Early Edition
The Sidekick
Chapter One
Gary lies in his bed staring at the ceiling. He didn't have to look at the alarm clock. He knew it was almost seven o'clock. He knew he would hear the never-ending thud of the paper at his door and the gentle meows of the cat. He wondered what his day had in store for him, but wished for things he knew would never be. He wanted to meet someone and have a normal complicated life, but he also didn't want to give the paper up. Knowing what was going to happen before everyone else was a very special gift and he knew this. Yet he couldn't help but imagine what his life would have been had the paper never chosen him almost five years ago.
Christmas was getting closer and that meant Gary would be very busy. Holidays were meant to be happy times spent with family, but for Gary it was merely a thicker newspaper filled with gloomy stories of accidents, lost children in super malls, delays and traffic jams, power outages, and bad weather. If only he had help, Gary thought to himself. He hadn't had a single good sidekick since he got this wonderful 'gift'. Chuck was always trying to use the paper to his own best interests, and Gary hadn't seen or heard from Chuck in over two years. His best friend and partner, Marisa is blind as a bat, but always willing to put in her two cents. Patrick, his absent-minded bartender would never have understood the awesome responsibility that the paper bestowed, thus he was never told of the papers existence. Patrick finally moved to California to become a teacher like he'd always dreamed. And then there was Erica. She and her son Henry moved on a year ago, but Henry was a fairly good sidekick. He was just a little too young to do much good.
Gary often thought of the traveler from New York who paid others to do errands of mercy in the Big Apple. Gary would never use the paper at the tracks in order to pay complete strangers to do his errands, but he often thought of forming a different partnership than the one he held at the bar. But whom would Gary trust with the paper. No one he knew, that was for sure. But could he trust a complete stranger either?
Without answering his own pondering thoughts Gary jerked himself out of bed when he heard the too familiar thud at his door followed by two silent meows. Though he was exhausted from lack of sleep over the past few weeks, Gary didn't moan or complain but simply said 'hi' to the cat as it welcomed itself in to his apartment. He leaned over and took the paper. He didn't feel like breakfast, but poured a hot cup of coffee into a mug and sat down to review the paper in close detail. The front page is usually the dead give away at a bad day, but this day had only politics plastered on it. By the third page Gary found only one errand he wouldn't be able to miss.
CAR HITS STUDENT NEAR EAST BRIDGE
The headline caught Gary's attention, so he read on for the details.
AN EAST BRIDGE STUDENT WAS HIT BY A CAR WHILE CROSSING BUSY BOULEVARD ROAD NEAR THE SCHOOL FRIDAY AFTERNOON. THE 15-YEAR-OLD ANTHONY BEAU NORRIS, WAS SERIOUSLY INJURED AND TRANSPORTED TO ST. PETER'S HOSPITAL.
Gary read on to determine the exact time of the accident, likely around 1:30 pm. That left the entire morning open unless he found something else in the paper. Twenty minutes later Gary closed the paper. Nothing else was mentioned about injury or death, and Gary sat there in amazement. He actually had time to do something in the day. But what?
He decided to take a nice long, hot shower and then see if they needed any help downstairs in the bar. Getting dressed in his normal jean- and-flannel-shirt attire, Gary entered McGinty's to see only three customers at the bar. Looking at the window outside he saw the snow coming down hard and had no doubts that the bar wouldn't get much business today. Marisa was in the office scolding someone on the phone about a shipment that never arrived.
"Need any help?" Gary asked.
Marisa told the person on the line to hold and then responded to Gary's question. "I think I can handle it. Don't you have other important things to get to?"
"Not until this afternoon." Gary replied.
Marisa didn't expect that answer. Gary usually flew out the door, able to say only a few words before disappearing. "I have everything taken care of, except this shipment order." Without another word to Gary, Marisa continued her debate with the person on the phone. Feeling useless and under appreciated, Gary left. He put on his coat and hat, wrapped around his scarf and rolled the paper securely into his back pocket. He wondered the empty streets of Chicago, leaving tracks behind him in the thick, white snow.
