chapter 15

word count:1162

“how the heck did you get all the way over here?” john queried as the boys bounded into the back seat,, and punctuated their safe return from the edge of altercation,, with a hurried slam of the door.

as john slipped the car into park,, and turned around to make sure he got an answer to what he thought was a very valid question,,  he couldn’t help but notice the two bigger boys still on the sidewalk.. doubled over, as they were, in hysterics,, he was caught somewhat off guard when one of them blatantly flipped him the bird..  

always one to avoid conflict at all cost, john quickly averted his eyes and turned his attentions to the two, flushed little boys, breathing rapidly in the back seat..  “i said, how the heck did you get all the way over here?”

he paused briefly to await an answer,, while similar scenarios from his own childhood flashed before his eyes in rapid succession.. he was no stranger to youthful confrontation.. all too many times he had come out on the backside of them with more than just the visible cut or bruise. a knot of kinship began to form in his stomach as he looked on,, knowing that what had just played out before him, was bittersweet at most.. sure, he had staved off the situation for the time being,, but his very presence,, would become fuel for yet another fire,, one that he would not be there to  put out.. 

“i took the bus.” elliot shot back from underneath the curtain of dark brown bangs, hoping that the abruptness of his answer would cut short any lecture john was about to deliver.  he swung his bangs back out of his face,, tucked them behind his right ear, and stared back at john from beneath lifted brows.. 

“what do you mean you took the bus? jesus christ elliot,, you are seven years old!! what are you doing getting on the bus all by yourself??” john asked rhetorically as he shook his head, knowing full by the look on elliot’s face,, he could never make him understand what was wrong with this picture. 

whereas elliot was chronologically seven years old,, john understood that he functioned on a much different level than most boys his age.. how could he not?? he had spent every moment of those seven short years in the company of a mother who needed more care than she was able to give.. sure, john was wild about his trudy,, but he was not so blinded by her that he failed to realize that she was a pretty piss poor specimen when it came to being a mother..  

strangely enough,, the very character flaws that prevented trudy from being anything that even resembled a good mother,, were exactly the same things that had attracted john to her in the first place.. she was loud and vivacious.. she could drink anyone he had ever known under the table.. she could cuss like a sailor,, and purr like a kitten at the same time..  she was totally lost in the kitchen,, but man,, that woman knew her way around the bedroom!! 

trudy was precisely the kind of woman john had never stood a chance with,, and very simply,, that was the reason he had asked her to marry him the very first night he was lucky enough to find himself in her bed..  he still wasn’t sure exactly why she said yes,, but truth be told,, he really didn’t care.. all that mattered,, was that she still allowed him to be there..  and he would be there, grasping without shame as she held herself just out of reach,, for as long as she allowed him to stay..

“are we gonna sit here all day?” elliot asked disgustedly from the back seat.

“no, no we’re not,” john stammered as he fought to bring his thoughts back to the case at hand.. “i guess we can talk more about this later, but in the meantime i wouldn’t mention any of this to your mom..”  john said bringing the nearly nonexistent conversation to a close.. he knew he wasn’t doing elliot any favors in the long run by not pursuing it,, but in all honesty,, he had no idea where to go from here..

“so, who’s your friend?” john said, quickly changing the subject as he checked his mirrors and slowly merged out into traffic.. his glance paused for a moment on the skinny little red haired boy in the back seat.. he had never seen him around before.. but come to think of it,, he had never seen any of elliot’s friends..  

“i’m adam.” an equally skinny voice chimed in from the back seat.. “I go to elliot’s school.” 

“and i’m john, elliot’s step dad.” john answered with a quick look and a smile into the rear view mirror “good to meet you adam..” 

“wadda ya say we go by your mom’s place, elliot,  and have a dish of ice cream?? you guys up for that??”

his question was answered with a resounding, “yeah!” from the backseat.. if john hadn't known any better he could have easily mistaken that hearty, "yeah" as the response of two very ordinary seven year old boys.

as he steered the car around in a wide u-turn and headed back in the direction of his original destination,, the restaurant where trudy worked,,  john was relieved that he and the boys were headed there on an ice cream mission,, and he no longer had to be the one to inform trudy that elliot was nowhere to be found when he finally woke up..  

**

trudy glared into her cell phone.. she had called three times,, and three times been automatically connected to the answering machine.. this could mean only one of two things.. either buzz was on the line,, and didn’t deem her call worthy of an answer when he checked the led display to see who was beeping in on his call,, or he was hitting the reject button.. either way,, she was not amused.. 

“fucker..” she mumbled under her breath as she spun the cap on her flask and greedily tipped it to her lips.. he knew better than this.. 

she fumbled with the redial button,, while twisting the cap back on her flask.. an automated voice came on the line. “you have reached…”

once again she hung up on it before she even heard his recorded greeting.. “fuck you ‘detective miller, 45^th street homicide’"  she hissed into the stale air of the windowless break room.. “fuck you.”

just as she began to twist the top off her flask for just one more pull,, she heard her somebody calling her name.. it was amy the hostess.. 

“trudy? you in here?? oh there you are.. hey,, john’s here,, and he’s got your kid with him.”

“god damn it!!” trudy exclaimed aloud as she kicked the door to her locker closed with a resounding ‘slam’.. 

"when it fucking rains., it pours!!"