his tongue.
“You tell ‘em the truth, boy. That’s what you do.” Then Dad stepped out of the room.
“Give me a moment alone with my son, please,” Mom said.
Captain Nelson picked up his pen and clicked it shut and stuck it in his chest pocket. He didn’t seem too happy to be leaving the room, but I was glad to see him go, even if I was slightly worried that he and Dad would get into it in the hall.
“Why aren’t you talking, son? The police will help you, they won’t hurt you. Rubin hurt you. Don’t you want him punished?”
Rubin had hurt me, physically and mentally, but it wasn’t anything I hadn’t brought on myself. After that first time he brought me into his closet, I should have ended it. Told him that it wasn’t cool and I wasn’t doing it again. I didn’t because I never knew it would go this far, didn’t know what all exactly Rubin wanted from me. But now I knew what I wanted from him and it wasn’t punishment or revenge. It was to be left alone.
“Couldn’t I just take tae kwon do at another place and we could just not have anything to do with the Lopezes again?” I said. “That’d be best. No one has to go to jail. Rubin only tried
things with me, he never did anything.”
“What about other kids he could hurt?”
“Let them go to the police. He didn’t hurt me. Scared me, but didn’t hurt me.”
“You’re positive he never hurt you, son?”
“I would have told you if he had.”
I felt like I was protecting myself with the lie. I didn’t want the police and especially Mom and Dad knowing what I’d done. It was a mistake asking for the drawing, a mistake I had made and would pay for, but no one else.
“Let’s go home, son.” Mom took my hand and we met Captain Nelson and Dad standing opposite each other in the hallway. “We’re going home,” Mom said. “Wesley’s tired and says
Rubin tried to hurt him but never succeeded. If Wesley doesn’t want to press charges, that’s good enough for me.”
“No backbone,” Dad said, “that’s what’s wrong with that boy. And you’re letting him give up. You need to go back in that room and have him tell you everything like he did at home.”
“No, Mr. Royal,” Captain Nelson said. “If your son doesn’t want to talk about it, making him could be the worst thing.”
“Boy’s just a quitter and his mama takes up for him and lets him do what he wants. She doesn’t teach him a damn thing. He won’t never make a man.”
“He’s only a boy now,” Captain Nelson said. “Give him time. Look at how long it takes an oak tree to grow.”
“I’d be happy if he made a strong sapling,” Dad said. “If y’all are riding with me, come on.”
Rubin and his parents were getting in their van when we walked into the lobby. Dad ran to the car and called to us to hurry up. We didn’t know what he was doing or had in mind, but Mom took my hand and we ran to the car. When Mr. Lopez pulled out of the parking lot, Dad fell in behind him. He didn’t ride his bumper but Dad mimicked his every turn and lane change.
“What are you doing?” Mom asked.
“Y’all might want to let them salt-water niggers off scot-free, but I’m not.”
I was afraid Dad was going to enact his vigilante truck driver justice, that all those stories of his kicking people’s asses from coast-to-coast were about to come to life.
Soon the scenery looked familiar and I realized we were near the dojo. Mr. Lopez turned into the dojo parking lot and I looked at our in-dash clock. Six-thirty. Tae kwon do class started in a little bit, and Rubin wasn’t missing it, possible molestation charges or not.
“You’re not going in, are you?” Mom asked. But she knew the answer, and like me, she didn’t want to witness what was about to go down.
“Come on, boy,” Dad said. “I want you to tell Bollars what his star black belt did to you.”
“Rubin didn’t do anything to me.”
“He tried and that’s close enough,” Dad said. “Tell him that; I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Wesley doesn’t have to go with you,” Mom said. “You’re going in there just to pick a fight and Wesley doesn’t need to see that. Stay here, son.”
Dad opened my door. “You’re gonna be a man, dammit, and face them folks.” Dad snatched me out of the car and I heard Mom yelling for him to let me go, but Dad kept walking, long strides, and I ran to keep up.
“Bollars, I wanna talk to you!” he bellowed as he entered the dojo.
“Come in my office, Mr. Royal.”
Donnie and other kids were in the workout area stretching and horse-playing, but they all stopped when Dad strode in, dragging me and bellowing.
“No,” Dad said. “Out here, where everybody can hear this.”
“Hear trumped up charges on my son,” Mr. Lopez said, walking toward Dad from the waiting area.
“Wesley, for some damn reason,” Dad said, “feels sorry for your boy and doesn’t want to send him off like he should be. But not me, and I’m gonna tell it like it is.”
“You’re gonna tell it like you think it is. You don’t know everything, Señor Royal.”
“I know your boy was trying to fool around with my son.”
The kids in the workout area pressed in along the metal-tubing and the few parents who walked in with their kids hung around to hear the rest.
“You don’t have any proof,” Mr. Lopez said. “Your own son wouldn’t say anything to the police when he had the chance.”
“That’s because Rubin threatened him,” Dad said. “Told Wesley he’d beat him up if he told.”
“More lies,” Mr. Lopez said.
“Wait, wait,” Mr. Bollars said. “What is going on?”
“Your pet black belt is a pervert,” Dad said. “That’s what’s going on. I found him and Wesley locked in the bathroom together earlier today.”
“Is that true?” Mr. Bollars asked.
Rubin, dressed in his gi, appeared at Mr. Bollars’s side. Ever so slightly, he shook his head at me. “It’s all lies,” he said. “I didn’t do anything with Wesley. Master Bollars, he’s just mad because he wanted me to get you to let him skip some belts so he could get a black belt faster.”
“No I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did,” Rubin said. “Both you and your daddy, all you wanted was a black belt; you didn’t care about learning tae kwon do.”
“I didn’t care to suck your dick like you wanted me to in your closet and when I wouldn’t, you got mad,” I said.
The kids all “hooed” and “ahhed” and their parents pulled them close.
“Does that sound like a lie, Bollars?” Dad said.
“Any boy can lie,” Mr. Lopez said.
“But why lie about that?” Dad countered.
“Mr. Royal, I’ve known Rubin since he was about Wesley’s age,” Mr. Bollars said, “and he’s always been a good kid.”
“What the hell, you think Wesley ain’t a good kid? You think my boy tempted Rubin? Well, you’re wrong. Damn wrong!”
“Watch your language,” Mr. Bollars said.
“My language ain’t none of your concern,” Dad said. “It’s the actions of your precious black belt, who you think his shit don’t stink, that you need to watch.”
“Rubin is my black belt,” Mr. Bollars said, “and I’m proud of him. He’s accomplished a lot at a young age and I’m not going to let you slander his name in my dojo.”
“You telling me to leave, Bollars?”
“If you insist on putting Rubin down, yes.”
“You’re mighty protective of him,” Dad said.
“He’s my black belt.” Mr. Bollars smiled with pride.
“What all’d he do to earn it?”