MC: Callahan

by L. Ann Marie

  “They look good.” I don’t know what to say to that, so I throw him chin.

  “Let’s get lunch squared away first,” Danny says, walking by the Office and straight into the cafeteria. Kids are eating breakfast, they stop and stare; no one is talking or even looking at their food. Danny just keeps going, so I keep following. I hear Cloud laugh behind us. At the cash register Danny introduces me to Sierra.

  I nod at her. “My kids need to be able to buy food when they need it.” I give her their names and fifty for each. “Tell me when they need more and I’ll put more in. I don’t want them eating cheese sandwiches anymore. You the person that will make sure it don’t happen again?” She nods, looking like I’m going to jump her. “Thanks.”

  Danny walks back out to the big room; the Little Brothers are dropping their stuff on a long table. Jason, José, and Billy are with them. “Little Brothers, you keep your Brothers backs,” Danny yells across the fuckin’ room. Jeremy smiles.

  “Jeremy says always, Dad,” Aaron yells.

  We throw them chin and walk out the door. Fuckin’ Danny, making sure the kids are covered. In the Office a sour-pussed woman is behind a counter. “He’s not in yet,” she says before anyone even asks her a question.

  I ask her, “Are you the one that makes the call when kids get hurt on school property?” She looks surprised.

  “Yes.”

  I give her the boys’ names. “They get hurt you call. Billy was hurt yesterday at lunch and we didn’t get a call. I don’t give a fuck they get a paper cut, you call.”

  “You can’t talk to me like that!” She’s just about shrieking. I look at Danny; what the fuck is up with her?

  “Boy got hurt on more than one occasion and no one calls his parents is leaving you open to a lawsuit,” Cloud says.

  She’s moving her hands but nothing is coming out of her mouth. The door opens and she look even more scared; fuckin’ woman knows she’s wrong. I look back to see who’s here. I’ve seen him before but can’t place him. “Danny, Cloud, Tiny, what can I do for you?” He knows me? He smiles at me. “I’m an Associate. I don’t get to many meetings. I’ve been taking care of my sister the last couple of months.” I throw him chin.

  “What’s wrong with your sister?” Danny asks.

  His smile changes to a weary frown. “Her husband died, cancer, she’s bipolar. She was doing good on her meds, but when he died she came off of them. She’s got two kids; my wife moved them in with us. It’s been rough.”

  Fuck. Danny looks at him. “Brothers are here for you, Dave, you let us know shit like that. I’ll have Keith get with you, we can schedule you some help so you and your old lady can have some time. If you need more you let us help. Get the kids in with the Little Brothers, they’ll help too.”

  Dave looks relieved. “I didn’t know you help Associates. I’ll take all the help you can give me.”

  “Your wife work?” Cloud asks.

  “No, she took a leave of absence to help with the kids and my sister.”

  Danny puts his hand on Dave’s shoulder. “I’ll have Kate call her. There’s help at the Women’s Center. It’s free to members, all members. Yeah?”

  “Thanks, Brother.” He takes a breath and swallows. “You didn’t come in here for that; what can I help you with?” He looks relieved to change the subject.

  “My kid came home with bruises on his face and eye from bullies at lunch yesterday. I told this woman to call me if my kids get a paper cut. He should have at least got some ice. All he got was sent back to class.”

  Dave looks surprised; he looks around us at the bitch. “He came into the office and no one told me there was a fight in the cafeteria?”

  “It was one of the foster kids; they’re always fighting with someone. He comes in every other week,” stupid bitch says.

  Cloud steps closer to the counter. “Those kids have been coming in here every other week and no one did anything to help them?”

  “Just the two smaller ones. They fight all the time; the mother said it’s what the boys do.”

  “Every student involved in fighting is reported to me. When did I change a rule that was handed down by the Superintendent? I’m sure it will be his first question when he gets handed a lawsuit!” His voice rises and the stupid bitch shrinks. He looks at us, clearly pissed. “I will fix it. I’m sorry this is an ongoing problem, it will stop today and your kids will get apologies from Ms. Marples here, verbal and written.” The bitch glares at him. “Is that what all the Brothers are doing here?”

