Just a Touch of Voodoo
Copyright© 2025 by Flavorfulcorpse
Chapter 9: Charlie, Thomas, and Friday Night Lights
My thoughts on the drive home were filled with Julie’s words, “Don’t hurt him, because the only friends he has are online, until you.” The tears kept coming and made it difficult for me to drive, so I pulled over and let them flow. Meadow and Pure could always tell if something was wrong, so when I pulled up to the house, they were waiting for me.
I walked inside with Meadow and Pure at my side. I went and sat on the floor with my back to the island and was joined by Brigitte and Adia. Mel was still at the house and was watching me, along with the others. The love I felt from them would have overflowed the Grand Canyon, but it could not fill the break in my heart. Charlie had really got to me.
I knew there were things that were impossible for me to do, but helping Charlie and his family wasn’t one of them. I’d lost four very important people in my life but was given more love in return than one person deserves. Charlie was loved by his parents, and that was it. At school he was either avoided or bullied, and that shit was going to end.
First things first, buy the property to the west and the two properties to the east. I would put Charlie and his family in the house to our west and Thomas in the furthest house to the east. The property between where Thomas would live, and us, was a cesspool of rusted-out shipping containers, junk cars, and a whole lot of trash, and it was badly overgrown.
I started laying out what I wanted to have done when Mel asked, “Is he serious?”
Without looking up from what she was doing, Pure told her, “Very, and you might want to take notes.”
Mel did just that. “Okay, what do you want to do with the ‘junk’ property?” She asked.
“I want a fully ADA-compliant playground/park and a nice sandy beach for kids to play on,” I told her.
Those of us who had school in the morning were sent to bed. Niks, Pris, Sonja, and Lorelei each put on one of my hoodies to sleep in. Aida and Brigitte lie at the foot of the bed as our guardians for the night. I slept some, but not a restful sleep, as my mind was all over the place and wouldn’t go quiet. It was four in the morning when I rolled out of bed, making sure not to disturb the sleeping goddesses.
I dressed in my workout clothes and went downstairs. “Can’t sleep?” Thomas asked when I walked into the kitchen to get some water, scaring the shit out of me.
“FUCK,” I said as I jumped, “You scared the shit out of me, and yeah, I couldn’t sleep,” I told him.
“Me either,” he told me.
“So, you lie in wait to scare the shit out of someone?” I asked.
With a chuckle, he said, “No, but it sure was funny from this side.”
“I bet it was. I’m going down to hit the bag for a bit; want to join me?”
“Got nothing better to do.”
I taped my hands and wrists, then started off with light hits, building power, until I was letting all that was bothering me out through my fists.
“What’s got you so worked up?” Thomas asked me.
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit, I know better than that.”
“It’s nothing!”
“Bullshit, is it Charlie?”
“Yeah, some of it, I guess.”
Is it how he got hurt?” Thomas asked.
“Huh?”
“You know, being pushed off his bike, bruising his spinal cord, by a boy named Everett...”
“Graham, was it Everett Graham?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Fuck!”
“You know him?” He asked.
“In a way, he’s a bully at our school.”
“And Charlie has to be around him?” He asked me.
“I ... I ... don’t know. I haven’t seen him the last two days, so I don’t know if he’s around Charlie or not,” I told him.
I started laying into the bag with everything I had. The next thing I knew, I was sitting on the floor, Thomas sitting behind me with his arms and legs wrapped around me, saying, “Relax, son, just relax.”
“What’s going on?” Meadow asked when she came into the room.
Thomas was a lot stronger than I thought. He held me in place like I was nothing. “Just some guy bonding, so can you give us a few minutes, please?” he said to Meadow.
“Son, you listen to me, and you listen good. There are a lot of people relying on you to take care of them. One of which is Lorelei, and you can do that if you go and do something stupid. I’ve seen the look you had in your eyes before, and it never means anything good. You hear me?” He told me.
“Yes, Sir. Wait, did you say you wanted me to take care of Lorelei?”
When Thomas started laughing, all the anger that filled me left.
“You can come down now,” Thomas called out.
The girls came down ready to work out. Rose put me on the treadmill. “Whatever that was that had you in that state, go run it out of your system,” she said, telling me, not asking.
The workout was very therapeutic, and so was the hot shower; they relaxed me quite a bit. It had stopped raining, and the girls wanted to ride our bikes to school. “I can’t; I have someone to pick up,” I told them. They didn’t argue; they nodded, grabbed their book bags, and walked out to Pris’s Jeep. Today I was picking up Charlie and taking him to school.
“I know it’s a little early, but is Charlie ready?” I said to Mrs. Tate when she opened the door.
“Almost, come in.”
Mr. and Mrs. Tate, I know you don’t know me very well, but can you tell me why you didn’t sue the Grahams for Charlie’s injury?’ I asked.
“We did, but they had money and a very good attorney, and they got it thrown out on a technicality,” Mr. Tate told me.
“I see.”
“Worst of all, we had to pay the court costs and their attorney’s fees.” Mrs. Tate finished telling me.
