Harry Kidman

by Stanimir Mirov

“Uhm, dunno, remember the last time when you "had no one to tell"?”

  “Well, you were very young back then.”

  The entire breakfast was like this. The happy grandmother sent them away. In the late afternoon, the BMW station wagon parked in front of the garage of their house and Harry jumped in motion to take a shower. His father looked at him with a smile, “Ah, love. We were like that, remember? We couldn’t wait to see each other.”

  “We are still like that, honey. When you are away all day at work, I can’t wait to see you...”

  Both started passionately and obscenely kissing in front of the door until they heard a throat clearing. Harry stood before them and hastily pulled his bag with bathroom accessories.

  “Please, wait for me to get out. At least fix your luggage during this time. And I will take the Maserati,” the young man rushed inside again.

  Chapter VII

  Need for Speed?

  Not half an hour passed before the teenager went into the car and drove off with the screeching tires. There was nothing to stop him this time. He was sure that nothing could happen. Or at least so he thought. On another red traffic light, a sport Porsche with four guys inside stopped next to him. Kidman ignored them at first, but he seemed to see a familiar figurehead in his periphery. Harry looked to the left and what did he see? Smiling from the other car, The Hammer waved, feeling that he would receive retribution for everything that happened.

  “Well, you're crazy!” the student looked amazed.

  The rapper was about to open the door so he could catch Harry, but the Maserati drove away during the red light. Fortunately, the traffic was low, and there was no collision. The Porsche, however, drove after him. As he reached an incredible speed, Kidman dialed his friend, “Hello, Mike, The Hammer is chasing me with three other thugs in a black Porsche!”

  “Naaah!” he heard a hoarse unbelieving voice from the other side, “I just thought that nothing would happen this time!”

  “Me too, fuck! What should I do? If I go to the pizzeria, they will come too. If I don’t go, Shelley will take it the wrong way. If I call her, she will think that I’m lying to her for sure. Give me advice,” Harry begged as he drove over 160 kph in the city.

  “I will tell the others to come to the pizzeria, get them there. Just slow them for at least ten more minutes so we have time to gather around.”

  “You are golden. Do it and wait for me outside.”

  Dirty threw the phone on the passenger seat, put his seat belt on, turned on the music as he liked the song - “Don Omar Ft. Lucenzo - Danza Kuduro” and turned towards the Porsche. He lowered his window, showed them the middle finger, raised his window back and jumped on the gas pedal. The speedometer rose sharply from 160 to 260, 280 and stuck at 300. The Porsche drove with similar speed, even got to 320 to catch up with him, since the driver had been afraid in the beginning. The wide straight road, however, was about to end, because there was a crowd of crossing people at the end of it. Pedestrians heard the approaching cars going terribly fast and panic seized them for a moment. Both beasts hit the brakes and stopped literally inches from the people, who thought they were going to die. Harry pulled his head vigorously through the window.

  “I apologize, but I’m in a chase. Can I just pass through before they get out of the car and split my head like a bucket?”

  “I’ll come to you and split your bucket, you piece of shit!” shouted someone angry from the crowd.”

  Kidman felt the things might go sideways, put in reverse, straightened the car and drove into the oncoming lane. The Porsche was persistent.

  “What are you doing, Harry?” the teenager thought aloud. “This is not what you need right now, to be arrested for nonsense.”

  He pulled the handbrake, the car turned back in the correct direction of movement and stopped on the spot. The Hammer and company also stopped 20-30 meters against him. Under the hood, the Maserati had 800 horse powers, and when Kidman pushed the pedal, the car brutally growled, even people in the traffic lights area started watching again. The car passed in semi-automatic mode and switched into first gear. The arrow stuck in the red zone of the cyclometer and the car gave an even more vicious sound. It sharply entered 2nd, 3rd gear and slipped into the side street. The Porsche went after him again. After a while, the car stopped at Joe’s pizzeria with a terrible sound. Mike, James, several of their friends stood in front and they looked bad. Harry jumped out of the car and joined the group, giving everybody a high five.

