Passing by his classroom, he heard his teacher saying to her aide, “I’ve waited for two years to see that bully Leon Colter get his. God, it was beautiful. My man Andy jammed that bully’s nuts up so far Leon can use them for ear plugs. It was inspirational.” Andy heard, thought about it, and still didn’t know how he should feel. He could still remember the words from Billy Stark’s book: It might be a chance to begin life all over again. If you make it, please don’t waste your life. Become somebody, do some good for others, do important things. I want you to have a good life. He couldn’t help but feel that he had somehow let down someone.
That evening after dinner, it took Andy a little over an hour to do his homework, most of the time spent preparing a notebook and thinking about what had happened during recess. He felt stupid. To risk everything to get back a dumb little bag for a silly girl. Now he was known as a trouble maker and Leon Colter was his still living enemy. Perhaps Miss Douglas thought him a hero, but Mr. Fontana had seen something he didn’t like.
What had possessed him? He didn’t even like Lettie Hayes all that much. His frown grew deeper. There was, however, someone he hated. He hated Leon Colter. He hated Leon Colter’s friends, too. He hated bullies; boys, girls, women, men who fed their demons by filling others with pain and fear.
Billy Stark had left Andy Rain a mission. Become somebody, do some good for others, do important things.
He wouldn’t be a victim. He didn’t want to see anyone become or remain a victim. But how does a very young child protect himself? How does he protect others? Anything less than death leaves an enemy bent on revenge. And all of the power, all the rules, favor the enemy. Uncle Herman would’ve punched and slapped him around some more; perhaps even killed him. Ellen would have had him in a spotlight from which he could never escape. And she had promised. What else could he have done and not be a victim?
There was a knock and Andy’s dad opened the door and looked in. “Andy?”
“Yes?”
“I just got a very strange phone call from Roger Colter. He’s Leon Colter’s father. He said you frightened his son very badly.”
Andy leaned back in his chair and studied his father to see what he would do. It was a test. “He stole Lettie Hayes’s bag. When I asked him to give it back, he wouldn’t. Then he shoved me and I told him that if he ever did that again, I’d hurt him.”
Captain Rain held up his hand. “Something about sticking a knife in his heart?”
Andy nodded. “Then I took the bag from him and walked away. He tried to jump me, I turned around, and he ran into my head and hurt himself.” Andy thought for a second, then decided to go for the truth. “I knew he’d run into my head and that it would hurt him. I told him that was a warning and that there wouldn’t be any warning next time, I’d just kill him.”
Captain Rain’s eyebrows went up and he grinned. “I guess that’s what scared him, huh?”
Andy laughed as he felt the heat come to his face. “I guess.
“How old is Leon?”
“He’s in the third grade. Eight or nine.”
His dad nodded. “I got another phone call from Deputy Hayes. Do you remember her?”
“Sure. Lettie’s mom.”
“Well, she called and then she put Lettie on the phone. She made you sound like the silver knight slaying fire belching dragons right and left. According to her you are quite a hero.”
Andy felt his face getting even redder. “Lettie’s silly.”
Captain Rain stood next to his son and squeezed his shoulder. “How’s the homework coming along?”
“Okay.”
He patted Andy’s shoulder and walked to the door. “When you’re done, come on down to the rec room and let’s watch the game.” His father closed the door behind him.
The game.
Andy didn’t know what game it was, or even what sport. But he had a father who believed in him and wanted to be with him. He felt himself begin to cry, and he didn’t understand the feelings or the tears. Before he cried out loud, he went to his bed and buried his face in his star scattered pillow. When he was done, he went down to the rec room to watch the game and eat popcorn with his father. It was baseball and his dad’s team won.
The next day at school, and the days after that, were shining gems set in a glorious crown of childhood. There were friends, a teacher who knew how to feed an eager mind, games, sports, and a widening feeling that life was good. The school still had bullies, of course. The change was that they kept their attitudes to themselves. There was a point, just before the Christmas break, when Andy realized that his memories of Billy Stark were very foggy. He was Andy Rain. He had some strange memories of another life, nightmares that would disturb his dreams, curious fragments of valuable knowledge, but he was Andy Rain.
On the last day before the beginning of the Christmas break, Andy’s mom got in the car to drive the boy to school as usual. There was a thin covering of slushy snow on the streets and Andy was daydreaming about the skiing trip to New Hampshire the family was giving itself for Christmas. At the corner of Lake and 5th, where Marnie Rain usually turned north toward the school, there was a stalled truck. Two police officers were directing traffic, and as a van pulled up behind Marnie’s station wagon, one of the police officers bent over and looked through her window. She rolled it down and asked, “Is there another way around this, officer?”
Andy saw the man grin, pull his weapon, and point it at his mom’s face. “Turn off the ignition and hand me the keys.” The policeman’s face was partly covered by a rubber mask.
She glanced to her right, saw the other masked officer pointing his gun at Andy. “Do as he says, Mrs. Rain, or you’re both dead.”
As she froze on the wheel, Andy recognized the voice of the cop on the right. He was no cop. Behind the rubber mask he was King Girard, the ruler of A Block back when nineteen year old Billy Stark was doing his six at Greenville. Andy saw the panic building in his mom’s face. He unclipped his seat belt, leaned over, turned off the ignition, and put the gearshift into park. After pulling the key from the ignition, Andy held it out to the man looking in the driver’s side. “Do as he says, Mom.”
“You heard the kid,” said the first officer as he took the keys. “Do as he says, Mom.”
Within seconds they were blindfolded, their hands and legs bound, and on the floor of the van headed somewhere. Andy’s mom was whimpering, and one of the voices said, “Keep it down, lady, unless both you and the kid want to die.”
“What do you want?” she cried.
“You’re not the negotiator, lady, you’re the goods. So shut up.”
They kept the blindfolds on Andy and his mom, even after they were indoors and locked away far from the traffic noises. Andy was tied up on the floor and he could hear his mother breathing. The kidnappers talked very little. When they did talk, their messages were brief and they used no names. Andy thought on it and reasoned that such precautions were not necessary unless the kidnappers really intended returning Andy and his mom back to Captain Rain.
In exchange for what? The Rains had no money; certainly not enough to interest someone powerful enough and wealthy enough as King Girard. Then Andy thought of something valuable his father had: Bear Brandt. Back at Greenville, everybody knew that Girard worked for Bear Brandt. Help the mobster to escape, and we’ll let you have your wife and kid back. If the yard captain is in on a prison break, how dangerous could it be? No cops, and when the dust settles, Gary Rain’s career will be ruined, but his family will still be alive.
Maybe.
The same precautions would be necessary if all they wanted to do was convince Andy and his mom that they would be returned so they could say the right things on the telephone.