I took out my phone and sent a message to Janice, telling her to look into the parents of Everett Graham, a kid from school, and to dig deep. Charlie came out and looked at me for a second and asked, “What’s going on?”
“I’m here to take you to school, that’s what. I also thought that if they were going to call me Leonidas at school, I was going to need my trusty Captain Artemas. Are you up for the job?” I told him.
“Ahoo,” Charlie replied.
On the way to school, Charlie said, “I haven’t seen my mom smile like that in a long time.”
“That’s good; let’s see if we can’t keep’em coming.” I told him.
“Why are we going to school so early?” he asked.
“You’ll see.”
The girls were waiting for us when we got to school. We were just about to walk into the school when a voice called out, “Rudger Daniels?” I turned to see a beautiful woman with caramel skin walking towards us. She was a cross between Vivica A. Fox and Tyra Banks. Her black hair was in a bun, and not a single hair was out of place. She was wearing heels, but she had to be at least as tall as Sonja without them.
She was wearing a gray pencil skirt and matching blazer, with a black silk or satin shirt, none of which did anything to hide her figure. She had beautiful, gray eyes, and if I had to guess, she would give Sonja a run for her money in the bust department.
“That’s me,” I said, raising my hand.
“I’m Kaisi (Ky-see) Simbanaux, and I work for Hughes and Hughes,” she said, introducing herself.
I went to shake her hand, and when hers got close to mine, I was zapped. “Ha, I told you it wasn’t me!” Lorelei said. We tried to shake hands again and were zapped again.
“Why don’t we just do the “Demolition Man” greeting,” Kaisi said with a chuckle.
We put our hands up, palms facing each other, doing the hand circle thing. “Greetings and salutations, Kaisi Simbanaux,” I told her.
“Greetings and salutations, Rudger Daniels,” she replied.
“And I thought I was a movie nerd,” Charlie said, making everyone laugh.
When we got inside and to Ms. Wallce’s office, she was on the phone talking with someone, and she did not look happy. As soon as she got off the phone, she asked, “Any of you know who can teach shop class?”
Lorelei pulled out her phone and made a call. “Get your butt to the school, dress nice, and bring your degrees,” then ended the call.
We all looked at her with questioning looks. “My God—Grandfather, Thomas Elison, will be here to talk to you about the job,” Lorelei told Ms. Wallace.
“Thomas has a degree?” I asked.
“Master of Science in Welding Engineering,” Lorelei replied matter-of-factly.
Charlie was taking pictures, and we were discussing the ‘Grant’; when Ms. Wallace stopped talking, she was staring at the door to her office. I turned to see Thomas standing there, looking at Ms. Wallace, and both were lost in a moment. “Please tell me there’s nothing on your record to keep you from teaching?” Ms. Wallace asked Thomas.
I didn’t know what he was going to say, but it wasn’t, “No, there’s nothing that would keep me from teaching,” he told her.
“Please hurry if you can, because we need a teacher today!” Ms. Wallace said, sending him to the front office for the paperwork for his fingerprints and background check at the police station.
I knew who he was associated with, but if he said he didn’t have anything on his record, then he didn’t have anything on his record.
It was time for us to go to class, so I stood up and said, “Be well, Kaisi Simbanaux,” leaving Ms. Wallace and Kaisi to finish.
“Be well, Rudger Daniels,” she replied.
“Are you ready, Leonidas?” Charlie asked.
“I am Artemas,” I told him.
“I love that movie,” Kaisi said to us.
It wasn’t long before Niks had her phone out, showing Kaisi the pictures of me in my mascot attire. “I dressed as Queen Gorgo a couple of years ago for Halloween,” she told Niks.
“Spartan,” Kaisi called out.
“Yes, my lady?”
“Come back with your shield, or on it!” she said, looking at me.
“Yes, my lady,” I told her and walked out of the room.
“You two are bigger nerds than I am,” Charlie said as we walked to his classroom.
“Could be, my friend, could be.”
I barely got to Mrs. Cook’s class on time, but when I sat at my desk, there was a test waiting for me. Mrs. Cook went on as normal while I took the test she gave me. The questions were hard, and it took me all but the last ten minutes of class to complete the test. Mrs. Cook started grading it as soon as I handed it to her, but the bell rang before she finished grading it.
I went to my locker to put my lunch in it, and wouldn’t you know, the damn thing wouldn’t open for me. “Need help?” Pris asked me, knowing damn well I did.
“Yes, this thing hates me,” I told her.
“It doesn’t hate you; you’ve just got to be smarter than what you’re working with,” she said, smirking at me.
That made me laugh. “Maybe you’re right, but can you please open it for me?” I said to her.
As you can guess, it opened right up for her. I just shook my head and said, “Why?”
“It likes me better, I guess?”
“I guess so.”
After fourth period, Pris and I went to our lockers, and yes, she had to open mine. When we sat down, Thomas walked over and said, “I’m the new shop teacher, and I have a date with Stephanie, Ms. Wallace, on Friday.”
“We have something planned for the game, and you will be going, right?” Lorelei told him.
“Of course, I will,” he said with a look that spoke volumes.