  “You showed up fast. There was nowhere to lead them over, I couldn’t risk it anymore because the cops would have come.”

  “Well, we won’t leave you.”

  The Porsche stopped, and the four guys got out. Even from a distance, it could be seen that they were thugs. One had tattoos all over his face, and the other was with lowered jeans. They walked like they were Pablo Escobar, but were definitely very low in the dealer chain.

  “Yo, scum, did you think that your buddies would save you?” one pulled a butterfly knife from his pocket and began to spin it, and the other released an iron pipe from his sleeve.

  The Hammer put two boxing irons on his hands.

  At this point, Joe got out of the pizzeria with a sawed-off shotgun in his hands and shouted, “Next time, don’t come to a gunfight with knives. You scum. Get in the fucking car, I don’t want to see you ever again. Did I fight in Vietnam for junkies like you? Fucking addicts.”

  The dealers tucked their tails, climbed into the car and drove into the darkness.

  “Joe, does this thing even shoot?” Harry grinned.

  “How could I know, you have to load it first and see,” the senior man smiled too.

  The whole band burst into laughter and went inside the pizzeria. There was empty, except Shelley, peering out the window the whole time. All seated around one of the tables.

  “Are you all right, Harry?” the concerned girl asked him.

  “I’m fine. Don’t think about it too much. However, this thug will create problems. I have to fix it before something happens.”

  “The decision is clear,” Joe started. “From what I saw, I’m sure they are some seedy dealers. Either hire a detective or watch them yourself, if you can’t afford one. You just have to find out if he keeps his drugs in his house or elsewhere, and where and how he is selling. Then an anonymous call and he is gone for a few years.”

  Kidman shook his head as a sign of consent.

  “You old cunning Joe. We’ll have to organize after school. A detective would cost thousands of dollars, which we don’t have. Who’s with me?”

  “I’m with you, Harry!” Mike was the first to answer.

  “Count me in,” James confirmed.

  “We are in too,” called the brothers George and Richard.

  “We’ll clarify the action plan tomorrow at lunch. Now, I don’t want to risk it, you two and James go in Mike’s car. Joe and Shelley will travel together, and I will go with the Maserati first, to check if they aren’t waiting somewhere.”

  They all went out one by one. Joe went back to stop the lights, and the young man was alone with his neighbor for a while.

  “Since I moved next to you a decade ago, Harry, you have always messed something up. Hopefully, this time, nothing will bite you from behind because of your madness.”

  He smiled, “And you always saved my ass. This time won’t be different.”

  “I guess you won’t tell me whatever you wanted to speak with me about today?”

  Joe appeared, “Let’s go!” the old man vigorously headed for the door with the shotgun in his hand.

  “I’ll tell you when the time comes. Just be patient,” Kidman said. “Tomorrow morning, you’ll take your grandfather’s car for school, right?”

  “Sure.”

  Dirty climbed into his father’s sports car and with screeching tires drove towards home. He usually plays some music in the car, but tonight he was in race mood, and he liked the roar of the car. He was forcing it from
stoplight to stoplight and was looking at the people around with feeling. It seemed that the attackers were gone.

  Chapter VIII

  The Spy

  The next morning, Kidman was waiting at the door of his neighbor. Leaning on the beam, he lit a cigarette Parliament "Lights" with his left hand and with his right, he was looking at his Facebook profile on the phone. Last week was so violent that he had forgotten all about social media. On the school page, dangerous things were circulating. A video of Harry running from Pat and Nat’s father, a clip with his"star"jump into the pool and other minor videos. The bad thing was that under one of those, there was a line saying, “To be continued.” Dirty nervously watched this message and wondered what else he had done, “Ah, fuck it. I’ll find out when the time comes,” he waved with hand. Shelley finally got out with her face half asleep and interrupted his thoughts.

  “I love your shaggy phiz early in the morning,” the young man smiled.