The city looked beautiful all covered in white, and the people that wandered about looked miserable and cold. Gary smiled as he watched a mother wrap a second scarf around her child's neck and quickly hustle down the block. Then he saw a young lady crouched by a thick bush at the outskirts of the park. Curious to know what the girl was up to he came up beside her and asked.
"What are you looking at?"
The young lady, not before realizing Gary standing there, jumped in surprise.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you."
"That's okay." The girl went back to her business, ignoring Gary's first question.
To get the answer he was seeking, Gary knelt beside her and looked deep into the bush. He saw two glowing objects he suspected were eyes. Looking closer he noticed it was a young dog. It was frightened by them, but unable to run away.
"Is that your dog?" Gary asked.
"No." The woman answered simply.
Gary wondered why she was so unwilling to divulge any more information than what was asked of her. He watched as she carefully and lovingly got the dog to trust her. When the pup was in her reach she gently grabbed the mutt and wrapped him inside her own jacket. Gary noticed the blood on the pup's paw and it trailed down to the stomach.
"He's injured." Gary said.
"I know. I saw him get hit by a car." She petted the dog behind the ears and kept him warm with her own body heat.
"The nearest vet is two blocks from here." Gary said and started to lead the way.
"I don't have any money to pay a vet." She said simply.
"Don't worry about it. I know the doctor there. She a sucker for those hard-luck cases."
At the vet's office, the girl paced across the room waiting for the doctor to return with news of the young pup. Gary took a second glance at his paper and noticed that nothing had changed. Gary had three hours before a car would strike Anthony Norris near his school. He decided he would take the three hours getting to know the young woman. She was very intriguing, but not very trusting. Her clothes suggested she may be homeless or in poverty. Her hands were dirty and her nails filled with grit. Her shoes were falling apart at the seams and she had patches in her jeans. She wore no make-up, but had a natural beauty like no woman Gary had ever seen.
"Your going to wear yourself out if you keep pacing like that." Gary said.
The girl reluctantly sat down and stared at the door where the doctor disappeared with the pup. Tears were forming in her eyes and Gary suspected she was worried the pup would not survive.
"Don't worry, Dr. Harman is the best veterinarian I've ever met."
"What will happen to him afterward?" She asked silently.
Gary thought for a minute and then replied, "Dr. Harman may know someone who would be willing to take in a new pup."
The girl didn't seem to take much comfort in what Gary said, so he decided to try a new tactic. "I'm sorry, I never caught your name."
"Cheree." She looked up and locked gazes with him, "Cheree Jockman."
Gary reached out his hand to meet hers, "Gary Hobson. Nice to meet you."
Dr. Harman returned with the wounded pup in her arms. His side had stitches and his paw was wrapped carefully with gauze, but he barked happily at the sight of Cheree. "He has a few broken ribs, a sprain in his front paw, and he's a bit malnourished. Other than that he's a perfectly healthy dog."
Gary reached for his wallet, "What do we owe you?"
"Put it away, Gary. You've done me more than one favor in the past year. It's on the house."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. But I do have one concern. Where is the puppy going to live?"
"I'm not sure." Gary looked at the Cheree and the dog licking her face. "But I have a pretty good idea."
Dr. Harman smiled. "Okay, but if she needs any help at all you know where to bring her."
"Thanks, Doc." Gary shook her hand.
An hour later, Gary and Cheree walked out of the pet shop with a new collar and leash, food and water bowl, blanket for the pup's bed, and a very large bag of dog food. "Why are you doing all of this?" Cheree asked.
"For the same reason you wouldn't walk away after the accident. I just want to help."
Gary and Cheree sat down at bench while the pup limped slowly to a nearby tree to do some business.
"You ever wonder what it would be like to do real good in the world? Like pulling a kid out of a burning building. My father was a real hero you know. He was a firefighter." She laughed coldly, "He died last year.from lung cancer."
"What about your mom?" Gary asked. "She abandoned us when I was three." She noticed the worried look in Gary's eyes, "Don't get me wrong, I hated growing up without a mother, but I wouldn't trade my childhood for anyone else's. Who else had twenty guardian angels dressed as firefighters? When my dad died, the guys let me live with them up in the loft of the old fire house."
The pup wined for attention and quickly received it from his new master.
"What will you call him?" Gary asked.
