Serving Pride (2 page)

Robert thought that
maybe his mom had gone to the store, so he got ready for school. He
made his own lunch and grabbed a few slices of bread and some
cheese for breakfast. Roy didn’t move, even though Robert was being
very loud in the kitchen.

When he left to
walk for school, his mother still wasn’t there. Leaving the
apartment complex, he saw by his mother’s car still parked in the
parking lot, and for a second, he wanted to run back in the
apartment to see if maybe she had just been hiding from him. She
couldn’t have gone anywhere without her car. He thought that maybe
she’d taken Roy’s truck, but when he looked, he saw that it was
parked out back behind the apartments.

It took him twice
as long as usual to walk to school that day, because he was so
occupied by his thoughts. When he finally did make it to class, he
was fifteen minutes late and received his third tardy that
year.

Walking home with a
note that needed to be signed, he stepped in to find Roy still on
the couch face down. He’d forgotten to check and see if his
mother’s car was there, but he knew instantly that she wasn’t home.
She was supposed to work until midnight that night since she’d
taken off the day before for his birthday
party.

Walking into his
room, he dumped his bag on his bed and got to work on his homework.
He had an agreement with his mom. If he kept his grades above C’s
he would get to play Xbox after dinner. Since his mother was at
work, he could eat dinner as early as he wanted, which meant more
time playing games.

That whole evening,
Roy didn’t move. He’d walked by him several times to make sure he
was still breathing and was slightly disappointed when he heard the
man snoring.

The next morning,
he rushed into his mom’s room to find it empty. Roy was no longer
on the couch. When he got home from school, neither of them were
there. Since it was Friday, he called for pizza delivery and paid
out of the money his mom hid for him. He spent the weekend playing
video games and eating junk food.

When he went into
school on Monday, he still hadn’t heard from either his mom or Roy.
Instead of going to his class, he’d walked into the principal’s
office and sat out by the receptionist. He told the older woman he
needed to speak with Mr. Kent, man to man, before
classes.

Finally, a few
minutes later, Mr. Kent walked out and nodded to him to follow him
into his office.

“Well, Mr. Brogan,
what can I help you with today?”

Robert sat in the
large leather chair and looked across at the
principal.

“Well sir, I think
something happened to my mom and Roy.”

Instantly the man’s
face showed concern. “What do you mean?”

“I haven’t seen my
mom since last week and Roy took off, too. It’s not like my mom to
leave this long. Her work called and left a message, saying she was
fired. Roy, well, Roy doesn’t work and his truck has been gone for
a few days.”

“Who’s been
watching you?”

“No one, sir. I’ve
been on my own since the day after my birthday.” Robert hadn’t
realized tears were escaping his eyes and when a fat drop landed on
his hand, he jumped and looked down at it like it had fallen from
out of nowhere.

Mr. Kent picked up
his phone, “Mary, can you call Child Protective Services, please.
Tell them it’s an emergency.”

Robert can’t really
remember what took place in the days that followed, but less than a
week later, he was on a plane to someplace called Oregon. He was
going to live with his great-aunt by the ocean. He’d never seen the
ocean and the excitement almost won out over the
fear.

When they told him
that they thought his mother had abandoned him, he screamed and
kicked until they finally agreed that maybe something had happened
to her. They hadn’t found Roy or his mother’s car or Roy’s truck.
Since he’d never known Roy’s last name, something young kids don’t
think of remembering, and since the man wasn’t on the lease, they
didn’t even know where to start looking.

Stepping off the
plane, the first thing he noticed was that it was cold. New Mexico
was always warm. Then he saw snow on the ground and his fear turned
into excitement.

There was an older
woman sitting in a wheel chair with a handmade sign that had his
name on it in bright red and blue letters. Red and blue were his
favorite colors. He saw this as a good sign.

Walking up to her,
he dropped the hand of the stewardess who’d accompanied him on his
flight. “I’m Robert Brogan. Are you my aunt
Daisy?”

She leaned over and
smiled at him. “Yes, sir, I am. I’d recognize you anywhere. You
look just like your daddy.”

The drive from the
Portland airport to the town of Pride seemed to take forever. He
didn’t quite know what to say to his aunt. He found her car totally
fascinating, though. He found her car totally fascinating She had
it fitted with special controls so she could use her hands to work
the gas and brake pedals.
At first he’d been afraid of how she was going to get in the
car. He’d wanted to ask if she needed any help, but she’d quickly
hopped into her seat like she was a professional. What took her the
longest was getting her wheelchair folded up and put in the seat
behind her. He could have helped, but he was afraid he’d upset
her.

