Chapter 6

"Are you all happy and content?"

The curtain had closed for the final time. I shot Robbie a suspicious look. "Why?"

She shrugged. "I think it's time for plan B."

I wondered how hard it would be to get back into the fourth grade. The homework was easy, and life just wasn't as complicated. I came back to the real world and nodded.

Robbie moved quickly, spoke to Fred, then headed for the dressing room and her phone. I moved to center stage, slipped my arms around Darlene and Tami, and watched Traci hug Peter a little more than was necessary. We'd planned two cast parties, one for us on stage and a second for the parents in the theater lobby with us joining in after half-an-hour or so.

From beyond the curtain I could hear the audience shuffling. I figured at least ten minutes before the theater was clear.

"Why don't you and I run away together?" I whispered in Darlene's ear. "Just the two of us. We can move somewhere on the Oregon coast, and I can find out if I remember how to surf."

Darlene giggled. "What about Tami?"

"I didn't know you were into threesomes. Go ahead and invite her."

Tami's elbow jabbed my stomach while she didn't miss a word in whatever she was saying to Kelly and Suzie.

Traci was still clinging to Peter, and at some point their lips had become fused. "Don't make me get a crowbar," I threatened. Traci glared, Peter turned red, but they separated.

"Are you Darlene Reed?"

Darlene looked startled and turned toward the interruption. "Darlene Carter."

We'd been celebrating almost half-an-hour and were about ready to join the various parental units in the lobby. We'd opened the curtains ten minutes earlier after the theater had cleared out to make it less stuffy.

The man stepped out of the right side wings. He was dressed in a cheap suit and reminded me of a fire hydrant. "You need to come with me."

"Sorry, Dude," I said stepping between them. "We don't do groupies or stalkers. Get lost." I noticed a second man in the shadows by the stage door.

"Don't interfere," he growled stepping closer.

I smiled. "Would you call throwing you off the front of the stage interfering?"

Ricky and Luke had moved up to one side of me, Chad Davis and Toby Reyes the other, making a wall between the idiot and Darlene.

"I'd call it assaulting a police officer," he said pulling a wallet from his jacket and flipping it open and closed in an eye blink. "Now get out of the way, the girl is coming with me."

"Don't think so." The guys had taken a step back, but Robbie had moved up next to me.

"Interfering with a police officer is against the law."

"Tony's not very big on the law. He was suspended the first week of school and has threatened me several times." Mr. Reed, Darlene's stepfather, stepped out of the shadows.

I smiled. "To keep things straight, the school board overturned that suspension and the administrator who sentenced me resigned rather than face a hearing over his actions. And my dad said I had more restraint than he did for not hitting you."

"That's irrelevant." I was impressed that the fire plug knew such a big word and used it correctly. "The girl needs to come with me."

"Actually, no she doesn't."

"One more word and you'll be coming, too. Obstruction of justice should be good for a few months in juvie."

"Word." Maybe I could renew my friendship with Kenny. From the corner of my eye I saw somebody else coming onto the stage from the other side. "You have some problems, slick. One, as far as I'm concerned, flipping a wallet as fast as you can does not qualify as identifying yourself as a cop."

He growled. He actually growled.

"Two, even if you are the fuzz, you can't just grab someone without cause. And three, you may be pure bacon through and through, but you should know the difference between interfering with a police officer and obstruction of justice. They're two completely different charges." I grinned. "And four, just for the hell of it, even if you could get a conviction for interfering with a police officer, I'm not getting more than probation and you should know it." I held my wrist out. "Want to slip on the cuffs?"

Flatfoot. I forgot to call him a flatfoot.

"I'll teach you some manners," he growled advancing on me and raising his arm to backhand me. I'd given Peter King three shots. This dude was only getting one.

"Excuse me," the newcomer said diffidently.

"Beat it, pops. This is police business. It doesn't concern you."

"Excuse me?" he said again, this time in shock.

"Get lost!"

The newcomer stepped forward. He was dressed in a much nicer suit than the fire plug, though a pajama leg stuck out of one leg of his pants. "Your supervisor, now!" he snapped.

"Listen..."

"No, you listen. I am Judge Morgan. And if your lieutenant isn't here in twenty minutes, your chief will be here in thirty. Better yet, make it your captain."

"My captain?" The fire plug turned white.

"Now!" He looked around. Robbie and I, backed by the guys, still formed a wall between Darlene and the cop.

"You!" he snapped, pointing at Darlene. "Come here," then he softened his tone. "Please." I saw Robbie nod at Darlene, and she started toward the judge, "The rest of you sit or something."

Darlene and the judge sat on the bed in Zoe's set and talked while the rest of us relaxed a little. The fire plug pulled out his cell and turned his back on my favorite stepparent. Reed tried to argue. The cop slapped a hand over the mouthpiece and growled, "Piss off."

Robbie walked over and handed the judge a stack of paper, then snagged Kelly and sent her to the lobby. A few minutes later Kelly came back with Robbie's dad. The rest of the parents followed him halfway down the aisle, then took seats watching the stage.

The fire plug watched them, distaste on his face. Maybe he didn't like performing in front of an audience.

It was almost twenty-five minutes later when a tall man in a blue uniform walked down the aisle, a pair of twin silver bars shining on his shoulders. I could see him taking in the strange scene. An elderly man in a suit talking to a teenaged girl on a bed on one side of a stage. Two men standing together on the other side, and a group of teenagers milling around in the middle. A small group of grown-ups sitting halfway down to the stage, and another adult standing near the front of the stage.

He approached the front of the stage, ignoring Mr. Tate for the moment. "What's going on here?"

"Barry, is that you?" the judge asked. The footlights were still on, making the cop a dark blob as he stood just behind them.

"It is. John, what are you doing here?"

"I never could resist the theater."

I decided right then that I liked him.

"I never liked the theater," the captain replied, "so why am I here?"

"Your officer over there was about to arrest that young man." He waved his arm in my direction. "And I got the feeling that he wasn't going quietly. I figured your man needed backup."

"From me?"

The judge smiled. "In my defense, I told him his captain. I didn't know it was you. Come on up."

"Would it have made a difference?" the top cop mumbled as he headed for the stairs at the side of the stage.

The big cop came up and took center stage. "You were making an arrest?" he asked the fire plug.

"I, um..."

"Obstruction of justice is the charge he mentioned," the judge said helpfully.

"You!" the big cop pointed at me. "Who are you?"

I stepped forward, wishing momentarily that my loving parents sitting a dozen rows away believed in fighting my battles. "Tony Sims, sir." The sir wasn't buttering up, it just kind of slipped out. The cop was just the kind of guy you naturally said sir to.

"And you're obstructing justice and refusing to be arrested?"

I swallowed unconsciously. "There's a difference of opinion as to whether it's obstructing justice, interfering with a police office or just protecting a friend."