit living room, drinking beer andwatching a football game on a 19”television. Gregory sat on a goldenyellow rocking chair, adjacent to asmaller olive green one. Bill was barelyseated in a chair which he had removed

from the kitchen table. He hunchedtoward the television as if very muchabsorbed in the game, an elbow restingon a knee with his chin buried in hishand. In a far corner of the room,Mordecai was also seated on a kitchenchair, his lean frame hunched over anold laptop computer on a table. The subject of the day’s eventshad more or less gone unspokenthroughout the evening, as neitherGregory or Bill wanted to feel the guiltof springing it on the other. It hadnonetheless been on Bill’s mind theentire time, and he ultimately decided tosay something. “I still can’t believe you lostagain today, man. I thought I’d seen

everything after last week. Then thisweek you lose again. What’s going on?” Mordecai continued to look atthe laptop screen, while listeningactively to their conversation. Gregorysmiled and shook his head, whichfrustrated Bill even more. “All I know is you’re gonnahave a lot of making up to do if you planon sticking around there. There's alreadytalk about getting rid of some guys,” saidBill. “Let them talk, Bill,” saidGregory, still smiling. "“This is all partof the plan. See, there's one thing that'sgonna keep me going there, and I knowjust how to get it.” Mordecai couldn’t help turn his

head fully in their direction. “Yeah, and just how's that?"asked Bill. “Just a sec,” said Gregory. Hecrushed his empty beer can and lookedat Mordecai, who quickly returned hisattention to the computer. “Hey Mordecai,” Gregory said,“Go get us a couple more beers.”“Sure thing,” said Mordecai. Mordecaihad previously consumed two cans ofbeer on separate occasions, and hadopened either can just slightly so that onthe surface they appeared unopened,though he had still been able to drinkslowly from them. After consuming thebeer from the cans in this manner, he hadgradually filled either can with tap water

through the slight opening. The end resultwas the illusion of two full, unopenedcans of beer, which he had placed in anobscure spot in the refrigerator. Now heretrieved the water filled cans from therefrigerator and carried them to the frontroom. Fighting back laughter, he handedone can to Bill and the other to Gregory. “Good,” said Gregory. “Nowhow bout you make yourself scarce forawhile, huh?” he gestured towards theback of the house and placed his beercan on the floor next to his chair. Mordecai hesitated. “Aren’tyou guys going to drink your beers?” hesaid as directly as possible. “That’s for us to know,” saidGregory, as if somehow aware of what

Mordecai had done to the cans Mordecai scurried to the laptopand unplugged it without turning it off.The screen went black, and he quicklyyet discreetly disappeared into the backof the house. “Okay,” said Gregory, taking aseat once again. “Like I was telling youbefore, that kid will sure enough belooking at a title shot here in a week ortwo, so long as he doesn't screw thingsup.” The academy held a weeklycompetition for its title belt, offered atbest to the most qualified individualfrom a group that had completed at leastthree weeks of lessons. The belt hadchanged hands more often than not inrecent weeks despite being reclaimed in

different weeks by some among thequalified competitors when there was noone else to compete for it. Nonethelessany individual who managed to captureand retain the belt for a month or longerwould have their name placed in theacademy’s hall of fame, and would beallowed to continue training free ofcharge as long as they held the belt. “In the meantime I’ll just l haveto keep forfeiting my matches so that thekid gets the right idea,” Gregory wenton. “The important thing is it won’t makea difference as long as I’ve got myimmunity. Or did you forget about myimmunity?” Gregory winked at him. “Oh that’s right,” said Bill, as ifgaining a sudden understanding. “No

matter what happens you won’t have toleave.” “Exactly,” Gregory assuredhim. “I could lose a hundred matchesright now and it won’t mean a thing. Ican just sit back and watch the sparksfly.” “But Greg, aren’t you worriedyou might lose your immunity? After allyou’ve only had it for over a year,” saidBill with a sarcastic laugh. He picked uphis beer can, opened it completely andwas barely able to avoid spitting backthe contents as he took a drink. “What the heck is this?” Billcried. Gregory looked at himconfused. “What do you mean what is it?

Haven’t you ever had a beer before?”He picked up his own can and studied it,turning it upside down in the process. Astream of water leaked into his lap fromthe small opening at the top of the can. Gregory's eyesfurrowed. “I'll be right back," he saidcurtly, storming to the back of the house. Mordecai was guidedby the light of a television as he playedguitar on a fold out twin bed in a backroom. He strongly felt the need for morelight, but decided against it when facedwith the decision in his mind. But as ifby some coincidence he was suddenlyinundated with room-filling light, andpractically face-to-face with Gregory,who had entered the room in full wrath.

Mordecai's eyes were lockedon Gregory. He offered no perceptiblereaction to Gregory's temper. "Hey Mordecai," said Gregory. "Hey Greg, what's going on?"said Mordecai, with a voice and facethat remained void of all expression. Heliked to think he could see his way out ofany situation that he was unable toescape. “Well my friend, I couldn’t helpbut notice something unusual about thebeers you gave us,” said Gregory, as ifrefuting the fact that Mordecai hadexplicitly altered the two cans. "Youwouldn't know anything about it now,would you?" "Sorry dude, I don't know," said

Mordecai, without question to avoidspeculation. "Is that so? Then you won'tmind taking a drink of this." Gregoryhanded him the can. “All right,” said Mordecai,trying hard not to laugh as he took thecan between his long fingers. Mordecaitook a drink of the water from the can. “Tastes fine to me,” he saidcandidly. He became increasinglyconfident in his resolve as he realizedthat his statement had beenstraightforward and truthful, as therewas indeed nothing unusual about thetaste of water. Gregory swiped the can backfrom Mordecai and took an unexpected

swallow of the water from it. Seeing thepuzzled expression on Gregory’s face,Mordecai asked as if frightened, “”Isthere something wrong with the way ittastes?” “Oh no, it tastes fine just likeyou said.” Gregory reassured him. .Heturned to leave the room. "By the way, I put water in twoof the cans," Mordecai snickeredsuddenly. Gregory turned to faceMordecai, then looked at the can he heldin his own hand. “That’s impossible”said Gregory, reentering the room andapproaching Mordecai. “The can wasn’teven opened. How did you do it?” “Wouldn’t you like to know,”

said Mordecai. “Well I gotta hand it to you kid,you got me pretty good,” said Gregory,still examining the can He seemedsuddenly to detect an issue with the can,at which point he left the room andcontinued down the hall. Mordecaishrugged this behavior off as he pickedup his guitar and continued playing. Gregory came to a paintedyellow door at the end of the hall whichopened to a back porch. Wearing a thinT-shirt and jeans, he stepped out on thesmall porch, into temperatures in theteens. Seemingly numb to the cold, he lita cigarette and smoked slowly as hestared across a sea of barren land thatstretched as far as the eye could see.

“That kid's gone too far,”Gregory thought. “I'll put up with it fornow, but once this is all over he's mine,mark my words” When he’d finished thecigarette, Gregory removed a mobilephone from a side pocket of his bluejeans and dialed a number. Randy was at home where hehad showered and lay wearing a redsweatshirt, black sweatpants,headphones and reading glasses. Helistened to soft rock music while readinga wrestling magazine, having left hismobile phone in his duffel bag. Themobile phone rang. Some time after the mobilephone rang, Bruce called to Randy.

“Randy! Do you want to talk to yourbrother?” Randy removed theheadphones, went into the front roomand retrieved the receiver of the landline phone, which his brother Jeff hadcalled from college. “Hello?” said Randy. “Hey man. Is that cell phonestill working? I tried calling on it just totalk to you, but no one answered.” “Sorry, I guess I didn’t hear it,”said Randy. “Besides, why would I usethe minutes anyway?” “Anyhow,” Jeff continued,ignoring Randy’s attempted scorn. “Iwanted you to help me with sort of asurprise I’m trying to set up. Basically I

just need you to tell mom and dad that Ihave no money to take the bus home, so Iam going to stay on campus for thebreak.” “You’re not coming home?”said Randy, without any particularconcern. “I am,” said Jeff. “I just want totry to surprise them.” “Well honestly knowing themthey could probably care less what youdo.” “Somehow I have to agree withyou,” Jeff laughed. “But just still tellthem what I told you.” “So in other words you wantme to lie to them.” “Sure. It should be no problem

considering how many times you’vedone it before.” “You know what, forget it dude,I’m not doing it.” “Aw come on.” “All right, what’s in it for me?” “You’ll just have to find out.” “What do you mean?” “Randy, I have to go. I’ll callyou later.” "All right man. Bye," saidRandy, satisfied with the fact that he hadnot given Jeff a definitive answer. Jeff pushed the coin releasebutton on the indoor pay phone he wasusing before hanging up, and was notsurprised to see that no coins wereremitted. He hung up the receiver and

headed outside. Randy could hardly wait todeliver the news of the weekend’sevents at practice on Monday. In aneffort to avoid spilling the beansthroughout the day, he found it mostsuitable to refrain from conversingunless spoken to, although heencountered many of his teammates atlunch and during any given class. Whenhe stopped at his locker before practice,he was passed as on occasion by a darkblond girl named Serena. Seeing Serenamade Randy long to skip practice and gohome early, as she rode the same bus hewould normally ride and lived in thesame neighborhood as Randy.

“Hi,” said Serena. “Hey how are you?” saidRandy an unassuming look on his face.He remained at his locker until Serenahad gone, then hurried to the gym, whereChad and Damien stood outside of alocked door. It was five minutes afterpractice start time. “Hey, what’s up?” Chadintuitively lit up when he saw Randy.Moments later a janitor came andunlocked the gym door. The teammatespiled into the gym and were soon joinedby Adam. “What’s going on?” askedAdam after assessing the situation. “We’re still waiting for thecoach,” sighed Chad, reluctant to

address Adam’s random, albeit lateappearance amid an array of absences. “Okay,” said Adam, leaving thegym without ever taking a seat. “Like he really cared,” saidDamien, as if confirming Adam’sspeculation that people talked about himbehind his back. The others laughed. Just then a school administratorstepped into the gym and addressed theteam. “Guys, I’m afraid your coachfell ill this weekend and won’t be intoday,” said the administrator. His tonesuggested nothing of the coach’s illnessor the severity of it, and he leftimmediately upon delivering the news. Randy’s mind was a mixture of

concern and disappointment. Whatexactly had happened to coach Cook?Was he all right? Or perhaps Randy wasoverreacting and in fact it was no bigdeal. Either way, he could see he hadsucceeded once again in getting himselfstuck after school on a day whenpractice was essentially canceled, andperhaps more importantly missed anopportunity to alter his ego, as if itneeded any further altering, by letting thecoach be the first to know about thatweekend. “I knew I should have gonehome early,” said Chad. “Yeah, you never know whenthe coach will be here,” said Damien.“Unless you see him during the day.”

Randy could no longer resistthe urge to talk about his weekend andalleviate the awkward tension in thegym, as well as that which might arise ifhe were to tell coach Cook about it atsome point in the future and histeammates wondered at that point whyhe had not addressed it previously. “Hey, you guys know how Iwrestled at the wrestling school?” “Uh-huh,” said Chad jokingly.“What about it?” “Well the owner of the schooltold me to come back this weekend, andit turns out they want to give me freelessons.” “Wow, that’s cool,” said Chad,sounding disappointed. “So why do they

want to give you free lessons?” “It’s only on Saturdays, andonly for three weeks” said Randy, as ifto amend Chad's anguish. “Theybasically said they think it would begood publicity for the school.” “Hmm…did you ever think theymight be trying to take advantage ofyou?” said Chad. “Sounds like somebody’sjealous,” said Damien. “Oh, now I know you are nottalking about someone being jealous,”said Chad, picking up his backpack andstarting to leave. “I’ll see you tomorrow,Randy.” “Yeah, go ahead and leavejealous boy,” said Damien, making his

own exit. Randy tagged along slowly,saddened and astounded by histeammates’ selfish attitude. The reactionweighed heavy on his mind until he metDana on the bus to go home after school. “Can you believe Mr. Millerhad us marching outside today?” saidDana, referring to her band teacher. “Only if you can believe mycoach wasn’t here today and I had to sitinside the warm gym and not doanything," Randy smiled. He suddenlyrealized that the airy gym was in factanything but warm, though he figured itgave enough of an illusion. “Well at least I didn’t end upstaying after school on a day when itturns out I could have gone home,” said

Dana. “You’ve done that plenty oftimes,” said Randy. “I should know,since I hear about it every other day.” “Yeah, but at least I didn’t do ittoday. And the best part is I won’t haveto do any second guessing this weekabout what I may have missed if I hadgone home today.” “How was I supposed to knowthe coach wouldn’t be here today?” “Were any of your teammatesthere?” “Just two other guys.” “So…somehow the rest of themmust have known he wouldn’t be there.” “I don’t know. Half the time noone is at practice anyway.”

“You probably knew the coach wasn’tthere today, but you probably just stayedafter school on purpose so you couldcomplain.” “Oh please!” Randy laughed.“You imagine too much. Now leave mealone, I had a bad day.” “So did I…” said Dana. Randy issued her a placid blowbefore she could finish her statement,sending her into a spiraling laughter. Hethen reluctantly stood up to switch seats,doing his best to steady his lanky frameas he navigated the moving bus. Hepractically fell into an empty seat tworows behind a still laughing Dana. Herlaughter continued until the bus reachedtheir stop, though it lacked any sincerity

by this point. At the house, Erica loiteredalone on the porch, looking relieved tosee them as they approached the house.Their dad’s car was in the driveway, butthe red minivan was gone. “Where's mom?” asked Dana. “I don’t know,” said Erica. “Noone was here when I got here.” “Were you out here by yourselfall this time?” said Randy. “Of course she wasn’t,” saidDana. “I’m sure there are plenty of otherpeople out here somewhere.” “You two wait here,” saidRandy. He headed to a large woodenshed behind the house. The shed waspainted white and was surrounded by

tools and other items, including a manuallawnmower and a bicycle with a flatfront tire. Randy’s dad had purchased thebike for him at a yard sale some timeago, having never replaced the front tire,which had a slow leak. Dana had oftenridden the bicycle around their vastbackyard in spite of the flat, and Randyhad always been secretly tempted to dothe same. He spontaneously placed hisbackpack on the ground, picked up thebicycle and began riding leisurelyacross the land, first down a long, lowhill and then across flat terrain. Hebordered a white picket fence beyondwhich lie dry cornstalks and cows in apasture, as well as the distant bank of ariver, in which Randy often swam and

went fishing. He gradually made his wayhome again, inching strenuously up thehill and stopping at a trampoline near thehouse. He climbed onto the trampolineand sat among stray pieces of straw anddry leaves. When he had caught his breath,Randy was faced with the potentiallygrim prospect of looking for his parents.He explored the shed, which wasperpetually unlocked, and found nothingof suspicion. Next he looked in a redbarn to the right of the shed. In the barnwere a central lighting fixture andseveral bales of hay, but not Randy’sparents or anything he found unusual.Randy finally returned to the front of thehouse, where Dana and Erica were

playing with Mittens the cat. “What were you doing?” askedErica. “Nothing,” said Randy. “I saw you riding that bike,”Dana joked. “So what if you did? It’s mineanyhow.” The early evening had turnedinto a misty night by the time theirmother pulled up alone in the brick redvan. Carrying a paper bag of groceries,she approached the house and greetedher children with a mendaciouslycomposed look on her face. “Hi mommy,” Erica broached.“Where’s daddy?” “He’s just off on a little fishing

trip, honey. He'll be back soon.” Once in the house, they all heldback from the computer, none wanting tobe the guilty party to deprive the othersof its use. Dana watched modestly asRandy accompanied their mother to thekitchen, then she crept to the computer asquickly and carefully as her light feetwould allow. She realized too late thatErica’s company would surely blow hercover, but got the feeling she had time tospare nonetheless. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t herewhen you guys got home,” said Mrs.Stimpson, as Randy helped her toprepare dinner. “Your dad insisted hedidn’t want to pass up this fishing trip. Ijust wish he had told me about it before

today, especially since he’s going to begone for a week.” “Did he have to pay anything togo on the trip?” asked Randy, bearing inmind their constantly rocky financialsituation. “That’s the good thing. The shipcaptain will only deduct a portion of thepayment he would have received, if hecatches any fish. Otherwise he won’thave to pay a dime.” She held a plate inher hands. “Lord knows I suredo worry about him though.” Dana soon joined them in thekitchen, having left Erica at thecomputer.

Chapter Six Coach Cook’s absence atColumbus High School endured for theremainder of the week, which Randyfigured was nothing too unusual. He was

likewise happy to defensibly skippractice on Friday after finding thecoach absent on Wednesday. In the absence of his father,Randy’s mother dropped him at thewrestling academy for the first of hisfree lessons that Saturday. Gregory, Billand Mordecai were there as usual, andRandy was surprised to find Mordecaiamong those in his group for freelessons. Mordecai had been offered afew free lessons as well. “I didn’t know you were takinglessons,” said Randy. “I sure am,” said Mordecai.“Looks like you're in with me.” “All right,” said Randy. Hewondered with presentiment if they

would ultimately be pitted against eachother.The group members were put through aseries of strenuous tests, at which Randyand Mordecai both excelled amongothers. Less proficient members of thegroup were gradually dismissed as thetests progressed. When the tests wereover there remained six of the original10 in the group, including Randy andMordecai. “Congratulations. You all haveall made it through the first week,” saidthe trainer, “but be prepared for things toheat up even more next week.” “You did great,” Randy said toMordecai, relieved that they had eludedencounters, but already thinking ahead to

the next week.“Thanks,” said Mordecai, smilingthrough his despondency and aware ofRandy’s semi-artificial praise. “I’ll see you next week, man.”Mordecai seemed in a hurry to retreat tothe lobby, in truth hoping to avoidencounters with Gregory or Bill. He infact managed to avoid them completelyuntil they “found” him sitting on a benchoutside later that evening, after everyoneelse had gone. “Hello Mordecai. How haveyou been my friend?” Gregoryapproached from behind, catchingMordecai off guard. Mordecai did notoppose Gregory’s advance, lest hisanxiety get the better of him.

As Gregory drew closer to him,Mordecai stood up and walked away,but found himself stopped in his tracksby Gregory's heavy hand on his shoulder.Mordecai stopped as if making noattempt at resistance, though he wasindeed too speculative to be free of anyconcern over Gregory's intentions. “You did a good job today,kid,” said Gregory. “Keep up the goodwork next week” Mordecai turned around andlooked at him. He took the words instride, but he was also confused. Whatdid his performance matter to Gregory?Was Gregory merely offering acompliment, or did he believe he heldsome sort of stake in Mordecai's

performance? It was hard to tell, butMordecai figured he could only assumethe latter until it was proven otherwise. Seeing the questionable look onMordecai’s face, Gregory placed asuddenly compassionate arm around hissunken shoulders as they headed for thecar. Mordecai maintained a naturalreaction to this behavior, as he figured itwould let up when he least expected itand he needed to be prepared foranything. Gregory realized just as soonthat he may have come dangerouslyclose to disclosure of his ultimate goalto Mordecai, and would have to be morecareful to evade suspicion.Meanwhile coach Cook failed to returnto Columbus on Monday. The wrestling

team was told that practice would bepostponed until after Thanksgiving,when the coach likely would haveovercome the issues he had been dealingwith. Randy was devastated, though hewould thoroughly enjoy the opportunityto go home early until further notice.Or so he thought. As if by some odd twist of fate,Randy returned home from school todiscover that his dad had also failed toreturn from the fishing trip as scheduledafter a week of being gone. Randy’smother had been unable to determinewhere her husband was or why he hadnot returned, though she concealed herconcerns about him as she accompaniedRandy and Dana to a joint doctor

appointment that afternoon. Their appointment was held asusual at the local hospital, a two-tieredbrick building with a total of five floors.Their doctor’s office was on the thirdfloor. “My friend’s uncle is in thishospital,” said Dana as they entered thehospital. “Really?” said Randy. “What’swrong with him?” “Who said there was anythingwrong with him?” “Well why else would he behere?” “I’m here. Is there anythingwrong with me?” Randy wondered if that was a

rhetorical question. “He works here,” Dana saidfinally. Randy tried not to laugh. “Okay.What does he do?” “I just told you,” said Dana.“He works here.” Randy’s stifled laughtersuddenly took full control over him. “Igive up,” he said shaking his head. Ericastood near their mother, lookingconfused, but happy not to have anappointment herself on this particularday. When Randy and Dana hadfinished their appointments, the familyexited the doctor’s office andapproached the elevator to ride back to

the main floor. They passed a windoweddoor through which a set of stairs wasvisible. “I bet I can get down the stairsbefore you get down the elevator,” saidDana. “All right,” said Carol. “Justdon’t hurt yourself.” Dana was joined by Erica asshe waited for the elevator to open andthe others to board. As soon as theelevator had closed, they busted throughthe windowed door to the stairs anddashed to the ground floor, arriving justseconds before the elevator. IgnoringErica’s unfettered look, Dana quicklycomposed herself and stood tall as theelevator opened.

