“I’ll take—”
She interrupted with a disapproving shake of her head. “Not funny, Hannah.”
“I thought it was,” the girl muttered under her breath.
“I knew turning myself in would mean I got jumped, but I really thought they’d just off me.”
“Isn’t that a bit overly-dramatic?”
Leo stared at the boy who spoke. His perfect row of glistening teeth, his designer jeans, shirt, and shoes—it all screamed one thing. Money. This kid was accustomed to making others feel foolish simply because he looked superior in their minds. Leo considered the best response. With eyes closed, dreading the look on Allison’s face, he began unbuttoning his shirt. A detached part of him snickered at the incongruity of it after their mockery of similar actions in the movies.
A few catcalls, a whistle, and several shaking heads accompanied his swift movements. When the last button was undone, Leo let the shirt slip from his shoulders, his hand catching it before it hit the floor. “I don’t know,” he asked with a calmness he hadn’t expected to feel, “you tell me. Am I…”
A maze of scars covered him from the collarbone to his waist—and beyond. Burns, knife wounds, and who knew what else crisscrossed the tattoos that once decorated a well-muscled chest. After one brutal beating he’d become just a scrawny guy with a truly hideous topography. From the corner of his eye, he saw Allison raise her hand to cover her mouth as she gasped. So much for not revolting someone he’d begun to think of as a friend. Then again, perhaps she’d see why that friendship was dangerous.
The atmosphere of the room grew eerie as he began to turn, finishing his question, “…being overly dramatic?” Allison whimpered. He glanced her way, and at the sight of tears pouring down her face, Leo decided they’d seen enough. Pulling his shirt back on, he buttoned it as he turned back to face the classroom. “I have plates in my left leg, in my wrist, and screws holding half of me together. They left me for dead.”
“Why didn’t they just shoot you?”
Leo turned compassionate eyes to the geeky-looking girl in the front row. Her huge glasses rested atop an overly large nose on an acne-crusted face. Greasy hair—that she’d probably washed only that morning, but he suspected her classmates assumed she never washed—hung limply to her shoulders. As visibly shaken as the girl was, it seemed cruel to answer the question. A glance at Allison’s stricken face earned him a nod to continue.
“They did. Left leg and chest. It punctured a lung but barely missed my heart. If a homeless guy hadn’t freaked when he found me, I’d be dead today.”
A wave of nervous laughter rolled over the room as Leo passed Allison the box of Kleenex from her desk. One kid, one of the Allen boys, mercifully changed the subject. “You said you became a Christian. Do I understand correctly that this was before you turned yourself in?”
“That’s right.”
Caleb Allen nodded. “How did a member of a gang like the Kasimirs ever hear the gospel?”
“I knocked down a little old lady.”
Again, laughter filled the room, and once more, Leo didn’t laugh, but a smile crept around the corners of his mouth. “Seriously, I did. I got a call while eating in a diner one afternoon. One of the dealers thought maybe we had an undercover cop planted in the group—said he thought he knew who it was. When he wouldn’t tell me who, I knew that he was the cop. So I booked it out of there and ran down a granny coming into the place.”
“And that’s it? Epiphany?”
Leo shook his head at Miss Nerd. “No. I couldn’t get the woman’s crumpled body out of my mind, so I went to see her at the hospital. Brought her a nice bunch of flowers from the gift shop. I thought that’d kill any feelings of guilt and went in. I hoped she’d be doped up. She wasn’t.”
“And…” Allison’s voice still held a slight tremor.
“She asked me to go home and get her knitting and the book on the table beside her recliner. Handed me her keys.” Leo pointed to the tattoos on his arms and neck, the holes in his ears, and then showed where he’d been sporting spikes at that time. “I had three studs in my lip, a hook in my nose, and a barbell in my tongue.” He flushed with embarrassment. “Let’s just say I had no idea how ridiculous I sounded when talking with that thing.”
“Is that scar on your nose from the fish hook?”
He nodded. “They ripped that out first thing when they came after me.”