Cheree thought for a minute and then answered with a smile. "Warren." She looked up at Gary's puzzled face, "After my father."
Gary smiled. "It's perfect."
"So, Gary was it? What do you do.for a living?"
"I own a bar down on Birch Street, called McGinty's." Gary answered reluctantly. He hated telling people about the bar, because he doesn't really partake in running anything. Marisa does the books and manages. In fact, Marisa could run the bar alone, and practically has ever since Erica and Patrick left. She even hired the new bartender a few months back, named Dillon. He's been a wonderful addition to the staff in the fact that he doesn't only mix drinks, but can also lift a two hundred man and throw him out of the bar after picking a fight with another customer. Saving McGinty's from a major brawl, Gary insisted that Dillon get a raise.
"I've never heard of it." Cheree replied honestly.
"Well, I'm sure you rarely ever see the inside of a bar." Gary replied without thinking. He had only assumed this young lady wasn't a day over twenty.
"I'm not that innocent." Cheree laughed.
Gary and Cheree formed a unique relationship over the next few weeks, in the sense that they trusted each other, but only with dire matters. They kept the personals to themselves. Gary wanted to tell her about the paper, but wasn't sure how she'd react. Cheree wanted to know more about the mysterious guy hiding behind a bar and a newspaper, but wasn't sure he would ever trust her. One day Gary invited Cheree along to meet Marisa and Dillon at McGinty's.
Marisa and Cheree hit it off pretty well, but it was Dillon that caught Cheree's interests. He was only a few years older than her and resembled a young Pierce Brosnan. Dark wavy hair and deep blue eyes that was sure to make any young woman swoon. Gary wasn't sure how he felt about the attraction between the two, but knew well enough to stay out of it. Instead he dug his nose into the paper and found an article he must have overlooked before. In a quick reaction he stuffed the paper into his back pocket and grabbed his coat. Cheree was the first to notice something was up.
"Gary, where are you going?"
"There's an errand I forgot about, it'll only take me about half an hour." Without another word Gary was out the door.
Cheree turned to Dillon, "He does that a lot, doesn't he?"
"Yes he does." Cheree then grabbed her coat and replied, "I'll be back." With that she hustled out the door to follow Gary on his mission. Marisa didn't have time to react and silently prayed everything would work out for the best.
Gary ran down the wet streets of Chicago knowing exactly where he was going but running out of time. Then he saw a small group of kids hanging out in an alley, setting off fireworks. He quickly called out the name 'Travis' and waited for acknowledgment of the one he was looking for. Travis turned his head and without thinking said, "What?"
Gary ran up to the boy and grabbed his coat by the neck and then reached for the lighter in his hand. He took the lighter and chucked it down the alley. Then he reached for the unlit firework. Once he had control of the firecracker, he released Travis' coat and came up with a quick response.
"You're in big trouble mister. Don't you know setting off fireworks within city limits is a felony punishable with a week of public service? Not to mention what your parents would do if they ever found out."
"Please don't tell my folks! I'll never do it again, man, I promise." Travis pleaded.
"Then get out of here, and take your friends with you." Gary replied.
The four young teens scooted out of the alley and ran down the street as fast as they could. Gary then pulled the paper out to make sure the article had disappeared. The headline TEEN DISMEMBERED BY FIREWORK changed to LOCALS DEBATE RALLY FREEDOM. Another success, Gary thought. Then he turned around to see Cheree at the end of the alley. She looked at him and smiled, then shook her head like a parent walking in on a kid's raid of the kitchen.
"I knew there was something strange about you the day I met you." Cheree said. "I always thought you were obsessed about something the way you kept checking to see what time it was, but then I followed you downtown." She hoped Gary would start explaining, but he seemed to be stunned that she even found out. "You pushed a kid out of the way of traffic before the led- footed parent in a Sedan crashed into him."
She walked closer and could tell he was turning pale at her new found revelation. "It's the paper, isn't it?" Cheree stated. "You've always got your nose buried in that thing and you never go anywhere without it." Gary still didn't respond. "Who else knows? Marisa? Dillon?"
"Marisa." Gary finally said.
"Unbelievable." Cheree replied.
