CHAPTER 4
Elm Street was considered the longest street in Bayport. A railroad track cut the street in half – depending on what side of the tracks you lived on showed how affluent your family was. The Hardy home was considered inside the tracks where the middle to high-middle class lived. The houses on the outside of the tracks ranged from lower middle class to low-income neighborhoods.
A freckle-faced red-haired teen walked across the tracks. No one paid much attention to him. With his green eyes and freckles the teen had an innocent look about him. This innocent appearance kept Charles (Charlie to his friends) out of trouble. No one would suspect that he was the leader of a gang.
Charlie walked two blocks, stopping in front of a duplex – the house was painted a mustard color that was now faded. The right side of the house had potted plants and a rose bush in front of the window. The left side had some trash lying around the front walk. Charlie kicked aside some of the trash before knocking on the door.
Carlos opened the door and let Charlie in, leading him towards the back of the house where his room was located. Two other boys were already inside. Charlie gave a slight nod towards the two boys as he walked into the room. Carlos closed and locked the door then turned to face his friends.
"What's up, Charlie?"
"Spike, Mikey and Toby are in jail…"
"Jail?! Shouldn't they be in juvie?!" asked one of the boys.
"Since Spike pulled a knife and Mikey and Toby are seventeen the D.A. decided to try them as adults!" snarled Charlie.
The other three teens hissed in anger. As one they stared at Charlie, waiting to hear what he wanted them to do.
It was payback time.
*paradigm*paradigm*
Joe lay in his bed staring at the ceiling, a happy smile on his face. It had been a fun-filled day swimming at the pond. Tony helping Chet with the barbeque pit – Biff and Frank making sure the sodas were iced in the cooler – Phil helping Daphne climb up the tree so they could dive off the low hanging branch – Iola and Callie giggling and whispering. Joe had been skimming stones and watching the two girls.
His smile grew wider as he thought how cute Iola looked in her bikini top and shorts. Joe sat up as his thoughts grew. He had known Iola since they were five years old, meeting her when he had visited the Morton farm with Frank. Joe thought that she was rather annoying – she followed him everywhere he went. Thinking to scare her off, Joe had found a small lizard and hid it behind his back and approached Iola. " I got a surprise for you," he had told her just before tossing the lizard at her.
Iola surprised him – instead of screaming and running away the young girl cradled the lizard in her hands and remarked: "How cool! Thank you!" A friendship had been born. From then on Joe never considered Iola as a girl but as 'one of the guys'. But that changed when Joe began to take notice of the opposite sex. He wasn't exactly sure when he started to notice how nice and different girls were. It might have begun when Iola stopped wearing nothing but jeans and got into wearing skirts and dresses. That was also the time that Iola quit putting her hair in pigtails and wore it loose – her natural curls falling in unruly waves down her shoulders.
Joe leaned over and turned on the small lamp, then opened the drawer of his nightstand. He took out an envelope and with special care removed the picture that was inside. It was a week before school ended for summer vacation when Iola had slipped her school picture inside his book bag.
Joe thought about the other girls he went to school with. Liz Webling's eyes were green but she didn't have dark hair like Iola – Daphne Soesbee had dark hair but her eyes were blue, plus both girls were tall and willowy – Gail Summers was curvy and petite like Iola but she didn't have her dimpled smile and cute pixie-like face. Each girl he thought of had different aspects of Iola but they weren't Iola Morton!
Joe let out a sigh. He knew that he liked Iola, she was a great friend! But recently the thoughts he had been having about her were more than friendly. Before, when he thought of Iola it would be about playing ball or talking about cars or Iola's horse. Now he wondered what it would be like to kiss her – how she would feel in his arms. He suddenly found himself admiring her beauty, where before he'd admired her strength and courage. The combination of all three was very intoxicating! Joe put the picture back in the envelope then replaced it inside the drawer. He turned off the lamp and settled into bed. As he drifted off to sleep his thoughts were still on Iola Morton.
*paradigm*paradigm*
Con Riley let out a frustrated sigh. He stared down at the complaint forms sitting on his desk. The majority of the complaints had to do with teens. Teens that were bored and thought spray painting the side of a building was fun – or toilet papering someone's home. Those he could handle; it was the complaints of harassment – stealing – shoplifting. It was days like this that Con wished he hadn't become a policeman!