“What did I tell you?” said Dana. “Oh please,” said Randy,glancing at Erica, who breathed heavily.“You guys just got here.” “But I still beat you.” “I can’t help the speed of theelevator.” “I know. I can’t help the factthat it goes so fast either.” The week wore on with no signof Bruce or coach Cook. Randy grewincreasingly concerned, and hewondered against all odds if coachCook’s sudden disappearance had anyconnection to his father’s vanishing. Atthe end of the week, his mother finallylet go of her tension and permittedRandy to travel alone to a typically

abandoned beach area not far from thehouse. This was amid protests fromDana and Erica, who were allowedcoveted computer time in exchange forstaying behind.Randy stood tall against the offshorebreeze, his sad eyes falling across avacant green waterway dinned by a pinkhorizon. Looking up the shore to thewest, he could scarcely make out acommercial fishing pier at a wharfwhere his father had been employed as adeck hand for 15 years, and from whichhis boat had launched. Randy sighed ashe could detect not even the slightest hintof any watercraft near the wharf oranywhere else on the water within hisperspective.

Taking the bus home on timerecently had reminded Randy that Serenawas dropped off at a small brickrambler that seemed from the ride to besomewhere along the beach. His gazedrew warily to a series of homes along alow cliff some distance from the water.The homes appeared surrounded oneither side by trees. Still seeing no oneand nothing of interest, Randy wasobliged to finally take heed to thefeverish bite of the unseen sand fleaswhich seemed to envelop every squareinch of exposed flesh on his body. Heheaded home as if to escape theirpervasiveness, though it seemed tolinger even after he took a shower thatevening.

While Randy had been on hisway home, a stray mixed breed dogwandered the grounds of a junkyard in anearby town, sniffing furiously as if onthe trail of something. The dog camegradually closer to a black-shirted manwho was sorting through car parts. Theman, along with his brother, wasemployed at the junkyard five days aweek. The junkyard’s owner had alsomade arrangements to accommodateanother young man who was living withthem, though he could scarcely afford topay the young man minimum wage on agood day. The black-shirted man found aparticular car part, and was followed bythe dog as he walked past piles of

vehicles to a large garage, where hehanded the part to his brother. “This ought to do it,” black-shirt said. “Looks like it’s going to haveto,” said his brother, peering under thehood of a car. “You guys go on ahead.I’ll take it from here.” The brother spokeas if he stood to gain something byagreeing to continue working, whichblack-shirt took heed of.When he'd finished work on the car,black-shirt's brother entered an interiordoor leading to a lobby area in abuilding affixed to the garage. In thearea, black-shirt and the associateemployee sat scattered behind a desk.They followed the brother as he exited

through the main door to the outside. “I tell ya Bill, it’s about timewe had a decent week for a change,”black-shirt remarked to his brother. “Yeah, especially with thisbeing so unreliable,” added the brother.“Never know what’s gonna happen oneweek to the next.” “Say Bill, what do you say wehead over to Ruben’s for a sec? I’vebeen waiting all week to get my buzzon.” “I’m in, Greg,” said thebrother. Ruben’s was a local pub,where Gregory and Bill traveled on therare occasion they had money to spare. Mordecai was familiar with Ruben’s,though he had never been there himself.

He paid no particular attention toGregory and Bill’s conversation, havingno real desire to enter Ruben’s, butfiguring all the same he’d be allowedentry if he wanted, at least givensufficient proof of age. He also did notbother, as he had wanted, to make a jokeabout the fact that Gregory likely hadplenty of alcohol at home, effectivelyremoving the need to go to the pub todrink. They arrived at Ruben’s andGregory and Bill entered as usual,leaving behind Mordecai, who had madeamends to mingle with a group of othersoutside. “He ought not be drinkin’anyhow with all that’s at stake

tomorrow,” said Bill secretively. “Surecan’t throw it all away on a hangover.” “No kidding, Bill. The securityguy’d have to be drunk himself to evenlet the kid in.” Shortly after Gregory and Billhad entered the pub, Mordecai made alone assessment of those surroundinghim, unable to lay his eyes upon a singlemale that resembled even what heimagined he’d look like if he looked hisown age. Yet he noticed others whoapparently made a decision to enter thepub after lingering for a period outside,and it left him without a feeling of guiltwhen he entertained the same idea uponcatching the urge to use the restroom. Mordecai moved casually to the

back of the line of people entering thepub and had soon made his way to thefront. He had by that time retrieved hisonly proof of age, a driver's licensewhich was nearing expiration afteralmost 5 years. His desire to relievehimself had by this time become fullblown. Reaching the front of the line, hepresented the license to a security guard,who imprudently allowed him to enterjust in time to prevent a certain accident. So intense had Mordecai’s urgebecome that his efforts were focusedentirely on locating a restroom. To hisrelief he located one near the entrance,and he quickly acknowledged theprospect of finding either Gregory orBill within its walls. The men’s

restroom it seemed was among the mostactive spots in the bar, perhaps evenmore so than the women’s room.Mordecai found himself debilitatedbetween his ever-increasing urge to usethe restroom, and what he realized waslikely an unfounded fear that he wouldencounter either Gregory or Bill, thoughthis hardly provided any attenuation of itas he waited. He made it to a toilet justin time, though he thought he wouldnever have had an accident as long as itproved necessary to prevent one. Uponfinishing his business, he peered out ofhis stall and made the quickest beelinehe could out of the restroom through theshrouds of waiting men. Back in the main tavern,

Mordecai’s previous urge to use thebathroom had been replaced with theurge to explore his surroundings. Yet hetouted the crowds as among any excusehe could distinguish to avoid a potentialunpleasant encounter, as surprised as hewas already not to have come upon hiscompany. He escaped innocently to thefreedom of the outdoors, never noticingGregory and Bill who had also goneoutside and seemed to witness Mordecaileaving. Once outside and away from thepub's chaos, Mordecai examined hisname on his driver's license, wonderingwhat had made his parents decide togive him the name. He wondered if theyhad not looked to the Bible and chosen

the name in scornful anticipation of whatmight become of him, or that perhaps itwas his name, chosen howeverrandomly, that had itself attributed to hislife of relative misfortune. He hadbecome lost in these thoughts when anabrupt hand darted like a missiletowards the license, taking hold of itinstead of taking it down. “Well now, what do we havehere?” said Gregory. “You know I wouldhave loved to have had one of thesemyself when I was your age. Of course Ididn’t need it.” “Well I am going to need it todrive,” said Mordecai, “so hand itover.” Gregory looked him up and

down. “Boy, you’d be hard-pressed toeven convince anyone you could drivewith this fake ID of yours.” “Yeah…I’m sure you know allabout those kinds of things.” Gregory ignored the commentand continued to revel in his owntorment. “So tell us Mordecai. Just whatwere you doing in there?” “Wouldn’t you like to know,”said Mordecai, recalling the beer canincident. “I’m just trying to figure outhow he got that ID,” Bill remarked. “I know I don’t look 21,”Mordecai admitted. “But you know I’dhave to be at least 18 to be out of schoolnow,”

“Says who?" Bill replied,taking Mordecai’s license from Gregory."I dropped out myself when I was 16,and even then I looked twice your age.” “Not so fast, Bill,“ saidGregory, taking firm hold of Mordecai.“Our driver’s gonna need that. Isn’t thatright, kid?” Mordecai could already senseGregory’s crazed prospects, the enduringfeeling that just about anything could andwould happen as long as he was inGregory’s grasp. Indeed Mordecai wasamazed by what was an apparentacknowledgment by Gregory that heshould not drive himself after drinking. Itwas, after all the type of responsiblebehavior that was completely atypical of

Gregory. Nonetheless Mordecai wasn’tabout to risk a drunken ride withGregory, who was like a maniac behindthe wheel even when sober. “You want me to drive yourcar?” Mordecai asked, ignoring thethreat that Gregory still posed. Gregorydid not answer, but instead headed to hiscar. A still subdued Mordecaiperfunctorily followed every step of theway. When they reached the car Gregoryopened the driver side door andreleased his hold on Mordecai. “Let’s see what you got kid,”said Gregory. Mordecai took acalculated look at Gregory, then, as ifhaving made a split-second decision,moved suddenly and swiftly towards the

car’s opened door. But he was unable tomake it inside before he was yankedharshly back. “How sad,” said Gregory. “Itseems you haven’t learned anything inyour time here with me.” “If there’s one thing I’velearned it’s that you are apparentlystupid enough to drive drunk,” saidMordecai. “I guess the only question isam I stupid enough to ride with you?” “You’re right,” said Gregorysomberly. “I guess I just can’t bear thethought of a poor kid getting caught up inthis bar scene after hours.”Mordecai suppressed his laughter. Washe really to believe in the compassion ofa man who was ready to drive while

impaired? Unfortunately he could notignore the words of a reassuring Bill,who it seemed never agreed openly withGregory except on issues of the utmostimportance. “Your best bet’s to stick withus, kid,” said Bill, his blank face staringstraight ahead, away from Mordecai.In his typical daring fashion, Mordecaiclimbed without faltering into the backseat of the car. Gregory started the carand drove slowly out of the parking lotand onto the main road. Just whenMordecai thought he might actually makeit out alive, Gregory took off down theroad at lighting speed, undoubtedly luckythat there were no other cars in his path.Some miles later, Gregory took a turn

down a road that was unfamiliar toMordecai.. The road came to an end farfrom any civilization, save the variousanimals which more than likely madetheir homes in the thick backwoods. Putting his pride on the shelf,Mordecai took immediate advantage ofhis first opportunity to vacate the car,removing his potential to become asitting target. He believed this wasincreasingly likely now that his tenacityhad been revealed to Gregory. Gregoryand Bill both stood leaning against thecar, their back towards Mordecai as theysmoked cigarettes. Mordecai inchedever closer to the woods, certain hecould reach their cover before anyonetook notice. He continued to keep watch,

however, and stopped in his tracks themoment he saw Gregory make amovement in. Bill finished his cigarette andgot into the car’s driver seat, whileGregory remained outside, an impassivegaze on his face with his back towardsMordecai. He finally went around thecar to the passenger side, seemingoblivious to Mordecai as he climbed in.Mordecai watched the car as it remainedin place, and he became satisfied that itwas safe to enter the woods undetected,though he'd yet to determine where hewould go from there. He felt immediaterelief behind the cover of the trees,where he remained for about an hourwithout venturing far from the spot

where he'd left Gregory's car. Having exhausted a fair amountof time, he returned to where the car hadbeen, expecting to see it gone. When hediscovered that it was still where it hadbeen he ran to it, wary but a bitconcerned. He found Gregory and Billboth unconscious in their seats.

Chapter Seven Mordecai climbed into the carthrough the unlocked right rear door.“What the heck have I got myself into?”he thought, shaking his head. Trying hardnot to fear the worst, he figured the twohad probably simply passed out frominebriation. He nearly passed out

himself from relief after feeling a tell-tale pulse on both of them, in spite ofhow fast it was. Lying down on the backseat, he found himself drenched in sweatdespite the frigid temperatures bothoutdoors and within the car, his heartpounding furiously.“ I guess this must be howGregory goes without a jacket all thetime,” Mordecai thought. He noticed thatthe fabric covering the car's ceiling wascoming loose at the corners and wastempted to pull it completely off.Nonetheless he was beyond exhaustedand decided to fight back the urge bycondemning himself to sleep. The next day was Saturday, thesecond day of lessons for Randy’s group

at O’Brien’s academy.. Round two, as itwas called, was indeed more intensethan the previous round had been. Uponthe conclusion of the day’s activities, thetrainer put through four students to thenext round, including Randy andMordecai, in order to maintain an evennumber. The four students were to returnin two weeks, at which time they were toface each other in a series of matches todetermine who, if any among them,would be allowed to compete for thetitle the week after. Gregory, who believed he hadinvested a great deal of time and effortinto Mordecai, was perhaps even morestanch about Mordecai’s prospectiveperformance than Mordecai himself.

Gregory's treatment of Mordecaiimproved significantly in the daysfollowing the incident at Ruben's, andhe even went as far to apologize toMordecai for all of his pasttransgressions. While he remained leeryof Gregory's behavior., Mordecaicouldn't help but have a forgivingattitude, and came to renew his trust inGregory as someone who had his bestinterests in mind.Meanwhile, the whereabouts of Bruceand his shipmates were declaredunknown after they failed to makecontact for 48 hours. Although Randywas gravely distraught, he yearned forthe sundry relief that he hoped wouldcome in the form of his brother Jeff, who

was to arrive from college for hisholiday break.On the evening when Jeff was to arrive,he surprised everyone by showing up ina bright yellow, tiered-windowed van,whose cramped interior conveyed anatmosphere similar to a small residentialdwelling. The van was as small aspossible to be easy to drive, while stillmaintaining a somewhat spaciousinterior and a 6 cylinder engine.“What is the meaning of this?” Mrs.Stimpson asked upon witnessing the van.Jeff explained to his mother that he hadpurchased the van just prior to startingcollege and had driven it to and fromcampus.“I thought it was pretty cool,” he said.

“And you haven’t even heard the bestpart.” He stopped suddenly, realizing hismother would likely have a disparagingreaction to the news he was about todeliver.“Oh? What is that?” asked Mrs.Stimpson.“Well…I was just going to say I got areally good deal on it.”“I’m glad you did,” said Carol. Shecontinued inquisitively, “I’m surprisedyou even had any money for it since youhaven’t had a job.”“I got a loan rebate check, mom. Thevan’s just about the only thing I spent anymoney on as it is,” he lied."What about insurance?" Mrs. Stimpsonpersisted.

"I'm on dad's insurance," he had toadmit. There was no lying about thisfact, lest he lose whatever credibility hehad.“All right,” said Mrs. Stimpson. “I justhope that thing was worth whatever youpaid for it.”“I only paid $625, and it’s held up justfine ever since.” Actually the van hadbeen $800 and was in essence justdrivable, though it needed repairs whichJeff had thus been unable to afford.“Good for you. We’ll see how long itlasts.” Mrs. Stimpson was tryingdesperately to suspend her uneaseregarding the whereabouts of herhusband, hoping her children wouldcomparatively neglect the subject,

though she could sense the curioustension in the air.Later Jeff and Randy were in theirshared bedroom, amid wrestlingmemorabilia and posters of theirfavorite music groups which graced theirwalls. It was here that Randy learned thereal reason his brother had purchasedthe van.“I cut room and board right off my list ofexpenses,” said Jeff. “I’ve just beenliving out of the van.”“No way,” said Randy. “How do you usethe bathroom? And take showers?”“I can get into the dorm bathrooms. Halfthe time there isn’t even anyone at thefront desk, but if there is I just show mystudent ID and they let me right in.”

“But couldn’t anyone just get in if there’sno one to check at the desk? That can'tpossibly be safe.” “Maybe not, but it works forme.”“How about laundry?”“It’s called a laundromat, Randy. I onlyhave a few clothes anyhow.”“Don’t you ever want to watch TV?”“I got it covered,” Jeff pulled up a 13”television, affixed to a surge protectorwhich plugged into a cigarette lighter.“They have TVs in some of the studentareas too.”“Dude, that thing doesn’t even get cable.How do you watch wrestling?”Jeff retrieved a small laptop, pointing toa wireless card that was plugged into it.

Randy was suddenly consumed by theurge to use the laptop, though he figuredthere was probably a good reason whyJeff was not using it himself.“The college has free wirelesscoverage, so I can get the Internet rightfrom the van. I watch wrestling on-line,and sometimes I even get the pay-per-views free.”Randy was studying the surge protector.“I know this thing has to just drain thelife out of the van’s battery…”“I use it in moderation. Just the TV andlaptop don’t use much energy anyway.”“Oh,” said Randy, figuring his brotherwould an answer arranged foreverything he asked. “I wonder wheredad is,” Randy inquired, as if he had

wanted to say it all along.“I’m sure he’s fine,” said Jeff. “Histrip’s probably just running a little long.But he’ll be here for Thanksgiving, justyou watch.”In the living room, Mrs. Stimpsongradually cried herself to sleep, hertears just missing the computer keyboardover which she was narrowly hunched.Dana and Erica slept deeply in their ownshared bedroom. The next day was Randy’s lastday of school before Thanksgivingbreak. While Randy and his sisters wereat school, Jeff rode the van around to gethis old town feel back. Mrs. Stimpsondecided to stay home and monitor thephone in case there was any news on her

husband. It had been unusually warmlately, and Jeff decided to drive by thepier. It was busy for that time of year,with at least one boat waiting to launchwhile another came in. For a momentJeff considered going swimming, as heso often did in the summer, but reasonedit impractical in light of the chill in theair, that seemed to come and go with thebreeze. Jeff entered a boathouse adjacent to thepier, where there were items for saleranging from fishing supplies to town-inspired Christmas apparel. A middleaged man was assisting a customer at acounter in the back. When the customerhad gone, Jeff approached the counter

and asked for any information regardinghis father. He learned the boat his fatherwas on had in fact apparently failed tomeet an established fishing quota, andwould likely be delayed until furthernotice. It was not the most promisingassessment, but at least his father wasokay as far as he knew.Outside, Jeff took a survey of thegrounds and observed fishermen inaction. He cringed as he observed one ofthem pull in a catfish, which in hisopinion were the least lucrative, yetmost often caught specimen in thefreshwater tributaries that bordered theChesapeake. A lone female broke awayfrom the fishing men and kept somedistance from Jeff as she walked up the

dock. “Hey. Do you fish?” Jeff askedher, not sure if she could hear him.“Oh sure. I love to fish,” she said. “Howbout you?”“Same here. I come here with my dad allthe time.”"That's cool," she said. "I'm Lisa.""I'm Jeff," said Jeff."Nice to meet you. Do you want toexchange numbers or something?""Sounds great," said Jeff. "I'll give youmy email address too."They exchanged information and partedways, neither wanting to be the first toleave the other but both ultimatelycomplacent with the idea.By the time her other children had

arrived home from school, Mrs.Stimpson began to worry as Jeffremained out with the van. She calledRandy into the living room from hisbedroom, where he had been inspectingthe accumulated contents of hisbackpack. Randy was wearing awrinkled wrestling t-shirt as heapproached his mother.“Where did you get that shirt? I hope youdidn’t wear it to school,” said Carol.The truth was he had just found itfurrowed in the bottom of his backpack,after months of thinking it lost.“Didn’t your brother have his own cellphone?” Carol asked.“He told me he didn’t have service onit,” said Randy.

“Really? Do you have his phonenumber?”“Yeah, hang on.” Randy retreated backto the room, picking up the prepaidphone he had been using. He stood in thehall and observed his mother, who waslost in the colorful sea of the computerscreen. Without thinking twice, Randywas poised to send a text message toJeff. The message read:Jeff, it’s Randy. Where are you?Randy couldn’t help but feel invariablyguilty for sending the text message,which used a whole prepaid minute,without utilizing the maximum number ofallotted characters for the samesubtraction. Jeff received the message onhis phone, but was skeptical about the

actual identity of who had delivered it.He recognized that it was delivered fromthe phone Randy had been using andseemed in a moment to assume it washim, as if no longer caring to wonder.Jeff replied:Look behind the big tree in the front ofthe house.He wanted to add not to tell his mother,but decided to leave no room forreproach in the event it were Mrs.Stimpson herself on the other end of thephone. He figured she would bedispleased anyhow at what she mightperceive as humiliation, but would beless likely to take his instructionsseriously enough to follow them herself.Randy went outside and found Jeff's van

parked behind a large tree at aninconspicuous distance from the house.A front door on the van opened justslightly for a moment, then openedcompletely as if it had been deemed safeto allow entry. Randy climbed into thevan's front passenger seat and observedthrough the rear view mirror as Jeffsorted items in the back. The surgeprotector emitted from the cigarettelighter and just barely connected thelaptop and television via a short cordwhich could not reach to the back byitself. It looked like Jeff usually sat inthe front when using the items, but forsome reason now had them as far backwith him in the van as he could."Mom wants to know where you are,"

Randy eyed his brother through the rearview."Tell her I'm in my van," said Jeff."No way man. I'm not going back inthere until you do.""Whatever. I need to find a way to getsome money for gas.""I know how you can get money for gas.""How?""Sell the van."Jeff sighed and continued to sort throughitems, leaning to his laptop at randompoints in between. He and Randyultimately returned to the house together,where there whereabouts had ironicallygone unquestioned by anyone.“There you are! When did you get here?”Carol asked as if Jeff had just arrived.

“I found out some stuff about dad," saidJeff. "They think his trip is just running alittle long."“Yeah, they called me about it," saidCarol. "We were warned that this was apossibility, but he was so certain he’d beback by Thanksgiving. He decided to goahead with the trip anyhow.""Well who knows? Maybe he will beback tomorrow," said Randy. "Theimportant thing is he's all right.”They went through the remainder of theevening as joyfully as possible, thoughstrangely it was not much different thanmost other evenings without the oftennettlesome effects of Bruce's presence,and there was no significant differencefrom their typical behavior.

They spent much of the following day ata public park which accompanied thefishing pier, where they admired theCanadian geese that lingered on theshores of the riverbank, ahead of thecoming winter.Dana often fed the geese when she wasat the park and had food available, andhad developed their trust to the pointwhere they would practically eat out ofher hand. On this day as Dana made anoffering of stale bread to her featheredfriends, the largest among them fought itstypical way to the head of the flock,biting Dana's hand with scraggly teeth asit partook of her offering. This came asquite a shock to Dana, who had neverbefore had such an experience. But she

found to her surprise that the bite hadbarely caused her any pain, and began toconsider provoking more bites as a wayto impress people. She strode towardsErica and their mother, knowing thegeese would follow her in the beliefthere was more food at stake. The geeseseemed skeptical to come along at first,but created a near stampede in herdirection when Dana threw a single crustof bread on the ground."Mommy, I'm scared!" Erica cried."Make them stop!""Check this out," She held out a largecrumb of bread in her hand, to which thelargest goose immediately flocked. Ericasurprisingly, and almost deliberately,witnessed this without reaction.

