Author's Note: I really need to finish one fan fiction before I start on another one. I finished this chapter and I felt it ended wrong but I could not find a really good way to do it and start the next chapter. I hope you enjoy
Chapter Two: The Unexpected Stop
I woke up the next morning by throwing my clock across the room. I would rather have something like music for my alarm, but after the sixth radio shorted out my father got me the Mickey Mouse alarm clock. Molly shakes her head and smiles at it every time when she comes to visit me. Sometimes she even gets this far off look as she strokes it in her hands. I asked her once why she does that and she just gave me a shrug. My sister is one of those odd people who wander around as if she is in her own little dream world. Carlos told me that she is just more sensitive to the world around her than most. I wandered downstairs after throwing on a t-shirt and overalls. I grabbed a coke before going out to the shed with Mouse in tow. After checking my pocket watch that was a sweet sixteen present from Uncle Waldo, I set the egg timer for forty-five minutes. That gave me enough time to finish most of what I needed to get done before I added the embellishments that Carlos told me his grandmother approved of when I did a sketch of how I wanted to change the design a little bit. She was very impressed with it from what he told me. Mouse sat patiently at the door, occasionally leaving me alone to sniff around the backyard like usual. He always seemed to be looking for something. I worked steadily on the carving, making sure I kept in the lines of what I drew on the wood. I wanted to make sure that I had everything accurate.
"You always seem to wake before everyone else," Little Harry said, coming into the workshop. I sighed, looking up from behind my safety goggles at him. Apparently, he decided to stay overnight.
"Do you mind? I have very little time before school starts and I want to get this done," I told him before I went back to working on the carving.
"Carlos told me you excelled at carving designs, but he didn't tell me you could do something like this," Little Harry said as he looked over my shoulder. "This is very advanced."
"A child can carve along the lines," I muttered, carefully running the v-tool over one of the lines in the skulls.
"But this design is complicated," Little Harry said, running his fingers over one of the outside edges. The egg timer went off, sending Mouse bouncing off toward the house with several barks. I sighed, unplugged the wood burner, downed the rest of my coke, and took off my goggles.
"Anything else you want to talk about?" I asked, setting my goggles on the carving and looking up at him. I was tall, like everyone else in my family so I did not have to look up far. Little Harry smirked.
"Mom sent me out to get you," he told me. "She told me that you probably need to shower again before school."
"I didn't do any sanding today so I am pretty sure I can get away with a good hand washing and a change of clothing," I said as I walked out of the workshop.
"I should say so considering that is not St. Matthew's attire," Little Harry said, walking out of the workshop behind me before I shut and locked the door. "You are still going there right?"
"As long as Mom and Dad keep paying for it," I said. Mouse padded behind us as we headed into the house. I ran up the stairs while Mouse and Little Harry started on their breakfasts. I quickly grabbed my black skirt and blouse before heading into the bathroom and washing up. I pulled my hair into a ponytail after I put on my uniform and quickly brushed my teeth before running back downstairs.
"Still not allowed to wear make-up, huh?" Little Harry asked around his mouthful of eggs. He drank some orange juice and gave me a smile. "Hope was allowed make-up when she was fourteen."
"What?" I said, giving Mom a look when she walked in with a plate piled with food. "Mom, I am fifteen and you won't let me wear make-up but Hope got to wear make-up when she was fourteen?! How is that fair?" Mom set the plate at my usual seat at the table and gave Little Harry a glare before letting out a weary sigh.
"I am too tired for this right now," she told me as she walked back to the kitchen. "We can discuss this after school." I grumpily flopped down in my seat, irritated that Mom won't let me do anything. I was the baby of the family and got the short end of the stick all the time. It took large amounts of begging to get Mom and Dad to let me stay out late on Fridays to attend the football games this year, and Aunt Karrin had to step in on that one. She told them anyone stupid enough to mess with me would regret it the instant they tried something. Dad finally gave me the go ahead with the promise I would come home right after the game was over and made arrangements with Uncle Will to pick me up after the games so I wouldn't have to worry about it. It was actually kind of creepy how fast everything was done. I assumed it was a magical parent power that I would get when I was older because every one of my adult relatives seemed to function like that.