  “Yeah, seems my kids are an easy target for three boys in a higher grade. They get caught at lunch; sometimes they go without eating because the bullies take their lunches,” I tell him, giving the bitch a look.

  “Fuckin’ bullies,” Danny says. “Can you make sure they’re covered, Dave? They’re fosters, already in bad, they don’t deserve more because of lousy parents. Little Ben was here with the crew earlier, the Little Brothers have them covered from kids. They need a little extra from the ignorant assholes that don’t see they didn’t ask to be where they are. If Marples didn’t call, the teacher or lunch monitor should have said something. With you clueless, I’m seeing a bigger problem than kid bullies. These are good kids, good grades, good attitudes. No one was protecting them here.”

  “I’ll take care of it, Danny. I’m sorry for it coming to this, let little Ben know I’m on it.” He looks at the bitch. “Get me their names and schedules.”

  “You need help dealing with this call Keith at the office, we have a teacher and plenty of CORE’d members to help,” Cloud tells him. I guess the background checks are important everywhere.

  “Thanks, Brothers, feels good to know you’re there.”

  I slap his shoulder. “It only works when you reach out, Brother. Reach out.”

  He smiles and his face softens. “I will.”

  We walk out the doors and see the Brothers are the only ones around. Danny swings his finger around, throwing chin and everyone takes off. When we get to our bikes he stops us. “I’m going to the Superintendent. I built his house. He needs a heads up so this doesn’t take forever to fix. That Marples broad isn’t going to change.”

  “You want company?” Cloud asks.

  Danny looks at me. “I want you to go, but this guy is not a good person to drop in on. I figure alone I can get in and not get stonewalled by his pit bull. With you I don’t stand a chance.”

  I nod and look at Cloud. “Breakfast?” Cloud smiles.

  “Fuckin’ Brothers!” Danny takes off while we’re laughing. He hates missing a meal.

  * * *

  Nancy

  I’m pulling clothes for Sheila when Heather comes in. She’s working early today. “Who are you dressing today?”

  “Hi, Heather, these are for Sheila, we found out the kids only got from Goodwill. I’m adding to her wardrobe with some new stuff.” She looks at me with her brows drawn. “No one knew and we’re fixing it.”

  She nods and starts looking at the back rack. “I saw some cute night shirts the other day.”

  She’s sweet. “Perfect.” We get a good selection and she bags it up for me.

  “Can I do anything to help? Kids aren’t cheap.” she asks with a shy look.

  I smile. “CJ gives more than enough to run the house, and Tiny is good. I’m sure Sheila wouldn’t mind some girl time, maybe nails or a haircut. If you want to help, help with time.”

  She smiles. “I could totally do that! I’ll call over tonight and see if she’d like some mall time.”

  She’s a good girl; I smile back at her excitement. “If she wants something make sure she gets it. I’ll give her money, but she doesn’t ask for anything, she takes only what she needs.”

  “Mad money! I’ll get her to be a teenage girl and spend every penny, I promise!” She goes to the front as the bell rings letting us know a customer is here.

  I wonder if Sheila is too young for a job. She could work here after school for an hour or two
a couple of days a week. It would give her money she wouldn’t mind spending.

  * * *

  Tiny

  Pres walks in and everyone quiets down. “What do we have on the Associates?”

  “I have the three cuts. One is willing to put the time in to earn it back, the other two told us to fuck off,” I tell him.

  He looks at Patches and Alan. “Every Associate puts their time in or they lose their cuts. Give them a month to comply, find out if they have reasons for not showing, if they don’t, they’re out.” Alan nods while Patches is writing in his book.

  “The Brothers; it looks like the problem is money, once they move from Prospect. If their dues are paid, they get membership money from the businesses. They feel entitled. I’ve talked to twelve Brothers. They all seem to think the same way. I don’t fuckin’ get it. If an Officer needs something or we’re at war they’ll ask how high we want them to jump. A Brother is moving, old ladies sick, kids causing trouble, they don’t give a fuck. They expect the Prospects to handle it; almost like it’s beneath them. When you brought it to me, I thought you were wrong. How many Brothers did you talk to?” He looks at Cloud and Danny.