"What's going on?" Jeff came over withRandy.Without a word, Dana promptly offeredthe large goose another hand-grazing biteof bread, allowing her brothers towitness the action."Doesn't that hurt?""Give me a piece of bread," said Erica,standing some distance from Dana andthe geese."Here you go," said Dana, offering heran unsteady ration while still completelysurrounded by hungry birds. Erica creptover to her and retrieved the bread,running directly back to their motherwho sat on a park bench outside theperimeter of the geese. Several geesefollowed Erica as she moved on to an

open field, oblivious to their droppingswhich littered the grass in all directions."Don't cry to me when one of them bitesyou," Mrs. Stimpson called, not lookingup from the book she was reading."Me either," called Jeff.As if out of spite, Erica lured the geesetowards her brothers, dropped somebread right in front of them and took off.Jeff could only roll his eyes as he andRandy casually observed the scene,waiting for the moment when they knewthe birds would eventually lose interestand disperse. Randy began movingabout, causing many of the skittish birdsto bound furiously with a prominent,almost human-like hiss. Through thecommotion Randy and Jeff fought their

way safely to a vacant park bench, bothsomehow avoiding a step on geesedroppings in spite of theirinattentiveness. The evening came all too early that timeof year, requiring the family to leavewithout Bruce, who had once againfailed to arrive home. They spentThanksgiving day at Mrs. Stimpson'sparent’s house as they did every year.,without particular reaction to Bruce'sperceived absence. Following Thanksgiving, Jeffmade the most of his time off beforereturning to college. When he did return,it was in a van that was perhaps in itsworst condition ever. Meanwhile Randyprepared for his last week of his free

lessons at the academy, the one thatcould ultimately lead to a shot at theacademy title belt.

Chapter Eight

When the third and final week of lessonscame around, Randy was in the midst ofall types of anxiety, though he maintaineda natural air. He and the three otherswho remained in his group were giventhe option to choose who would initiallywrestle another among them. Thisresulted in Randy and Mordecai facingthe other two students respectively,based on an unspoken notion that they

would not face each other unlessabsolutely necessary.Mordecai was first up, facing a studentof 23 years named Stanley. Mordecaihad Gregory on edge throughout thematch, coming dangerously closer tobeing pinned at times. In a moment ofweakness, Stanley found he was simplyunable to make a move in spite of thefront he put on and the incredible efforthe put forth. Mordecai was in factunaware of this flaw in his opponent’scapacity when he took what he thoughtwas common advantage of anopportunity to score a pin fall. Heseemed mundanely to cover Stanley, andas if out of arrogance showed no moresurprise when he found himself declared

the winner. The audience had a usualreaction to the outcome, and Gregorytried to convey the same reaction so asnot to appear overly enthused. Next came Randy, who geared up for amatch facing a student named Paul. Paulwas just slightly older than Randy, androughly at the same skill level. Randytreated the match no different than hewould any other, though it was probablythe most difficult in which he had everbeen involved. Randy called upon all of his years ofexperience as he put everything he hadinto the match, frequently going from oneextreme to the other. At the apex of thematch, Randy had his opponent covered,but was unable to maintain the hold long

enough to pick up the win. The tablestook a turn as Paul gained the upper handon Randy and embraced him in a securestronghold. The end result was a loss forRandy, which occurred about 10 minutesinto the match.Gregory’s face at this point bore anexpression that did not necessarily implycontentment, but would offer nosuggestion to the contrary. Bill looked onas if trying to read his brother's mind atany moment, as did a suddenlyinquisitive Mordecai, hopingdesperately for a tell-tale sign.“All right. We’re down to two,” Jamesthe trainer spoke the words with aparticular note of enthusiasm, though itwas clear he was probably accustomed

to dealing with title competitions on aregular basis.“ Now here’s what’s going tohappen,” he turned to Paul andMordecai. “You two will have towrestle each other following these nexttwo matches. Whoever wins will havethe opportunity to compete for the titlenext week against current title holder,Daniel Evans. If the person who wins isunable to make it or chooses not tocompete next week, however, the otherone of you will be allowed to competein his place. I would suggest thereforethat you both be here next week, nomatter what happens.” The possibility of acquiring thetitle was about as lucrative to both young

men, and both it seemed had the samegoal in mind. Mordecai, however, hadother plans. As much as he would haveloved to compete for the title, somethingelse had been of the utmost concern tohim lately, and it was something forwhich he’d make no sacrifice, even forthe title. Following the two othermatches, Paul and Mordecai were set toface each other. As he had so often in thepast, Mordecai wondered how he wouldremain convincing while bearing theemotional burden that was necessary togo through with his plan, or if he couldeven manage to go through with it. As the match got started, Paulgot the impression that Mordecai was

making a less than halfhearted effort.Paul didn't immediately assume that thisbehavior was deliberate, although thethought crossed his mind. He wasovercome by the feeling that he wouldbe caught off guard by attempting to takeadvantage of an all too obvious ruse, andhe became suddenly at odds with himselfin this regard. He ultimately decided hehad nothing to lose, and decided to callMordecai's bluff by putting forth thegreatest effort he could. It was at thispoint that Mordecai decided to do thesame, abandoning his previous decisionto risk losing a title shot by exuding theminimum effort. He figured beingwithout the title would prohibit him frombeing in a particular position of

compromise, but he realized suddenlythat he was prepared to be in thatposition. Paul believed Mordecai to be in hisprevious state of vulnerability as heapproached and attempted to take himdown. By the time Paul realized thedifference in Mordecai's stance, he hadbecome inevitably vulnerable himself.Unable to escape the flaw in hisassumption, Paul found himself beyondthe point of return and unable to defendhimself, leading Mordecai to win thematch. The spectators cheered asMordecai tried to take in what had justhappened, and all of its possibleimplications. Mordecai stood by and

accepted his congratulations beforecreeping proudly out of the ring,somehow convincing himself that hebore the impression of reserve. Helooked around for Gregory and Bill, butcaught no glimpse of either as hesprinted to the locker room. Entering thelocker room, he opened a locker andremoved a duffel bag containing hisclothes. The room was at this point voidof all other people, although Mordecaihardly took no notice of this fact. Hebecame acutely aware of it, however,when Gregory and Bill entered, makingthe room feel suddenly full with theirdisputable presence. Not even theunmistakable grin on Gregory's facecould disclose his true motive as he

drew closer to Mordecai. “You did a good job out there,kid,” said Gregory affectionately,placing strong hands on the shouldersof a depleted Mordecai. “I'm proud ofyou.” Mordecai remained focused ongathering his belongings as he passedGregory a indefinite smile. “Thanks,” hesaid stoically. “When are you leaving?”“The last match just started, so we'llleave after that,” Gregory said blandly.Mordecai did not detect any scourge inGregory's voice, so he decided therewas no immediate need for concern. Hewas in fact beginning to regret havingmistrusted Gregory and resolved to bemuch more confiding of him going

forward. Randy meanwhile sat in one ofthe chairs surrounding the ring, taking inthe final match before contacting hismother for a ride home. He was not atall vengeful of his own loss, preferringinstead to focus on the good nature of theopportunity he had already been giventhrough the free lessons. Thisopportunity alone he decided wasenough to be thankful for, even in spiteof his missed shot at the title. He figuredas well that he would show his supportMordecai, who was to compete for thetitle himself the following week. At home, Gregory offeredMordecai a beer as they settled in theliving room.

“You earned it, kid,” helaughed. “Go ahead and drink up.” Mordecai didn't think he hadever been happier to have the followingday free in the event that he becameoverly inebriated. He grew increasinglyflaccid as he loosened up, as didGregory and Bill. Within an hour he hadpassed out on the living room floor,being observed by a barely consciousGregory. “That kid just better make surehe delivers next week where it counts,”Gregory thought to himself momentsbefore drifting off. The televisionproceeded to illuminate an otherwisepitch black house. Having effectively lost his shot

at the title and exhausted his free lessonsat the academy, Randy meanwhile coulddo little more than hope for the best onbehalf of Mordecai. He sighed as he liein bed contemplating the school work hehad overlooked in his excitement, andmentally determined the time he had tocomplete it. The day's events combinedwith the absence of his father, brotherand his coach had left him without theurge to do anything more than lie down,which put him to sleep before he knewit. Dana and Erica were more interestedin the unabridged opportunity to use thecomputer than they were rueful of theirbrother's condition. As the school week began,Randy was forced to deliver the news

about his loss when asked about it by histeammates. Although he was feelingprofoundly downhearted in their midst,he managed to take comfort in lookingforward to Mordecai's upcoming match.The knowledge that the match was on thehorizon was the sole presence that gotRandy through the week and allowedhim to complete his school work ontime, for which he was eternallygrateful. He felt as though he hadperhaps been provided with a drivingforce that was not available to any otherstudents. Being so driven throughout theweek allowed Randy to make it toSaturday easily enough, although he didnot get there without placing his

complete focus at points on schoolrelated issues to where all other issueswere forgotten entirely. He wasnonetheless dropped off at the academyby his mother when the day came, andshe vowed to return after visiting asecond hand shop which offered steepdiscounts on Saturdays. Inside the academy Randydiscovered Mordecai, looking timid yetfocused as he sat in plain clothes amongGregory and Bill. It was still early in theday, and Randy figured Mordecai wasobserving the other matches that were totake place before his own. Having nopart in the day's events, Randy was noteasily able to access the area near thering, and he also felt less significant than

those who were directly involved inmatches. He sighed as he observed froma distance, knowing that Mordecai's titlematch would take place only upon theconclusion of the rest of the day's events.The moment finally came whenMordecai approached the ring, dressedin wrestling gear and with a strong,gallant look about him. James the trainercame upon him and issued a definitivestatement.“Congratulations on your decision tocompete for the O'Brien WrestlingAcademy title belt,” said James, as ifinstructed to say the same to all titlecontenders. Randy had noticed thatJames seemed the veteran trainer at theacademy and could probably use more

help, though the academy never seemedto be hiring.“I need to inform you of a few thingsbefore you compete,’ James continued.He wore glasses and referenced aclipboard. “As always, we strictlyprohibit the use of any moveswhatsoever that are designedspecifically to inflict cruel and/orunusual physical harm, or wouldotherwise create or cause such harm.These include but are not limited tochoke holds, submission moves,excessive punching, kicking, pummeling,pounding, slamming and the like. Theanticipated use of any such moves on alevel that is deemed unsuitable willresult in immediate disqualification of

the subject and possible loss of titleprivileges where applicable. The titleholder need not meet any specialrequirements, but will be expected toshow here every Saturday as long asthey have the title, and defend it in amatch at least every other week. Basedon these conditions, do you still wish tocompete for the title?”"Yes,” said Mordecai. “I do”With that, James motioned for Mordecaito ascend the stairs into the ring. Acrossfrom Mordecai stood Daniel, the currenttitle holder, with the title fixated as ifholding his place in a chair in the frontrow.The bell to start the match rang withoutany warning, as was a traditional

measure to catch competitors off guardwhen competing for the title.Nonetheless, neither competitor misseda beat, and they both incrediblycompelling, with Mordecai exhibitingthe extraordinary power that Gregoryfeared deep down.Like most people, Daniel had nevercompeted with someone on Mordecai'slevel and was relatively unprepared forwhat Mordecai had to offer. HoweverDaniel managed to keep pressure on hisopponent for quite some time, which hehoped would either tire Mordecai out orconvince him that he had perhaps finallymet his match. Mordecai, on the otherhand was not only used to this type ofbehavior, but he remained so

invigorated throughout the match that henever even considered the behavior wasbeing employed by Daniel.There finally reached that turning pointin a match where one's weaknessbecomes exposed, unable to be hiddenany longer behind expired stamina. Thisleft both competitors as vulnerable asever, and it became a pure matter of whowas the better among them at fullexposure. Daniel was certainly notwithout confidence that he could defeatMordecai, as he had beat out toughcompetition to get to the title. But havingall but let themselves go, it seemedMordecai was simply the tougher of thetwo of them outright, for he foundhimself able to pull ahead even in his

totally depleted state. This ultimately ledhim to achieve what was perhaps themost pure, humble win in the history ofthe academy.Having won the match in this manner,seemingly without trying, Mordecaibegan to wonder if Daniel had perhapsturned the tables on him, having forwhatever reason feigned any attempt towin. Yet as he went over the match in hismind, Mordecai realized that Daniel hadindeed put up a serious struggle and onlyappeared depleted around the same timeMordecai did. Mordecai quicklydetermined that the match had beenlegitimate, after which the reality of hiswin settled almost instinctively into hismind. In that single, solitary moment of

glory, nothing else seemed to matterquite frankly. Looking around him,however, Mordecai recalled theimportance of his win, including theopportunity it gave him to of others.the new title holder was required chooseor allow the academy to select anapplicable opponent for them.

Chapter Nine

The next afternoon, there was aknock at the door of the Stimpson house.Randy got up to open the door, knowingthat no one else would. He wassurprised to find Jeff standing there, andwondered what his presence impliedsince there was no reason why he shouldhave return from college again so soon. “Hey Jeff. What are you doingback here?” asked Randy. “I decided to take the rest of thesemester off from college and come backhome,” said Jeff. “I don't think mom's going to betoo happy to hear that,” said Randy. “She'll get over it,” said Jeff,entering the house with his laptop in

hand, “by the way, this thing won't workwith the cigarette lighter in my vananymore.” “I told you,” said Randy, “thevoltage is probably too high.” They both headed for the sofa,never expecting their mother to look upfrom the computer where she sat at herdesk nearby. She couldn't help but bemade aware of Jeff's presence, however,and looked immediately over at him. “What's going on here? Aren'tyou supposed to be in college, Jeff?” “I took the rest of the semesteroff, mom. I figured I need to be here incase dad doesn't come back.” “You should have told mebefore you did this,”said Mrs. Stimpson,

“now you'll have to pay back all of themoney you owe for this semester, and forwhat? I'm so disappointed in you,” shecontinued, though her voice lacked theempathy to suggest her feeling. “I'll be fine,” said Jeff, “maybeI'll get a job to pay it off.” Mrs. Stimpson did not respondto this, as she had once again madeherself busy at her computer. Randy and Jeff found Danasitting on the living room floor beneathErica, who was hunched on the sofaabove. Each suspected the other ofwanting to use their mom's computer, butnone could confirm this without bringingup the subject directly. Jeff went to thebathroom, and Randy soon realized that

his brother had been gone for quite sometime. Sure enough Randy found Jeff intheir bedroom, his finger gliding acrossthe built-in touch pad of his laptop as hegazed at the 12 inch screen. Hisbehavior was no doubt suspect, Randythought, for Jeff had never been the typeto be particularly obsessed with acomputer unless it was possible to usethe Internet. As he sat on his bed, Randycouldn't help but notice a fairly longphone cord which was connected toJeff's laptop and seemed to lead out ofthe room. Following the cord led Randyto the nearest and least conspicuousphone outlet, which was in the livingroom just below his mother's desk. A

duo device splitter was plugged into thephone outlet, with the phone plugged inone end and Jeff's cord in the other.Randy immediately listened for a dialtone, hearing instead what he recognizedas the sound of a mistakenly dialed faxmachine number. Randy hung up thephone and returned to Jeff, only to findthat Dana and Erica had gotten thereahead of him. "How's that dial-up working foryou, man?" Randy joked. "You're just mad because youdidn't think of this," said Jeff, notlooking up. "How typical." "Yeah, and suppose someone istrying to call here while you are tying upthe phone line," said Randy.

"Who do you think would betrying to call? Dad has the number to thatcell phone you use anyhow," said Jeff,guilt creeping into his voice. "I guess you're right," saidRandy, leaving Jeff even moredisheartened by leaving the room. Jeffclosed the web page he was viewing andreleased the phone cord from its place inthe laptop. He gathered the cord as heheaded out of the room. "Have at it, girls," he said toDana and Erica, gesturing towards thelaptop. "Just don't destroy it, not even ifyou kill each other fighting over it." In the living room Jeff foundRandy standing near their mother, a smuglook on his face. Jeff picked up the

phone and listened to the dial tone, thenremoved his dial up cord from the wallas if attempting to hide some evidence.suggested that she knew nothing, and shedid not look at Jeff. "What's wrong Jeff?" Randysaid loudly enough to be heard by theirmother. "Why did you suddenly stopusing your laptop?" "I just didn't want to use itanymore," said Jeff. "Is there a problemwith that?" Just as Randy got the idea tomake non-Internet related use of Jeff'slaptop, it dawned on him that he had lastseen Dana and Erica in his room, whichmeant that they had most likely beenoffered use of the laptop as a distraction.

He figured it would serve as theirentertainment for the remainder of theevening, with his room as the location,and he was not about to lower himself tothe level of his sisters. In the midst of his thoughts,Randy could hear the distant ring of hiscell phone, which was in his room. Heraced to retrieve it before it stoppedringing or was intercepted by his sisters.He made it just in time to snatch thephone out of the hand of a stunned Erica. It was Mordecai. “Hey man, do you want to meetme at the academy tomorrow?” SaidMordecai. “Sure. What time will you bethere?” Randy realized that he would

have to meet after school, since it wouldbe a Monday. “I'll be there all day,” saidMordecai. “You can call me when youare coming.” “Okay man. I'll have to comeafter school.” “That's fine. See you then.” The following day, Jeff pickedRandy up after school, and they rodeback to the academy. They were spottedby Mordecai who sat alone, the title beltplanted firmly on his left shoulder.Randy and Jeff took seats within rangeof Mordecai but not so close as to maketheir presence unnecessarily known by areturning Gregory or Bill. Mordecaiseemed aware of their presence, but they

understood why he did not acknowledgethem. It was perhaps ironic thatGregory and Bill did not return to theirseats next to Mordecai for the remainderof the afternoon, although there was apoint at which Mordecai camedauntlessly to Randy and Jeff. "I figured you guys would liketo see this while I have it," saidMordecai, putting forth the title belt.Randy took the belt in his hands,oblivious to others in the vicinity whoseemed overly curious, which might alsodraw the attention of Gregory or Bill. As the title was handled byRandy and Jeff, Mordecai got an ideathat was not made apparent by the

wistful look on his face. To combat anypotential hassle among Gregorysurrounding the title, why not allowRandy and Jeff to hold onto it until thetime he would once again be required todefend it? It would deny him the abilityto relish his prize, but it was the onlyway he could rule out the potential thatGregory was not vicariously seeking outthe title himself. If Gregory seemedoverly concerned about the title or itswhereabouts, Mordecai figured it was asure sign of trouble. "Maybe you guys could hangonto it until next week," said Mordecai,appearing to hone in on their likeness toit. "No Mordecai, we couldn't do

that," said Randy. "It's yours. You earnedit." "It's a pretty big responsibility,you know," said Mordecai. "I thoughtthere was nothing to it, but boy was Iwrong. I just can't keep it up." TheFearless Mordecai realized that he hadopenly expressed a weakness forperhaps the first time in his life. Butthere was no going back at that point. "Why don't you just tell theowner that you can't keep it?" askedRandy. "No way man. I'd be thelaughing stock of this entire place. Whoknows, they might even kick me out.”After some thought, Mordecai said“How about we hang out when we leave

here? Then I can give it to you." "That might work," said Randy,sounding a little more reassured. "Wheredo you want to hang out?" The question seemed to strikelike a random fist directly into the heartof Mordecai, and to linger there until hecame up with what he knew was the onlydefinitive answer. Having arrived at theacademy with Gregory, he was doomedto travel wherever the callous man andhis brother saw fit, whether that be to theupheaval of their inherited home orelsewhere. But how exactly to deliverthis news to Randy and Jeff was quiteanother matter, given the particularobscurity of their feelings towardsMordecai or the others with whom he

resided. "What if we just hang outside ofmy place?" said Mordecai. "I came herewith Greg and he'll most likely be goinghome after this." He realized that he hadmentioned Gregory immediately afterdoing so, but did not want it to beviewed as cause for potential alarm. Jeff pondered the idea,wondering if it was something he shouldthink twice about. "...but if we're just going to beoutside," he thought, "what the heck, Icould use a little excitement right now." "All right, man," said Jeff."We'll leave when you leave, and we'llmeet you outside your place." Jeff didnot verbally acknowledge Gregory,

though he had the presence of mind tostay out of the man's way, whatever thereason may be. Gregory seemed to appear outof nowhere, standing next to Mordecai,possessing a forward gaze at the ring.Randy and Jeff shrunk from his presenceand retreated to the lobby, neitherlooking back to determine if he hadnoticed them. "Are you all right Randy?" saidJeff. "Why wouldn't I be?" saidRandy. "I was just following you." "I mean are you all right withwaiting around here until Mordecaileaves," said Jeff. "You know I don'twant to make you hang around if you

don't want to." "I'm fine with it, dude," saidRandy. Clearly Jeff was trying to accusehim of being apprehensive of the eventsto come, when it was perhaps Jeffhimself who harbored suchapprehension. “Okay then.” The number of vehicles in theparking lot began to diminish as Randyand Jeff waited for Mordecai outside.Jeff couldn't help but wonder if theywould be among the last to leave. Whenthe vehicles became dangerously sparse,Jeff climbed into the relative safety ofhis van and was joined by his brother inthe passenger seat. There they continuedto watch as individuals made their way

out of the building and went in differentdirections. Was it possible that they hadmissed the departure of Mordecai withGregory and Bill? Randy and Jeff wereboth aware of the tendency as theythemselves had so often done with theirfather. Likewise they had been keeping amodest lookout for Gregory, whosestriking size was not likely to gounnoticed as he left the building. Both Randy and Jeff had grownso tired of waiting that theycontemplated going back in the building.But neither wanted it to seem that theywere unable to wait, nor to face thepotential of coming in contact withGregory, which might result inquestioning and could ultimately ruin

their plans to meet Mordecai. There finally came a pointwhen there were no more than sixvehicles in the building's direct vicinity.Jeff had moved his van to a more distantparking spot, but determined that hewould still be able to spot Gregory fromhis position if he watched closely. Thiswas assuming of course that the man hadnot slipped out already at one of severalpoints when Jeff was not payingparticular attention. Yet the reality hadsettled in that they might actually meet upwith Mordecai and perhaps take hold ofthe title. "I can't believe I'm doing this,"Jeff said to himself. "Come on man, don't tell me

you're going to chicken out now," saidRandy. Jeff looked at him. "What doyou mean chicken out?" He did notappear to be joking. "Dude, you just said you can'tbelieve you are doing this..." "To think I'm actually waitinghere for him to come," Jeff interruptedthoughtfully. "When he is the one whomade the suggestion." "It's a subconscious reaction,"said Randy. "Either you feel sorry forhim or you are entertaining the idea ofholding onto the title for him like hesuggested. You just don't realize what thereason is." "I think you're right," said Jeff.