"Better eat quick if you want a ride to school," Dad said as he walked past me into the kitchen. I started eating on my pancakes, giving Mom a thank you noise when she set my cranberry juice in front of me. Dad sat down in his normal seat with his plate piled high with sausage and biscuits and gravy. He started to swallow it down, quickly devouring his breakfast before I was even done with half of mine. He sat back, taking slow sips of his cup of coffee as he looked at me in deep thought. I paused in mid-shovel, giving him a look.
"What?" I asked, putting the fork full of eggs in my mouth.
"Are you planning on attending the game tomorrow?" he asked me, his free hand drumming his fingertips against the table.
"Dad, I go to every home game," I replied. He nodded, now staring at the centerpiece that Mom made out of sticks and leaves from the backyard. My mind clicked in places before he could ask. "Dad, no. I am going."
"Are you sure you want to attend?" Dad asked me, putting his coffee cup to his lips and draining it before setting it on the table. "I am sure Karrin would like for you spend an evening with her little one demonstrating."
"I help her all the time," I said, taking half of what was left of my pancakes and shoving them in my mouth.
"Well your mother and I think-"
"Dad," I interrupted around my pancake filled mouth. "Seriously, I am going. It is going to be fine. No one is going to mess with me. If a dude with a duster and staff somehow make it past campus security, the football team is all Little Harry's friends. I am their honorary little sister. If someone so much as looks at me the wrong way I have at least three very large boys standing by to beat someone down."
"All right," Dad said, standing. "I will get my toolbox from the shed. You come on out front when you are finished with your breakfast." I shoved the rest of my eggs in my mouth and ran upstairs to grab my bag. As I ran back downstairs with my backpack on and sweater in one hand, I almost ran directly into Little Harry. He was standing with Mouse at the bottom of the steps. Both of them did not look happy.
"You will be careful today," Little Harry told me.
"I am always careful big brother," I replied in a sugary sweet tone as I gently pushed past him to kneel down and look Mouse in the eyes. I scratched behind his ears and put my forehead on his. "I promise to come home you big lummox." I stood up and brushed the fur off my clothes. Little Harry grabbed my arm.
"Don't stay out after dark," he said. "If you have to go out after dark, take Mouse."
"What is it with people thinking I cannot take care of myself?" I snapped and jerked my arm away from him. I stomped out the door, slamming it behind me before I continued stomping to the truck and climbing in it. Dad said nothing as he backed out of the driveway. About halfway to St. Matthews, he finally cleared his throat.
"I was once told by a wise man that McAnally was a great name," he said to me. "It is said the name was given to those who are a rock for those around them, to help them get through the hard times. If you ever run into problems, perhaps you can find yourself a McAnally to help."
"Do you have a McAnally, Dad?" I asked sarcastically. I was starting to get tired of people wanting me to be careful and getting advice about what I needed to do. Dad smirked, shaking his head.
"As a matter of fact, I do," he laughed softly. He got this far off look in his eyes, his smile growing. "I have many." I studied my father for a minute. He never talked about his life when he traveled for the church. Mom told me he used to return home will all sorts of injuries from the villages that he would try to teach the word of God. Maybe he was just trying to give me a peek into his world.
"How will I know who my McAnally is?" I asked him, adjusting my bag as the bell tower of St. Matthew's came into site.
"Sometimes you will stumble on it, and other times people might lead you the way," Dad said, giving me a smile before stopping the truck. "I will see you after school dear. Karrin said not to worry about practice today."
"Ummm okay," I said, hopping out. "Love you, Pops."
"I love you too, Mags," he said as I shut the door and ran the rest of the block to school. I did not like Dad to fight with the traffic in the front of the school. He was late to a job site once and almost lost the contract with the company. I decided when I turned eleven and attended the same school as Little Harry that I could walk the rest of the way. I ran up the steps and walked quickly through the halls to my locker. I stowed my sweater and the books I did not need for first period before heading to Mass.
Every morning at school we attended Mass before we learned. It was only a thirty minute service, nothing real and formal about it, and it was also the morning announcement time. I quickly sat in my normal spot in the pews, and brought out one of my books I was doing research in for my paper. I barely registered when someone sat down next to me.
"If you actually pulled your nose out of a book once in a while, you might actually get a date," I heard my best friend say. I turned my head slightly to look at Jessica, and almost did a double take. Her outfit was barely the uniform, and showed more skin than it covered. She let out an exasperated sigh as she pulled her compact out of her bag. "Sometimes I wonder if you are my mother with the looks you give me."
"How did you get out of the house with that on?" I asked.