“Well, Robert, I
don’t know what they told you, but I was your father’s aunt. We
were very close when he was younger, but when he moved down south,
I guess we lost track of each other. I hadn’t heard any news about
him until he passed away.” She looked over at him as she drove. “I
hope you don’t mind cats. I have a few of them. They make me feel
better. I bet you’re dying to ask me what happened to my legs,
huh?”

He nodded his head
in agreement and she laughed. She looked younger when she laughed
and he couldn’t help but smile back at her.

“Well, a while
back, I had a stroke, and since then, my legs just won’t follow
what my brain tells them to do. Don’t worry, the rest of me seems
to be working just fine and since the doctor started giving me some
new medicine, I’ve never felt better.” She smiled at him
again.

“Let’s see, you’re
in the second grade?”

He nodded his head
in agreement, again.

“Good, I think I’ve
gotten everything set up for you to start school next week. I hope
it’s okay that I decided to let you have the rest of this week off.
I don’t think you’ll miss that much. Besides, we’ll have fun
getting to know each other.”

“I’m just staying
here until my mom comes back.” He wanted to shout it. He’d told the
CPS worker over and over again that he wanted to stay at home. He
was sure that his mom was going to come home and if he wasn’t
there, he was worried she would think that something bad had
happened to him.

“It’s okay, honey,
we’ll wait for her together. I’m sure she’ll come back for you. You
can just stay with me until she does. Will that be
okay?”

This was the first
person who’d actually believed him about his mother. Hearing her
words made him finally believe that his mother wasn’t coming back,
that she couldn’t come back for him, and he had a sinking feeling
he knew why.

Ten years later

R
obert left the
school for the last time. Graduation was tonight and he couldn’t
wait to leave Pride tomorrow. He’d lived here ten long years,
waiting for someone he knew would never return. It was time for him
to leave and see the world. Maybe he’d head south to try and pick
up his mother’s trail. Or better yet, Roy’s trail. The man must be
out there somewhere.

Walking out, he
spotted two jocks, Kevin and Ricky. They had their backs to him and
he knew they were up to no good. He could hear the laughing and
name calling from across the parking lot. Without thinking about
it, he started walking towards them. He’d grown
bigger and taller than
the two football quarterbacks two years
ago and had, on more occasions than he could remember, stepped in
to save some poor kid from their wrath.

“Hey, why don’t you
guys go pick on someone….”

At that moment
Kevin stepped back and Robert finally got a look at who they were
bullying. His mouth went dry and he almost lost his
footing.

Amelia Blake was
the one girl he just couldn’t be around. Every time he was, he
reverted to a stuttering fool. She was a year younger than him, and
he’d had a crush on her since the first time he saw her, on his
first day of school in Pride. Her bright red hair and freckles had
been so unique, he’d instantly liked her. He’d never seen anyone
with such bright hair before. She’d been teased all throughout
school, until sometime in junior high. She’d shown up on the first
day of school after summer break and her bright red hair had
darkened to a deep amber, her freckles had disappeared, leaving
smooth porcelain skin, and everything else on her had matured as
well. She had been beautiful before, but now, she was just
stunning. His infatuation with her had tripled.

“What do you want
mister goody two-shoes? Can’t you see we want to be left alone with
Amy?”

They had her pinned
against the chain link fence that bordered the school parking lot.
Her back was up against the fence, and he could see the fear in her
green eyes. Her books were pressed against her beautiful chest, and
he thought he actually saw a tear leave her
face.

“Kevin, Ricky,
don’t you have somewhere else you’re supposed to be?” He took a
step closer, trying to show that he wasn’t going to back down.
After all, he knew he could take Kevin; he’d done it once already,
just last year. Ricky, on the other hand, he wasn’t so sure about,
especially since there were two of them. What he needed was to
level the playing field. Looking around the parking lot, he found
that almost every car was gone, already.

“Leave us alone, twerp. We were just having fun with Amy. Weren’t
we? Tell him, Amy, we weren’t doing anything wrong.” Kevin’s hand
reached out and ran down her cheek. Robert watched as she flinched
away. When Kevin reached to grab her, Robert stepped over and
stopped his hand. Without thinking about it, he flung Kevin away
from Amelia and watched as Kevin landed a few feet
away.

Then he was being
attacked from behind as Ricky punched his kidneys. He felt the
blows, and before he could block them, he felt something snap. He
turned and caught the third blow with his hand and easily blocked
the next.

Amelia screamed and
tried to move farther away. He got in a few good hits before he hit
the ground, and the two started kicking him. Then he heard his
buddy Todd Jordan’s voice as he started running towards
them.

When Robert looked
up, he saw Kevin and Ricky driving away in Ricky’s truck. Then Todd
and his brother Iian were standing over him.