"You don't know how many times I havewanted to just leave while sitting here. Itwould be so easy to just take off rightnow, and yet I am staying for somereason." Randy pictured himself in Jeff'sposition. It would be Jeff's own decisionif he were to leave, made without theaccountability of anyone else. It waslikely, therefore that Jeff possessed thesame fear that most males posses in sucha situation, which was the fear of beingviewed as weak or cowardly in the eyesof another. Whether he was viewed thatway by anyone else would make nodifference, however, for it was hispersonal esteem that would take theharmful blow of the decision he would

have had made in this case. Randy couldimagine that he himself would feelpersonally piteous in the same situation,but he also saw it as an indication thatJeff was sensing something that hewould not share. He decided to put thattheory to the test, which he was willingto do despite the "risks" involved. Randy thought about the facthad not been to the bathroom since theyleft the building. This almostinstantaneously brought about the urge togo, and there was suddenly no longerany turning back if he wanted to avoidgoing. But he figured he'd be convincingenough to Jeff since he really needed togo. "I'm going to the bathroom,"

said Randy. He sat there momentarily asif waiting for Jeff's reaction, then got outof the van, no longer wanting to see howJeff would react. Jeff himself found the need touse the bathroom, and it was impossiblefor him to tell if that feeling would havecome about had Randy not brought aboutthe subject. He sighed as he slid out ofthe van and followed his brother into thebuilding. As usual the two were acutelyaware of the quietness on the inside ofthe typically uproarious arena. Theywere also aware of Gregory's presencesomewhere within, and the likelihoodthat he or Bill might happen to enter therestroom. Yet they were incredibly calm,

as if with no reason to be anxious, andthey made it in and out of the restroomwithout incident. At this point they bothfelt an unfounded surge of adrenaline,which drove them to want to remain inthe building. While neither was sure ifthe other felt the same way, they tookseats in the lobby, each as if being led onby the other. "What do you think they'redoing in there?" Randy said. Jeff himselfhad already wanted to enter theperformance area, curious about whatwas taking place. Without responding to Randy,Jeff walked to the performance areawindow and peered inside. Herecognized Gregory, Bill and Mordecai

among the small group of people whosurrounded an empty ring. A few trainersstood here and there, identified by theirdistinctive collared shirts, and hadpassive conversations with anyone whoengaged them. After some timeMordecai separated himself fromGregory and Bill and headed for thelobby, intent on using the main restroom.Randy and Jeff had made way for him. "We're done in there," saidMordecai profoundly. "I'm just waitingfor them." Randy wondered if Mordecaihad been aware of the presence of Jeffand himself in the lobby. Mordecaiseemed in a hurry to get to the restroom,and Jeff caught a glimpse of Gregory andBill working their way out of the

performance area. Jeff started to leavethe building, but decided to stop justshort of the exit. He watched Randywander around looking at pictures andreading signs. How hilarious it would beif Randy was caught off guard byGregory and Bill. This would proveonce and for all that his brother was thetimorous of the two. A few moments later, Gregoryand Bill had yet to come into the lobby.Jeff ran to the performance area doorand was startled to find them almostdirectly on the other side. He went backto stand by the exit as quickly as he hadcome from it. Unfortunately Randy hadby this point taken heed of Jeff'sbehavior and seemed aware of what was

going on. Seconds later when Gregoryand Bill barreled out of the performancearea door, Randy was far less surprisedthan he would have been caughtcompletely off guard. NonethelessGregory looked directly at both Randyand Jeff, proving his awareness of theirpresence and sending chills up either oftheir spines. As if convinced of aconspiracy, Gregory continued to themen's restroom and emerged shortly withMordecai following close behind. Jeffcould read the wise look on Mordecai'sface as he and Gregory left the building. "Come on," said Jeff. "Webetter do this while we have thechance." Randy and Jeff went to stand

outside, keeping an undetected eye onGregory for the moment he decided toleave. When Gregory was in his car,Randy and Jeff went to Jeff's van andcontinued their waiting game until theysaw Gregory take off. Both wondered ifGregory had any idea or suspicion oftheir plan to meet with Mordecai, orwhether he truly even cared. The latterwas more likely, they figured, asGregory had no conceivable reason tobe concerned with them. They were sure not to followdirectly behind Gregory's vehicle, but tokeep some distance from it. This wasdifficult to do since they were onlyvaguely familiar with the location of hishome, having been there only once a few

years ago. Still, they could never forgetwhat had transpired on that day, whichwas perhaps part of the reason theycould even recall the location at all. On that day, a younger Randyand Jeff had accompanied their dad on avisit to the property, which had oncebelonged to Gregory and Bill's parents.Aside from their on-the-job encounters,Bruce rarely encountered Gregory orBill, and had never had his sons in suchclose contact with the two. Upon theirarrival, Gregory was seated on a porchstep, his hair slightly shorter than it wascurrently. He looked at Bruce as if hehadn't expected him to show up. "Hey Bruce!" Gregorymotioned for him to come to the porch.

Bruce followed Gregory's beckoning,not wanting to believe that there was anyreason to avoid it. Randy and Jeffstopped short of following their dadwhen he came to the porch and took aseat next to Gregory. "What's going on, man?"Gregory dropped a strong arm over theslender shoulders of his formerschoolmate. "Been pretty busy, haveyou? Whatever happened to keeping mein the loop, huh?" "Yeah, I have been pretty busy,"said Bruce. “I can see that,” said Gregory,his attention having turned to Randy andJeff wrestling on the front lawn. Gregoryseemed mesmerized by the skills they

possessed, and he grew amazed as hewondered if the skills had somehowbeen inherited. At the rate they weregoing it was only a matter of time untilthey became the talk of the town liketheir father before them. Could Gregoryperhaps be the one to predict thisoccurrence? There was no doubt alreadyspeculation of it, but there was thequestion of whether it was just that, or ifit would lead to bigger things at somepoint without anyone necessarily havingsaid so. Gregory was aware of thepossibility that he was wrong, but it wasa risk he was willing to take in lieu ofthe grand alternative. Gregory did not speak to Bruceas he stood up and moved closer to the

wrestling boys. Randy was around theage of five, with Jeff a year his senior atage six. The precision with which theyperformed was enough to rival some ofthe greatest athletes Gregory had everseen, and he began to wonder if even hehimself stood a chance against them. "Having fun, boys?" Gregoryinterjected at the first opportunity. Theboys stared at him for a period of time,then Jeff replied, "We're just playing." "Oh I know you are," saidGregory. What fools, he thought. Theydidn't even seem to recognize their ownpotential. What a shame it would be tosee such talent go to waste...or was itthat they were hiding something fromhim? It was indeed possible, he figured,

that they intended to play down theirskills to remain under the radar in thepresence of company such as himself.The more he observed the more he tookthis to be the case, as the boys seemedmuch less engaged since he had begunwatching. "That sure is a smart set of boysyou got there, Bruce," Gregorycommented matter-of-factually, as ifhinting at their mitigation. "I'd keep aneye on 'em if I was you." The tone with which Gregoryspoke, along with the words he hadspoken set Bruce into a mild panic. Whatwas Gregory trying to imply? Was hethreatening them, or did he merely meanto make conversation? Unfortunately

there was really no way to tell withGregory, and as nervous as Bruce was,he did not let it show on his face. "I'll keep that in mind, Greg,"said Bruce, gazing at his sons who nowsat side by side on the grass. "What do you think's gonnabecome of them?" Gregory asked. Thisworried Bruce even more. He stood upquickly before Gregory had the chanceto approach him, but stood firm asopposed to making a conspicuousretreat. "Like any father I should hopethey take after their old man," said Bruceproudly. This provided a very generalresponse, and gave Bruce an opening tobreak free of Gregory's oppression.Bruce was off of the porch, his sons by

his side by the time Gregory summed uphis response. Bruce folded his armsacross his chest and became lost in histhoughts as he stared blankly into space.Randy and Jeff seemed to haveoverlooked Gregory's presence as theychallenged each other to jump to theground from top porch step. "That's very good, Bruce," saidGregory, coming to the steps. Jeff wason the top step and felt compelled to staythere as Gregory approached. Gregoryknelt down beside Jeff and turned thetrembling boy to face him. "Hey kid, doyou wanna be just like your dad whenyou grow up?" Jeff's sad eyes stared up at theman. "I want to be a wrestler," he said

as if it should have already beenabundantly clear to Gregory. "You do?" said Gregory. "Wellthen let's see what you got, eh?" Gregorycould feel the tension encompassing Jeffas he led the boy onto the front lawn.The two stood face-to-face, with Jeffstanding no higher than Gregory's waist.Gregory looked down for severalseconds at Jeff, whose expression boreno particular significance within thattime. It was only after this point thatGregory seemed to notice the heightdifference between them, and backed upuntil he could look at Jeff without anextreme downward gaze. "All right son, let's go!"Gregory beckoned Jeff toward him, and

Jeff came forward with hesitation as ifbeing lured by a questionable tempt. Hedodged when he saw Gregory lungeforward, using his quickness to hisadvantage to avert Gregory's everymove.. Jeff glanced over at his father, aproving look on his face. "That kid's quick," Gregorythought. "I just wonder what wouldhappen if I got my hands on him." Jeff wondered the same thinghimself, having succeeded only inevading Gregory's grasp. There hadnever been a direct meeting of the twosince that encounter, but Jeff had alwaysrecognized the potential. It was one offew things that still made his stomachturn as a young adult.

Jeff's van stopped at a pointwhere it was hidden from direct view byshrubbery along the road to Gregory'shouse. A lone vehicle drove past thevan, assuring Jeff that his position wasmore or less safe. He and Randy duckedin and out of shadows as theyapproached their destination, planning tomeet Mordecai along the road outside ofthe house. The exchange of the title wasto take place as quickly as possible,leaving no time for potential interferenceby Gregory. Mordecai, meanwhile,stood in the agreed upon location,confident that he was hidden from plainview and void of any scrutiny from hisposition. Mordecai knew already whatto tell Gregory if Gregory should happen

to ask about the title, but while theexplanation made perfect sense, it maynot have been entirely fool-proof. Randy and Jeff approachedcasually, as if no more than randomstrangers walking up the road past thehouse. They walked past Mordecai, whodelivered the title inconspicuously intothe hands of Jeff. It was perhaps ironicthat neither party felt the least bit ofurgency in spite of the quickness of theiractions, and in fact they felt compelledto engage in a little polite conversation. "What time will you be theretomorrow?" asked Jeff, pointing to thetitle belt. "We have to give this to you soyou'll have it." Mordecai appeared lost in his

thoughts. "That depends on what timeGregory decides to leave," he saidhopelessly. "I always ride with him."The premise of riding with Gregory, itseemed, was intended to discourage anyparticular event that may occur ifMordecai arrived separately to alocation. But never before had he foundit to be of such particular importance,and it dawned on him suddenly that thiscould actually prove significant. IndeedGregory would question his behavior, hefigured, if Gregory had any ulteriormotives relative to the title. Havingnever challenged the idea, however, itwas impossible to tell if Gregory'sreaction would not be purely notional,without regards to the title. It was this

issue which had Mordecai suddenly atodds with himself. “I know,” said Mordecai. “Whydon’t I come by your place in my cartomorrow and you can give it to methen?” Randy and Jeff both paused, asif waiting for the other's response. Theyseemed to decide collectively that therewas nothing deceptive about Mordecai’sproposal, and agreed to meet him thefollowing day in order to hand off thetitle. They tried to circumvent theseemingly real possibility that Mordecaiwould fail to show up, but implicitlyaccepted shared responsibility in theevent of that occurrence such as not toshoulder the blame alone.

As the night wore on andGregory appeared more tolerable, theidea that he would scrutinize Mordecai’sconduct appeared not the least bit likely.By the following evening Mordecai hadin fact grown confident enough to makethe trip in his own vehicle to recover thetitle from its two retainers. If Gregoryhad something up his sleeve, it seemed,it would be revealed ultimately throughhis behavior towards Mordecai, whetherimmediate or in the future. Mordecaiwas determined to keep everything inperspective. By the following afternoonGregory had strangely not evenquestioned the whereabouts of the title.This put Mordecai at the peak of

concern. Was it possible that Gregorywas aware that the title was being heldby Randy and Jeff? Was there a reasonwhy this information had not beenaddressed? Or had Gregory perhapsgenuinely failed to recognize the absenceof the belt? As bizarre as Gregory’sbehavior may have been, Mordecaicould only believe it to be withoutparticular cause. It was the only way hewould maintain his disposition whilemoving forward with his plans. Mordecai went calmly to hiscar and started the engine as if in a hurryto get his idea over with. In his haste hefailed to notice how smoothly it startedafter sitting for so long. He was equallyoblivious to the extreme wind slicing

through the trees and the storm cloudsthat gathered in the eastern sky as hetook to the road toward Randy and Jeff.Frequently he became aware of thespeed at which he was driving andadjusted it to maintain the posted speedlimit. At one point a driver behindMordecai faced opposing traffic in orderto pass him in the opposite driving lane.Upon passing Mordecai, the driverswitched back to Mordecai’s lane andproceeded to drive even slower thanMordecai had driven. Mordecai hadnever been more relieved to reach theturn that would take him to hisdestination, though he was concerneduntil the end that the other driver wouldmake the same turn.

Upon arriving at the home of hisfriends, Mordecai couldn’t help butbehold the now overwhelming power ofthe wind, which seemed to increaseproportionately with the darkening of thesky. He acquired the title from Jeff, whoappeared alone and barefoot and seemedto have been set with the task as theoldest among his siblings. The windturned Jeff’s long hair into an auburnwildfire, while doing significantly lessdamage to the shorter hair of Mordecai.Mordecai did not feel the need to lingeraround, though he wondered what hisnext move should be with regards to theapproaching storm. He got into his car,not wanting to reveal his uncertainty, andtook off with the same mindset. It

occurred to him that he had no desire tostop and secure the title, which sat inplain view on the seat next to him. Thismade him almost relieved when heneeded to stop for gas, and accordinglyplaced the title beneath the seat where itwould not be directly visible to Gregoryor Bill. He then used a debit card toattempt to purchase $10 worth of gasdirectly from pump number 7, althoughhe unintentionally exceeded that figureby a few cents. He made it back toGregory’s house that evening before adrop of rain fell from the sky.Mordecai entered the house with the titlebelt draped over his neck, withoutparticular regard to the reactions ofGregory and Bill. Gregory and Bill both

sat watching television in the livingroom and seemed oblivious toMordecai’s presence. Mordecai laughedto himself as he could tell that the twowere most likely heavily intoxicated. Hethen hurried to his room and almostautomatically placed the title belt underhis pillow. The roughness of the belt’ssurface penetrated his pillow somewhatas he lay back, but he managed to makehimself comfortable in spite of this.The television in the living room wasloud enough to be heard by Mordecai,and he focused intently on the soundcoming from it. After interpreting thesound of a football game, he went on todetermine what teams were playing,what the score was, what quarter it was

in and how much time was left in thegame. He allowed himself to fall asleeponly after he was certain that a particularteam would most likely win the game. Itfailed to occur to him as he drifted offthat he had not eaten anything since thecooked noodles he had that afternoon.

Chapter Ten

Mordecai entered the kitchen in themorning, feeling wholeheartedly theeffects of his failure to eat the previousevening. He carried the title casually, nolonger wanting to leave it alone in thepresence of Gregory and Bill. Hebreathed a sigh of relief as he dove into

a bowl of cereal, not crippled for onceby Gregory’s callous stare, althoughGregory’s whereabouts could not bedirectly assessed. Mordecai’s reliefintensified when he realized that hishouse mates were rarely awake at theearly hour that presented itself. It was bysheer coincidence, Mordecai believed,that he had yet to come in contact witheither of them since picking up the titlefrom Jeff. Thus it seemed to him amiracle that he could likely continue toavoid them with considerable ease forthat day, without particular regard for thetitle. He decided he should not press hisluck, however, and he quickly finishedhis cereal before rinsing his bowl andspoon and racing back to his bedroom,

which he managed to do almostsoundlessly. Later in the day Mordecai sat outside onthe wooden steps leading to the frontdoor of the house. The title lay acrosshis lap as he poured over the screen ofhis cell phone, looking occasionally atcrude, patchy landscape becoming acool green under the late afternoon sky.His fingers tightened their grip on thetitle at the approach of Gregory's huskyfootsteps. He could feel Gregory's eyeson the title, as if in an expressed attemptto claim it for his own. Gregory darteddown the steps past Mordecai and to hiscar, on which he leaned as he smoked acigarette. When he had finished the

cigarette he went back to Mordecai, whoensured that his expression could not beread.“Hey kid, Bill and I are gonna head overto the yard,” said Gregory, referring tothe junkyard where they worked. “Yououghta come with us.”Mordecai looked up at him, his redeyebrows raised inquisitively. This washighly unusual. What was he doing goingthere this late on a Sunday?He probably just wants to pick up anitem or two, Mordecai thought. As anemployee, Gregory had access to thejunkyard after hours via a key which hehad been given to open a lock on theyard's main gate. Bill and Mordecai hadbeen given such a key as well. The

desire to question Gregory's motiveswas one that seemed consistently topresent itself, and so it never seemedquite unusual to Mordecai.Mordecai stood up and watched Gregorygo to the car before following his lead,hoping to convey through this action hissuspicion of Gregory and lead him toreveal any secrets he may have held. Theaction had no obvious effect on Gregory,and this further assured Mordecai thatthe Sunday trip to the junkyard was noless routine than those which wereregularly made for work during hours ofoperation. Moments after the car took off,Mordecai realized that they were on aroad on which Gregory rarely traveled.

In fact Mordecai could only think of twoother instances where Gregory had usedthe road, and both times had been as aresult of a preliminary stop at an autoparts shop along that particular roadafter which he continued to the lot. In hismind Mordecai came up with a logicalexplanation for this. The lot itself couldprovide most of the necessary suppliesfor working on vehicles, but there camea time every now and then when therewas a lack of a unique car part orsupplies. It was quite possible,therefore, that Gregory was seeking apart which was hard to come by and hadplans to look at the auto parts shop nowthat he had some free time. The idea hadnot even had the chance to settle into

Mordecai's mind when Gregory drovedirectly past the auto parts shop, whichwas still some distance from their placeof employment. In the meantime allMordecai could do was sit in sickeningwonder of their actual destination, andwhat if anything Gregory had plannedonce there. He was almost certain theywere headed for the car lot as Gregoryhad mentioned. But why? Gregory meandered down thedarkening road along which the car lotlie. As he traveled increasingly further,the hasty winds and the lack of othervehicles on the road seemed to proveinevitable that something was wrong.Mordecai managed to remind himselfthat these paranormal occurrences were

indeed just a coincidence, though it didlittle to offset his analytical qualm. Hisvigilance upheld stubbornly even as theyapproached the car lot, where Gregorystopped the car so abruptly that hestirred up dust from the looming gravelpatch. The interior of the lot could beseen beyond a chain link fence, madevisible by pale street lights whichseemed to take the place of the absentmoon. Gregory opened his car door,which enabled a light within the car.With the aid of this light he searched fora key on his key chain, while his car keywas still in the ignition. Having foundthe alternate key, he removed the car keyfrom the ignition, stepped out of the car

and unlocked the main gate into the lot.He then got back into his car and droveit into the lot, stopping in front of thelot's main office. Behind the main office was agarage which cast a dim orange glowover the lot with its light. Mordecaiidled outdoors in spite of the cold,having no desire to chance a mootoccurrence or exchange of words. Heshivered intensely in the increasinglycold air on the heels of the setting sun. A stray dog wandered up toMordecai, seemingly attracted by thesight of movement. Mordecai had neverseen the friendly shepherd mix before,and wondered how it had made its wayinto the lot. He allowed the dog to lick

his hand, taking care not to be bitten. "Nice dog, isn't he?" a voicesaid. Mordecai looked up, startled to seeGregory standing over him. "You know, I had a dog of myown once. I found him wandering thestreets in fact. I took that dog in andtaught him everything." "Really? Whatever happened tohim?" said Mordecai, sensing someresemblance to his own situation. "Oh we got along great in thebeginning. Nothing could keep us apart.But then one day the dog turned on me." "What a shame,” saidMordecai. “So what did you do aboutit?" he wondered, his focus perpetuallyon the eager canine.