  “Shut up, Harry. Or I will show your phiz in other situations,” threatened the girl.

  “I know, I know, you are not a morning person.”

  “And how can you smoke so early?”

  “It’s Parliament "Lights", baby. Him I can smoke at any time of the day.”

  “Well, you can forget about smoking in the car...”

  They went into the station wagon and drove towards school. Kidman turned on the radio to lift the mood a bit. At one station,"Poison - Nothin 'but a goodtime"was playing and Harry boosted up. He started to sing with a gentle voice and began to move his head from right to left and back, in waves, waving with both hands and pointing with his index finger. They stopped at a traffic light, and more cars with youths hurrying for school stopped around them. This didn’t prevent Kidman from continuing to sing. He turned towards the car on the right, full with girls, winked at them and continued to sing, "... I need a chance just to get away. If you could hear me think, this is what I'd say: Don’t need nothin 'but a good time..."

  Shelley finally smiled and hit the gas pedal sharply to grip the enthusiastic Kidman to his seat. The surrounding people, some going to work, others to school, were all laughing at the young man.

  Ten minutes later, the car parked in the school parking lot. The girl turned to the teenager in all seriousness and said, “Harry, I know you love drama, but if you do not want to walk to school in the future, you will answer me now!” she spoke a little bit angrily.

  Kidman was guessing where things were going.

  “Ask me whatever you like. I will tell you anyth...”

  “Did you have sex with Tess?”

  The young man squinted, having expected another question.

  “I haven’t, Shell. And I won’t. Why do you ask?”

  “I want to know why her boyfriend is so interested in you,” the girl masked the situation and a happy smile appeared on her face. She lightly nudged him in the ribs and added, “Come on, we will be late. We have a class with your favorite history teacher.”

  The young man tilted his head down and nervously rubbed his eyes.

  “Shit, I forgot to write the coursework for Napoleon. My history evaluation must be excellent and I fucked!”

  His friend handed him a big folder.

  “I hope you will tell me soon why you need such an evaluation?”

  “I will kiss you all over,” the friendly teenager hugged her and took his coursework. “Again you save my ass. What would I do without you?”

  “Better not to go there.”

  “Yep.”

  Both of them got out of the car, Kidman walked in the parking lot with his usualgangsta gait, said"Hello" here and there, and entered the school. He walked to his locker to put his things and take what he needed when a timid girl approached him.

  “Hello Harry, how are you?”

  “Hi, um, I’m sorry, but I don’t remember your name?”

  “Nell, we were at the winter camp together in eight grade.”

  “Тrue. There was something like that. How can I help you?”

  “I was wondering, I know it’s a little unusual for a woman to ask, but would you like to go to prom with me?”

  Shelley sharpened her ears, although her locker was a few meters to the right of them. Harry was flattered because the girl was attractive.

  “Amm,” Kidman wondered how to refuse her tactfully as he had other plans for the prom, “I’m really flattered, do not think that I’m not, but you’ve caught me at a time in which I have already decided with who I want to go.”

  She narrowed her viciously small eyes and gritted teeth.

  “You will regret it! You should have said yes!” the angry girl shouted while she was walking away.

  Harry looked around to check the reactions of his friends that were snooping and James laughed first, “Ha ha ha, you are fucked up. She was right, you should have agreed.”

  “Why?”

  “Everybody knows about crazy Nell.”

  “OMG, that was crazy Nell?” Harry asked with a thin voice.

  “Yes!” they all answered him at once. “It’s not too late to catch up to her.”

  “Shit, I’m fucked up.”

  His buddies shook their heads while laughing.

  “I can’t catch a break,” Kidman grinned too. “If I survive this year, nothing can stop me.”

  The bell rang and they all went to class.

  “Mr. Kidman, what happened with your coursework for Napoleon Bonaparte?”

  “Miss Hearst, it’s ready.”

  Harry picked up the folder with his hand ostentatiously in front of the whole class. He rose from his desk and passed down the line until he got to the first line, where Tess was. Kidman sharply bent over her ear and whispered something that visibly disturbed the girl. Then he approached the teacher and handed her "his work".