"Mom never notices what I wear anymore," she told me as she powdered her face. "Since she started to date that new man, I have basically become that urchin who stays in the house out of her good charity."
"I am sure someone will notice," I muttered as one of the teachers walked by.
"This is still in dress code," she said, snapping her compact shut and putting it back in her bag. "Now, let's try and see how long it takes for Nathan to notice." I sighed and put my book back in my bag, readying myself for the storm that was about to come.
"I still cannot believe that you made it through the school day without getting in trouble," I told Jessica as we walked down the steps of the school.
"I know right?" Jessica said as she rapidly texted away on her phone. "And can you believe that Nathan asked me out to the game tomorrow night?"
"I can," I sighed. Nathan could not keep his eyes off her legs the entire day. I could almost see his thoughts in his eyes, and they were not very G rated.
"I still can't believe you don't have a cell phone," she said, shoving her phone in her purse.
"I don't need one really," I replied, feeling the lie roll smoothly off my tongue. I would probably kill to have a cell phone, but after the second cheap flip phone my parents gave me shorted out this past summer it was decided that I would not be getting another.
"So, I bet your Dad was pretty excited to hear Jonathan dumped you," she said. "Did he tell you who that weird dude was that he sent after him?"
"I don't want to talk about it," I told her, gazing around the parking lot to try and find my father's truck. I hoped that she would leave it at that and wouldn't push further. I did not feel like coming up with more lies today.
"Hey, isn't that your brother-in-law?" Jessica squealed as she jumped up and down waving at someone. "Your sister is so lucky she landed such a stud." I looked in the direction she was waving and saw Carlos waving back at her in his shiny black truck.
"I will see you tomorrow," I said, giving her a quick hug and running over to the truck. I jumped into the truck and fastened my seat belt as Carlos started to slowly make his way out of the parking lot. "You keep showing up here looking like that and my sister might have to think about ways to compete with girls my age."
"No way they can compare to your sister," he chuckled.
"How is she taking the pregnancy?" I asked. Molly was not always in the best of moods, and her being pregnant made it ten times worse. I do not know how someone so laid back as Carlos puts up with her, but I guess what they say about opposites attracting is real.
"Your nephew is kicking more than she likes and keeping her up at night," he told me as he finally hit the main road and we started to coast along.
"So where is Dad?" I said, reaching in my bag and pulling out my emergency gum stash. I unwrapped and handed Carlos two pieces.
"There were some complications at the job site so he and your brother had to stay late to fix some things," he replied, nodding in thanks and putting the gum in his mouth. He gave me a sly smile and a sideways glance. "It is a damn shame too, because it seems to me that the direct route to your house seems to be jammed packed with cars. It will be quicker going the long route today. Goes right by the ice cream shop."
"Think we might have time to stop there on the way to pick up something?" I asked nonchalantly.
"Somehow I seem to have this overwhelming urge to pull over in said shop," he said. "I also need a peace offering to bring home to my loving wife. She was not very happy with me this morning before I left."
"What did you do?" I asked.
"I am not discussing that with someone as young as you," he said, his face turning a slight shade of red. I giggled the rest of the way to the ice cream shop, picking at him and making him blush further the entire way like the good little sister I am. When we reached the shop, Carlos gave me one of his famous grins. "Do you know what flavor you want today?"
"I will have to see what they have out," I replied as I unbuckled my seat belt. "Can we get some for Mom?"
"I would never dream about coming here without getting Charity her double fudge mint," Carlos said. "I am still hurting from the last time."
"I think everyone hurts like that from Mom once in a while," I laughed as we walked in the door of the ice cream shop. What happened next changed my life forever.
My mother skidded the van in the ice cream shop parking lot. The police officers taking our statements almost dropped their notebooks, but it didn't faze me. Mom was like this when something happened to one of us. Carlos however, he prudently stepped behind the cop car, putting the car and about four police officers between him and Mom. She ran over to me, grabbing me and pulling me into a hug.
"Maggie! Are you all right?" she said, checking me up and down.
"I'm fine, Mom," I sighed.
"What happened?" my mother demanded of the two police officers.
"Well Ma'am, here is what we are getting from eyewitnesses," one of them said. The told her that a man tried to hold up the ice cream shop. A brave patron slammed a chair over the man's head giving Carlos enough time to disarm the man and restrain him till the cops got there. At least, that was the story we were telling them.
