Big and Strong

"See anything?" Mandy Peppercorn asked.

"Cars, but not my dad's truck," Liam sighed.

Mandy leaned against the short iron bar fence that surrounded the grassy area of the school. The after-school program ended at 6:15, but there was a fifteen minute grace period given for harried parents and ridiculous traffic. But here it was after 6:30 again and Liam was the last one to be picked up. She always got stuck waiting with him. She didn't mind though, Liam was a sweet kid and his father was pretty easy on the eyes and was always super apologetic when he screeched to a halt, five, ten, fifteen minutes late.

"He'll be here," she assured. Often a sitter came by to pick the kid up, but when he was released to one of them it was well before now. So, her heart fluttered whenever 6:00 came and went and Liam was still there.

"Here he comes," Liam shouted.

"Step back from the curb. You don't want him to run you over," she yelled as Jay pulled up and hopped out as Mandy looked at her phone. "6:38." She said.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I got stuck at every light. I will make it up to you one day I swear." Jay said as Liam heaved his backpack into the truck. "You're the best," he told the twenty-two year old as he went over and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. Her face instantly went pink. She decided it had been well worth all of her effort to stick around.

"See you Monday Liam, Jay," she said waving.

"I think she likes you," Liam said as Jay looked over his shoulder for oncoming traffic.

"No she doesn't. Why would you say that?"

"Because she is always the one that waits with me. And her face turned bright red when you just kissed her."

"I just surprised her. How was your day?"

"Well, she really liked the surprise. My day was okay. Can we ride bikes in the Loop tomorrow?"

"I need to fix your bike first. Remember the chain keeps coming off?"

"Oh yeah."

When the weather was nice it wasn't uncommon for Jay to toss their bikes into the truck and drive to the nearly vacant downtown area to ride around on the weekends. With the offices empty, it was left to residents and tourists and a great place to teach traffic safety and enjoy the scenic urban landscape.

"I ordered a pizza for tonight, we'll pick it up on the way home."

"Did you catch any bad guys today?"

"Tons of them." Jay assured.

Later as they settled down to dinner Liam began to pick the pepperoni off of his pizza. "What are you doing?"

"I don't like pepperoni." Liam replied continuing his efforts of pepperoni removal.

"You did last week."

Liam just shrugged. Jay shook his head. Liam was picky and not a big eater, so if he was going become even choosier, it could become a problem.

As they polished off dinner Liam wandered towards the TV and crashed for the evening as Jay cleaned up and caught up on some bills. He looked over at his son, who was lost to the flickering screen that contained yellow minions and cartoon bad guys, who really weren't very bad or despicable.

The boy truly was a blend of both his parents. He shared their blue eyes, though Jay could no longer recall the exact color of Bridget's. Her hair was a flowing, thick strawberry blond and Liam's was simply blond, darker in the winter, lighter in the summer, but always held reddish highlights that shone proudly in the sun. Several neighborhood women had tried to have their hair dressers emulate it, one even taking a lock of Liam's hair to the salon, but none of them had quite nailed the elusive color.

He, of course had fair skin and a smattering of freckles that may or may not stay. He was calm and composed like his mother but also was sympathetic and tough like his father. He was small in stature but big in personality. He was a fantastic baseball player and loved to pitch. He also played the drums, something that was nearly impossible in close urban living, but a music store down the street where he took lessons allowed him to come in and play in their soundproof room when it was available. He was also being recruited for the Celtic Society of Chicago to play in parades. He was unplanned, unexpected and kept his father on his toes, but Jay did his best to keep up and raise the child he had been gifted.

"I see you Halstead," Dylan Baker yelled out.

"Dammit," Liam whispered as he tried to extricate himself from the bush without stepping on the flowers at his feet. But before he could get far Dylan had burst through the gate and grabbed him, tugging him forward where he fell onto the flower bed, flattening several of the bright petaled beauties.

"Look what you did," Dylan accused.

"You pulled me," Liam volleyed.

Dylan looked up at the window, stretching his neck to do so. "She didn't see. Come on guys," he said to Liam, Joey and Colin who were all standing in the tiny front yard.

"You sure Mrs. Harris didn't see?" Liam asked.

"Pretty sure. Even if she did, she probably won't say anything," Dylan said.

"You shouldn't have pulled on him," Joey accused. "We aren't supposed to be in there."

"It'll be fine. Not a big deal anyway," Dylan said as they headed down the street. "It's not like you broke her window or anything."

"I know, but she's really old and it takes her forever to plant them and take care of them. She's out there like every day." Liam said with concern.

They stopped by Joey's house so he could check in, and when he was detained for lunch, Liam decided to go check on the status of his bike with hopes that maybe a bike ride could still be a possibility. But when he got closer to his house he saw old Mrs. McGill talking to his dad who was working on the bike in front of their apartment. Apparently finished, she had turned and began walking his way back towards her house which was across from Mrs. Harris.

He had paused long enough to grab his father's attention who called out to him. He first acted like he hadn't heard and began to head back from where he had come when his father went an octave lower to the sir sound as he called it. "Liam James! I know you heard me. Come here please."

He shook his head as he plodded towards his father knowing that she had just reported his misdeed with the trespassing and flower squashing. She saw everything that happened on the street and knew about nearly everything in the entire neighborhood. And she had just busted him out.

"Anything you want to tell me?" Jay asked, wiping the grease from his hands onto a rag. Liam shook his head no. "No huh? You sure?"

"It was an accident Dad. I swear."

