Chapter 21

The same sense of honor that had forced Fu Yao to flee the dangerous vagaries of the Xingese Imperial Court with three children, the only family he had left, was what prompted him to shake the dust of the Briar Rose Senior Center off his feet. There had been some speculation, snickered behind hands, concerning whatever relationship Fu and Pinako might have. Their relationship was nobody's damn business, and the two of them ignored the salacious gossip that bounced around them like fleas on a hot griddle. But when they overheard (most likely meant to overhear) Fred "Wow I'm So Funny" Gorman asking his fellow bridge players what's yellow and comes in a white box, Fu kind of lost it.

Having been schooled in martial arts as a younger man, Fu could have done Fred some real damage. As furious as he was, though, he didn't really want to get slapped with an assault charge, so he just stepped over to Fred's table, picked up his Metamucil cocktail, and dumped it on his head, dealing Fred the double insult of forcing him get up and mix another Fiber Bomber as well as making an oblique comment about what sort of matter he had for brains.

They sought refuge at the Golden Corral, which, in spite of all kinds of awesome senior specials, was not full of a bunch of old farts sitting around on their flabby asses waiting for their skin tags to fall off (this remark made Pinako snort coffee up her nose). Additionally, nobody here gave a trucker's cuss about people's personal lives. They ordered up a couple of 2.99 waffle platters and opened up the backgammon board they'd brought with them.

Pinako rolled a five and advanced two of her pieces.

"You get that letter from the school? The one about the online creepers?" Fu asked, scooping up the dice and tossing them. He threw double fives and clapped his hands together with a laugh. "Bam!" He moved four of his pieces over five points.

Pinako picked up the dice. "Better watch out. You start out gangbusters like that, you just might fall on your ass."

Fu just smirked at her, unperturbed, and loaded up another forkful of waffles with banana topping.

"Yeah, I got the letter. I'm not worried about it." Pinako blew a puff of air into her fist before rattling the dice. "Winry's way too sensible to get caught by that kind of crap."

"Oh, hell, yeah," Fu agreed. "Ling might be a goof ball, and Mei has her head in the clouds sometimes, but they're good kids. And of course Lan Fan keeps an eye on 'em both." He chuckled. "She made up Mei's user name for her. BognarDestroyerOfWorlds."

Pinako guffawed. "That oughtta put off a few pervs. It's too long to type out, for one thing." She sobered for a moment. "I hoped they catch those dirtbags, whoever they are."

"There's so many of 'em," Fu remarked in disgust, frowning at the backgammon board. "Kind of a sad comment on society, but there it is. People suck."

"Now, that's not entirely true," Pinako chided mildly. "Yes, darlin'." She pushed her cup toward the sunnily smiling waitress who had just arrived with a fresh pot of coffee. "You can top that right off."

The waitress, whose name badge proclaimed her to be Sue Ellen, filled their mugs. "You folks enjoying your breakfast?"

"Sure are!" Pinako replied. "You're gonna be seeing a lot more of us."

Sue Ellen grinned. "Glad to hear it!" She moved on with her carafes to other caffeine-deprived people. "See?" Pinako nodded toward the waitress' retreating back. "She doesn't suck. She's gettin' a monster-sized tip."

Fu emptied a sugar packet into his coffee. "Fair enough."

"And of course, there's those kids of ours. They don't suck, either."

"That's high praise with a faint damn," Fu remarked.

Pinako waved her fork. "You know what I mean. They're gonna grow up to be remarkable adults."

"Well." Fu threw a six and a two and considered his options. "They were raised by some remarkable adults, if you don't mind me saying so."

"Oh, now, I can't take that much credit for Winry."

"Well, you can take partial credit, since you raised her dad."

Pinako gave a sigh. "Sometimes I think I raised him too good. He and Sara were always buzzing off to help people. That's how they ended up in Ishval, for all the good that did anybody." She took a mouthful of scrambled eggs. "Y'know, I guess that's something those kids have in common."

Fu lifted an eyebrow. "You mean having their parents meet untimely ends?"

"Yeah. That could have really messed them up, but in a way, it made them stronger. Winry's got an awfully good head on her shoulders, and Lan Fan really looks out for her cousins."

Fu nodded. "And even their pal, Paninya. She lost her folks, too. She's a real sweetheart." He looked across the table at Pinako and gave a little smirk. "But we worry about 'em just the same."