"There was no doubt in mymind. I had to teach him a lesson." Mordecai's attention wasfinally drawn to Gregory upon hearingthese words, and the petrifying way inwhich they were spoken. Gregory glareddown upon Mordecai, filling Mordecaiwith what he could identify as no lessthan an unfounded terror. His tensionslowly diminished, though never let hisguard down completely. But he was inthe process of formulating a plan whichhe believed would put him atconsiderable ease, when he received acounteractive request from Gregory. “Tell me something kid, what'sit like to hold that title?” Gregory said,suddenly wistful. He pointed at the title

belt as he spoke. “You know, I've beengoing to that place for years and I neveronce even got to hold the belt.” He drewcloser to Mordecai. “What do you sayyou let me hold it for a minute?" Indeed it sounded like aperfectly innocent request, one whichMordecai was more than happy to fulfillin lieu of giving Gregory a reason to beleery of him. Resisting all of hiscognizance, Mordecai handed the belt toGregory, who caressed it with what wasprobably the most care he had evergiven to anything in his life. "How does it feel, Greg?" Billasked. Gregory grinned and laughed."Incredible," he remarked, holding the

belt in one hand above his head, "This isthe greatest kind of power I've ever felt!You gotta give it a try, Bill," he handedthe belt to his brother as if it were anobject being passed around and handledby children. Bill placed the belt over hisright shoulder to get the feel of it, thennodded approvingly as he patted thesolid gold face of it. "I gotta admit, thisis some kind of awesome," he said,adrenaline flowing through his sweat-soaked body, "I could ride this train allnight.""Don't get used to it," Mordecai thought,waiting for the belt to be placed back inhis hands. He used the time to decidewhat to do with the belt once he held itagain. Looking around the lot, he made a

quick decision which he decided wasfoolproof due to the escape clause whichcould be employed if necessary.The look on Gregory's face conveyeddisappointment mixed with jealousy, andfor a moment Mordecai wondered if hewould get the belt back without beingcompelled to ask for it. He noticed thatBill had a loose hold on the belt as ifgiving the initiative to take it back. Billbegan talking to Gregory, and Mordecaiapproached and retrieved the belt fromBill, who appeared too lost inconversation to notice or care aboutMordecai's retreating. Knowing thatBill's conversation would soon come toan end, Mordecai set to work putting asmuch distance as possible between

himself and the two in talks. He couldtell that the conversation was seriousenough that they were not likely to takenotice if he disappeared for a period oftime. He made it as far as thejunkyard, which was overflowing withall sorts of damaged and destroyedvehicles. Many of the vehicles lookedbrand new aside from exterior damagethat was apparently caused by accidents.Mordecai became aware of a verticalrow of old school buses, lined side byside against the gate that surrounded theyard. He bounded to the row of busesand hid under their cover, listeningclosely for any activity. Hearing nothingout of the ordinary, he slid into a small

opening in the rusty door of a randombus. The interior of the bus waslittered with the glass of several brokenwindows, which covered the seats andfloors. Looking around, Mordecainoticed a dark board between one of theseats on the bus, which would not bevisible through the window from theoutside. He lifted the board and found adusty blue tarp under it. The tarpextended under the seat, was coveredwith glass and could not be movedwithout making a quite audible sound inthe near dead silence that surroundedhim. Ignoring the noise that it made,Mordecai placed the title under the tarpand replaced the board, doing so as

quickly as possible but not so fast as toincrease the possibility of being heard.The moment he had finished the task heknelt on the floor of the bus, his stomachdoing back-flips as he listened intentlyfor even the slightest sound outside,though somehow failing to notice theindistinguishable sound of the dogbarking in the distance. It occurred to him that he wouldbe bombarded with questions if he wereto appear without the title before theothers. Whether the questions wereaddressed verbally, they would no doubtbe lurking in their surly minds,concerning why he was without the belt.Rather than bring more trouble uponhimself by trying to hide the title in the

first place, he took it back out andslipped off of the bus as casually as if hewere taking a walk. It took him only amoment to realize that he stood in plainview of anyone who cared to notice him.He moved quickly to another bus, a fewbuses down from the first one, in whichhe quickly yet carefully brushed theglass off of the barest seat he could findand fixated himself on it. His movementscoincided with the sound of footstepsand familiar voices outside. "He couldn't have gotten past uswhile we were talking," said Gregory. "Iwould have seen him. He's around heresomewhere, I know it." Upon hearing the voices,Mordecai sought to get off the bus

without having to explain the reason forhis presence there. He would have tomake it look as if he had never been onthe bus to begin with. But how was thisto be accomplished when he wasunfamiliar with the location of Gregoryand Bill, or even if they were closetogether? "Mordecai!" Gregory called.Mordecai did not move. He pressed sohard against the seat that a few glasspebbles left a red imprint in the flesh ofhis cheek. The footsteps continuedoutside of the bus, growing more andmore distant as Mordecai picked himselfup quickly yet carefully and slippedsilently off of the bus. There he foundhimself in the same position as before,

feeling completely vulnerable andvisible in the streetlight fog. Yet he wascontent in the fact that he could seeGregory and Bill, the difference in theirheight setting them instantly apart evenfrom behind. In spite of what seemed like aspeculative maneuver, Mordecai turnedso that he faced the direction in whichGregory and Bill had gone, and foundthat he actually felt tremendouslyrelieved. Although he could no longersee them, being familiar with the makeupof the junkyard he knew they would soonend up back at the point where he stood.They were preceded in this enterprise bythe watchdog, which came barking toMordecai as if sent to scout him out.

Mordecai did his best to appease thedog so as to discontinue its barking, buthe was soon approached swiftly by anincredibly resolute Gregory."All right now, let's get out of here," saidGregory. Before Mordecai knew whatwould happen, Gregory had hold of himand half carried him with them to themain gate. Mordecai held tight to thetitle belt, never really knowing why hewas doing so. It was another day at theacademy for Randy and Jeff, having onceagain been called there by Mordecai. Asthe bearer of the title, Mordecai wascompelled to defend it the followingweekend, either against an opponent ofhis choosing or one lined up by the

academy.“So are you going to let the academypick an opponent for you?” Randy askedinquisitively, and somewhat hopefully.Mordecai sighed and was silent for along time. "Here's the thing,” he saidfinally, “they are letting us pick our ownopponent, and this may very well be theonly opportunity I have. So I’m gonna letGregory face me next week.” The wordscame out in a amoral manner, as if hewere disappointed in his decision. Randy’s body was crippled atonce by an encompassing sickness, as ifhe were aware in an instant that he hadbeen betrayed. Randy had always beennaturally cautious of Gregory'ssuspicious behavior, having never seen

any other side of him. For this reasonRandy had to allow for the potential thatMordecai was now working withGregory, if he wasn’t before. Randydidn’t dare question Mordecai’sposition, however, lest his fear beaffirmed in the moment.Admiring the title belt, Mordecai held athoughtful expression as he laughed tohimself. “You know, looking back I canreally see now why Gregory and Billwere so bitter all that time. To be here aslong as they have and never have a shotat this…then to see us come right in andmove up in the ranks. That’s gotta betough, you know?”Randy agreed, though he couldn’tfittingly go along with any of what

Mordecai had said. “Thing is, since Greg’s beenhere he’s wanted nothing more than ashot at the title, and now I have thechance to give him that. I see it assomething to be proud of, because oddsare he won’t ever get it unless I give it tohim.” Randy presumed that he himselfcould be in the same position of pride ifhe had gone for the title himself,although in his case he’d sooner have theacademy pick an opponent for him thanoffer to face Gregory or anyone else inparticular, notwithstanding Mordecai. “Well you have the title now,and you should do what you want withit,” said Randy. "I just think you should

be careful of Gregory and all.” “Look, I'm doing this out ofkindness of my own heart, not because Ifeel like I owe him anything," saidMordecai. "He knows I don’t have togive him a shot at the title.” His tonegrew distant, as if he were talking tohimself. "...and I'm sure he also knows Ididn't need him to get to the title." It wasindeed true that Mordecai had himselfacquired the skills necessary to competeat his level, for he knew he had scarcelylearned anything from Gregory or Bill.He could only hope that the two of themsaw things that way. Randy reasoned rather self-consciously that Gregory must truly havesome earnestness about him for

Mordecai to offer him a shot at the title.Yet somehow Randy’s unease about theiniquitous looking man that was Gregorysimply would not let up. On the whole,Randy thought it best to put his instinctsaside, rather than acting on apresumption which might later be provenfalse, in particular where he had nobusiness getting involved. In any case,he figured it couldn’t hurt to as if to erron the side of caution. It was for thisreason that he made a decision toinvestigate. Randy kept an eye on Gregoryand Bill, who were seated in the crowd,and he soon saw them get up and headoff to the lobby. As he hurried to followthem, he was encountered by Jeff.

“Come on man, I'm gettingready to leave,” said Jeff. “I’ll be there in a minute,” saidRandy. “I’ve just gotta do something.”He took off before Jeff could continue,and entered the lobby just in time to seeGregory and Bill disappear into themen’s restroom. Randy’s brother sooncaught up with him, ironically to Randy'srelief . “You gotta come to thebathroom with me Jeff,” Randy saiddesperately, tugging Jeff’s arm. “Okay,” said Jeff, sounding abit confused. “Is everything all right?” “Yeah, it’s fine,” said Randy.“Just please come with me.” Randy entered the restroom,

followed by a still confused Jeff. Theywere unnoticed by Gregory and Bill,who conversed quietly in a back corner.Randy ducked into a stall, dragging Jeffwith him. “Randy, what are you doing?!”said Jeff, loudly enough to be heardthroughout the room. Randy shushed him “Listen Jeff,I need you to tell me what Gregory andBill are saying,” he said in a harshwhisper. “And just why would I dothat?” said Jeff. “Go out there and listen,”Randy pleaded. “Just act natural, andthey won’t suspect a thing.” "What's in it for me?"

"I'll do anything you want." "Anything?" "Name it." “Why don’t you just listenyourself? What is this about anyway?” Randy sighed submissively. “Ican’t risk being seen by them. It’s a longstory, and I promise I’ll explain later.But you gotta hurry now before theyleave.” “Okay, okay,” said Jeff, sensingthe urgency but not forgetting Randy'spromise. Jeff seemed to look aroundbefore he exited the stall and wentdirectly to a sink. Gregory and Billremained in the back corner and hadgrown quiet for the time. Jeff grewincreasingly nervous as he busied

himself at the sink while keeping anopen ear. He hoped they had not paidany particular attention to his presence,for they had not acknowledged him. Their conversation eventuallypicked up, in a tone of restraint. “You don’t have any idea whatyou are doing, do you?” said Bill. “Yeah, well I know this much. Iam going to win next week, and when Ido I am gonna start getting the respect Ideserve around here,” said Gregory.“It’s a done deal.” “And just how do you thinkyou’re gonna get him to cooperate? Yousure can’t tell him about this now thatyou got him where you want him.” “I don't need to," said Gregory,

moving very close to his youngerbrother. "Let me tell you something, allright? You haven't even begun to see yetwhat I am capable of. Believe you me, Iwouldn't be in the position I'm in now ifit weren't for that. I’ve been holdingback ever since I've been here, justwaiting for the right opportunity to comealong. And now that I’ve got a title shotsecured, I’m finally in a position to let itall out. That kid has no idea what’s instore for him, you hear? He won’t evenknow what hit him when I'm throughwith him next week.” Jeff listened as intently aspossible, wishing somehow thatsomeone else would enter and break thetension. At one point he managed a

subtle look in the direction of Gregoryand Bill, and found them leaningimpatiently on the wall, staring intospace as if waiting for something. During the next gap in theirconversation, Jeff slowly turned to facethem and found them both looking rightat him. Their gaze drew presumptuouslyhere and there, and Jeff wascontemplating a timely escape from therestroom when Gregory headed straighttowards him, as if tying to counter anysuch attempt. Jeff tried desperately to actnatural, though this was next toimpossible for someone in his incrediblypanicked state. "Jeff. I thought that was you Isaw over here, kid." Gregory spoke as if

without a care in the world aboutsomeone else entering the restroom,which made Jeff wonder if Gregory wasperhaps merely intent on friendly, casualconversation despite his forbidding tone.Jeff knew, nonetheless, not to let hisguard down around Gregory regardless,and he could tell within minutes that itwas with good reason. Whereas hisnegligence towards the situation hadpreviously appeared genuine, Gregoryseemed suddenly to want to make itknown that he was entirely vigilant, lestsomeone happen to enter and becomesuspicious of his behavior. "Say, what's your dad been upto? I haven't heard from him lately." Jeff was reluctant to speak of

his father's absence, for fear thatGregory was somehow involved with itor would view the absence as a conduitthrough which to achieve his goals. Stillinside the stall, Randy could only cringeas he listened for Jeff's answer, hisunrestrained heart pounding out ofcontrol. "I couldn't tell you," said Jeffgrimly "I've actually been in college." "Is that right?" said Gregory, asif he didn't believe Jeff. "That's kind of ashame, because your brother's been on areal roll here lately, and you've beenmissing out on all the great stuff he'sbeen doing.""Sorry to hear that,"said Jeff, wonderingsuddenly if Randy might be in danger if

caught in a position with Gregory. "So are you ready to competefor the title next week?" Jeff dared,knowing that Gregory could be onto himby the pure nature of thequestion. Gregory's face turned stern andserious, and for a moment Jeff camedangerously close to showing that hewas paralyzed with fear. "I guess I haveto be ready, don't I?" said Gregory."After all an opportunity like this doesn'tcome along every day." Gregory's tonesuggested that he was to carry out aspecific mission with the guaranteedoutcome of getting the title, rather thanparticipate in a competition in which theoutcome was questionable. A chill went

up Jeff's spine as he realized that toacknowledge Gregory's mannerisms wasto open himself up to suspicion. It wasas if Gregory was playing mind gameswith Jeff, and Gregory clearly had theadvantage. Jeff worried constantly thathis suspicions would be confirmed inGregory's presence, either verbally ornon-verbally, though he could alreadysense the potentially evil tension in theair. To Jeff's immense relief, anotherman entered the restroom beforeanything had to be assumed, and thisentry allowed Jeff to momentarilycompose himself. "You're right, it suredoesn't,"said Jeff. He quickly added,"I'll see you guys later, all right?" and

just as quickly left the restroom,expecting at any moment to beinterrogated by Gregory.Once out of the restroom, Jeff practicallyran outside to his van, as quickly aspossible without drawing attention tohimself. “I have a feeling we're gonnahave to keep an eye on that kid, Bill,"said Gregory in the restroom."Something tells me he knows muchmore than he's letting on." Still in his stall, Randy heardthe door open and close as Gregory andBill made their way out of the restroom. “Oh no,” Randy thought.“They’re going after Jeff!” But no soonerhad the thought crossed his mind than he

realized how truly unlikely it was thatthey would actually go out of their wayto look for Jeff, much less find himhaphazardly amid the tangle of humanitythat shrouded the building inside and out.Still, Randy remained in the stall anddialed Jeff’s number on his cell phone. Jeff picked up on the other end. “Hey Jeff, where did you go?”said Randy in a temperate voice. “Randy. Sorry I left you hangingin there,” said Jeff. “I was getting afunny feeling.” “I really think you should getout of the building, Jeff.” “I’m in the van right now,” Jeffspoke as if without any respect ofRandy’s counsel. “Are you coming out?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about me.I’ll be right there,” said Randy. “Good. I’ll see you when youget here.” He ended the call, satisfiedthat he had not exaggerated the situationdespite what he considered attempts byRandy to have him do so. Randyeventually made it out to the van, havingtaken steps to avoid potential encounterswith Gregory and Bill, and evenMordecai. He looked extremelyreflective as he climbed into the van'spassenger seat. “So Mordecai wants to letGregory face him next week for thetitle,” said Jeff. "Go figure." “Mordecai told me that Gregoryhas never once had a title shot in all his

years here, and so that's why he wants togive Gregory a shot at it," Randyreplied. “Yeah, and you believed that, ofcourse. Face it, Randy. For all you knowthey could have had this planned allalong. It was bad enough to forfeit yourtitle shot in the first place. Don’t expectme to pity you now.” “All right Jeff, you know howboth of us have always had a funnyfeeling about Gregory and Bill. As far asI know Mordecai has always felt thatway about them too, which is why Inever thought he would want to alloweither of them to face him for the title."“Oh come on Randy, you had to at leastconsider the possibility of it. After all if

you get to choose someone to face youfor the title, it just makes sense that itwould be someone you know, especiallyif you live with them. Maybe Mordecaiwas only pretending to be suspicious ofthem. Who knows? The whole thing wasprobably just a big charade. But thefunny thing is you might never evenreally know. "Maybe I should talk toMordecai then," said Randyconsequently. "I'd be able to tell if hewas in on the whole thing." "Not so fast, Randy. You stilldon’t know what his motives are, andyou had best keep your mouth shut untilyou do. I’m sure you wouldn’t want himto think you were jealous of him, and

you don’t want to cause him to worryabout what might happen. He might evengo and tell Gregory and Bill what yousay. There’s no telling what wouldhappen then.” “You’re right,” said Randy,amazed that he could agree withsomething his brother had said. “I can’ttake any chances.” “We’ll be able to get a betteridea of where things stand next week,”said Jeff. “In the meantime I’ve gotta getthe heck out of here, if you know what Imean.” “Good call,” said Randy. Helooked around out of the window of thevan as if to assure himself that Gregoryand Bill had not somehow followed and

been observing them for any period oftime. He also did not remind Jeff of thefavor he had offered in exchange forlistening to Gregory and Bill.

Chapter Eleven

When Jeff and Randy got hometheir mother was seated at the computer,

while Dana and Erica sat watchingtelevision in wait. Mittens the catcrouched contentedly in Dana’s lap.When Mittens saw Randy head for thekitchen, he got up and eagerly followed.He sniffed, and then began to lick anempty food dish as Randy went to therefrigerator. From the refrigerator,Randy removed a gallon milk jug whichwas nearly empty, but not so that onewould necessarily say there was barelyany milk left. He poured milk into asmall cup, leaving an equally obscureamount in the jug which he placed backin the refrigerator where he had found it.He then swiped a red apple from aplastic bowl on the counter, which wasall but void of the more favorable

golden apples it once contained. As heexited the kitchen, he released a smallamount of milk into Mitten’s food dish.Mittens quickly lapped up all traces ofthe liquid, then toured the kitchenfruitlessly before returning to the livingroom. Randy plopped onto the sofanext to Dana and Erica, who looked tornbetween continuing to keep watch for acomputer vacancy and abandoning theirpost to get apples of their own. Jeffemerged from a back room, took onelook at Randy and went into the kitchen. “Get me one while you’re inthere,” Dana called after him “Me too,” called Erica. “All right, if you say so,” said

Jeff. He returned from the kitchen withthree cans of beer. “Awesome!” Dana exclaimed,prompting their mother to glance over atthe situation. “Put that down,” Carol said toDana, although Dana had not actuallytaken a can. “Jeff, where did you getthat?” “From the fridge,” said Jeff."Want one?" “Is it yours?” she knew Jeffwas legally unable to purchase the beeron his own, being two years shy of thelegal drinking age. “It might as well be,” said Jeff."It's been in there the whole time I'vebeen home."