  Danny nods to Cloud to go first. “I talked to twenty. It was the same for the majority. The few Brothers that believe ‘we take care of our own’ are running ragged trying to help everyone. One of the Associates’ new jobs are to keep lists posted of what help is needed. Patches and Alan have shared signup sheets on the Members’ website. If someone needs help they put it on the sheet, if a Brother helps, he signs that he did it and the one who asked for help signs off saying it’s complete. Bull can monitor and make sure nothing gets dropped.”

  “How many did you talk to, Danny?”

  “Thirty-two. I found the same thing Cloud did. We need to cut the money down. They shouldn’t get it if they’re not working for it. We have too many members for one person to monitor and not enough Officers to police Brothers. We need to weed out Brothers or add more Officers. Then you’ll need higher Officers to police the Officers.”

  VP stands up. “Too fuckin’ much. Need to stop addin’ members. Put Prospects on waitin’ list. Offer Nomad protection for Brothers not wantin’ jobs. Take the money away. We got paid if we worked. Fuckin’ Brothers have it easy, don’t do shit for it.”

  Danny looks at Pres. “He’s right; the only people to check on Racks and Lana were the Prospects, Officers, and old ladies. Not one single Brother stepped up.”

  Hands in his hair, Pres turns to look at the table. “I’ll call a mandatory meeting, every Brother, Prospect, and Officer shows or money stops at Church time. We’ll give them a month, just like the Associates. My Officers and a few Brothers are running fuckin’ everywhere putting out fires while they collect the benefits.” He runs his hands in his hair again. For a while he wiped his face but that didn’t last long. He looks around. “Is everyone in agreement here?”

  “Yeah.” Goes around the table, not a single nay.

  “Fuckin’ Brothers are going to love this.” He’s got his hands in his hair again. “Did any of you see the training video Darren came up with?” We all saw it.

  “Fuckin’ kids did a good job, again. It’s professional and well thought out,” Bob says.

  “We need to look at bringing little Ben in as something at Officer level,” Rich says. We all look at him. “He needs to be in on the meetings, he’s doing more work than a second tier Officer and his loyalty and honor can never be questioned.”

  “Just turned seventeen. Not even a Prospect,” VP says.

  I laugh. “You can’t expect them to Prospect. Little Ben, Jessie, Darren even the little ones in the Club kids can’t be expected to Prospect. They already run Ops, know more about the Club than Brothers do, are trained better than the Brothers. I would vote ‘fuck no’ on them Prospecting.”

  Pres looks at VP then Danny. “Fuck. Looks like we have more shit to do. Bull, text Sam, we need lunch.”

  We go back and forth for an hour; we eat then go back to the kids getting in on merit; then Nomad status and membership payments. No one wants more members until we straighten out the Club problems. Once everyone is in agreement we decide when and how to patch little Ben in. My fuckin’ head hurts with all this shit. At least little Ben won’t be Prospecting. I’d be pissed the first time anyone told him to clean their fuckin’ boots. He deserves more respect than the assholes that are too good to help a Brother out.

  I get up to leave and Pres stops me. Shit. “Did it work out at the school?”

  “Thank fuck, I have a fuckin’ headache from all this bylaw and wording shit. We got it all straight, Danny went to talk to the superintendent to get them working on it faster.”

  He nods and looks for Danny. “Let me know if it doesn’t get taken care of. Jessie says your boys are good kids. Little Ben listens to Ricky. He gets things our kids don’t see.” I throw chin. I don’t know what to say. My kids are good and I’m glad little Ben respects Ricky. I know my kids are in awe of the Little Brothers.

  I leave just as Bob is throwing his leg over his bike. “Saturday I’m with the little guys, I’ll pick them up at ten.”

  “You need me with them?”

  He smiles. Never seen him smile so much. Amanda is good for him. “No, not this time. When they do their first jumps I’ll need you around, just in case.” He laughs.