"You got that right." Pinako rolled double sixes and let out a whoop, sliding her last four pieces to the opposite ends of the board. "Ha! Beat that, old timer!"

The letter had already been opened, probably by Ed, even though the envelope clearly said "Parents/Guardians of…" Then it had been set aside. Van wasn't particularly concerned about the issues addressed in the letter, except in a general society-at-large sort of way. But he was nothing if not a dutiful parent, so he made his way into the den where his sons converged in the evening.

Alphonse was reading and Ed was in front of the PC. Van held up the letter. "I guess you boys already took a look at this."

Alphonse glanced up. "Huh? Oh, yeah!" He grinned a little sheepishly. "Ed opened it up."

Not looking away from the screen, Ed said, "It had my name on it."

"Indirectly," Van remarked mildly.

Ed just lifted a shoulder.

"I would like to just assume that I don't have anything to worry about," Van went on, a little cautiously.

Alphonse smiled like the ray of filial sunshine that he was. "Yes, Dad, you can do that."

Ed just snorted. "Seriously," which from him was as much a confirmation as anything.

Van nodded, folding the letter back up. "Yeah, I figured."

He moved a little further into the room. The book Alphonse was reading was part of a series of the adventures of a rural veterinarian. No surprises there. Venturing in to less calm waters, Van sidled around to peek at whatever Ed was viewing on the PC. The boy made no move to quickly shut it down or to even acknowledge his father's presence. Van looked a little closer at the screen.

"Huh. That's kind of old news, isn't it? I mean…" he added, "historically speaking, it's certainly significant, but not exactly a current event." He didn't get a reaction, so he asked an outright question. "Why the interest? Is it a school project?"

"Sort of," Ed replied, a little dismissively.

"How do you 'sort of' have a school project?"

Van couldn't see the reflection of Ed's face on the computer screen, but judging by the pause, he was probably rolling his eyes.

"It's just something I was curious about."

"Oh." Van left it at that, remaining for a few more moments, looking at the headline of the of the news article Ed was reading.

Massive Explosion in Ishval Kills 27, Injures Dozens

"Gregorio! Gregorio!"

Grey had just finished getting his hair to spike just right when his mother barged into his room. He had left the door open, which to Mama was an invitation. He exchanged a small grimace with his reflection before she got close enough to see.

"What is it, Mama?"

Mrs. Vorace had an envelope in one hand and was waving a letter with the other. "Cos'è questo? It came from Nicolo's school! Is he in trouble again?"

Grey sighed. Poor Mama. Sometimes she just didn't get stuff, especially when she was upset. Anything having to do with her baby boy and school would send her into a tizzy. The kid had had some problems in the past and the merest hint acted like a trigger.

Grey held out his hand. "Let me see that."

Mama thrust the letter at him. "Well?" she demanded before he'd gotten past the first couple of sentences.

"Hold on, Mama." Grey glanced over the rest of the letter then nodded. "It's okay. It's not about Nicolo. Everybody got this letter. The school just wants all the parents to make sure their kids aren't talking to online perverts."

"Why would they do that?" Mama gasped. "Is my Nicolo doing that? Gregorio! Is he doing that?"

"No, no, Mama, of course not!" Grey assured her.

Mama's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure?"

Actually, he wasn't, but he wasn't going to tell his mother that.

"'Course I'm sure, Mama!" he told her with a smile. He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. "Don't even worry about it anymore. I'll talk to him about it, though, just like it says to in the letter."

Mama squished Grey's face between her hands. "Sei un bravo ragazzo!"

Grey usually got home late from the restaurant, and Nicolo was usually still up. Grey would tap on his door and poke his head in to check on his brother, who was usually sitting in front of his laptop. Sometimes he looked a little guilty. If he was looking at porn, well, he was fifteen, after all, so it wasn't like a big shock.

Tonight Grey used a different tactic. He took his shoes off before he went upstairs, and he didn't knock first. He just walked in.

Wow. What timing. Nicolo was standing in the middle of his room, not a stitch on, taking a selfie. And not of his face. The kid jumped a good couple of feet but, from long practice, kept his yelp of surprise quiet enough so he wouldn't wake Mama.

"What the hell!" he hissed, grabbing at the first item at hand, his bedspread, to hastily wrap around his skinny hips.

"What the hell!" Grey answered back.

"I asked you first! You can't knock?"