  “Bravo, Mr. Kidman. You can sit at your place and this time without stopping anywhere.”

  On his return, Dirty winked at Shelley and sat down. The beauty turned and made a questioning grimace, but he just waved to her not to worry. The next class was physical exercises in the gym. Some of the boys were playing basketball. Not Harry and Mike, though, they made plans on how to find out where Tess‘s boyfriend lived, so they could begin to follow him.

  “Harry, tell me what you said to that slut in history class that made her so pale?”

  “I told her that I would tell her parents that she is using drugs and had sex with different dealers unless she gave me The Hammer’s address.”

  “Wow,” the girl looked surprised, “you are Dirty. I like it,” she smiled and disappeared somewhere.

  “I see that there is nothing between you two,” Odonal wondered. “Did you screw up again?”

  “No, just, with everything that happened, I decided to wait.”

  Mike disapprovingly shook his head and clucked his mouth.

  “Bro, since I know you, there has always been something. Do not run away from your luck. Now is the time, believe me!”

  “Relax, I thought about everything. It will happen in the right place at the right time, you know that I’m a romantic soul.”

  “Everyone knows, Harry. Everyone knows…”

  The conversation lasted the whole hour. At lunch, everyone gathered in the cafeteria and ate when Tess sat beside Kidman and handed him a note.

  “Here you go, Harry,” the blonde lioness grabbed his arm, and Shell started to feel sick.

  This time, Tess whispered in his ear, “No need to threaten me. You know I like you. If you want something from me, you just have to ask me.”

  Dirty then turned towards her and their faces were literally a few inches from each other. For the unenlightened, this might have seemed like a tremendous sexual tension was going on between them, so high that it could be cut with a knife. In fact, Kidman knew that everybody was watching him, and he was one of the people who take advantage of every good situation. He was aware that The Hammer had ears in school, probably in Tess’s surroundings too. That’s wh
y was made this circus, to derail him so he could easily make a mistake. Shelley was not aware of his tactics. She stood up demonstratively and walked away. The young boy did not hesitate, not even for a moment. He immediately jumped and caught up with her in the empty corridors. She had already reached the open door of the library when she felt an arm pulling her inward. Kidman surprisingly pulled her in the quiet room, among the books shelves. He propped her on one shelf and stood at the same distance he was with Tess. Breathing quickened. The girl stared into Harry’s green eyes with a look unfamiliar to him. Without moving, the teenager spoke softly, “Do you want to know who this girl is, which doesn’t get out of my head, in which I’m crazy in love, without which I can’t sleep, eat, talk and my breath stops every time our eyes meet? Without which I can no longer live because I have a feeling that something is eating me from the inside?”

  “Who is that, Harry?” a voice was heard from somewhere around the shelf.

  The young man tilted his head to the left, moved a book and saw Nell watching him from the other side. Kidman hit his forehead, and Shell giggled loud, followed by Harry. The librarian told them to leave because they were violating the silence.

  “Let’s go back to the cafeteria. I’ll explain why I did spoke with Tess.”

  Along the way, he briefly explained the situation, the girl shook her head understandably but didn’t stop thinking about what had happened minutes ago. She was already 99% sure that she was the girl that he was speaking about. Both of them took their seats at the table.

  “We already have The Hammer’s address. I suggest we monitor him in pairs with shifts. Shell and I will take the first turn, James and Mike the second. If he goes out, you call us. We need to buy binoculars...”

  “Relax,” interrupted Mike, “I will take care of this. My father has a final moment spy equipment. Do not ask why. Not only does he have microphones for eavesdropping, hidden cameras, lock picks for any door, but he also has a very nice drone.”

  “Uhuu, then we should bug his house and use the drone when he is on the move.”

  “Exactly! We will do that today when he goes out. After school, I will go to take it all and I’ll call you when I am ready, so you can come by and pick me up.”