The High Cost of Education—

Part 1 – Coming Home

Colby and Charlie were in the kitchen, idly debating the merits of eating their custard pie still frozen or thawing it first, when they heard the front door open and shut. Colby's eyebrows rose and Alan looked up from his writing of a grocery list. Usually, when Will and Don took Nena out for the evening, they came back just before bedtime. They hadn't said where they were going tonight, but wherever it was hadn't taken long. Colby could hear Will talking in the hall.

"You're back early," Alan called.

Will walked into the kitchen, and there was something about his face that brought Colby to instant alertness. Don looked just as serious.

"Nena okay?" Colby asked quickly.

"She's fine," Will responded. "I sent her up to her room so I could tell you first about tonight's activities."

Colby frowned at the odd tone in Will's voice.

Will met his eyes squarely. "We took Nena to the gun range and showed her how to shoot a gun."

"What?" Colby asked in disbelief. "You did what?"

"Took Nena to the gun range and helped her shoot my Glock and a Tomcat."

Colby looked between Will and Don, his brain still trying to spin into gear. "Why?"

"She needed to learn how to handle a gun safely, and learn how dangerous they were, too."

Abruptly, Colby was fully alert. White hot rage shot through him. "You bastard!" he snarled. "How dare you make that kind of decision!"

"I gave you two months," Will said coolly. "You didn't look like up you were gonna do it, and I wasn't going to wait any longer. There are far too many guns that casually come in and out of this house. Or your friend's houses. She visits the office, too."

"She knows not to handle a gun!"

"Really?" Will replied. "Or are they just toys that have been kept from her? She already plays 'Fed' and has a toy badge. What could be more fun than a real gun?"

"You're not her father! You're not even really her uncles. This isn't your call!"

"It needed to be done."

"You had no right to do that without talking to me."

Will raised his eyebrows. "I couldn't take the chance you'd say 'no.' It was too important."

"Dammit, get out!" Colby yelled. "You are never going to see her again!"

Will calmly nodded and turned and left the room.

Don started to say something but Colby cut him off.

"You, too," Colby snapped. "I bet this was his idea but you went along with it. Just get the fuck out of here."

Don pressed his lips together and nodded. He looked at Alan and Charlie, then followed Will out of the room.

Colby sat down hard in a chair, his whole body shaking. Fucking superior bastard! And Don, I thought he was my friend! I can never trust either of them with Nena again.

"Oh my God," Charlie said faintly. "What just happened?"

"Your brother and his boyfriend decided that they were better parents than us," Colby snarled.

"I can't believe they'd do that," Alan said, his voice tight.

Colby jumped to his feet. If he didn't get out of this house, he was going to hit something, or someone. "I'm going on a run."

Charlie and Alan stared at him as he stalked to the door of the kitchen. He said over his shoulder, "Charlie, can you make sure that Nena's okay? And that it's not her fault? If I told her now, she wouldn't believe me."

He went to get his running shoes.


With a sigh, Megan picked up her cell phone and looked at the Caller ID. She flipped it open and said, "Charlie, I was right about to dive into a quart of Chunky Monkey ice cream. Does this—"

"I know you're not our personal counselor," Charlie said, and his voice sounded strange, taut. "But could you come over?"

Megan sat up straight. "What's wrong?"

"Will and Don took Nena to a gun range without Colby knowing."

"Shit," Megan said. "What happened?"

"Colby threw Will and Don out of the house."

"Shit," Megan repeated. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

Charlie hung up and Megan shoved the ice cream back into the freezer. She grabbed her keys and wallet and was out the door.

Getting into her car, Megan put her phone into the holder and pressed the speed dial for Don. She put on her seatbelt and pulled out of the driveway as the phone rang.

"Eppes. Something up?" Don asked. He sounded almost hopeful that he was going to get called into work.

"Charlie called me," Megan snapped.

"Oh," Don said tiredly.

Megan took a deep breath and calmed her racing brain. She needed data. "Answer some questions for me."

"Okay."

"Whose idea was it to take Nena to the range?"

"Will's. He talked me into it. I shouldn't have, but he made some very compelling arguments about Nena living around so many guns—"

Megan didn't want to hear explanations at the moment. "What exactly did you do at the range? Tell me in detail."

"The range isn't usually open tonight but Will gave the guy 500 bucks to let us in and not turn on the security cameras. When we got inside, Will got out his Glock and showed Nena how to tell if the safety was on it and if it had bullets. Then we put ear protection and eye protection on. Nena got glasses but no ear protection. Will wanted her to hear how loud it was. Then Will held Nena's hands and put his Glock in her hands. She held it but Will's hands were right outside hers. He then helped her point it at the target and pull the trigger. He let the gun kick a little, so that Nena could feel it."

"How did Nena react?"

"She got upset and nearly dropped the gun. Will caught it."

"Okay, next?"

"Will asked her if she wanted to shoot it again and she said no. He took the Glock away and showed her how he wasn't ever pointing at anyone and how he was putting the safety on. Then Will got out this little gun he'd borrowed from a friend. It was a Beretta Tomcat, a cute little .22 with a white pearl grip and flowers engraved on it. You should have seen Nena's face light up."

Megan could picture it. Just the sort of gun that would appeal to a little girl.

"Will helped Nena shoot that, and she seemed surprised that it still had a bad kick and noise. Then I took a watermelon, one about the size of a person's head, and put it on a plastic sheet a little ways down the range. Then Will helped Nena shoot the watermelon. Even with that little gun, it exploded in a total mess. Nena dropped the gun and started crying. Will handed me the gun and picked up Nena. He talked to her quietly while I cleaned up the melon. Then we left and got some ice cream. Nena was pretty upset but she calmed down after a while and tried to explain to us something about guns being angry."

"Angry?" Megan said. "What specifically?"

"Umm," Don said. "She said that good guys' guns get angry when they see bad guys but guns are stupid and think paper and watermelons are bad guys."

"Hmm," Megan said thoughtfully, filing that away for later. "Then what?"

"We took her home, then Will told Nena that she wasn't in trouble but she should go up to her room because Colby and Will needed to talk."

"How did Nena seem on the ride home?"

Don replied, "Subdued, thoughtful, a little jumpy."

"What did Colby say when you told him?"

"That we had no right to make that decision and that we wouldn't be seeing Nena again."

"Ouch," Megan said.

"Yeah," Don said tiredly. Then he added, a faint hope in his voice. "Are you going to talk to him?"

"Yes, but I'm not making any promises," Megan said sharply. "This is the kind of thing that can break a family."

"I know," Don agreed softly.

Megan ended the call and stared thoughtfully at the road in front of her. She had a guess as to why Don had agreed to this, but why had Will pushed it so hard? Why hadn't he wanted to ask Colby? An idea came to her and she caught her breath. Could Will be that self-destructive?