Caleb wanted the topic returned to his story. “So, this lady gave you her keys to her house?”
“Yep. On the way out the door, she asked me for her Bible as well.”
“Were you tempted to rob her?”
Leo shook his head slowly. “I don’t even think it occurred to me. We weren’t thieves—not in our minds. We earned the money we got. You get caught stealing, and you’re gonna get jumped.”
“Like you?” The linebacker was back.
“No. I was ‘offed.’ I just am hardier than I look.”
“So…” The quiet girl spoke up again.
“So I did it. Seemed like the least I could do after breaking her hip.”
“You broke her hip!” The exclamation filled the room and almost in complete collective unison.
“Not intentionally, but yeah. She got me to come back again, and again. I couldn’t figure out why she wanted me there. I mean, come on. Cool biker dude vs. Aunt Bea from Andy Griffith—twenty years older.”
“So she led you to the Lord.”
“Preacher’s son knows the lingo,” the kid with money, mocked.
“No, I didn’t meet Jesus at Mrs. Fenway’s knee. Her grandson came in. Big burly guy with tattoos and gauges. Ran a charity for abused kids. I don’t think I’d have listened to Mrs. Fenway, but Pete…”
“He still had his gauges?” Miss Geek seemed surprised. “He was religious with gauges?”
“Yep.”
Caleb was back in force. “So why did you take yours out?”
“He got them because he liked them. Thought they looked cool. He works with some tough kids and stuff, so it works for him. I just got them because it looked good with my persona—my life. I liked looking tough and cool. It was a rebellion thing for me.” Leo stared at Landon for a moment and then continued. “It didn’t seem to make sense to keep signs of rebellion that I no longer felt.”
“But now you have stupid huge holes in your ears.”
“Yeah. You don’t think of that when you do it. You think about how big you can go, how fast, what kind of statement you’ll make, but you don’t wonder if you’ll still want half-dollars in your ears at age fifty.”
“You could have worn them until you didn’t want them anymore…” Landon seemed determined to play devil’s advocate.
“I did. And, by taking them out when I did, I’ve shrunk back to quarter sized. I don’t think it’ll shrink much more. Maybe to a nickel. I’ll always have large holes to remind me of the stupid things I did before I knew Jesus.”
“How religious are you?” Miss Quiet seemed to have found her voice.
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Well, I’ve heard a lot of people talk about how you played the religion card to get a lighter sentence. I just wondered—”
“How about I help with this,” Allison interjected. “Mary, you’re Catholic, correct?”
“With a name like Mary in today’s society, you have to ask that question?”
So, Miss Quiet is actually Miss Mary and not so quiet after all, Leo mused. Aloud he said, “Nice to meet you, Mary.”
Allison moved to Leo’s side and addressed the class. “Ok, who in here claims to be a Christian?”
Hands shot up all over the room. More than fifty percent of the class claimed some sort of relationship with Jesus. “Ok, so who in here has ever read the Bible voluntarily. Not all of it—just any.”
Half the hands dropped. “Ok, now who in here has read all of it?”
Only Caleb’s hand remained. Landon snorted. “It would be the p
reacher’s kid. Probably has to read ten verses a day or he doesn’t get dinner.”
“That’s not—”
“We’re not discussing Caleb’s relationship with the Lord,” Allison snapped. Leo laid a hand on her arm to calm her, surprised at her outburst. Allison didn’t “burst out.”
“How about prayer. Who in here prays?”
“Every time I step in through that door,” the linebacker joked.
Leo didn’t know where she planned to take the round of questioning, but it began to make him nervous. Oblivious to the panic building in the man beside her, Allison continued. “Ok, and who in here has really suffered for their faith?”
No hands rose. After several seconds that dragged like minutes, Allison turned her head to Caleb. “I thought your father said—”
“Yeah. Yesterday I’d have raised my hand. Not today. Not today.”
“I—” Leo began, but Allison cut him off before he could protest.