"What was an accident?"

"I was hiding from the guys and Dylan pulled on me and I fell on the flowers. It wasn't my fault."

"It wasn't your fault that you were in Mrs. Harris' yard? A place where you were told not to be. A yard that is not yours and you weren't invited to?" Liam licked his lips, preparing an argument that didn't exist, so he remained quiet. Jay put the rag in his back pocket and stepped over to his son. "Let's go."

"Go where?"

"To apologize to Mrs. Harris about what you did to her flowers."

"But—" Liam began.

"But what?" Jay asked, stopping to glare at his son. "She doesn't know you did it?"

"Yeah," Liam whispered.

Jay shook his head and grabbed his son's arm. "Let's go."

"But." Liam repeated.

Jay stopped and looked at his son. "But nothing. Move it!"

After knocking and waiting, a pleasant older woman, with a mop of gray hair and kind smile opened the door. "Detective Halstead, Liam so good to see you. Come in, please. I have some lemonade."

"No thank you," Jay replied. "Liam has something he needs to tell you."

"Oh, you do? What is it dear?" She asked gently.

"Um. Um." He stuttered. "I accidentally stepped on some of your flowers. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to. I tripped."

"Oh my. Are you okay?"

"He's fine," Jay interjected. "He knows that he isn't supposed to be in your yard. I've told him more than once."

"The kids like to hide behind the bush and scare their friends." She moved towards the door and looked outside at the damage. "The poor things got a bit crushed. But I'm glad that you are okay." She said looking over at Liam.

"Thank you." He said quietly.

"I think that it's only fair that he comes back when it starts to get cold and helps you cut them back and clean up." Jay offered as Liam gaped at him.

"Oh, that would be so nice. It is getting so hard for me with my hips and knees to get down and take care of it all. But I do love the colors all summer long."

"Then it's a deal. I'll send him down when the cold moves in."

"Thank you so much," she beamed. "Sure you don't want some lemonade?"

"No thank you. We have to head home."

As they returned home Liam looked at his father, eyes full of fury. "I apologized, just like you said. You didn't mention anything about working."

"You did wrong, now you'll work off your misdeed."

"It was an accident. I told you Dylan pulled on me."

Jay stopped in his tracks and looked down at his son. "Are you or are you not allowed to be in her yard?"

"Not allowed," Liam admitted.

"Were you told not to be in her yard?" He asked sternly.

"Yes."

"Yes sir." Jay replied using his sir sound as Liam called it. It was the tone he used when he was lecturing or disciplining his son and Liam knew extra respect was called for. Usually Liam picked up on it, but when he didn't Jay reminded him.

"Yes sir," Liam parroted.

"Then you deserve what you got, because you knew you shouldn't have been there in the first place, Dylan or not. In fact, I don't think you should hang around with him. It seems like every time you are together problems arise."

"But he didn't get in trouble."

"Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. You are my responsibility. I'm sure Mrs. McGill told on him too, what his parents decide to do is up to them. What is it I try and teach you?" Jay asked as they arrived back at the apartment.

"The three R's. Respect, responsibility and doing what is right."

"Exactly. Now go to your room while I finish fixing your bike."

"Can we go on a ride if you get it fixed?" Liam asked with hope in his voice.

"Not today kiddo. You don't get in trouble and then get to go on a bike ride. Room. Now."

Liam hung his head but did as he was told. He sat on his bed and looked at the posters on his wall. Most were of athletes from local teams. But there was an Army Ranger poster too and he threw his foam stress ball at it as he sighed. It was true that Dylan and trouble often went hand in hand, but what his dad didn't know was that a couple of weeks before, Dylan had saved him from a bigger kid. Dylan was already eleven, he had repeated second grade and had gone through a growth spurt so this other kid, who was a sixth grader wasn't even a challenge for him.

The bully had shoved Liam into the bank of lockers. Liam despite his small size, was never one to back down, but his efforts were futile and when Dylan saw what was going on, he shoved the sixth grader across the hall and told him if he ever picked on Liam again, he would kill him. How could he abandon Dylan after that?

After a couple of hours in his room his father called him to the table for dinner. Jay was no chef, but he did try to cook when he could, even if his efforts were just the very basics of hamburgers, spaghetti and a baked chicken once in a while. Tonight, was hamburgers, macaroni and cheese with green beans. Per usual Liam picked at his food. He stabbed at and ate all of his green beans, but was making a big production of eating everything else.

"Can I be done?" He asked after taking only two bites of his hamburger and three spoonfuls of macaroni.

"I worked hard on this culinary masterpiece. Besides how are you going to grow up big and strong if you don't eat?"

"I'm not going to. Mom wasn't very big and you're not big and strong."

Jay's eyes grew wide. "I'm not big and strong?" He asked wiping his mouth with his napkin and setting it down on the table.

"Well, not like Kevin. He's taller and bigger. He can carry me with one arm."

"You mean like this," Jay said getting up and coming around the table picking up his son with one arm and shaking him up and down, eliciting giggles from the boy. "Still think I'm not strong?"

"You're strong, you're strong," the boy admitted as Jay set him down.

"Now, eat some more and maybe there will be a cookie in it for you."

"Can we get frozen yogurt at Menchie's?" He asked of a favorite local shop.

"That'll take a lot of eating." Jay said. "I don't know if you can do it."

Liam began to scoop food into his mouth at a record pace.

Soundtrack:

Authority Song by John Mellencamp (when Liam gets into trouble)