"Now you know, but this isn't something that can get out. You can't tell anyone else about this."
Cheree looked at him in disbelief. "Okay. I won't tell anyone."
They looked at each other, and neither one knew what to say. Finally, Cheree had a question.
"Can I help?"
It was a simple and direct question, but it still caught Gary off guard. He had thought about it before they even met, but he wasn't sure it was a good idea now. She's young and a little naive. He trusts her about keeping the secret, but can he really trust her with a life-threatening situation. He thought about it non-the-less, then considered giving her a test. A minor story that if wasn't changed for the better wouldn't lead to someone's death.
"If I need help you'll be the first one I call." Gary replied.
"Really?" Cheree smiled.
"Now, that's just an IF. I can usually handle everything myself, but-"
"Just in case. I got it."
They started walking back to the bar and it started to snow. Cheree had so many questions wondering in her head, but decided to think about them for a while before asking. One question wouldn't leave her mind and she couldn't resist.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"No, I can't tell you what the winning lottery numbers are." Gary replied.
Cheree smiled, "Is Dillon seeing anyone?"
Gary was again taken back by the question. He assumed the question would be about the paper, but it was about the bartender at McGinty's. "I don't know."
"Do you think you can find out for me? I will never ask anything else from you, I promise."
Gary didn't believe that one for a second, but couldn't deny her request with the face she was giving him. The puppy dog eyes, and the pouty lip, it was all too much for Gary. "Okay, okay, I'll do it. Just don't ever make that face again."
From that day on, Gary felt there was nothing in the paper he couldn't handle because he had help. Over the next few days he tested Cheree with a minor vehicle accident, a teen runaway and a house burglary. If he had to give her a grade, it would've been A+. Even her dog, Warren, was getting in on the action. He helped catch a purse-snatcher and found a missing cat stuck in a tree. Gary still had his doubts about Cheree, but she kept up on her promise. Not only did she never ask about sports scores or lottery numbers, she also never asked Gary for another favor. But she did sucker Marisa into finding out the personals on Dillon. They went out on their first date to see Dillon's favorite band.Metallica.
Want a second chapter? Read about something new? Just leave a good review! Did I just rhyme? Sorry!
Gary lies in his bed staring at the ceiling. He didn't have to look at the alarm clock. He knew it was almost seven o'clock. He knew he would hear the never-ending thud of the paper at his door and the gentle meows of the cat. He wondered what his day had in store for him, but wished for things he knew would never be. He wanted to meet someone and have a normal complicated life, but he also didn't want to give the paper up. Knowing what was going to happen before everyone else was a very special gift and he knew this. Yet he couldn't help but imagine what his life would have been had the paper never chosen him almost five years ago.
Christmas was getting closer and that meant Gary would be very busy. Holidays were meant to be happy times spent with family, but for Gary it was merely a thicker newspaper filled with gloomy stories of accidents, lost children in super malls, delays and traffic jams, power outages, and bad weather. If only he had help, Gary thought to himself. He hadn't had a single good sidekick since he got this wonderful 'gift'. Chuck was always trying to use the paper to his own best interests, and Gary hadn't seen or heard from Chuck in over two years. His best friend and partner, Marisa is blind as a bat, but always willing to put in her two cents. Patrick, his absent-minded bartender would never have understood the awesome responsibility that the paper bestowed, thus he was never told of the papers existence. Patrick finally moved to California to become a teacher like he'd always dreamed. And then there was Erica. She and her son Henry moved on a year ago, but Henry was a fairly good sidekick. He was just a little too young to do much good.
Gary often thought of the traveler from New York who paid others to do errands of mercy in the Big Apple. Gary would never use the paper at the tracks in order to pay complete strangers to do his errands, but he often thought of forming a different partnership than the one he held at the bar. But whom would Gary trust with the paper. No one he knew, that was for sure. But could he trust a complete stranger either?
Without answering his own pondering thoughts Gary jerked himself out of bed when he heard the too familiar thud at his door followed by two silent meows. Though he was exhausted from lack of sleep over the past few weeks, Gary didn't moan or complain but simply said 'hi' to the cat as it welcomed itself in to his apartment. He leaned over and took the paper. He didn't feel like breakfast, but poured a hot cup of coffee into a mug and sat down to review the paper in close detail. The front page is usually the dead give away at a bad day, but this day had only politics plastered on it. By the third page Gary found only one errand he wouldn't be able to miss.