I stood up and walked over to him and said in a whisper, “You’re scared of her too, aren’t you?”
In a whisper, he replied, “You haven’t seen her mad, but I have, so to answer your question, yes, yes, I am.” We both laughed, and I sat back down.
“Do you have a lunch?” Niks asked Thomas.
“I do. Rose brought me one; why?”
Niks did her best game show model impression and waved her hands over our lunches. “Before you think of getting something from the lunch line or the vending machine, don’t!” I told him.
“Why?” He asked.
“Rose can be,” I said, and cut my eyes over to Lorelei and then looked back at him. He gave me a subtle nod and walked away.
Lorelei squinted her eyes at me and gave me a look that gave me the chills.
Pris asked Lorelei, “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask, can you teach us karate?” Saving me, I think.
“I can, but do we have the time, with all the other things we have going on? You can always join my class here at school.”
“I’d rather do it at home,” Niks told her.
“Okay, fine by me.”
Charlie spoke up and said, “If you’re worried about me, I can catch the bus home.”
“That’s not it, Charlie; I’d just rather do it at home,” Niks told him.
“Okay,” he replied.
After lunch, we walked Charlie to class and went to ours. I was scooped up by Mrs. Pickett on our way to watch Lorelei and taken to the Performing Arts Building. She went over what I was supposed to do at the pep rally and football game and how I was to act. It was simple enough, so when she thought I had it, she sent me on my way.
Charlie had been keeping the girls entertained in my absence. I sat down and listened to him tell jokes that had the girls, me, and a few others who had joined the group rolling. It was nice to see this side of him, as the smile on his face told me all I needed to know he was happy. Lorelei’s class was over before we knew it, so I picked up Charlie’s and my book bags and walked to the Jeep, with the girls on our heels.
As we pulled out of the school parking lot, I got a text from Pure: “Come straight home and bring Charlie with you.”
“Looks like we’re going straight to my house,” I told Charlie and started driving.
“Why?” He asked.
“All I was told was to come straight home and to bring you.”
“You really nerded out with that attorney lady,” Charlie told me.
“She started it.”
“Yeah, well, do people not realize that Leonidas gets...” he said, running his finger across his throat.
“A finger across his throat?” I asked.
“You are such a nerd!”
“You recognized it, so you’re just as big of one,” I said, laughing.
“I just thought I’d point out that he dies.”
“It’s high school football, so it’s probably okay,” I told him.
“True.”
When we pulled into the driveway, the Tate’s minivan and two other cars I didn’t recognize were there. I parked and took Charlie’s and my book bags out and saw that Charlie had his door open, so I let him get on my back and carried him inside. As soon as we walked in, Charlie said, “Hello, beautiful short people,” then pointed at Rose, “except you, you’re a beautiful tall person,” making everyone laugh.
I walked over to the table where everyone was sitting and put Charlie on the bench seat next to his mom and dad. The girls came in and walked over to the table and said, “Hi,” to everyone. Rose had us change into our workout clothes before we got sidetracked by what was on the table.
I took Charlie with me. He asked me to take him to the bathroom so he could empty his colostomy and urostomy bags. I gave him a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt to put on. With ease, he put them on, and then with him on my back, we went downstairs. I was surprised to see Kaisi, Janice, and Mel also in workout clothes. It was difficult not to stare at Kaisi dressed in her workout clothes.
“Whoa,” Chalie let slip.
“I know, right?” I replied.
Kaisi held my gaze with a smirk on her face. I found out why when I was zapped on the butt, causing me to jump, which caused the room to erupt in laughter. I turned to see Lorelei standing behind me with an innocent look on her face. Giving Lorelei a growl, Charlie and I went to the gym. The gym was a good size, or at least I thought it was, until it was filled with all of us.
“Mel,” I called out as I did my workout.
“Yeah?”
“I was thinking...”
“Is that why I smell burned wires?” She asked.
“No, that’s probably your nose hairs burning.” She reached up and touched her nose, which made me laugh, “I think we need to add a second floor to the garage,” I finished.
“For?”
“A bigger weight room and a dojo.”
“Go on,” she told me.
“Split the upstairs north-to-south wall, with the north-facing wall being all glass, so we can look out over the lake. I also want an elevator, or a lift, so Charlie can get up there easily. And make a lounge on the roof.”
“Why a Dojo?”
“Lorelei, would you care to answer?” I asked.
“Sure, it’s because I’ll be teaching them karate.”
“Okay, I’ll add it to the plans and get it permitted,” Mel replied.
From the rumble outside, I knew Thomas was here. What I wasn’t expecting was for Mrs. Wallace to be with him. Pris scampered over and gave Steph a hug. “Come in and join us,” I told them when they got downstairs.
“I just stopped by to get my things,” Thomas replied.
“What, are the rules too strict around here?” I asked jokingly.
Steph was pushed up against Thomas’ side, holding his hand, acting all shy. It was a strange but a good sight. “No, just thought I ought to stay where I pay the bills.”
“At least stay for dinner then.”
“Would you like to stay?” Thomas asked, looking at Steph.
“We can,” she replied.
“It’s settled then,” I told them.