At least they had three bad apples in jail. He shuffled through the papers, then picked up the one he was searching for. Alex "Spike" Fine, Mikey Lerner and Toby Smith – all three had criminal records for shoplifting, breaking and entering, vandalism, and the list went on. The damage caused by the fight at Mr. Pizza and the added offence of using a weapon had caused the District Attorney to charge the three teens as adults. Con wondered if the fact that Spike would be turning eighteen in a few months had anything to do with being trialed as an adult. He just hoped that Spike's friends weren't going to retaliate and get revenge against the Pritos, the Hardys and their friends.
Unknown to Con a plan of revenge was already being put into action.
*paradigm*paradigm*
Tony Prito stood in the alleyway back of Mr. Pizza. A clipboard in his hand, he was verifying the produce order his uncle had called in. Satisfied that they had everything, Tony signed the invoice.
"Thanks, Hank!"
"My pleasure, Tony. See you in a few weeks." Hank sketched a wave as he got in his truck.
As soon as the truck drove away three teens came out of the shadows, Carlos and two of the boys who had been at his home – Jamie, a short wiry blond with a pug-like nose; Tom, a tall, muscular green-eyed teen with brown hair. They formed a semi-circle around Tony.
"Your friends aren't here to help you this time!" snarled Carlos he tapped a stick lightly against his leg.
Tony saw that the other teens also held some kind of weapon. His uncle wasn't due back for another hour and the wait staff didn't come in until twenty minutes before the restaurant opened. Quickly studying his assailants, Tony figured he could disarm the Hispanic and the blond guy but he wasn't sure about the third.
Jamie was the first to rush Tony. Using this to his advantage, with his quick moves Tony avoided getting hit and shoved Jamie into Tom. He then turned his attention to Carlos and struck the Hispanic teen in the jaw and eye and watched his assailant fall to the ground.
"Get off of me!" yelled Tom while pushing Jamie away from him. As Tom was scrambling up the three teens heard the screeching sound of tires as a truck turned the corner and came roaring towards them.
"Let's get out of here!" said Jamie, jumping over Carlos' prone body and running down the alley with Tom right behind him.
Tony let out a sigh of relief when he recognized the driver – Hank had come back.
"Tony, are you okay?" Hank jumped out of the truck and ran towards him.
"Yeah, you came in the nick of time," Tony sighed.
"It's a good thing I looked down the alley – I happened to see those punks. I see you got one of them."
"Yeah…would you mind watching him while I call the police?"
"I can do better than that," replied Hank as he took out his cell phone.
*paradigm*paradigm*
Aunt Gertrude was serving breakfast when there was a loud crash of glass shattering. Laura let out a shriek while Frank and Joe jumped out of their chairs and ran to the living room. They were confronted with a wall of smoke and flames licking the curtains.
"Mom, call the fire department!" yelled Frank. "Joe get the fire extinguisher!"
Joe grabbed the extinguisher that hung in the hall closet and gave it to his brother. He then ran back to the kitchen to get the one at the bottom of the food pantry. Before he went back to Frank he made sure his mother and aunt got out the back door.
The fire was spreading quickly as Frank frantically sprayed fire retardant. He saw Joe out of the corner of his eye and heard him turn the nozzle from a second fire extinguisher.
"I have a feeling someone threw a Molotov cocktail!" Frank coughed out.
"Is that why it's spreading so fast and hot?!"
The sound of sirens was sweet music to the brothers' ears. A minute later two firemen climbed through the broken window, each grabbing hold of Frank and Joe and getting them out of the house. Two more firemen worked on putting out the fire.
Frank and Joe were dragged over to the fire truck where someone put oxygen masks over their faces. Laura and Aunt Gertrude stood next to the boys. There was a small crowd of people gathering to watch, and Frank saw a familiar face in the crowd.
*endofchapter*endofchapter*
Poster's Note: Oh wow, I don't know about you but I am so glad the boys and their mom and aunt are safe! Methinks those boys don't know who they're messing with! Get 'em boys!