Grey ignored his question. "What were you doing?"

"None of your business!"

"Let me put it this way," Grey went on patiently. "You can tell me or you can tell Mama."

That made an impression. "Dammit, Grey, you son of a bitch!"

Grey promptly stepped up and popped Nicolo on the back of his head, then thrust a finger in his brother's face. "Don't you call me that! You call me that and you're calling yourself that! And you do not talk about Mama like that, Nicolo!"

Nicolo rolled his eyes. "Whatever. And I told you to call me N.V.!"

Grey let out a laugh and jerked his chin toward what Nicolo had hiding under his bedspread/man wrap. "Yeah, like anybody's gonna envy that!"

Nicolo sneered at him.

"So how come you're immortalizing your boy parts on your phone?"

"Cuz I felt like it!" Nicolo snapped back defensively.

"You gonna use it for your wallpaper or something?"

"Look, just…forget it, okay?"

Nicolo reached for his phone, which he had dropped on the carpet, but Grey grabbed it first. Nicolo snatched at it. "Hey, gimme that!"

Grey held the phone out of his brother's reach and put a finger to his lips. "You're gonna wake Mama!" He gave the phone a little waggle. "Now, I realize this is your own personal property, but it's also technically child pornography, which is seriously illegal to be transferring to other people. Were you planning on sending this anybody?"

Nicolo was not a bad liar, but he was no expert. He hesitated just a second too long. "No."

"I'm serious, kid," Grey said sternly. "You tell me or you tell Mama. Take your pick."

Nicolo let out a soft curse, realizing he was up against the wall. "Okay," he muttered. "So…there's…this girl I've been PM-ing for a little while, and she…you know…" He gave a small shrug. "She asked me to send her a picture."

"Of your little baby face?"

Nicolo just glowered.

"So who is this girl? Where does she live? Do you go to school with her?"

"No, she lives in West City."

"I see. And has she ever sent you a picture of her?"

Nicolo shifted his feet. "Not yet. She said her mom took her cell phone, and she doesn't have a camera."

"Her mom took her cell phone but not her computer?"

"She uses her brother's laptop."

"Uh-huh. What's her name?"

"Miranda."

"Aw, that's pretty. Has she talked about the two of you maybe meeting up sometime?"

Nicolo looked a little surprised. "Yeah, she did!"

Grey rubbed his forehead. "Nicolo, do you have any proof that this is even a girl that you're talking to?"

"Huh?" Nicolo frowned at his older brother. "Well, why wouldn't…of course I'm sure!"

"I didn't ask you if you were sure, I asked you if you have proof. Do you? You've never actually heard her voice? Do you ever skype?"

"…no, but…"

"But nothin'! You've got no proof that your buddy Miranda isn't some pudgy, bald, forty-something guy spankin' his monkey over his collection of photos of your little pisello!"

Nicolo's mouth dropped open, his mind apparently struggling with disbelief and denial. "N…no way!"

"Way, fratellino. Sometimes that's how these guys operate." Grey rubbed his forehead wearily. The minute he saw that letter this morning, he just had a gut feeling. He hoped he was wrong, but his gut was pretty reliable. "Look, I'm not tryin' to break your heart or anything, but you need to shut this down. I'm serious."

N.V.'s complexion had gone from red to white. He was probably making calculations in his head that weren't quite adding up, and he was pretty good at math. "Uh…am I in…uh…some deep shit?"

Grey shook his head. "You're not," he replied. He tossed the phone back. "You're a minor and even though you fell for this, you're actually the victim." He frowned thoughtfully at his younger brother. "I know a couple of police detectives who're working on cases like this. They come to my restaurant sometimes—"

Nicolo gripped his bedspread. "I don't wanna talk to a cop!"

Grey let out an impatient breath. "I said, you're not the one who's in trouble. You could help with the investigation."

Nicolo looked morosely skeptical. "What am I supposed to say to Miranda?"

"Miranda?" Grey scoffed. "Lie. Or don't lie. Say your brother caught you." He thought for a moment. "Don't break it off just yet, though. Maybe the cops can trace this perv."

"Great." Nicolo scowled. "What if it really is a girl named Miranda?"

"Well, if she's a nice girl, you shouldn't be sending her dick pics and she shouldn't be asking for 'em! Now go to bed!"

I suppose you can picture Dante as Grey and N.V.'s mother.