CAR HITS STUDENT NEAR EAST BRIDGE
The headline caught Gary's attention, so he read on for the details.
AN EAST BRIDGE STUDENT WAS HIT BY A CAR WHILE CROSSING BUSY BOULEVARD ROAD NEAR THE SCHOOL FRIDAY AFTERNOON. THE 15-YEAR-OLD ANTHONY BEAU NORRIS, WAS SERIOUSLY INJURED AND TRANSPORTED TO ST. PETER'S HOSPITAL.
Gary read on to determine the exact time of the accident, likely around 1:30 pm. That left the entire morning open unless he found something else in the paper. Twenty minutes later Gary closed the paper. Nothing else was mentioned about injury or death, and Gary sat there in amazement. He actually had time to do something in the day. But what?
He decided to take a nice long, hot shower and then see if they needed any help downstairs in the bar. Getting dressed in his normal jean- and-flannel-shirt attire, Gary entered McGinty's to see only three customers at the bar. Looking at the window outside he saw the snow coming down hard and had no doubts that the bar wouldn't get much business today. Marisa was in the office scolding someone on the phone about a shipment that never arrived.
"Need any help?" Gary asked.
Marisa told the person on the line to hold and then responded to Gary's question. "I think I can handle it. Don't you have other important things to get to?"
"Not until this afternoon." Gary replied.
Marisa didn't expect that answer. Gary usually flew out the door, able to say only a few words before disappearing. "I have everything taken care of, except this shipment order." Without another word to Gary, Marisa continued her debate with the person on the phone. Feeling useless and under appreciated, Gary left. He put on his coat and hat, wrapped around his scarf and rolled the paper securely into his back pocket. He wondered the empty streets of Chicago, leaving tracks behind him in the thick, white snow.
The city looked beautiful all covered in white, and the people that wandered about looked miserable and cold. Gary smiled as he watched a mother wrap a second scarf around her child's neck and quickly hustle down the block. Then he saw a young lady crouched by a thick bush at the outskirts of the park. Curious to know what the girl was up to he came up beside her and asked.
"What are you looking at?"
The young lady, not before realizing Gary standing there, jumped in surprise.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you."
"That's okay." The girl went back to her business, ignoring Gary's first question.
To get the answer he was seeking, Gary knelt beside her and looked deep into the bush. He saw two glowing objects he suspected were eyes. Looking closer he noticed it was a young dog. It was frightened by them, but unable to run away.
"Is that your dog?" Gary asked.
"No." The woman answered simply.
Gary wondered why she was so unwilling to divulge any more information than what was asked of her. He watched as she carefully and lovingly got the dog to trust her. When the pup was in her reach she gently grabbed the mutt and wrapped him inside her own jacket. Gary noticed the blood on the pup's paw and it trailed down to the stomach.
"He's injured." Gary said.
"I know. I saw him get hit by a car." She petted the dog behind the ears and kept him warm with her own body heat.
"The nearest vet is two blocks from here." Gary said and started to lead the way.
"I don't have any money to pay a vet." She said simply.
"Don't worry about it. I know the doctor there. She a sucker for those hard-luck cases."
At the vet's office, the girl paced across the room waiting for the doctor to return with news of the young pup. Gary took a second glance at his paper and noticed that nothing had changed. Gary had three hours before a car would strike Anthony Norris near his school. He decided he would take the three hours getting to know the young woman. She was very intriguing, but not very trusting. Her clothes suggested she may be homeless or in poverty. Her hands were dirty and her nails filled with grit. Her shoes were falling apart at the seams and she had patches in her jeans. She wore no make-up, but had a natural beauty like no woman Gary had ever seen.
"Your going to wear yourself out if you keep pacing like that." Gary said.
The girl reluctantly sat down and stared at the door where the doctor disappeared with the pup. Tears were forming in her eyes and Gary suspected she was worried the pup would not survive.
"Don't worry, Dr. Harman is the best veterinarian I've ever met."