  “Fuckin’ Brothers.” He rides away, laughing at me. Fuck, Nancy will shit a brick if she finds out. I ride to transport and pick up my truck and some paperwork. On my way home I call Dave at the garage to find out about the bikes; he’s delivering them to Security tomorrow. All the kids will have their own; he’s even got Sheila’s painted purple for her. The Club kids ride the compound streets all the time. Soon my kids will be able to ride with them. The thought makes me smile.

  As I get to the gate my phone rings with a number I don’t recognize. The assistant principal has Ricky and little Ben in his office. I wave away the Prospect and guard, turning around and driving back out. I wonder if I should call Doc and Steve then decide to hold off until I know what’s going on. When I get to the school I don’t know what door to go in. The school is huge. I see a visitor parking lot and pull in. At the door I have to hit a keypad. The voice asks me who I’m looking for. Fuckin’ dumbass people, like I’d show up for a fuckin’ tea party. I tell her the guy’s name and she buzzes me in. I go right into the office. A little guy that looks like a fire plug comes to meet me.

  “Mr. Callahan, I’m Mr. Mello, come this way.” He doesn’t shake my hand or throw chin, he turns around and starts walking. Rude bastard.

  I have a feeling my headache is about to get worse. “Why am I here?”

  “The boys will explain this to you. I have no reason to doubt little Ben but Ricky, with his background, is not being helpful and I need information.” He opens the door and walks in. The boys are watching the door. Little Ben looks relieved; I’m glad I didn’t call VP.

  “What’s going on, Ricky?”

  He looks surprised. “A kid in the courtyard was selling joints. When he put his backpack down I grabbed it and took it to my next class to give to little Ben. When I handed it to him a security guard brought us both here and opened it, finding a bag of rolled joints.” He’s waiting for me not to believe him.

  “Where’s your backpack?”

  He smiles. “Mr. Mello has it with little Ben’s and the one I took.”

  I look at little Ben. “I don’t understand why I’m here, explain.”

  “The backpack has the kid’s books and other stuff with his name on it. He says we put the baggie in it. Mr. Mello knows we are all about keeping drugs out of the town, but he caught us with them. I wanted to call Digs to get the video, but Mr. Mello doesn’t believe we’ll have it. I asked him to call you, as SAA for the club and Ricky’s father you can clear it up and have more authority.” He’s calm and confident in what he’s saying. I throw him chin.

  Looking at Mello, I ask for his email and h
and little Ben my phone. “Call Digs, have him pull the video and email the sections following Ricky’s movements from the courtyard to you.”

  Mello coughs. “We don’t have cameras in the halls.” Condescending ass is smiling like we’re five.

  “We do,” I tell him, wiping the smile off his face.

  “You can’t just video anyone! That’s invasion of privacy!” He’s getting a head of steam going.

  “Public building, hallways and cafeteria isn’t invading anyone’s privacy. Keeping drugs and gangs out of the school is more important than whatever your argument is for privacy in a f—freakin’ hallway, courtyard, and cafeteria,” Ricky tells him, pissed and making me proud. The boy is smart and protective of the town, not just his family.

  “He’s right.” I look at little Ben. “Call Peter at PD, explain what’s going on and tell him to send someone over.”

  He scrolls through my phone then looks at Mello. “Can I have my phone back to call Peter? His phone doesn’t have his private number.”

  The fuckin’ guy makes me laugh, rolling his eyes at him. “You just happen to have an officer’s number in your phone?”

  Little Ben looks at him square. “Yeah, can I have my phone? Otherwise we’ll be waiting on hold forever and Peter isn’t just an Officer, he’s the number two to Paul.” When Mello doesn’t get it he explains, “The chief.” Mello gets him his phone. Little Ben looks at Ricky and rolls his eyes; it must be tough having to explain shit to adults all the time. I’m so glad he’s not prospecting. He’s too fuckin’ smart to have to bow down to Brothers.

  I look at Ricky while we wait. “What are you missing being here?”

  “English, next I have PE then study.” He looks bored.

  “If this goes quick I’ll take you up to the garage, we’ll ride. Got a fuckin’ headache to clear away.”

  He smiles. “F—freakin’ nice. Thanks, Tiny.” He looks down; he didn’t think I’d believe him.