Chapter 15

"Are you mad at Tami?" Traci asked, looking out the big picture window in the living room.

"Nope, she's mad at me. Why?"

I'd floated the idea of a threesome with Robbie Friday night, treating it as a joke, and she hadn't taken it well. It was Sunday and she still wasn't talking to me. I figured I had about two more days before I was forgiven.

"Well, I didn't know if you'd care."

"Care about what?"

"The car."

"What car?" I felt like I was in an Abbott and Costello routine that wasn't working.

"There's a car that's been circling the park. Seven or eight times. It slows down in front of Tami's house."

"Maybe it's not Tami's house. Maybe they're checking out the Temples. Or those people across from Tami, the Westons?"

"The Westlakes are across from Tami," she corrected. "The Simpsons are across from the pool and the Taylors across from the Temples." It always amazed me that Traci knew everybody in the park. "Could be, I suppose. There they go again."

I walked over and stood next to my sister. The car, a brown four door sedan, drove past our house, then slowed as it went past Tami's, speeding up when it got to the Temples'. I watched it's tail lights until it turned onto Patty Duke Way and disappeared.

I looked at my watch. It was almost nine. Very strange.

"Do we have any kind of neighborhood watch?"

"Mrs. Dugan, up on Annette Funicello," Traci said proudly. She liked knowing things I didn't know.

"Do we have her number? I think I'll call if they go around again."

"It's on the call board. Why's Tami mad at you?"

The call board was our family bulletin board next to the refrigerator. A corkboard with a hundred-odd pieces of paper tacked to it. With luck, I'd find the number by March. It was February twelfth. Three days past my birthday.

"I made a bad joke," I explained.

"You should be nice to her." Traci and Tami had gotten closer since Tami had her version of The Talk with her. Both of them refused to tell me anything about it, though I had learned the boy with his hand up Traci's shirt was Gary Rogers, who'd been history since the middle of January. I think Brian Lewis was the current interest, but it was hard to keep track.

"I am nice to her. It was a joke."

"You should... he's back."

The car was just turning onto our street.

"I'm going to give Mrs. Dugan a call, see what she thinks." I started for the kitchen, wishing Mom or Dad were here, but they'd gone to dinner with friends.

"He's stopping," Traci announced.

I went back to the window.

The car had parked in front of Tami's house. The door opened, and in the light from the car, I saw a big man get out. The image of King Kong flashed through my mind before the door closed and he was wrapped in shadow.

"I'm going to take a short walk."

"Mom said to stay here with me."

"I'm going to take a short walk," I repeated.

Traci nodded, then went back to looking out the window.

I walked to the door, hesitated, then went to my room. When I came back I was carrying my favorite baseball bat. I noticed Traci looking at me funny. "Walking stick," I told her.

She nodded, then returned her gaze to the window.

I stepped outside and a cold wind attacked me. I hadn't gotten a jacket. Staying on our side of the street, I walked slowly toward Tami's house, the bat on my shoulder. There was some snow left on the grass, but the streets were completely clear.

I got to the Westons' house--no, Traci said it was the Westlakes'--and looked over at Tami's. The curtains in the front window were drawn. I couldn't see anything. I crossed the street next to the car, noticing in the dim light that it had an airport sticker on the license. I wondered if it was a rental. I said the license number to myself a couple of times, committing it to memory.

As I passed in front of the car I could see in the side window. Tami was sitting on the sofa. I couldn't see her face, but her body looked a little strange, rigid. Her mom and King Kong were standing in the middle of the living room, talking. I guessed everything was okay. She seemed to know him.

I decided that I'd walk to the end of the street and back, check again, and if everything looked normal, go home before I froze to death.

As I walked I noticed that several houses had GO REBELS signs in their front windows. The Girl's basketball team was undefeated, and the most recent poll in the Seattle paper said they were the number one team in the state. I hoped they'd go all the way. It'd been awhile since our school had won a championship.

I walked back, and the scene in Tami's living room looked unchanged. I took the bat off my shoulder and held it in front of me, grinning to myself and feeling stupid. I guessed the hero thing had gone to my head. I nodded goodnight to the back of Tami's head and decided to go home.

As I started to step around the car some movement caught the corner of my eye, and I looked back. The stranger had grabbed Mrs. Sharp by the throat and pushed her against the wall and was slapping her with his other hand.

A smart person would have run home and called nine-one-one. An even smarter one, would have brought the damn cell phone with him. Me, I ran to the porch, jumped to the top stair, and yanked the door open. I was in the house before I had a chance to think what I was going to do.

The bat was still in my hand, so I swung it hard against King Kong's back. It was a short stroke, without the power I wanted to have, but it made a satisfying THUCK sound and the stranger went down to his knees, letting go of Tami's mom, then fell to the side.

I dropped the bat and rushed up to Mrs. Sharp, who was rubbing her throat. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, without enthusiasm.

"Daddy!" I heard and spun to look at Tami. She was standing, her eyes wide with... shock... fear?

"That was stupid boy." I spun further. The stranger was sitting awkwardly on the floor, a revolver in his hand. I noticed an empty ankle holster on one of his legs. I thought those were just in the movies. "Assaulting a police officer."

A police officer? Tami called him Daddy. Her dad was a cop and pointing a gun at me?