It Takes One to Raise One
Please review. It keeps me going and your input does indeed help to shape the story. It's tough to find the time to write but I'm trying to keep the momentum going.
Marcus and I retired to the snack bar at the museum so he could continue his examination of my life. I suppose that I could have been bothered by his criticisms but, really, I hadn't had anything resembling parental involvement in my life for a long time. I'd kind of missed it. After making sure that I was OK and not just caught up in lust, he then said something I didn't expect.
Marcus cleared his throat. "Mindy, I'm about to say something that no sane step father would ever tell a sixteen year old girl." I braced myself and then he continued. "I'm absolutely OK with you marrying that boy."
"What?" I managed. Yeah, really sly and sophisticated of me, wasn't it?
"If you want to marry him then go for it." he said.
This time, I didn't even manage anything as creative as 'What'. I just stared at him.
"Honey? You love him. I can see that. And he loves you. I mean, nobody who didn't love you would have put up with you during that head wound." I grimaced at that. He continued. "And he steadies you in a way that I think you need. Normally I'd still tell someone your age to take their time, let things be until you're twenty or so. But your job is very dangerous. Who knows what could happen tomorrow? So grab every bit of happiness that you can while you can. You definitely deserve it."
I gulped a bit and tried to find my voice. "So, you think it's real?"
Marcus nodded. "It's as real as anything in this crazy world we live in now. The real world isn't supposed to have superheroes. And it definitely isn't supposed to need them. But it does and you're one of the best ones out there. I worry about Bethany getting caught up in that craziness but you were right about that too. You are giving her a life much better than what she had and you have every protection in place to make sure that she's taken care of if the worst ever happens. That's as much or more than any other parent does in this world."
OK – did you believe any of that shit? Really? If so, could you call Marcus and tell him or something?
Because unfortunately for me, that isn't what happened. Instead, Marcus said the opposite. He accused me of being obsessed with my first crush, was horrified when I told him that Dave and I had been intimate. Well, he used the word 'intimate'; I said 'fucked' and that almost started a completely different argument. He said there was no way I should consider getting married until I was at least thirty. Pretty much a typical father denying that his girl was growing up. I've danced around in my head whether referring to Marcus that way was insulting to Daddy or not, but, hey, Marcus took care of me for a long time. If I was going to think of myself as a second mom to Bethany, then it must be OK to think of Marcus as a second dad.
Anyway, his concern was kind of cute. In fact, the argument was just starting to get fun when my cell phone rang. I pulled it out and I didn't recognize the number so I just put it away. But before I could get back into the discussion, the thing rang again. Grumbling because it had interrupted a great comeback that I'd thought of, I went ahead and answered it.
"Who are you and what the fuck do you want?" I asked.
After a brief pause, a familiar high pitched voice filled my ear. "I am the Emperor! And I want you to suffer, you little bitch!" Holy Shit! It was Chris. How in the fuck did he have my number?!
I pulled together every bit of bravado that I had. "You're a fucking idiot and I don't think you have the capability to hurt anyone, you dickless mega-cunt!" I shot back. Marcus looked shocked at the language I was using. I covered the phone and whispered"It's the Motherfucker! Chris D'Amico!" Marcus's reaction was to guide me over to a private corner so no one would hear the call and then look around like he was annoyed this wasn't a police station where he could tell someone to trace the call.
"You'd be surprised at what I can do, you stupid little 'cu…" He stopped at that and, I think, pulled the phone away from his mouth, because I could only faintly hear him when he said to someone else "She already used cunt! I need another insult word! After a bit more mumbling, his voice returned clearly to the phone. "You stupid little whore!"
Seriously? He needed help to insult me?
"Whore? Is that the best you can do?" I replied.
"Yes! I mean No! I… Never mind." I could hear him take a deep breath before he continued. "So, umm, how's your vacation?"
I blinked. Where the fuck had that come from? "Umm… Fine?"
He tried for an evil laugh. Failed miserably. "No. No it isn't fine. And you'll find out why very soon. Toodles!" And with that bit of stupidity, he hung up.
I repeated everything to Marcus. "Toodles? What the hell is wrong with that guy?"
"I don't know. Maybe the shark did bite him in the head." I said.
"Pity he didn't bite a bite a bit harder." Marcus laughed.
See! I'm not the only one who thinks the shark did a shitty job that day! Stupid fucking shark…
The problem was that it was kind of difficult to take Chris seriously when he acted like this. But his dad had managed to get mine killed and he'd gotten Dave's killed. And it was very concerning both that he had my number and that he knew where I was. It was time to stop laughing and deal with him.