"What will happen to him afterward?" She asked silently.
Gary thought for a minute and then replied, "Dr. Harman may know someone who would be willing to take in a new pup."
The girl didn't seem to take much comfort in what Gary said, so he decided to try a new tactic. "I'm sorry, I never caught your name."
"Cheree." She looked up and locked gazes with him, "Cheree Jockman."
Gary reached out his hand to meet hers, "Gary Hobson. Nice to meet you."
Dr. Harman returned with the wounded pup in her arms. His side had stitches and his paw was wrapped carefully with gauze, but he barked happily at the sight of Cheree. "He has a few broken ribs, a sprain in his front paw, and he's a bit malnourished. Other than that he's a perfectly healthy dog."
Gary reached for his wallet, "What do we owe you?"
"Put it away, Gary. You've done me more than one favor in the past year. It's on the house."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. But I do have one concern. Where is the puppy going to live?"
"I'm not sure." Gary looked at the Cheree and the dog licking her face. "But I have a pretty good idea."
Dr. Harman smiled. "Okay, but if she needs any help at all you know where to bring her."
"Thanks, Doc." Gary shook her hand.
An hour later, Gary and Cheree walked out of the pet shop with a new collar and leash, food and water bowl, blanket for the pup's bed, and a very large bag of dog food. "Why are you doing all of this?" Cheree asked.
"For the same reason you wouldn't walk away after the accident. I just want to help."
Gary and Cheree sat down at bench while the pup limped slowly to a nearby tree to do some business.
"You ever wonder what it would be like to do real good in the world? Like pulling a kid out of a burning building. My father was a real hero you know. He was a firefighter." She laughed coldly, "He died last year.from lung cancer."
"What about your mom?" Gary asked. "She abandoned us when I was three." She noticed the worried look in Gary's eyes, "Don't get me wrong, I hated growing up without a mother, but I wouldn't trade my childhood for anyone else's. Who else had twenty guardian angels dressed as firefighters? When my dad died, the guys let me live with them up in the loft of the old fire house."
The pup wined for attention and quickly received it from his new master.
"What will you call him?" Gary asked.
Cheree thought for a minute and then answered with a smile. "Warren." She looked up at Gary's puzzled face, "After my father."
Gary smiled. "It's perfect."
"So, Gary was it? What do you do.for a living?"
"I own a bar down on Birch Street, called McGinty's." Gary answered reluctantly. He hated telling people about the bar, because he doesn't really partake in running anything. Marisa does the books and manages. In fact, Marisa could run the bar alone, and practically has ever since Erica and Patrick left. She even hired the new bartender a few months back, named Dillon. He's been a wonderful addition to the staff in the fact that he doesn't only mix drinks, but can also lift a two hundred man and throw him out of the bar after picking a fight with another customer. Saving McGinty's from a major brawl, Gary insisted that Dillon get a raise.
"I've never heard of it." Cheree replied honestly.
"Well, I'm sure you rarely ever see the inside of a bar." Gary replied without thinking. He had only assumed this young lady wasn't a day over twenty.
"I'm not that innocent." Cheree laughed.
Gary and Cheree formed a unique relationship over the next few weeks, in the sense that they trusted each other, but only with dire matters. They kept the personals to themselves. Gary wanted to tell her about the paper, but wasn't sure how she'd react. Cheree wanted to know more about the mysterious guy hiding behind a bar and a newspaper, but wasn't sure he would ever trust her. One day Gary invited Cheree along to meet Marisa and Dillon at McGinty's.
Marisa and Cheree hit it off pretty well, but it was Dillon that caught Cheree's interests. He was only a few years older than her and resembled a young Pierce Brosnan. Dark wavy hair and deep blue eyes that was sure to make any young woman swoon. Gary wasn't sure how he felt about the attraction between the two, but knew well enough to stay out of it. Instead he dug his nose into the paper and found an article he must have overlooked before. In a quick reaction he stuffed the paper into his back pocket and grabbed his coat. Cheree was the first to notice something was up.
"Gary, where are you going?"
"There's an errand I forgot about, it'll only take me about half an hour." Without another word Gary was out the door.
Cheree turned to Dillon, "He does that a lot, doesn't he?"