"Now give me the money in the register and no one will get hurt," the man with a stocking cap on his head demanded of the young man behind the counter, keeping a gun pointed at the employee. The young man shook as he tried to fit the key in the register.
"Stay behind me, Maggie," Carlos said, stepping in front of me. We were barely in the doorway. There were several families in the shop, one small child kept wailing as its mother kept trying to shush it. I could barely see through Carlos. He was built and just a couple inches taller than me. I peeked around to witness the man with the cap slam his fist down on the counter.
"Hurry up you moron," he roared, causing the child who was wailing to get louder. The young man started to make more distressed noises and finally fit the key in the register. He quickly dumped the money on the counter. The man in the cap's posture grew rigid. "This all?"
"We made a drop just before the shift change," the young man said, his voice shaking.
"Well get me that money," the man in the cap said.
"I can't get into the safe sir," the young man said. "Only the manager can get in the safe."
"I suggest you find a way to get into the safe boy," the man in the cap said, the gun in his hand moving away from the young man and more towards some of the families. "I would hate for an accident to happen to one of these fine people in here because you could not do something as simple as opening-" The rest of his sentence was cut off by a chair flying across the room and hitting him. The man in the cap was knocked to the ground as the chair kept hitting him, still floating in the air without anyone holding onto it but acting like someone was swinging it down on top of the man. It kept hitting him over and over. I felt this energy rushing through me as I watched it hit the man over and over again, feeling the energy pulse with every contact the chair made on him. I was so enthralled with watching it and feeling this power rush through me that I barely registered Carlos shaking me.
"Maggie!" Carlos sounded so far away. Finally, his shaking me made me look at him. His voice was muffled, eventually growing louder with each of the words he spoke. "Maggie! That is enough stop! He is down just stop!" I heard the chair drop as I collapsed in the floor, my entire body shaking. All the noises in the room came rushing back to me as I sat in the ice cream parlor floor. I drew my knees to my chest as I shook violently, not really sure what just happened.
"I made the chair hit that man," I said softly to myself.
"Maggie," Carlos said as he kneeled down in front of me. "Maggie I know it is hard right now but I need to you focus on me."
"I made that chair hit that man," I repeated to Carlos tearfully.
"Maggie, I know this is confusing to you right now but you have to pay attention to what I am telling you," Carlos said.
"But I hurt that man!" I screeched. Carlos grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me hard. Tears flowed down my cheeks he pulled me into his arms, rocking me as he rubbed my back while I sobbed into his chest. "What am I?"
"Maggie," he said softly as he pushed me back slightly. I heard the sound of cop cars coming. "We can talk about this later."
"What do we do?" I whispered, panic filling me as I saw the red and blue lights flash on the ice cream shop walls.
"Someone threw the chair," Carlos told me slowly. "Someone threw the chair at him and it caused him to fall because it caught him off guard." I nodded, taking deep breaths. He kisses my forehead and rushed over to check one of the families sitting close to us, as police officers burst in the shop.
"We are just lucky that no one was hurt," one of the officers said. Mom pulled me into her arms and hugged me tight, sending Carlos a glare. A couple of the cops coughed and one of them moved away from my mother slightly.
"Get in the van, Maggie," she said, pushing me toward the van, not taking her eyes off Carlos. "Carlos will be joining us with his wife for dinner." Carlos nodded as I walked over to the van without protest. Mom is really scary when one of us was in some sort of danger. The whole ride home was spent in silence, my mother occasionally letting out a hissing noise from behind the driver seat. The van pulled in beside Scarab, my sisters beaten up red Beatle, and we got out just as Carlos pulled up in his truck. Mom walked over to the door and yelled into the house. Carlos and I were walking up to the door when my sister came out and stood next to Mom. Her belly was huge and she was only seven months along, but other than that Molly and Mom were standing side by side, giving Carlos the same look. It was actually kind of scary.
"Um, Maggie, I think you need to go in the house," Carlos told me. I inched past my mother and Molly, careful not to touch them or draw attention to myself. As soon as I was inside I quickly ran upstairs just as I heard Molly let Carlos have it. I hated to leave him like that, but he was better at handling the two of them than the rest of us. I like to think it was his Latin charm. I sat on the bed and Mouse padded into my room. He sat his head on my lap, looking up at me with his large dark eyes. I sighed and rubbed his ears.
"I know. Being up here is better than down there with them," I said. He sneezed. I laughed and ruffled his fur before lying down to nap before dinner.