“You had better give it hereright now,” said Carol, somewhatpassively.“I’ll put it back in the fridge,” said Jeff,knowing his mother would not bother tocheck. She did not respond as Jeffreturned to the kitchen and slid one canof beer deep into a loose pants pocket,placing the others back in a distinct spotin the refrigerator. He removed three redapples from the bowl and delivered oneeach to Dana and Erica, keeping theother for himself. Randy had finished his ownapple and went to throw his core in thetrash, and rinsed his hands at the kitchensink. While there, he thought he heard hismother getting up. He zoomed into the

living room only to find the computersurrounded by Dana and Erica, and hismother still basically seated at the smalldesk. Dana and Erica munched on theirapples, their hands covered with thesticky and sweet fluid that secretedperpetually from the fruit. Fluid alsorolled discreetly off of their hands andonto the floor and their upper arms. “Girls, you’ll have to go inthere and wash you hands,” said Carol ina tone that suggested she was attemptingto drive them away from the prospect ofusing the computer. “Oh all right,” said Dana. Shebacked slowly towards the kitchen, stillkeeping an eye on the scene. When shewas near the kitchen she threw herself in

and back out in no more than 10 seconds,having disposed of her apple core andrinsed her hands in the consequent time.But it was time enough for her mother tovoid the chair at the desk, allowingRandy to take her place. “No fair,” said Dana. “I had towash my hands.” “So did I,” said Randy. “What’syour point?” Neither of them noticed theirmother come in moments later, from thebathroom where she had been. It putparticular panic on Randy, who hadfilled her vacancy only after she was outof sight. On the day of their fight for thetitle, Gregory and Mordecai still had

issues of suspect with each other in spiteof their progressive faith in one another.However they both agreed to put theirdifferences aside in lieu of as fair a fightas possible on their own behalf. As he had done the past week,James performed the seemingly mundanetask of reading the rules of the fight, towhich both Gregory and Mordecaiagreed. Moments later the bell rang andthe fight was allowed to begin.Mordecai was not intimidated in theleast by any aspect of the experience,including the menacing look offered byGregory, which he assumed was part ofGregory's strategy. Mordecai beganhaving second thoughts, however, whenhe and Gregory locked up and he felt the

brunt of Gregory's immense, paralyzingstrength. Finding himself unable toovercome this incredible energy,Mordecai fell to the floor of the ring andlooked up at Gregory, stunned. Neverbefore had Mordecai met a force that hewas seemingly so ill-equipped to dealwith, and for the first time in his life hebegan to question any ideas that he hadabout his own physical ability, which hehad deemed particularly superior. Hequickly abandoned these thoughts as hegot to his feet and glared at Gregory.Gregory glared right back at him, a lookof pure evil in his eyes. It was enough tosend impetuous chills up Mordecai'sspine, though he managed to keep it fromshowing on his face.

From that moment on, Mordecaibarely managed to stay on his feet,although he would not allow himself tofalter again. Time and again he sufferedsevere punishment from the much largerGregory, taking an incredible toll on hisbody and weakening him physically. Hisresolve, however, was as strong as ever,and he would absolutely refuse to godown, looking instead to take dynamicadvantage of the moment Gregoryhimself began to lose steam. After what seemed like hours, Mordecai sensed that he was finallygoing to get his opportunity, as he coulddetect a legitimate lapse in Gregory'sstamina. At this point Mordecai was asclose as he dared get to Gregory in his

weakened state, barely able to dodgeGregory's grasp if need be at a moment'snotice. However, it was all he could doin his position to hope that his instinctswere wrong, and that he might actuallybe able to get over on Gregory, despitehow suspiciously easy it seemed. Timinghis action just right, Mordecai engagedhis most powerful move on Gregory,administered with enough force to knockthe very wind out of his opponent. Just when it seemed thatMordecai had the win secured, Gregoryemerged from his position of apparentblight and took firm hold of Mordecai,holding him in an upright positionaround his neck. In this position therewas no way for Mordecai to hide any

measure of fear, for Gregory couldliterally feel his senses and was lookingto capitalize on any bit of weakness. Forseveral moments, Gregory kept one armaround Mordecai's neck, squeezingprogressively tighter as he shifted hisother hand to different pulsatingpositions as if to detect Mordecai'sreflexes. This was difficult to do sinceMordecai's heart rate increased naturallyas a result of the physicality, but Gregorywas determined not to let him go until hewas sure he had found a measure ofvulnerability, though Mordecai could tellGregory was becoming increasinglyfrustrated. Finally Gregory was orderedby the referee to relinquish his grip onMordecai, to which Gregory began

distributing repeated blows toMordecai's head. It was a crazed, almostfrenzied type of energy, and Mordecaicouldn't help but wonder through hisprogressive loss of consciousness if ifthe crowd was sensing anything unusual,though he assumed it was in their natureto overlook the false acuteness ofanything going on in the ring. Gregoryput an end to the punishment just in timeto avoid a disqualification, which hewas told would happen within 10seconds of his first warning. Having been released byGregory, Mordecai was temporarilyshielded by the referee, as he had 10seconds to get to his feet before beingcounted out. As he staggered to his feet,

Mordecai finally allowed himself to feelhis real fear that he might not be able todefeat Gregory. During his initialembrace of Mordecai, Gregory seemedto be biding his time, as if to guaranteeMordecai would not put up a fight. IfGregory were to get hold of him again,Mordecai realized that Gregory wouldlikely take the chance of going directlyin for the win, regardless of whether hethought Mordecai would fight back. Thetruth was Mordecai had been completelylacking the energy to even attempt astruggle, and was incredibly lucky to getby solely on his tenacity in time to avoidlosing the match. His only hope now, herealized was to avoid being seized byGregory until he could seek out a

moment of weakness on which hehimself could capitalize for the win.Gregory bounced briskly on his toes ashe and Mordecai approached the centerof the ring. "This is gonna be the most funI've had in a long time," Mordecai heardhim say over the dull roar of the crowd.On the spur of the moment, Gregorylunged at Mordecai, who quickly duckedout of his grasp. Gregory made severalmore rapid attempts to take hold of hisopponent, each of which proved to beunsuccessful, and Mordecai could seethe frustration building to the pointwhere Gregory would ultimately let hisguard down. After many more failedattempts to get his hands on Mordecai,

Gregory stood to one side of the ring,breathing heavily, a look of defeat on hisface. "Here's your chance,Mordecai!" Mordecai thought to himself.Mordecai waited for the precise momentat which he would ambush Gregory, thenfollowed through on the beat. Thenwithout warning he was taken up byGregory, and held like a pile of of booksin Gregory's folded arms. Mordecaifought and kicked as hard as he could,but the more he fought the harderGregory squeezed to take the fight out ofhim.It was all going to plan as far asMordecai could tell.There came a point at which Mordecai

abandoned his fight in light of a verytight squeeze by Gregory. As a result,Gregory released his grip on Mordecai,seemingly relieved to be able to avoidbeing chastised once again by thereferee. The moment Mordecaiexperienced the slightest freedom ofmovement, he turned his body to faceGregory, pushing Gregory down in theprocess and keeping him there just longenough for the referee to count to three. Mordecai abruptly slid out ofthe ring as if to avoid the rage ofGregory, although Gregory showed novisible anguish over his own loss. Jameshad come around the ring to whereMordecai was, and lifted Mordecai'sarm in victory before handing the title

belt back to him. Making a feebleattempt to shield the title, Mordecaistole a courageous glance at Gregory,who stood doubled-over in the ring, hisexpression almost impossible to detect.Though he assumed Gregory had no hardfeelings about losing the match,Mordecai came to the sudden realizationthat, for the first time in his life, he wasdeveloping a true fear of something. Hehad initially thought that he was merelyallowing himself to feel fear for the firsttime, whereas before he may havedenied it or overlooked it. But in thiscase he found that, no matter how hardhe tried, he could not get past hisincredibly frantic feeling. It was asensation unlike any he had ever

experienced, and he felt it increase asthe reality set in. Trying desperately to calmhimself, Mordecai focused on thethrongs of people surrounding him.Luckily there did not appear to be muchpublic interest in his behavior, reticentor otherwise; as far as the public wasconcerned he had merely engaged in theweekly ritual among title holders, albeitagainst a comparatively largercompetitor. The disinterest in his win putMordecai at ease for the moment, but helooked ahead in horror to a time when herealized that he would most certainly bealone with Gregory and Bill. He decidedright then and there that he could notallow that to happen.

In spite of himself, Mordecaiconversed with Randy and Jeff andallowed them to admire the title. Fromhis preoccupied vantage point, Gregoryglared at the gathering of friends, astormy look coming over his face. Hedespised the way they seemed to holdsuch power over him despite their clearvulnerability. It was as if by workingtogether they always managed to stayone step ahead of him, just out of histheoretical reach. The friends ultimately madetheir way outside, where the lateafternoon welcomed the promise of asetting sun and air that was ripe with thefamiliar midsummer smells present onthe unusually warm autumn day.

Signaling Bill to join him in a vacantportion of the lobby, Gregory delivereda stern statement to his brother. "Bill, this has gone on longenough. So help me we are going to takecare of this tonight. It's time to takematters into our own hands." "You're right," said Bill. "Wecan't afford to wait anymore now thatwe're this close." "Well my friend, you knowwhat to do," said Gregory, pointingoutside. Bill headed for the same doorsthrough which Randy, Jeff and Mordecaihad exited the building. Moments laterMordecai reemerged into the building,looking worried. Still holding the title,he dashed back to the locker room and

immediately to the locker where hisbelongings had been, his heart poundingwildly. He breathed a tremendous sighof relief when he found his misplacedcell phone in the locker's left corner,having apparently fallen out of his coatpocket where he tended to store it. Somewhere in the midst of hisreprieve, Mordecai thought about usingthe bathroom, and no sooner had thethought crossed his mind than, as if byconsequence, he developed a suddentremendous urge to relieve himself. Withlittle time to lose, he attempted to stashthe title in his locker to free himself ofthe weight and the allure of it while hewent to the restroom. When the title

would not fit in the locker, he placed itquickly and casually under the lockerroom bench, anchoring his duffel bag onit before racing down the hall to themen's restroom. He did a quick check forGregory and Bill, but in his haste hefailed to notice Gregory among a nearbygroup of people. It was perhaps that hesimply didn't want to consider Gregory'spresence, or wanted to believesubconsciously that it would not pose athreat for the few minutes that he wouldbe gone. He fear himself. Gregory, who had secured thelocation of a double exit door, brokefree of the group of people and slippedinto the locker room in almost perfectsync with the moment Mordecai was out

of sight. Gregory wasted no time findingthe title, forcing himself not to take thetime to admire it as he leaned out of thelocker room, then out of one of the ajarexit doors. Once outside he wentdirectly to his car, which Bill had drivenup to the back of the building. Gregoryopened the car's right rear door, whichdid not allow the admittance of light thatcame with the opening of the front doors.Gregory placed the title stoically on therear floor of the car. "I'll take care of the kid. Youjust get that thing out of here, all right?"Gregory jogged back to the building asBill made off in the car. He was able totake advantage of the vacant scene andwas back inside before anyone knew he

was out. He crept back to the lockerroom, considering himself recoveredfrom the match, and once again preparedto deal with Mordecai on every possiblelevel. Yet he arrived to find the roomvoid of Mordecai, his belongings still inplace. Returning to the lobby, Gregorycaught sight of Randy and Jeff. Theywere soon joined by Mordecai, althoughtheir hushed conversation went mainlyunheard by Gregory, who stood severalfeet away from the three. In the midst oftheir talk, Mordecai couldn't help butgrow terribly tense at finding Gregory'ssights set on him, not knowing what hehad planned. "There's Gregory," said Randy,as if merely to suggest that Gregory had

not taken the title. "Should I tell him?" saidMordecai timidly. "Dude, I don't think he'd still behanging around here if he had anything todo with it," said Jeff. Gregory looked around andseemed abruptly to notice the three. Ashe came over to them, none among themcould help but back away from hisapproach. "Hey Mordecai, I just want tolet you know not to worry about whathappened in there," said Gregory. Mordecai nodded. "It's fine,Greg," he said, although on the inside hewas shaking like a leaf in a tornado. "It would have been great to

have won that title," Gregory went onsomberly. "But these things happen, youknow?" As Gregory moved closer tothem, they backed away from his everystep, until they were practically backedagainst the wall. It seemed that if therewas something to be said about theiractions that it would soon be spoken,which terrified the three to the point ofwanting to stop their retreat. Theknowledge, or perhaps merely the hopethat Gregory would have nothing to sayabout their behavior was the only thingthat allowed it to continue, for it was anotherwise unconscious action, almostinstinctive out of a fear that manifesteditself with reason.

Mordecai took advantage of thefirst lapse in Gregory's advance to tell ofhis plans, expecting that Gregory wouldhave a neutral reaction in order to avoidany judgment. "Greg, I thought I would get aride home with Jeff," said Mordecai allat once. He amazed himself by managingto look directly at Gregory, and speakingloudly and clearly. Gregory's eyes darted here andthere as if he were pondering thestatement, although his head did notmove. Shortly thereafter the movementceased, as if he had come to terms withwhat Mordecai had said. "All right, kid," said Gregory."I'll see you at home, then." The manner

in which Gregory spoke was unusuallypassive. Despite having voiced hisdiscontent about losing the match, onewould never know of his sorrow fromthe impassive way in which he behaved.It took Mordecai awhile to recall in themidst of his thoughts that the title hadbeen misplaced, which led him tosuspect Gregory, though he refused togive him the upper hand by telling of it'sdisappearance. Nonetheless, he was infact waiting to hear from a securityguard and hoping the talk would notoccur in the midst of Gregory. There was an awkward standoffin which Gregory had a number ofnerve-wracking ideas on his mind,including whether Mordecai was aware

of his involvement in taking the title orwould eventually find out, and how longMordecai would be out of his presenceregardless . Unfortunately he was unableto think of any indiscriminate way togauge Mordecai's position, and thereforehis only hope in that moment was that hecould gain an implied assessment ofMordecai's intentions, or at the veryleast that unusual quietude did not givehimself away as the culprit. Momentslater the stout security guard came up tothe group. "We're going to keep lookingthrough the weekend, and if it doesn'tturn up we'll put out a reward forwhoever returns it. It'll turn up one wayor another." Sensing that Gregory was

listening, Mordecai became openlyaware of the potential of raisingsuspicion if he did not reference the itemin question, and perhaps, likewise if hedid. "Thank you, sir," Mordecaisighed, resolved to leave to prevent anymore awkwardness, but not wanting todo so without the title. With a jolt ofpanic, Gregory realized that he had noteven questioned the absence of the title,which Mordecai may have caught assomething unusual. To further promotehis innocence, Gregory immediately setto work, looking Mordecai up and downas if randomly noticing something wasmissing. "Hey Mordecai, what happened

to the title?" said Gregory with all of theinnocence he could forge. "Did something happen to it?"said Mordecai with provocativesarcasm. "How do you know?" Gregory stood firm, stubbornlyrefusing to expose what he had up hissleeve. "I just noticed you don't have it." A look of misery came uponMordecai's face, the kind of look thatwould acutely concern anyone who sawit. "I don't know where it is. One minuteit's with my stuff, and next thing youknow it's gone!" Gregory rubbed his hand overhis chiseled face, in an attempt todisguise his own anguish. "Wow, I'm sosorry to hear that, kid. I'm sure it'll turn

up somewhere. I'll keep an eye out for itmyself." "Thanks Gregory," saidMordecai, as if without so much as ahint of suspicion of Gregory. Gregoryseemed pleased by his lack of suspect,which pleased Mordecai in turn. "Well we're gonna get on out ofhere, all right?" "All right. See ya kid." Randy, Jeff and Mordecaihurried outside to Jeff's van. Althoughreluctant to leave without the title,Mordecai realized that he didn't haveany time to waste in order tosuccessfully put forth what he hadplanned. "Do you really think Gregory

has the title?" Randy whispered toMordecai. Randy thought back on all thathe had experienced with Gregorythroughout his lifetime, and the prospectof actually making off with the titleseemed far-fetched, even for Gregory. "I'm not sure, but I have to getthere first if I want to catch him in theact," said Mordecai. "Well then I'm going to goahead and take you over there," saidJeff. "Just tell me where to go, all right?" "Thanks, Jeff. I appreciate it." They all climbed into the van,with Mordecai in the front passengerseat and Randy more or less makinghimself at home in the engaging backarea. They navigated the area, following

Mordecai's lead until they were on theroad to Gregory and Bill's house. "It's on this road," Mordecaisaid as if ashamed. The two-lane roadwas dark and unaccommodating, withouta single other car in sight on either side.As they traveled further down the road,both Jeff and Randy couldn't help butwonder if, by some stroke of luck,Mordecai was leading them on. Theywere therefore relieved to hearMordecai's acknowledgment of thelocation, prior to either of them havingto ask. "There it is," Mordecai saidwistfully. Jeff slowed down beforeapproaching the dark house, with a yardvoid of any vehicles aside from a station

wagon that belonged to Mordecai. "Looks like you got here first,"said Jeff, his tone suggesting that he wasin fear of Gregory's arrival. "Yes. Now listen, I don't wantyou guys getting into any trouble, so youjust go on ahead. Just follow this road onout and you'll end up back at the maindrag. Meantime Greg's in for a nicesurprise when he gets back." The bravery that Mordecaiseemed to posses in challengingGregory's authority seemed completelyinsane to Jeff, who like Mordecai hadacquired an enhanced fear of Gregoryafter what he had seen that day. Jeff'sfear was such that he was initiallyunable to leave the scene, but it dawned

on him that he had to clear out beforeGregory showed up, even for the sake ofMordecai. Mordecai crept to the side ofthe house and concealed himself in theshadow of a crawlspace door, where hewould be hidden from view by anyapproaching figure. There he settled in,taking care to keep his eyes and earsopen for any unusual activity. After sometime he began to think he had made amistake, or worse, that he had somehowbeen discovered Gregory who may havebeen in the process of covering histracks. He was absorbed completely inthis thought when he witnessed from hishiding place the unmistakable outline ofGregory's car approaching the house. He

observed Gregory and Bill getting out ofthe car, neither in possession of the title.He found to his disappointment that hewas unable to pick up any dialogue fromeither of them, even as he realized thatthey would cease to talk about the title inhis presence if they were indeedharboring it. Anticipating their entranceinto house and the subsequent loss ofdialogue, he crept closer, hoping to pickup on a few words. Unaware of the positioning ofhis body, Mordecai tripped as he made amove. The sound was insignificant, but itwas apparent in the otherwise deadsilence. Gregory stopped short ofentering the house and went to

investigate the sound. Mordecai's heartwent wild. He was trapped like a rat nodoubt, having nowhere to hide fromGregory's prying eyes. He consideredmaking a run for it, but knew that to doso would put him at suspect and untoldother affliction if he was tracked down.He made up his mind to stay as hiddenas possible, right where he was, toeliminate any sound of movement whichmight pinpoint his location, though itwas inevitable that he would bediscovered eventually. It wasn’t untilGregory came directly upon him that hefelt the true scope of his exposure, in themidst of a latent expression that saidnothing was out of the ordinary. Billvery soon joined the cavalry, looking

quite tentative as he noticed Mordecai. "Well well, look who we gothere, Bill," Gregory grinned. "It'sMordecai the spy!" Mordecai's stolid expressionremained, until he was overcome by atremendous laughter at Gregory'sreference to him. He stood, almostinstinctively, feeling as if no harm couldcome to him in that lighthearted moment.It was a feeling of such euphoria that itendured even as Gregory's arm came tobe locked imperiously around hisunfortunate neck. Still in the midst oflaughter, Mordecai was essentiallycarried to the house in this manner,while Bill remained outside. It was atthis point that Mordecai realized he had

adequately traced Gregory and Bill'severy move between the house sincetheir arrival, and came to the conclusionthat neither was in possession of thetitle. Was it perhaps in the car? Ofcourse. Bill was in the process ofmoving it right at that moment! It was along shot, but he had to find out one wayor another. Unfortunately the ideapossessed him during his extended stayin Gregory's grasp, as if Gregory weretrying to buy Bill some implicit time. Moments later Gregoryuncoiled the arm in which he embracedMordecai, as if he were releasing a pileof clothing onto the floor. Mordecai fellto his knees before standing erect andheading steadily toward the still opened

door, without regard to who or whatmight follow him there. He wassurprised to find that Gregory did not tryto stop him, and he grinned knowingly ashe exited the house. Gregory returned thegrin as Mordecai caught a glimpse ofBill leaning into the car, appearing as ifin search of something. A concealedpanic came over Bill as Mordecaiheaded for him, no longer void of hisstalwart fashion. "here it is," Bill said calmly tohimself, within earshot of Mordecai. "Iwanted to tell you I found the title.Gregory told me you had already leftwith your friends, so I figured I wouldhold it until we could get hold of you." "Really?" asked Mordecai.

"Where did you find it?" "I found it in the locker room. Icouldn't find you around anywhere." Mordecai realized that he hadindeed spent a good deal of time in themen's restroom, certainly more time thanhe had wanted, having had to wait to useone of only two stalls in that particularrestroom. It was quite possible that Billhad come upon the title in this time, butMordecai found it hard to believe thatwithout Gregory's acknowledgement.Then his stomach tied in a knot, the onlything keeping it contained as he thoughtback to the conversation he'd had withGregory just before leaving the academy. "Did Gregory know you foundthe title in there?" Mordecai came out

with it, not daring to consider what theanswer might be. "He wasn't with me when Ifound it," said Bill. "He didn't knowabout it until he met me in the car." Mordecai breathed a sigh ofrelief, hoping that it had not beenapparent to Bill. "Well I'm glad youfound it," said Mordecai. "I was prettyworried." "I'll bet you were," said Bill.He handed the belt to Mordecai, whosuddenly underestimated its weight afterseeing the ease with which Bill hadhandled it. Back in the house, Gregoryretained the same surly grin with whichhe had initially presented Mordecai.