“Ok, Leo. How many chapters of the Bible do you read every day?”
“Five.”
“And have you always read that many or did you work up to it?”
His face reddened. “Actually, I cut back. I misunderstood Adric’s recommendation of fifteen minutes a day to be fifteen chapters.”
The class laughed, Allison smirking along with them. “Ok, and is that why you cut back to five?”
Miserable, Leo shook his head. “No.”
“Then why?”
“I—”
As if she realized how uncomfortable her questions made him, Allison interrupted once more. “Ok, I’m just going to tell you guys. Leo read fifteen chapters a day until he heard about a guy who gave up his TV to pray for two hours a night. He asked Adric about maybe cutting back a little of his reading and trying to learn to pray more. That’s when he found out that he’d misunderstood Adric. He goes to church every Sunday despite the fact that no one welcomes him. He works hard every day, jogs every night, and spends his free time in the Bible or praying. He does it not because he has to but because he wants to.”
“You gave up TV? What about computer?”
“Where would I get the money to buy either of those? I’m barely eking by as it is. I’ve been tempted to find a used set somewhere, but then I’d have to pay for cable to make it worth watching. I can’t do that.” He took a deep breath. “Look, I started reading the Bible at all because I figured I should. I mean, it’s what Christians do, right? Well, I didn’t like it, but I did it. I actually like it now, but to be honest, that’s partly because it’s not a burden anymore. Five chapters is easy when you’ve been doing triple that.”
“What does your parole officer say about your Bible reading?”
Leo stared at Landon as if he were insane. “Um, why would he know, much less care, about that?”
“Obviously it’s part of your plan to get you off—”
“Look, if you want to think that I risked my life to become a Christian so I’d get off on a charge that I’d never have had if I didn’t turn myself in in the first place, go for it. I don’t see the logic there, but hey. Maybe you haven’t taken that class yet.” His eyes roamed the classroom. “I didn’t mention why I turned myself in when I did. Religion never came up in the depositions and is not mentioned in my plea bargain. The only reason anyone knows about it is if I happen to tell them. The news got wind of it. That’s what happens sometimes, but they didn’t get it from me.” He took a deep breath and added one more thing. “If you have questions about the dangers of gang life, I’m happy to answer them, but we’re done picking apart my faith. You either accept it or you don’t. I really don’t care.”
Chapter Nine
A knock interrupted his dinner—such as it was. He took the last bite of canned stew and wiped his mouth before unlocking the door. Habit.
“Chief Varney?” Uncertainty wrenched his gut. Leo blinked and then stepped back. “Sorry. Come in.”
“Heard about your Q&A today. Allison says you did great. She also begged me to convince you to stop. Wanna tell me about that, son?”
“I used visual aids to show what happens when you cross a gang. I didn’t think it would upset her that much.” He frowned. “I didn’t think she could ruffle as easily as she did. She always seems almost—too calm.”
“Placid. Darla says that it helps her keep order in classrooms. The kids know they can’t get her riled so they don’t bother trying.”
“Well, she was riled today. I thought she’d bite a kid’s head off.”
Frowning, the chief shrugged. “I don’t understand that, but then I don’t know her as well as a lot of people—just what I’ve seen with Adric and around town sometimes.” He pointed to the couch. “Mind if I sit a spell? I took a beat today and now I’m,” he chuckled, “beat.”
Leo nodded and took the opposite side. “So did she say why?”
“Nope. Thought you’d tell me about it.”
“Can’t help you there. I know my scars really shook her up, and the kids were skeptical of my conversion. That seemed to set her off.”
After a moment of thoughtful silence, the chief asked, “What about the rest of the talk? Did the kids get the dangers of gangs?”
“Well, I think I killed the glamour of it. When they found out that for most members it’s more like being an army recruit rather than a schoolyard bully, it didn’t look so cool anymore. I got more than one, ‘Why would you do that?’”
Chief Varney glanced around Leo’s room. “Bet a year ago you didn’t expect to be living in a little town like this.”