Marcus and I headed out to the rental car. We were meeting up with Dave, Marty, Miranda, and Bethany at 3:30 PM and it was getting close to that. As we drove, we discussed how Chris might have found out my number and where I was. If someone had squealed, well, we were on our way to meet up with everyone who knew everything Chris knew. There were a few other people out there who had my number, like the guy who did fake ID's for me, but they didn't know who I really was and they didn't know I'd left New York. And the other former members of Justice Forever knew where I was but I'd never given them my number. So that only left my best friends who could have ratted me out. I began to get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, and it wasn't because of the jalapeño nachos I'd shared with Marcus in the café.
Although now that I mention them, I had to admit they were causing some wicked heartburn.
Bethany and Miranda had beaten us to the park we were meeting at and Bethany was going over the playground toys like they were a marine obstacle course. Several of the other kids were just staring at her as she rolled, flipped, and spun. I had to admire how much she'd picked up in just a little bit of training time. I was about to tell Miranda about the call but then decided that I really didn't want to go over the thing twice. Plus, she might do mental if she found out that Chris might know where she was too. It would probably good to have Dave and Marty around when she panicked.
You know, given how much that fucker had done to her, I don't know if 'panicked' would have been a fair word to use.
Anyway, Marcus, Miranda and I just sat on a bench and watched Bethany play while we waited for the guys to show.
And waited.
And waited
And waited.
(I'm guessing you get the point…)
I'd tried calling and texting them to no avail. And Dave had insisted on a fucking Android phone so I couldn't track him the way I could with the Apple stuff. Finally, I broke down and told Miranda about the call. I was rather impressed by her reaction. She didn't get scared. She got pissed.
Really fucking pissed. Not screaming, yelling or kicking stuff. It was the 'I'm surprised laser beams aren't shooting out of her eyes' kind of pissed. It was enough that Marcus (and Bethany when she finally got tired of playing) just stayed away from her. As it got later and it became obvious that something wasn't right, we told Bethany that the guys were running late. I'm pretty sure she didn't believe us.
I was kind of at a loss. I'd grilled Miranda and Marcus to make sure this wasn't part of some additional surprise. Never in my life would I have been so happy to be the target of a practical joke. I tried to come up with a plan, to come up with something to do. But there really wasn't anything to target or strike out at. Dave and Marty hadn't been that specific on where they were going to spend the day so I didn't have any place to even start looking. And I didn't have any informants here in California that would help.
Then Chris's words in the phone came back to me. He said things weren't 'fine.' And that I'd find out why soon.
I tried to wait, praying that Dave and Marty would just come running up with some wacky story on how everything had just gone wrong. Phones fell in the toilet, wallets got stolen, they got lost… It was hope, but it was bullshit hope. Every minute made it more and more clear that the worst thing I could think of had happened. At 5 I finally gave up and I pulled my phone back out. A quick search in my call history and I'd placed a callback to Chris.
"Explain." I just said when the phone picked up. I was still wanting to be cryptic in case he wasn't responsible for Marty and Dave being missing. I didn't want to give him any more information. For the first few minutes I just heard laughter. I finally put it on speaker both so that I wouldn't have to repeat it and so that I wouldn't have to hold that sound so close to my ear.
Chris seemed to recover himself. "Missing somebody?" I began to swear and threaten Chris incoherently but he just let me go on and on until I ran out of shit to say. After a long spell of silence, he spoke again. "If you want him back, you'll surrender yourself to the police. You'll confess that you killed my Dad. Your step-dad cop will be the one who takes you in."
"Why?" I asked, although it was kind of bullshit question.
"Because I've been thinking about how to punish you for a long time, and nothing would make me happier than to send you to prison. Killing you would be too fucking easy. You have 24 hours." He hung up.
I looked at the others. "He's got Marty and Dave. And I've got no idea where. Now what do I do?"
Marcus cleared his throat. "Mindy? He said to turn yourself in if you wanted 'him' back. 'Him'. Singular. That means he's only got one of them."
Now I really felt like I was going to throw up. I thought I was confused before. Fuck! Which one did he have? And what had happened to the other? I mean, I'd do anything to save Dave, but if he only had Marty? What kind of sacrifice was I willing to make then?
What if Dave was dead?
Bethany looked at me with tears in her eyes. "Is Dave OK?" I didn't know how to respond so I just looked away.
Suddenly, my phone rang again. I looked at the caller ID.
It was from Todd. How did he have this number? As the phone rang again my eyes narrowed. Maybe I'd just found my rat.