"Had you fooled, didn't wekid?" said Gregory, crowding Mordecaibetween himself and Bill. The heightdifference between them was veryapparent and seemed enormous at suchclose range. "You know Bill, I'm startingto get the idea that maybe this kid doesn'ttrust us." Mordecai held tightly to thetitle, knowing he had every reason to becynical of the two. "I may have missed out thistime, but it won't be long before I getanother shot at that thing, mark myword," said Gregory, though he knew hewas likely only lying to himself. Heplaced a hand firmly on the title, whichmade Mordecai panic with the

realization that there was nowhere hecould go. Sensing his anxiety, Gregorybacked away from Mordecai and offeredhim the relic of a sincere smile. "Youjust take my advice and enjoy it whileyou got it, all right kid?" Sensing that Gregory and Billwanted to be alone, Mordecai retreatedto his room, the title dwarfing his frameas he dissappeared. As soon asMordecai was behind closed doors,Gregory and Bill took their respectiveseats in the living room. Gregory was so livid that evenBill was afraid of him at that moment.He knew that things would get muchworse once the alcohol got to him,especially now that the title was out of

his hands. "All right, Bill," Gregoryhissed. "This kid's smarter than I thought.Looks like we're gonna have to go withplan B." Bill nodded in timid agreement.The look on Gregory's face was bothcold and dark enough to turn the nightitself colder and darker than it alreadywas. "Of course we can't let him getback to the academy with the title. He'llno doubt be guarding it with his life aftertonight. So that means we're gonna haveto take care of this tomorrow. This is ourlast chance, so nothing had better gowrong, you hear me?" "All right, Greg. What do you

want to do tomorrow?" said Bill, tryingto get right to the point so as not to annoyGregory with his words. "You ought tohave a plan in advance." Just then herealized, almost with a laugh, thatGregory had called the idea plan B,though he in fact had no official "plan." "No one's gonna be at the shoptomorrow, you know that. I say we go onover there and do what we gotta do,bottom line. It'll be much easier thatway." Bill shook his head vehemently."Greg, we would have to get to the titlewithout letting him think we are trying totake it," said Bill. "There ain’t no waythat's gonna happen, not now aftertonight. Besides, if it disappears again,

he'll suspect us of taking it." Gregory placed either of hislarge, strong hands on the smallershoulders of his brother, pulling hisbrother upright so that they were forcedto look each other right in the eye. Hespoke not a word until Bill's eyes methis own indefinitely. "Listen to me, Bill," saidGregory. "I'm done playing games, allright? Now I have had one goal in mindever since that kid's been here, andfrankly I'll do whatever I have to at thispoint to accomplish it. After that the kidwill be useless to me, and I could careless what he does. You forget that in myposition, I won't have to leave thatplace, no matter what happens."

"I wouldn't be too sure aboutthat," said Bill. "They might make yourforfeit your position if they find out whatyou did.""The way I see it there is no harm doneas long as the title is returned," Gregoryreplied, as if attempting to correct hisbrother's plausible statement. "I canreturn it without anyone even knowing..."

Chapter Twelve

After leaving Mordecai athome, Randy and Jeff were in the van,parked at the wharf. "I need some money for gas,man," Jeff sighed. "I know how you can get money

for gas," said Randy. "How's that?" said Jeff. "Sell the van." That would defeat the purposeof needing gas," said Jeff, releasing thelaugh he had been trying desperately tohide. Their cell phone rang, andrecognizing Mordecai's phone number,Randy answered it. "Hello?" said Randy. “Hey man, it's me,” Mordecaisat with the title, an uneasy feelinghaving overcome him.”I just wanted tolet you know that Bill found the title andhe gave it back to me.” “That's great, I guess,” saidRandy, sounding distinctly amazed.

“Yeah, but I need to ask you ahuge favor. I need you and Jeff to holdonto the title again. Just until nextweekend when I have to defend itagain.” Randy could see Mordecai'spotential reasoning, but he wasconfused. Why wouldn't Mordecai wantto have the title in his own possessionfor as long as possible? It was entirelypossible, he believed, that Mordecaimay even be working with Gregory, andtrying to frame Randy for taking the title.This was particularly true since the titlewas still thought to be stolen until itturned up at the academy. “Why do you want us to holdonto the title?” Randy asked, not wanting

to reference the potential of a setup. “It's Gregory, man. I've alwayshad a funny feeling about him, but now Ithink it's true. I think he wants to take thetitle from me and use it for his ownfulfillment.” Randy was silent for a moment,letting the idea sink in. Then he spoke.“Iunderstand where you're coming from,dude. I never felt quite right about himmyself.” He paused again. “Why don'tyou call the cops?” “I couldn't do that to Gregory.He's done so much for me. Besides, Idon't even know if this is real or not.” “All right,” said Randy. Herefused to hold back anymore. “We wantto help you, but let's be honest. How do

we know you won't call the academy onus and tell them that we have the title?Someone could show up at our house,and we'd be in big trouble then.” “Do you really think I would dothat to you?” Mordecai pleaded, sinceregravity in his voice. Though he wasunable to hear Mordecai on the otherend, Jeff chimed in. “Dude, let's just go back overthere and get the title from him if that'swhat he wants,” said Jeff, believingRandy's theory to be ridiculous,Likewise he couldn't help but fathom thecompelling prospect of holding the titleagain, having previously experienced it. “All right, we're coming overthere,” Randy told Mordecai, “but we're

going to park where we parked before.” “Awesome,” said Mordecai,“just give me a call back when you gethere, all right?” It took Randy and Jeff all of 15minutes to return to the house, whichwas ironically located near the wharf.Randy wasted no time calling Mordecaiback upon their arrival, though he wasbarely able to get a signal on the cellphone in the wilderness. “We're here,” said Randy. “All right. I'm coming out.”Mordecai exited his room with the titleand headed for the back door, with fearin the knowledge that he'd likely make alot of noise and be caught trying to openit. He managed to get the door opened

with considerable ease, though notwithout a sound so loud that it had surelygot the attention of Gregory and Bill.Pulling the door firmly shut behind him,he raced down the back porch steps andaround the house to the main road. Sureenough, he found Jeff's van parked alongthe shoulder of the road, in the sameposition where it had been previously.He breathed a sigh of relief as heapproached the van, feeling a sense ofsecurity among his friends. Randyopened the passenger door of the van asMordecai approached. “Here's the title,” saidMordecai, handing it to him. “I've got togo.” He hoped to make it back to thehouse before Gregory ever knew he was

gone. Back in the living room,Gregory had indeed been made aware ofthe sound of the door being opened andclosed by Mordecai, and had gone toinvestigate. Having found no sign ofMordecai in the house, he had gone outthe back door, searched the immediatearea, then gone around to the front of thehouse. He fully suspected Mordecai oftrying to compromise the title, and wasnot about to lose any time. “Mordecai!,” he called. It wasjust at this time that Mordecaiapproached, having finished with Randyand Jeff. Gregory noticed that Mordecaiwas without the title, and also recalledthat it had not been in his room. He

thought back to their time at the academyearlier in the day, and somethingsuddenly occurred to him. “What are you doing out here,kid?” said Gregory. “Come on inside.”Mordecai had not yet reached the pointwhere Gregory stood, and was reluctantto go any further. Yet somehow hesensed that a change had come overGregory. He couldn't quite tell what itwas, but the man actually seemed to takean interest in his well being for once,and for that matter, did not seem at allinterested in taking the title as Mordecaihad thought previously. Mordecairemained attentive, though, and decidedto take every precaution, as he was wellaware of Gregory's knavish tendencies.

“I'll be inside in a little while,”said Mordecai, “I just need to get someair.” “Okay,” said Gregory, “just besure and lock that back door when youcome back in, all right?” he went joggingback to the house. Once inside, heleaned back in his chair and told Billof his premonition. "I say we quit wasting time andteach this kid a lesson,” he said, “it'sabout time he learned not to meddle inour affairs." "Aw come on, Greg. I wannahave some more fun with him. It wouldbe great to lead him on until heconfesses everything." "Yeah, it sure would," said

Gregory, still leaning back in the chair."It's just such a shame I cant afford towait anymore. Who knows what thatkid's got on us? He stood up again andquickly went out the back door, catchinga faint glimpse of Mordecai, who stillstood at a distance from the house.Mordecai looked at him, though his gazewas not entirely apparent to Gregory.Gregory disappeared back inside,definitively giving Mordecai the headstart he needed. He had caught ontoGregory's savvy of the situation, andwas not about to wait around like asitting duck. He made a run for the mainroad, though it was some distance fromwhere he stood. Just a few feet frombeing hidden by the thick forest that

lined either side of the road, Mordecaispotted Gregory bringing up the rear. Atthe edge of the road, he paused. Whatwas he doing? He had never been one torun from anything, and he wasn't going togive Gregory the pleasure of perceivedsuperiority He was going to have to faceGregory hands down if that was what ittook. He turned to face Gregory, alook of determination on his face. "You look scared half to death,buddy,” said Gregory, sympathy in hisvoice. "Listen kid, I know I've givenyou the wrong idea about some things.But I'm not gonna hurt you, all right?That's the last thing I wanna do." The

ironic truth was that Gregory was noteven looking to Mordecai to clue him inon the whereabouts of the title, althoughMordecai could never believe that. "I forgot to tell you I wannashow you something out back if you wantto see it," said Gregory. Mordecai's stomach jerked soviolently he felt as if it were itselfturning against him, trying to knock himoff of his feet. There was no wayGregory had the title! Surely Mordecaiwould have noticed such a thing. Still,he knew he had to find out one way oranother. He kept his distance fromGregory as the two of them walked tothe back of the house. The night wasfilled with an increasingly panicked

wind, which seemed to serve as awarning against what lie ahead. As theyreached their destination Gregory cameto a stop and looked down upon theground as if examining something.Whatever it was, it was not visible toMordecai from where he stood, and sohe moved in closer in order to look uponit. His approach was a cautious one,though Gregory who seemed to pose nothreat. Gregory he lifted his head, thewind rushing through his long hair. Hethen turned it a near perfect 90 degreeangle to Mordecai, and he felt like hehad to arch it downward the same 90degrees to focus on his subject "Mordecai I how you feel aboutthe title, and how you'd do anything to

protect it. That's why it's such a shamethat it's come down to this." Mordecai did not act as ifanything was out of the ordinary, perhapsas a measure of defense, or perhapsbecause he believed subconsciously thatGregory did not intend to take any actionagainst him. This was, after all, the mostlikely scenario, as he could see noreason why Gregory would want to goout of his way to cause him harm, even ifhe was after the title. It would simply betoo much effort in Mordecai's opinion,though no one could be as calm as hewas in that moment. Without realizing it,or even recognizing it's potential impact,Mordecai's hand slipped into a pocketand he picked up his cell phone. It took

practically no time following this forGregory to get behind Mordecai andthrow an arm around his neck in a swift,tightening grip. In this position, Gregorycarried Mordecai far across the barrenland to a steel pole which stuck out ofthe ground. The pole had a large, low-seated ring affixed to it, like a lowbasketball hoop without a net on it.Gregory brandished a pair of handcuffs,and locked one of the cuffs aroundMordecai's right arm, which was caughtin his embrace. “Gregory man, you can’t do thisto me!”“Be quiet!” cried Gregory.“Let me go!” Gregory pushed Mordecai to

the ground and almost simultaneouslyplaced a foot on top of him, renderinghim immobile before he even had achance to move. He looked down uponMordecai as the last rays of lightexhumed from the evening sky."Now you've got one last chance to tellme the truth, before I find out on myown."“Screw you man!" Gregory scoffed. “You reallyare a stubborn fool, aren't you? Have ityour way then.” He locked the other sideof the handcuffs around the proximatemetal ring. Mordecai's free hand formeda death grip around his cell phone, somuch so that buttons were inevitablypushed on it. The action did not go

unnoticed by Gregory, who steppedheavily on Mordecai's arm beforeMordecai had a chance to conceal it.Mordecai's fingers remained lockedimperiously around the phone, though hebarred his teeth in pain. Virtuallyhelpless in his position, he let go of thephone, only to have Gregory's footremain in place on his arm. Gregorypicked the phone up and threw it far intothe distance before finally removing hisfoot from Mordecai's arm. Mordecaiquickly brought his arm to his side. "Now, as long as I don't run intoany trouble I should be back in no timeat all," Gregory spoke as if aware thatMordecai had talked to Randy and Jeff."Have fun, kid."

Mordecai did not prefer tofurther abase himself by trying to pleadwith Gregory. Rather, he was leftsubjectively tethered to the ground,wearing nothing but a thin tank top in thechill of the coming night. Gregory fled calmly, yetquickly in a direct line from the backdoor where he entered to the front wherehe and Bill exited again. "You fixed him up good, huhGreg?" said Bill."Oh yeah. He's not going anywhere. Youcan be sure of that. We'll take care ofbusiness and deal with him later. At the Stimpson house, Mrs.Stimpson sat at the computer, typinghastily as she contemplated calling the

police after being unable to contactRandy and Jeff. It turned out the batteryon Jeff's cell phone had died, though heand Randy had been in no subsequenthurry to return home from the wharfwhere they had been. Prior to calling thepolice, Mrs. Stimpson made the decisionto drive herself to the wharf, leavingDana at home with Erica in case theboys should show up. She figured thiswould afford the girls an unbiasedopportunity to use the computer whileshe made the short trip into town. "I shouldn't be gone long, butI've got my phone with me, so just giveme a call if you need anything or if theyshow up," Mrs. Stimpson said to Dana. "Okay mom,” said Dana, as

eager as ever to use the computer. "Thank you Dana.” Mrs.Stimpson went out to her red van andfollowed the road to the wharf. Soon afterwards, Randy andJeff arrived home. They let themselvesin, much to the chagrin of the girls, whohad barely had 30 minutes ofuninterrupted time at the computer. “Where's mom?” asked Randy. "She's not here," said Dana,suddenly taking note of the title onRandy's shoulder. "What do you mean she's nothere?" said Randy, sounding concerned. "Well what do you think? Shewent out looking for you guys."

"Do you know where she wasgoing?" "Just down to the wharf shesaid. Where were you guys anyway?And what are you doing with that?" "It's a long story," said Randy,looking no less concerned than he hadinitially. He went into the bedroom thathe shared with Jeff. Once there he hidthe title under his twin bed, where it wasobscured by other items there. He thensat down in the living room andexplained to Dana how he had come thetitle, as possible and omitting any detailsof their rendezvous with Gregory andBill. Erica had quickly busied herselfplaying a game at the computer. "I was parked at the wharf

waiting for dad's ship to come in, whenwe got a call from Mordecai," said Jeff "He wanted us to hold the titlefor him," said Randy. "Why does he want you to holdit for him?" said Dana. “Never mind that," said Randy,“We'll give it back to him soon.” "Okay," said Dana. "Well Iguess we should call mom and tell heryou are here," "That's a good idea," said Jeff.He went to the phone on the computerdesk, leaving Erica unfazed as he stoodnext to her. “Hey mom,” said Jeff. “Hi honey,” said Mrs.Stimpson. “It's so good to hear your

voice. Listen honey, I talked to somepeople down here and it looks like yourdad's fishing ship will be coming in anyminute. Do you think you guys will be allright at home if I wait here for him?” "Yeah mom, we'll be fine." “Okay Jeff, call me if you needanything.” “Okay mom.” “I love you honey.” “I love you too, mom. Bye.” Ashe hung up the receiver, he could tell thathis mom had only put an abrupt end theconversation in order to avoid using theminutes on her cell phone. He told theothers about the situation, and theyproceeded to watch television whileErica remained at the computer. They

continued to talk and watch televisionuntil they heard a vehicle outside. "Is that mom?" Jeff thought withdisappointment. The prospect of usingthe computer had been on his mind sinceboth his parents were gone, and hefigured he'd finally have a chance to useit that night. Randy secretly had the samedesire, but like Jeff was reluctant to actupon it scrupulously. Randy opened the door to theglow of twin round headlights, somedistance from the house. Though unsureof who it was, he quickly developed aneerie prospect which he could not shake. "Darn," he thought. "I've gottado something." He looked back at theothers. "You guys just stay in there," he

said to counteract the situation. "I'll takecare of this." "We'll be back," Jeff said as hefollowed his brother out the the door.Dana and Erica thought perhaps it wasan unwanted visitor, though they feltdisobliged to get involved. "I should handle this myself,"said Randy to Jeff. "I'm a neutral partyas far as they know." "Not true,” said Jeff, “theyknow we are related they would you justas soon suspect you as they would me." "Jeff, I got us into this and I'mgonna get us out, all right?" He headedtowards the vehicle while Jeff hungback, rolling his green eyes. Out of the car's driver side

stepped a man wearing a white t-shirtbeneath a f aux leather jacket. The manwas taller than Randy , who stood injudicious shock. The man seemed toignore them as he looked around as if insearch of something. "Not to worry, son. I am justlooking for something I lost." "What is it that you lost?" askedRandy. "Why would it be here?" Tooterrified to search the now darkness ofthe car for the presence of Gregory, heallowed himself to feel relief in knowingthat Bill had apparently come alone tothe house and would hopefully take a farmore delicate approach than would havecome by Gregory. But no sooner had thisfeeling come over him than there

emerged from the vehicle's passengerside a forbearing sight that left Randyfrozen in place. Jeff was immediatelyupon the scene, placing himself in frontof his younger brother. "Hello kids," Gregory said."You know, I must admit I'm notsurprised to find you two involved here.just like Mordecai to get his friendsinvolved." Jeff and Randy stood strong,ready to fight at a moment's notice. "Bill, I want you get out of here.I think it's time these punks learned justwho they're dealing with." Gregory'sgaze remained locked on the two as hespoke, as if they might make an attemptto escape if his gaze relinquished even

for a moment. "Now then, the sooner we findthe title, the sooner we can get on withthings. So I would suggest you do thesmart thing and give it up." As Gregorycame closer to them, Jeff and Randyremained in place, in a stolid effort toavoid violence. "Look, I don't know who youthink you are, but that title belongs toMordecai." Jeff stood in front of Randy,who appeared a smaller version of hisbrother. "That kid is nothing without me,you hear? Nothing but a pitiful loser." Itbecame suddenly clear that Gregory wasclose enough to Jeff to grab him, but tomake a move in any direction would

give the appearance of Jeff backing offout of fear. As Jeff spoke, Randy managedto steal a glance at the house, where hepictured his sisters and the title inside.In that moment, he knew that his biggestpriority was getting back there toprovide whatever protection he couldbefore he missed his chance. Yet themore he contemplated the idea, the moreapparent it became that it may neverhappen. Jeff took a few steps backwardsand was grabbed instantly by Gregory,as Randy ducked. "Randy, get out of here!" criedJeff. Jeff was handled easily by Gregory,who placed him over his left shoulder. "You know what, I think I'm

beginning to like that I didn't get the titleso soon. Now I get to have some funwith you." Gregory held Jeff firmly inplace and carried him to a remote,distant spot. Where he placed him on theground and anchored him there with asingle foot. "Yes indeed," said Gregory. "Iam going to have a great time with thisone". He removed a lighter from hispocket, and could feel the tension buildin Jeff's body. The tension seemed todiminish when he brought out a cigarette,although it was apparent that Jeff wasmaking a considerable effort to breakfree from his restraint. Gregory placedmore pressure on Jeff's body, which onlymade more clear Jeff's attempt to free

himself. Gregory put his cigarette,keeping his foot in place on Jeff's body. “Looks like you're not gonnacooperate with me on your own. So beit, then." He removed his foot from Jeff'sbody, at which Jeff groaned and crawledto a nearby tree. He pulled himself into asitting position and breathed heavily, hisface upward and arms to his sides. Jeff expected Gregory wouldmove on, having already had his fun andnot wanting to lose any more timefooling around. With that in mind, Jeffbegan to stand, using the tree for support.He stopped unassumingly, resuming thesitting position when he noticed Gregorystill looming over him. Gregory placed a hand on the

tree above Jeff and slid to the groundnext to him, a strong arm climbingaround his neck. "You screwed me over realgood boy," he said in a harsh whisperinto Jeff's ear. "But you know what? I'mhere to tell you you done messed withthe wrong dude. This ain't just about thetitle no more, son. No sir. Now it'spersonal." As Jeff began to move awayfrom the tree, his shoulder was seized byGregory and he let out a helpless groan.Gregory beat him down for severalminutes in a fit of blind rage, andstopped just as suddenly as he began. Asif sensing that he was losing time, hestood up and removed his jacket,

studying Jeff. "Don't worry, I'll be back todeal with you as soon as I take care ofthe other pieces of the puzzle," Gregorywalked slowly around him before takingoff, leaving behind his leather jacket asif a warning to Jeff. Randy had met Dana and Ericain their shared bedroom, where he hadconsidered relocating the title. Theywere both on their shared double bed,Dana lying with her arms behind herhead and Erica sitting with her kneesagainst her chest, looking beyondterrified in the dim of a bedside lamp. "I'm scared, Randy!" saidErica. "Where's mommy?" "Remember she said she was

going to see if dad is coming back?"Dana replied, as if annoyed by Erica'sfear. She stood up and faced Randy, herexpression becoming suddenly somber,as if reality had set in. "Randy, what's going on outthere?" "Don't worry about it," saidRandy in a plain tone. "Just stay in herewith Dana while I go get Jeff." "Yeah right," Dana insisted, asif trying to make light of what felt like atruly serious situation. "You just want usto stay in here so you can use thecomputer." "Dana please," cried Randy."I'll be right back. Just wait in here." "Go on and use it if you want.