"Yes he does." Cheree then grabbed her coat and replied, "I'll be back." With that she hustled out the door to follow Gary on his mission. Marisa didn't have time to react and silently prayed everything would work out for the best.
Gary ran down the wet streets of Chicago knowing exactly where he was going but running out of time. Then he saw a small group of kids hanging out in an alley, setting off fireworks. He quickly called out the name 'Travis' and waited for acknowledgment of the one he was looking for. Travis turned his head and without thinking said, "What?"
Gary ran up to the boy and grabbed his coat by the neck and then reached for the lighter in his hand. He took the lighter and chucked it down the alley. Then he reached for the unlit firework. Once he had control of the firecracker, he released Travis' coat and came up with a quick response.
"You're in big trouble mister. Don't you know setting off fireworks within city limits is a felony punishable with a week of public service? Not to mention what your parents would do if they ever found out."
"Please don't tell my folks! I'll never do it again, man, I promise." Travis pleaded.
"Then get out of here, and take your friends with you." Gary replied.
The four young teens scooted out of the alley and ran down the street as fast as they could. Gary then pulled the paper out to make sure the article had disappeared. The headline TEEN DISMEMBERED BY FIREWORK changed to LOCALS DEBATE RALLY FREEDOM. Another success, Gary thought. Then he turned around to see Cheree at the end of the alley. She looked at him and smiled, then shook her head like a parent walking in on a kid's raid of the kitchen.
"I knew there was something strange about you the day I met you." Cheree said. "I always thought you were obsessed about something the way you kept checking to see what time it was, but then I followed you downtown." She hoped Gary would start explaining, but he seemed to be stunned that she even found out. "You pushed a kid out of the way of traffic before the led- footed parent in a Sedan crashed into him."
She walked closer and could tell he was turning pale at her new found revelation. "It's the paper, isn't it?" Cheree stated. "You've always got your nose buried in that thing and you never go anywhere without it." Gary still didn't respond. "Who else knows? Marisa? Dillon?"
"Marisa." Gary finally said.
"Unbelievable." Cheree replied.
"Now you know, but this isn't something that can get out. You can't tell anyone else about this."
Cheree looked at him in disbelief. "Okay. I won't tell anyone."
They looked at each other, and neither one knew what to say. Finally, Cheree had a question.
"Can I help?"
It was a simple and direct question, but it still caught Gary off guard. He had thought about it before they even met, but he wasn't sure it was a good idea now. She's young and a little naive. He trusts her about keeping the secret, but can he really trust her with a life-threatening situation. He thought about it non-the-less, then considered giving her a test. A minor story that if wasn't changed for the better wouldn't lead to someone's death.
"If I need help you'll be the first one I call." Gary replied.
"Really?" Cheree smiled.
"Now, that's just an IF. I can usually handle everything myself, but-"
"Just in case. I got it."
They started walking back to the bar and it started to snow. Cheree had so many questions wondering in her head, but decided to think about them for a while before asking. One question wouldn't leave her mind and she couldn't resist.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"No, I can't tell you what the winning lottery numbers are." Gary replied.
Cheree smiled, "Is Dillon seeing anyone?"
Gary was again taken back by the question. He assumed the question would be about the paper, but it was about the bartender at McGinty's. "I don't know."
"Do you think you can find out for me? I will never ask anything else from you, I promise."
Gary didn't believe that one for a second, but couldn't deny her request with the face she was giving him. The puppy dog eyes, and the pouty lip, it was all too much for Gary. "Okay, okay, I'll do it. Just don't ever make that face again."
From that day on, Gary felt there was nothing in the paper he couldn't handle because he had help. Over the next few days he tested Cheree with a minor vehicle accident, a teen runaway and a house burglary. If he had to give her a grade, it would've been A+. Even her dog, Warren, was getting in on the action. He helped catch a purse-snatcher and found a missing cat stuck in a tree. Gary still had his doubts about Cheree, but she kept up on her promise. Not only did she never ask about sports scores or lottery numbers, she also never asked Gary for another favor. But she did sucker Marisa into finding out the personals on Dillon. They went out on their first date to see Dillon's favorite band.Metallica.
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