“Nope. I had the crazy idea that doing the right thing would open doors for me. I’d get a good job and go back to having decent money…” Leo sighed. “Not hardly.”
“Regret it?”
Leo studied his hands for a moment and then sighed. “I hate questions like that. It’s not your fault,” he hastened to add, “but like the kids at that school today, people are suspicious if I don’t sound miserable. I’m not sorry I did it. I can look myself in the mirror and as much as I hate what I see, I can know that if I see a cop, I have nothing to hide. If an ambulance drives by with a kid strung out on drugs, well, it wasn’t my fault. If a girlfriend gets battered, it wasn’t because she was flirting with me. It’s boring. I am not used to the solitude, and I hate that part, but I don’t regret knowing I’m not at odds with society.”
“Stressful, ain’t it?”
“I never knew it was until the stress was gone. I thought I was an adrenaline junkie. The first time I walked past a cop car and realized that I hadn’t put on an act was huge.”
The large man wrestled out of the couch and offered his hand to Leo. “I’m glad you’re here, son. I know it ain’t easy, but I hope you decide to stay.”
“She apparently wants the Q&A sessions stopped.”
“After the first one?” Adric frowned. “I thought you said it went well.”
“I thought it did, but she obviously didn’t think so.” Leo wiped his forehead with his arm and then reached for the air compressor nozzle. “I guess that’s why she was so flustered.”
“Allison? Flustered? That doesn’t sound like her.”
“Flustered isn’t the right word. It just really shook her up. My scars bothered her a lot more than I expected them to, and then when she snapped at that kid—”
“No way. Allison would never snap at a student.”
“She did.” Leo leaned his forearms against the side of the car and frowned. “I really thought it was a good thing. Those kids seemed like they got it by the time I left, but she went straight to the chief, so I don’t know.”
“I’ll talk to her.”
Leo nodded and went back to adding air to the tire and then called out, “Hey Adric.”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t talk to her. I need to do it.”
All afternoon, Leo prayed about his conversation with Allison. For the first time since he’d made a concentrated effort to spend quantity time in pra
yer, he had no trouble with Allison intruding in his thoughts. This time, she was welcome—more than welcome. The incongruity between his thoughts of an attractive woman two years ago versus the prayer for one now seemed almost a cruel joke.
The moment the other men left the shop, Leo forced himself into the office and found her number. The office phone felt strange in his hands—large. He’d gotten used to the little cell phones of his former days. Now he had only the phone at work if he wanted to make a call. “It’s like I stepped into someone else’s life—weird.”
Allison picked up on the first ring. “Adric? Is everything ok?”
“It’s Leo, Allison. I’m at work. I just wondered if you might be available to talk this weekend.”
“My father is grilling tonight. Let me take you home. He grills the best fish.”
An unpleasant twisting in his stomach made him hesitate. Should he go? “Look, I really need to be able to talk privately. Maybe tomorrow?”
“I’m coming to get you. We’ll talk in my rooms. Mom and Dad will probably work on the yard after dinner anyway.”
Leo stared at the phone. Gone. Great.
The Wahls wore genuine smiles as Allison introduced him—genuinely nervous smiles. Eva stared at the holes in his ears and avoided the spider web on his neck so obviously that it would have been less awkward had she stared at it and made rude comments. Rod, on the other hand, took one look at his daughter, saw something on her face, and relaxed.
“We’re truly happy to meet you, Leo. Allison thinks highly of you.”
If anything could have made him feel better and worse at the same time, those words would do it. “I think Allison has a natural predisposition to think highly of anyone who can get her car going again.” There, that was honest without sounding too personal—he hoped.
“Can,” Eva coughed. “Excuse me. Can I get you something to drink? We have colas and lemon-lime, iced tea, or Allison could pour you a glass of wine.” There went the cough again. “I’m afraid we don’t have any beer…”
“Coke or whatever is fine. Water is good. I’m not particular. Thanks.” He sounded just as stilted as he felt.
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