We won't bother you, right Erica? We'lljust sit in there and watch TV,” Danalaughed. “You know what's so funny?The more time you spend arguing withus, the less time you have to use thecomputer before mom gets back. Youknow she's going to want to use it assoon as she gets here." "Yeah," said Erica. "You couldbe using it now while you are worriedabout us." Randy let out a heavy sigh. "Allright, you win. Come with me if youwant. Just don't say I didn't warn you tostay back." He started down the hall,followed distantly by his two sisters.The sisters stopped at the end of the hallwhen they noticed Randy go out the door

instead of to the vacant computer, whichseemed to beckon them with a forcecompeting with their urge to followRandy outside. Dana seemed to die alittle on the inside as she recognizedhow much time had passed in which shehad yet to use the computer while hermother was gone. She envisioned herselfbecoming caught up in computer activity,only to be randomly interrupted by whatwas sure to be the abrupt arrival of hermother, or by Randy in the midst ofwhatever he was doing outdoors. Yet shewas reluctant to follow him outdoors foran unfounded fear she realized she feltabout what might be going on. “Maybe we shouldn't go outthere,” said Erica, as if echoing Dana's

mental sentiment. “Randy could be doingsomething bad.” "Don't be ridiculous," saidDana. "He's just sitting outside with Jefflike they always do." They headedoutdoors and looked around, but wereunable to find Randy or Jeff. "In the van," Erica suggested. Dana hesitated for a fewmoments, a thoughtful and searching lookon her face. "Let's check," she saidfinally, not wanting Erica to think shewas being held back. As they started for the van, asound from behind the house came asbackground noise in lieu of their desireto find their brothers. Once it becameclear that their brothers were not in the

van, the sound behind the house instantlytook center stage, luring the girlstowards it, as if it were intendeddeliberately to do so.

Chapter Thirteen

The girls headed towards thesource of the sound and found Mittensstalking among dry leaves, occasionallysniffing. The cat ran towards Dana, whoembraced him in an uplifting hug before

releasing him amid his desperatestruggle to escape her arms. It was atthis point that they noticed Randy at thehouse, astride the front porch. Hecasually started for the back of thehouse, guided only by the light of themoon and the still fading rays of sunamong which it sat. "Where are you going?" saidDana, in a voice that startled Randy. "I'm trying to find Jeff," headmitted, not wanting to jeopardize thesituation by lying for any reason. “Youtwo should really go back inside. Youcan use the computer if you want.” “All right,” said Dana, “but Iget to use it first.” She took off runningto the front of the house, followed

closely by Erica. Randy maneuveredalong a well worn path that ended in agrassy clearance behind the house. Meanwhile Jeff had gotten holdof Gregory's jacket, keeping an open earfor anything which might indicate thesound of Gregory's approach. Jeff doveinto the left pocket of the jacket, wherehe got his hands on what felt like afolded piece of paper. Finding nothing inthe other pocket, he distanced himselfeven further from the jacket than he hadbeen prior to checking its contents.When he felt that it was adequately safeto do so, Jeff unfolded the piece of paperwhich he had found. Though he hadbelieved it to be a single paper, it was infact two sheets, one folded inside of the

other. On one sheet was printedinformation about the duties of WrestlerX and how the individual was expectedto uphold the position. "-Individual must be willing tosubject to losses, whether or not for thesake of anonymity. -Above all, individual mustpresent and uphold a mature andprofessional attitude at all times. Failureto adhere to this policy will result inimmediate suspension of privileges, aswell as dismissal of the individual fromthe academy. The other sheet of paper whichJeff had found was a partially filled outWrestler X Questionnaire such as the

one Randy had previously obtained. Thequestions which had been answeredincluded "what color is Wrestler X'shair?" and "What color are his eyes?"The hair color was listed as brown andeye color was listed as hazel, which Jefffigured did not provide any definitiveinformation. The idea that he may haveeffectively identified Wrestler Xlikewise did not cause so much as a stirof emotions in him, as he decided hewould have so much trouble answeringthe many other questions which he hadyet to even read Jeff had become so engrossedin reading the information that he wascompletely oblivious to Randy'sapproach.

"Listen man, we gotta get out ofhere now,” said Randy, in a panic. "Hold on," said Jeff, puttingforth the Questionnaire, “I think I foundsomething.” “You can show it to me later,”said Randy. “We can't let Gregory get tothe title.” As if in response to his name,Gregory approached instantly, carryingDana draped over his left shoulder andErica under his right arm. "It turns out I found a couple ofaccomplices,” Gregory grinned,“Unfortunately they lack the intelligenceto spill the beans about the title. Perhapsthey might just change their mind once Iam through with you two."

"Dude, why didn't you stay withthem?" Jeff said to Randy. "I didn't know what was goingon, man. I had to make sure you were allright." "Come on Randy, you know Ican take care of myself." Jeff said this inspite of the relief he actually felt inRandy's presence. In a single motion, Gregoryreleased Dana and Erica to the ground,and went immediately after Randy as ifdaring anyone to make any false moves.Randy felt his complete vulnerability,without the security of his father whohad always been there before. Hebacked away as he was approached byGregory, unwilling to be taken hostage in

spite of his obvious distress. An instinct of protectionovertook Jeff as he went over to Danaand Erica. "We're just going to stay here,all right?" He figured as long asGregory's focus was on Randy, it wouldstay off of them assuming they didnothing to draw immediate attention tothemselves. In the meantime he held outhope that there would come a point whenthe atmosphere would grow sereneenough to enable at least his sisters toescape unharmed. When he was well out of viewof the others, Randy stopped backingaway, as if curious to see what Gregorywould do. He made a failed attempt torun, falling finally into a powerful rage,

full of a type of evil which he had longseen as only a nightmare. Gregory held Randy in place,wearing him down with every passingmoment. "It's just you and me now, kid.And guess what? It's payback time." Still holding onto Randy,Gregory placed a foot on top of him andstood up. The weakened Randy let out ananguished cry and pounded the ground,begging Gregory to move. "What's the matter, kid? It lookslike you're not having any fun at all,"Gregory removed his foot, then kickedRandy before he could attempt to move.Randy was then able to move quite somedistance on the ground, though he would

not allow himself to believe it was byGregory's admission. He caught directsight of the behemoth, who used a singlehand to drag Randy into an uprightposition. "I'll be honest with you, son.Return the title to Mordecai. keep itmyself? it has to be returned to it'srightful owner. you give me the title andI'm going to return it to Mordecai." I don't have the title," Randyallowed himself to believe the statementbased on the fact that he literally did nothave the title with him, although he wasremotely aware of its location. "What a shame. You're asstubborn as your old man, aren't youboy? Just wait until he comes back here

to see what's become of his child." "All right, I'll give it to you. I'llgive you the belt. Just let me go." "I don't think so. You're notgoing anywhere until that belt is in myhands." “Randy!” Dana cried, runningup to him. She was immediately seizedby Gregory. “Let her go!” cried Randy. Gregory growled. "You see kid,this is what happens when you interfere.You get yourself into all kinds oftrouble.” “You let her go right now!”cried Randy. “Give me the title kid, and she'sall yours.”

“All right,” said Randy, “youwin.” Randy went into the house and tohis twin bed beneath which he hadhidden the title, but did not find it there.He was stricken instantly with panic, ashe knew Gregory was waiting beyondimpatiently to have it delivered. As hebegan looking elsewhere for the title, ittook less than a moment for him torealize what was happening. “No way,” he thought inastonishment, “that's impossible!” Hetore outdoors, where Gregory continuedto hold Dana hostage as he waited forthe title. Randy was suddenly terrifiedbeyond belief. He figured that Gregoryhimself had made off with the title, but itwas now apparent that was not the case.

“Well, kid?” Gregory growled,“where is it?” Randy wasn't sure, but he couldthink of one possibility that would buyhim some time, though he riskedjeopardizing an already precarioussituation. Nonetheless, it was a risk hewas willing to take. “All right, I'll be honest,” saidRandy, with all the courage he couldmuster. “I don't have the title, but I knowwho does. Mordecai still has it.” Gregory stood for a moment,taking in the statement while still holdingonto Dana. “Why that little fool. I shouldhave known!” He ran up to Randy, withDana still in his grasp. “Let me makeone thing real clear to you, kid. If you're

lying then so help me you'll never see theend of it. Do you hear me?” With that, hereleased Dana harshly and dashed to hiscar, taking off in a quick fit of rage. Moments later, Randy and Jeffconversed inside the house. “How did you get him toleave?” asked Jeff, “you must have toldhim something.” “I told him that Mordecai stillhas the title,” said Randy. “Right,” said Jeff. “But we bothknow that the title is right here with us.” “I wouldn't be so sure aboutthat,” said Randy gravely. Jeff paused. “What do youmean?” “The title is gone,” said Randy,

as they entered the house. “I can't find itanywhere!” Erica, who had managed to hideafter her brush with Gregory, came outof the room that she shared with Dana. "Dana, I have to show yousomething," said Erica, arrogance in hervoice. "What is it?" said Dana. "Promise you won't tellRandy?" "I don't know. What is it?" Erica grinned from ear to ear asshe went to the end of their bed andpulled out something which effort lift onher own. It was the 10 pound title belt. "Where did you get that?!?"Dana blurted out.

“It was in Randy's room,” saidErica. Jeff entered the room and sawErica holding the title. “There it is!”said Jeff, “what did I tell you?” “All right,” said Randy. “Nowwhat are we going to do?” “I say call the cops before heshows back up here,” said Jeff. “Hold on a minute,” saidRandy, “I need to see that paper.” Hepicked up the Wrestler X paper whichJeff had left on a table. “This might bejust what I need.” “What the heck are you talkingabout, dude?” Jeff came over andattempted to look at the paper, but Randywould not let him.

“Just bear with me, bro,” saidRandy. “I've got something I've got todo.” “You better tell me what isgoing on, or I'm calling the cops rightnow,” said Jeff. “Don't you dare try me.” “All right, but this is strictlybetween us. You have to promise youwon't tell anyone else.” “I promise,” said Jeff. Randy went on to explain thesituation to him. They came to theconclusion that it would be best ifGregory stayed away, though they wouldrefrain from calling the policeotherwise. They had no idea,meanwhile, of the truly perilous situationin which Mordecai found himself.

Back at their house, Gregoryunlocked the front door and instructedhis brother to go inside. “You just stay in there until Icome back,” Gregory threatened him.“I've got business to take care of.” Hewent around to the back yard, whereMordecai remained locked up.Mordecai was cold and barely moved asGregory came upon him. "Now just what am I gonna dowith this kid?" Gregory thought. Heunlocked the handcuffs that boundMordecai, placing a foot on his body incase somehow he decided to take off.Gregory then carried the lifeless bodyinto the house. Mordecai groaned softlyas he was placed on the mattress in his

room. "I think I'll keep him here forawhile until he's ready to give up thetitle," said Gregory. Mordecai woke up early thenext morning and realized where he was.Unsure of how he got there, but certainthat Gregory had something to do with it,his initial thought was to call the police,just as Jeff had planned to do. But itoccurred to him that he was still withouthis cell phone, and the only other phonein the house was in the living room, inplain view of his cohorts should theycare to observe him. He also understoodthat there were no true witnesses to thetrauma he had suffered at the hands ofGregory, and thus it was likely to be a

hard sell, even to the police. In lieu ofcalling the police first, he decided therewere a number of ways in which hecould take matters into his own hands,and potentially lead Gregory to becomea victim of his own foul play. Meanwhile, Randy and Jeffwere certain they had made anaffirmative revelation about Gregory,and they like Mordecai also had a planin mind. Though they were determined tohead to the academy to corroborate theirnotion as soon as possible, there wasone thing that they needed in their favor,which they figured was unlikely tomaterialize for certain until thefollowing weekend. They were willingto bide their time, nonetheless, and did

so until the following Saturday camearound. By that time they were more thanready to put their theory to the test. It was indeed Randy who hadinformed Mordecai of his speculation,and Mordecai was just as curious to seeit through to the end given what waspotentially at stake. He was bothsurprised and relieved, therefore, tomake it through the week with littleintimidation from Gregory, and with nomore than an occasional inquisitiveconjure from him as to the location of thetitle. This was in spite of the fact that hedid his best to avoid Gregory and makehimself scarce in general throughout theweek. He was most certain, likewise, tokeep his guard up around Gregory,

particularly during times such asworking at the shop, when it wasinevitable that they should converge. Try as he might, Mordecai didnot manage that week to find his cellphone which had previously been tossedaway by Gregory, nor did he have thetime or opportunity to get it replaced.Nonetheless he took advantage of achance to use the phone in the livingroom when Gregory and Bill were notaround. He had used the phone call toinstruct Randy and Jeff to meet him at theacademy about an hour before his matchwas to take place on Saturday. Theywaited in the van for Mordecai toapproach and retrieve the title from themas he had also instructed them to do.

After waiting for 30 minutes, they beganto get concerned and decided to enter theacademy to search for him. “Wait,” said Randy, before theyexited the van, “what if we come acrossGregory?” “Then we'll have to take himdown,” said Jeff, “it's now or never.” Approaching the receptioncounter in the academy, and havinghidden the title in the van, they askedabout Mordecai only to discover that hehad never showed up. This concernedthem to an even grater extent, as they hadheard from Mordecai about Gregory'sprevious mistreatment of him. Was itpossible that he was once again introuble?

“I say we head over to hisplace,” said Randy. “All right,” said Jeff,adrenaline flowing through him, “let'snot waste any time.” They got back in the van andstarted towards the house whereMordecai lived with Gregory and Bill,taking care to keep the title hidden. Theyparked in their usual location andhesitated before getting out. “Do you still have that paper?”asked Jeff. “Got it right here,” said Randy. “Good. I say you get what youneed and then head back here,”said Jeff.He handed Randy the keys to the van. “What are you going to do?”

“You'll see soon enough.” Withthat Jeff got out of the van andapproached the house, with Randyfollowing close behind. They were at thebottom of the stairs leading to the frontdoor when Gregory stepped out, comingas a huge surprise to both Randy andJeff. They took a few steps back beforethey even knew what they were doing,and were addressed by Gregory. “Well hello there Jeff andRandy,” he said. “You two don't knowhow lucky you are. You're just in time tosave your little friend here.” He steppedback into the door and almostimmediately stepped back out, a strongarm around the neck of a clearly beatenMordecai.

“Mordecai!” Randy cried,though he could not bring himself to takeany action, having become almostparalyzed with fear. “You thought you had meoutsmarted, didn't you? You went for awhole week carrying around that title,only to have it come to this. You thoughtI had no idea, didn't you, kid? You littlefool. I was just waiting for the rightopportunity, and wouldn't you know it, itwalked right upon me. Now it's realsimple. You two give me what I want,and we can forget this whole thing everhappened. You got that?” They watched as Mordecaicontinued to struggle with whateverstrength he had left. Gregory

relinquished his grip on him, and hemoved swiftly on his knees towards thesteps. His movement came to an abrupthalt as Gregory's foot planted on him. “This kid's fine, see?” saidGregory, “I'd make sure he stays thatway if I were you.” “Not so fast,” said Jeff,climbing the stairs and leaving Randy byhis still frightened self. “I believe wehave some unfinished business.” Jefflooked Gregory dead in the eye, takingcare to step around a helpless Mordecai.“You know what I'm talking about.” “Don't do it, Jeff!,” Mordecaicried, “you guys get out of here. I cantake care of myself!” “We'll see about that,” said

Gregory, driving his heel intoMordecai's back. Mordecai screamedout. “You can't do this!” Randydared to cry. “This is illegal!” “What's the matter, Greg?” saidJeff. “Too scared to fight me?” Gregory turned to Jeff, his footstill on Mordecai. “Okay kid, you askedfor it.” Looking back at Mordecai, hecried, “Bill, get out here!” Bill appearedseconds later. “I need you to take care of thesetwo while I deal with this one,” saidGregory. He gave Mordecai a kick.“Don't worry, I doubt if you'll have muchtrouble out of either of them.” Realizing that Mordecai was

free of Gregory's restraint, Randy calledout to him. “Run Mordecai!” Mordecaislid down the stairs and took off runningbefore anyone even knew what toexpect. Randy had taken off a step aheadof him, with Bill a step behind them inhot pursuit. An infuriated Gregory wouldnot allow Jeff to follow in theirfootsteps, and immediately took hold ofthe young man. Jeff struggled against themuch stronger Gregory. “Let me go!” Jeff cried,recalling the condition in which he hadfound Mordecai. Gregory laughed. “Come on,kid. This is what you wanted!” Jeff continued to struggle untilhe felt himself losing consciousness. It

was perhaps just in time that he heardthe voice of another man commandingGregory, drawing him in, capturing hisfull attention. “So you're back,” said Gregoryto the man. “It's about time.” “It sure is,” said the man,looking shamefully at Gregory. Bill had by this point given upthe chase of Randy and Mordecai, whohad outpaced him and managed to reachthe van. He figured that under nocircumstances would they leave Jeff tosuffer, and therefore they would surelybe back at some point. Returning to thehouse, he could hardly contain hisastonishment when he saw the man towhom Gregory had spoken.

“Bill, get over here!” Gregorycalled, the moment their eyes met. Billraced over to Gregory, who continued tohold onto Jeff. “Well? What happened?”Gregory asked. Having seen the otherman, Bill at this point did not answer.Gregory growled. “Look, Bill, I'm not letting thisone get away, all right? I've got too muchriding on this,” Gregory pointed at Jeff,who no longer put up a fight. “Just do mea favor and deal with this kid. I've got ajob to do, as you can see. Oh, and Bill,nothing had better go wrong this time.”Bill took hold of a listless Jeff, whosuddenly jerked violently and fought tobe freed from his restraint. It was not

enough, however, to find his escape, andhe found himself entangled in the arms ofBill just as quickly as he had beenreleased from those of Gregory. In the van, Randy and Mordecaiwasted no time hitting the road, withRandy at the driver's seat in lieu of aphysically impaired Mordecai. Theymade their way to the academy beforeRandy parked the van and retrieved thepaper which he had brought with him.He sat studying the paper. “What are you doing, man?”said Mordecai. “We gotta take care ofthis now. They could be here anyminute!” “Just hang on,” said Randy. Hespent several more moments collecting

his thoughts and writing them down onthe paper before he and Mordecai gotout of the van and hurried into theacademy, with Mordecai carrying thetitle as openly as he dared. Inside the academy, Mordecaiapproached the security guard. “You found the title!” the guardsaid, “that's wonderful.” “Yeah, I found it,” saidMordecai, with obvious sarcasm in hisvoice as he looked around. “Well sir, it's too late for yourmatch. So why don't you just hang ontothat thing until next week and we'llfigure out what to do then, all right?” “Thank you, sir,” saidMordecai.

“Just don't let it get lost again,you hear?” the guard chuckled. Something about the atmospherein which he found himself madeMordecai feel secure in himself,whether it was because he felt innocuouswith the title, or because he was awareof what Randy was doing. Mordecaicould see the owner of the academy, Dr.Benz, holding Randy's paper in onehand, along with another paper which heheld in the other hand. Dr. Benz lookedback and forth from Randy's paper to theother paper, nodding his headoccasionally. A woman soon walkedover to him and began reviewing thepapers along with him. So secure had Mordecai

become in his surroundings that hecompletely forgot about Gregory andBill, though he figured it was inevitablethat they would show up, and he hopedthat Jeff was okay. Dr Benz finished looking at thepapers and turned to Randy “Fairenough. Now we just need him to showup here and the process can becomplete.” Randy nodded sternly. “Yessir,” he relented. He went to Mordecaiand told him the news. “So we'll wait here for him toshow up,” said Mordecai. “He's boundto arrive sooner or later. Rememberwhat we have.” Randy and Mordecai did not

watch the rest of the matches in thestaging area, but rather sat in the lobbyshould the person in question inevitablyarrive. Sure enough the person made hisarrival a little more than an hour later,shortly before the academy's closing.Seated close to the reception counter,Randy and Mordecai crept up, more orless without being noticed by the personwho had recently arrived, or who theone who had arrived with him. “Is Dr. Benz still here?” Randyasked. “I'm afraid not,” said the samereceptionist whom Randy had seen timeand again, “but his wife is here if you'dlike to speak to her.” “Yes please,” said Randy.

“All right. I'll get her.” Thereceptionist disappeared into a backarea and soon reemerged with thewoman who had previously approachedDr. Benz. “Hello,” said the woman,” “Myname is Mercedes. How can I helpyou?” Randy paused for a moment,then laughed, thinking he was at thereceiving end of a practical joke. Hequickly realized that he needed to getdown to business, however, andproceeded to do so. “Yes,” said Randy to Mercedes.“If you'll look back over my papers, Ibelieve the man has arrived.” Hepointed to the larger of the two people

who had recently arrived. Without looking at Randy'spaper, Mercedes put on a pair of glassesand glared over at the person. It was Gregory.“Indeed,” said Mercedes.“Congratulations, young man. You'vedone it. You've found Wrestler X!” The people who remained inthe academy cheered. Among them wereJeff and the man who had shown his faceat the home of Gregory and Bill earlierin the day. The man approached Randyfrom behind, and Randy instantlyrecognized his voice. “I'm proud of you,” said theman. Randy turned around and

smiled at the man.“Thanks, dad.”