Chapter 46

Sunday was pretty quiet after church. Mom was avoiding me after the conversation the previous night.

I spent a good portion of the day at my desk. Seemed with all the stuff going on I’d forgotten about writing my poem for summer school. Luckily, Sister Coulomb had given me till the next class to turn it in as I’d given her some lame excuse about working a lot. Not sure if she really bought it.

The events of the last week gave me a lot of fodder to use for inspiration, though it took me most of the day to get a finished product. There were countless crumpled up papers in the trash can from work that I didn’t think was good enough.

The end product was what it was. I wrote it out in as good of penmanship as I could muster. Was it good enough? I had no clue but figured it would at least get me a passing grade.

*The scene gazed upon caused the vision to go black.
It then turned into a raging ball of red.
The bonds of what once were had been wrought asunder.
The heart was broken, but would hopefully heal.*

Monday was a normal work-day and summer school on Tuesday was the usual.

Kick boxing ramped up as there were only 11 days until fight day. Cardio work, specifically speed bag and heavy bag was the first 45 minutes. It was a great warm up. I had a very heavy sheen of sweat covering my body as I finished.

After wiping off the sweat, it was 2 hrs of sparring with limited breaks. It was one sparring partner for 3 minutes followed by a minute break and then a new sparring partner. Every half hour or so, there was a short break walking on a treadmill while talking to Mr. Singh about visualizing the fight, things going on in my life and about my meditation.

The evening was a ball buster and had me tired as hell. I was just as tired as my day hiking in the heat. I wasn’t that beat when I got home to not eat another big meal before I went up to bed.

I called Bob’s office early in the morning and was able to get an appointment to see him in the afternoon. Getting my normal chores done, I went over my poem to make sure it was what I wanted.

The trip to Bob’s office was uneventful, and I was led back to his office as soon as I arrived.

“So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit Barnim? Nothing bad I hope?”

“Well, there’s been some developments and I need to get out ahead of them.”

“I’m guessing that your mother doesn’t know anything about this?”

“Well, she doesn’t know that I’m here.”

“OK. So, what is your most pressing issue?”

“Well, there was an incident about a week ago that may cause me some severe legal issues.”

I went on to explain the incident that happened at the party. Bob listened to the whole thing without making comments or asking questions, just sat there making notes the whole time. When I finished, he looked up from his notes.

“So, what in that narrative makes you think that it might cause you legal problems?”

“Well, a few days later I happened to read an article that said he was attacked. I took that as foreshadowing to a potential police visit.”

“I can see why you’d be concerned.”

“Which department has jurisdiction for Eagles Landing?”

“I believe it’s the Henry County Sheriff’s Department.”

“Well, I just wanted to get ahead of it. I never touched the guy. Hell, he damaged my truck.”

“I’ll see if I can get some info on what may be happening. If you know the name of anyone who witnessed it, leave the name with me. So, what’s the other thing you wanted to talk about?”

“This one hits directly home. I wanted you to see what it would take to file for emancipation and then fill out the necessary paperwork, though leave the date blank.”

“Uh, that’s very specific. So, can I ask what has brought this about. I mean there’s only about 8 months until you plan to enlist. What’s going on?”

“Well, it seems that my Mother is aligning herself with Ellie in this whole thing.”

“So, have you told her what happened?”

“Not specifically.” We spent most of an hour talking about why I hadn’t. My thought was that I was her son and if I thought it was over, then it was her duty to be behind me.

Bob admonished me that if I wanted to be treated like an adult then I should stop acting like a little kid and needed to lay everything out for her.

Then he let me know that if I went through with the petition it would more than likely not be granted. It would be a waste of money and time, but he’d fill the paperwork out anyway just in case.

Wrapping up, I left Jules’s name with him and that she should be able to provide any other names. I’d have to wait to see if there would be any fallout from the party. Dick from my point of view had the mentality and an ego that wouldn’t let him believe he did anything wrong and it was all my fault. I hoped Bob could find something out.

I headed home with the knowledge that I’d done what I could, and the resulting bill would come in the mail.

