GOOD GUYS
Joyce Peterson
Tim and Damon had been friends since their freshman year at North High School. They had both tried out for the baseball team. Neither had made it but they decided they would attend every game to root for the team. Today's game was the crucial last game of their senior year. This year North would be playing South for the league championship and the chance to play for the state's title.
The boys hadn't even noticed the two men sitting in front of them until their school's team scored a run on a home run. Tim and Damon jumped up. The leftover ice from Damon's coke decorated the head of one of the men.
Both men turned around, but it was the dark haired one who said, "You do that one more time, kid, and I'll ram that cup down your throat." Before he turned around, they saw that he had a scar that ran the length of his face. His eyes were a steely blue and his body would have done a wrestler proud.
"You and what army." Damon shouted at him.
The man with the scar started to turn around but the man with him put his hand on the other man's shoulder. "Let it go, Bottleneck, don't start anything with a kid. You can't win. We'll both get thrown out. We don't want that now, do we?"
Bottleneck settled back into his seat, grumbling, "Ok, Brainy, but he better watch his mouth."
Tim sat down and pulled Damon into his seat. "Take it easy, Damon. We're ahead of South by four runs. It's a great game. Enjoy it."
Bottleneck looked like he was going to turn around but Brainy, grabbed him by the shoulder. "My friend went to South," he explained. "We have some business to take care of near here, so, he wanted to see the game."
The men, who started to read a paper they had brought with them, left before the game was over.
"Sore loser," Damon stood up and called after them. Tim stood up and put his hand over his friend's mouth. The boys watched as Brainy made sure that he and Bottleneck departed with no further disturbance.
When Damon looked down at the two empty seats, he punched Tim on the arm. "Look," he said, "They left their paper."
Tim leaned over and picked it up, starting to read it as he sat down. "Hey look, here's an article about my Mom's Uncle. It's about the $100,000 he won in the lottery. Somebody put a big circle around it."
Damon grabbed the paper from Tim and started to read. Looking at Tim, he asked, "You don't think those two guys…"
Tim suddenly took the paper back, saying, "I don't know but maybe we better check. Maybe they're going to his house. They said they had business in this area. That big one might hurt Uncle John and make him give them the money. I'll call Mom and tell her that we are going to visit him on the way home. I won't tell her why, I don't want her to worry. I'll ask her if you could come for dinner so you can call your Mom."
Damon already had his cellphone in his hand. Tim hurriedly got permission for the visit and to have Damon come for dinner. The boys pushed past the people in their row and made it out of the park as fast as they could.
Tim, who was in the lead, called back, "Are you afraid, Damon? Maybe we should call the cops."
"And tell them what?" Damon answered. "All we know is we didn't like that big guy, Bottleneck, who had black hair and a big scar on his face. Oh, yes he had a little blonde partner called Brainy."
As they ran through the streets, Damon ran closer to Tim. The houses all looked like they needed painting, yards were unkempt. Some kids, playing stick ball, glowered at the two boys running on "their" street. "You better run. You don't belong here," one of the bigger ones called out and threw a rock at them.
Tim seized Damon's hand and pulled him closer still. "Uncle John has lived here a long time. I used to play over here. Mom has tried to get him to move but he says he's too old." He jerked Damon's hand, adding, "C'mon. It's only a couple more blocks."
Tim had stopped and leaned over to pick up a big rock and fill his pockets with some small roadside pebbles. "We'll need some kind of weapon, if what we think is true."
Damon had found a branch that had lay near a tree in the yard of closest house. "This will have to do. We should have borrowed a bat from our team."
"They don't have enough bats now. We'll just have to play it by ear." After a short run, Tim had stopped near an old, gray house that looked like it had lived a couple lifetimes.
Damon pointed to a big car parked in front of the house. "It must belong to Bottleneck and Brainy"
"This is the house. They must already be in there," he explained. "Looks like they have Uncle John cornered in the kitchen," he said, indicating a lighted window at the back of the house.
"What do we do now, ring the doorbell?" Damon had tried to keep his voice from shaking.
"Let's go around to the back. We can get into the basement and there's stairs that lead up to the kitchen." Tim's voice wasn't exactly steady but he felt like he should be the leader, since it was HIS Uncle they were planning to protect.
At the back of the house, they found the doors to the basement were already open.
Tim pointed to the open door and whispered, "They must have got in this way."
Damon shivered. "Maybe we should call the cops," he said in a soprano voice.
"We're here now. Let's see if we can find out what's going on." Tim's voice was only a little lower.
Both boys went down the stairs, through a lot of cobwebs and to the kitchen stairs, holding tightly to each other.
Creeping up the stairs, the voices in the kitchen became louder. They heard Bottlenecks voice saying "I think you should do the $75,000 amount."
Damon seemed to get his courage back, "He's threatening him," he said.
Tim reached into his pocket and pulled out the big rock. "Sure sounds like it. Let's go."
Damon took a firm grip on his branch as Tim pushed open the door and jumped into the kitchen , ready to throw the rock in his hand.
Uncle John rose from his chair. "Timmy, your Mother called and said you were going to stop by. She didn't tell me you were coming in through the basement."
"But, but," Tim sputtered.
Damon tried to explain, "We saw these two were reading about you and the $100,000…"
Tim had recovered enough to add. "We thought they might try to make you give it to them."
The three men started to laugh.
Uncle John came around the table and put his arm around the two boys. "Maybe I better introduce you to my broker, Mr. Jordan Martens. He was recommended to me by my friend, Sidney, when he heard that I had won from the Lottery. When Sidney inherited some money, Mr. Martens really did a good job for him."
The small man bowed as he told them, "You can call me Brainy. And this other man is my friend who goes with me when he thinks I might need some protection where…"
Uncle John interrupted, "This neighborhood doesn't have a very good reputation lately."
The big man held out his hand to the boys, "Bottleneck, pleased to meet you. How did the game turn out? Sorry about yelling at you but I've always followed South High's baseball team. I didn't go to college so they're the only team I root for on a personal level."
Tim said, "Now don't get mad. We left before the game was over but….
Damon took over, "North was still ahead by 4 RUNS ."
Bottleneck looked at Damon and laughed. "Just don't spill any more ice on my head."
Damon suggested, "The game wasn't over. Who knows? South might have got lucky after we left." He ducked as Bottleneck threw a fake punch at him.
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