Getting home, I remembered that I had laundry and chores to do. Best to get it done and not give Mom something else to use. I finished just as Mom got home.

“Barnim, I want to talk to you.”

“What now?”

“You need to stop being stubborn and call Ellie.”

Damn! I couldn’t’ believe this shit was still going on. She wasn’t going to let this go. I didn’t really want to have the discussion that was needed right now. I needed something that would placate her until after summer school when things would slow down a bit.

“Well, maybe you’re right. I’ll need to sit down and contemplate this whole thing. Maybe I do need to talk to her.”

“See, that wasn’t so hard now was it?”

That should buy me some time, though there was absolutely no way I was going to change my mind. I called it an early night.

I decided to forego my morning exercise period Tuesday through Friday until after the fight. I was getting more than my share of exercising during kick boxing. Hell, with the cardio plus the beating I was taking, it took me a couple of days to recover from it. The good thing was my sparring partners were dialing down the power used to throw punches and kicks. That didn’t mean that I wasn’t covered in bruises from Tuesday’s training.

As I drove to Summer school, I wasn’t looking forward to class. Everyone had to read their poems to the rest of the class and I had no illusion that I’d be any different, so I was likely going to have to as well.

I turned in my poem before taking my seat. Today was the same as Tuesday’s class, we were reviewing for next week’s final exams before everyone started reading their poems in turn. The class was almost over, and I thought I might be able to skate by. I didn’t.

Sister Coulomb stood up. “Class, we have one last student that needs to read their poem. Mr. Badzinski, can you please come up here?”

Well, shit! As I got to the desk, she handed my paper back to me. It took me a minute to compose myself. As I read the poem, there was a hitch in my voice; twice.

When I was done there were a couple of “damns” from some students. I guess some of them got what the subject of it was. Class was over so, I grabbed my bag and headed for the door. Sister Coulomb was standing by the door.

“Mr. Badzinski, I heard what your poem was saying. Just know that things will get better with time. It’ll make you stronger.”

Well, that was surprising coming from a nun. I mean my uncle who was a priest wouldn’t be my first choice to get relationship advice from. Like Sister Coulomb, he had no practical experience at it.

I headed home and noticed that the answering machine was blinking. There were 8 messages and when I left this morning there were none. Unsurprisingly, they were all from Ellie. Those got deleted straight away before I got ready to leave.

Master Boripat called me into the office when I came out of the locker room.

“So, the Athletic Commission representative will be here in about an hour or so. Hit the bags and don’t forget to keep drinking water the whole time.”

“Yes, sir.”

About 45 minutes later a guy in a cheap suit came walking in. You could tell who he was instantly. This guy was slow as molasses, pissing in a cup took almost a half hour before I was finally able to get back to work.

I went straight into sparring. I was again beaten after the session and went to the treadmill to cool down. Mr. Singh came over and talked to me.

“So Barnim, how are you coping with everything going on?”

“I’m really just ignoring anything other than school and prepping for the fight. Work, summer school, and regular school about ready to start are creeping in.”

“Well, that’s understandable to a degree. The longer you wait, the more it’s going to weigh on you, and it’ll continue until you can’t push it down anymore. It’ll force its way out and you might not be able to control if there is any collateral damage.”

“I know, I’m doing the best I can.”

I walked and we continued to talk some more. I was headed to the locker room when something hit me and I needed to get a question answered.

“Mr. Singh?”

“Yes Barnim.”

“The conversation we had after the last fight, about betting?”

“Ah, so bring what you whatever you want me to bet for you on Tuesday. I’ll make the bet on Wednesday. I’ve already placed mine, so don’t let me down.”

“I’ll give it all I’ve got. And I’ll have something on the line to push me even harder.” I got changed and headed home.

I could tell it was going to be one of those nights as I walked in the door. Mom was waiting for me at the kitchen table.

“So, have you talked to Ellie yet?”

“No, I haven’t. There hasn’t been a chance to even think about whether or not I’m going to.”

“Why not? She called again tonight and said she left messages today. Though for some reason the answering machine was empty.”