The next day at school everything was the same, except for the way Sandi treated him. There was a new playfulness about the way she flirted with him, leaving him feeling that she was no longer trying to jump his bones. At first it made him feel a bit guilty about having told her and Fred about his past. He wondered if Fred would keep his word and not tell her about his hustling period.
His buddy Joe noticed the difference right away, and during practice that afternoon approached Bobby with a big grin. "So... Bob's 'the man.' Cool... dude."
Bobby had no idea what he was inferring, and his expression only served to make Joe laugh. "Hey, I can see how Sandi's treating you today. Good going." Joe, at that moment, saw a ball coming his way and ran to kick it, leaving Bobby in a confused quandary.
After Bobby had showered and dressed, he walked out to the parking lot expecting to see Jim waiting to give him a ride home. He waved at Bruce, who told him he was headed over to Jill's; otherwise he'd offer him a ride home. After a few minutes, all of his buddies had left and Bobby was still waiting.
He looked at his new watch that Jim had given him the first day of school. Jim was already ten minutes late. A flashy red sports car turned the corner and came toward him. As it approached, he recognized his mother Marti as the driver. She stopped in front of him and lowered the window. She ducked her head down and looked up at him.
"Get in, Bobby." She opened the door and pushed it toward him. Bobby didn't move. He knew his mother was up to something.
"Bobby, get in this car, now."
"I'm waiting for Jim."
"You're not going with that bastard. You're going back home with me. Now, get in."
Bobby stood his ground. "Jim is my legal guardian. You are breaking your restraining order. Why don't you go away?" Marti slid out of the car and strode around to him. "I am your mother. You're going back to Fresno with me." He was already two inches taller than his mother. She reached up and slapped him. Bobby winced.
"I already don't like you, Mother. Are you trying to make me hate you, too?" She grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked him towards the car.
"I couldn't care less if you hate me. You will get into the car... now."
A school security guard rounded the corner of the nearby building. When he saw the boy being forced to get into the red sports car, he ran over to see what was going on.
Marti yanked Bobby's head down and tried to push him into the car.
"Hold on here. What's going on?" The security guard demanded. Marti glared at him.
"Mind your own damn business. This is my son, and he is going home with me."
"I'm being abducted. She is not my legal guardian. She has a restraining order to stay away from me." Bobby yelled to the guard. Marti hadn't let go of Bobby's hair. She yanked down hard, forcing Bobby to bend with the force. "You little son-of-a-bitch, shut up, and get in the car." Using her knee, she bodily pushed him into the car, banging his head on the top of the door frame in the process. Bobby yelled in pain. The guard stepped forward and grabbed her wrist.
"Ma'am, let the boy alone, if you have no legal right to take him."
"Get your goddamned hands off of me. You are not a real cop. You have no authority over me."
She kicked him in the shin. He let go of her and stepped back. Marti pushed Bobby the rest of the way into the car, ran around and got into the driver's side. She slammed the idling car into gear and screeched tires as she sped away. She looked into the rear view mirror and saw the guard talking on his cell phone. Fear gripped at her. Shit, this was not going well.
"You won't get away with this, Mother." Bobby said in a hushed voice. He had a hand on his head with a trickle of blood running through his fingers,
"Shut up and put your seat belt on." She headed toward the freeway.
"I'm bleeding and you don't even care."
"Stop being a ninny. It's only a scratch."
The light ahead turned red. She looked at both sides of the cross street and gunned the engine. The little car flew through the intersection before the cars in the cross street could start to move.
An officer in a patrol car sitting in an alley saw the red sports car fly by. He clocked it at 57 mph. He turned on his flashing lights and pursued it. Several cars between him and the car moved to the side to allow him to pass. He was right on her tail with his siren screaming.
He picked up his mike and commanded her to pull over and stop. Marti sped up. She was approaching another intersection. The light was already red. She slowed and seeing a gap between the cars, she stepped on the gas and flew through it. Bobby was hanging on to his seat, sure that his crazy mother was going to kill them both. The patrol car had to nearly stop before the crossing cars stopped to let him through.
The entrance to the 210 North freeway was just ahead. Marti flew around an old lady driving sedately down the street. The startled old lady panicked, and ran into the back of a parked car. The officer was on his radio giving the dispatcher the particulars of the chase as he turned down the on ramp. The red sports car was already into the heavy afternoon traffic. It was weaving back and forth through the traffic trying to get ahead.
Jim sat in traffic on the old Pasadena Freeway coming out of downtown L.A. There was an accident up ahead that was being cleared off to the side. It had traffic completely stopped for a few minutes. Jim was cursing to himself. He had forgotten to take his cell phone with him, and he was past due to pick up Bobby at school. The traffic finally started moving again. Jim got off at the next exit and drove into a service station. He saw a phone booth and parked next to it. He jumped out, dropped coins into the slot and dialed Bobby's number.
Bobby couldn't believe that his mother was fleeing the police. He sat there feeling helpless to do anything. He had never raised a hand against her. It hadn't occurred to him that he was bigger than she was, and that he could have resisted her. He sat there kind of blank minded as she drove like a mad woman in the freeway traffic. His cell phone rang. It took him a moment to realize what it was. He pulled it out of his shirt pocket and flipped it open.
"Hello?" He said into it. Hearing Jim's voice, he yelled, "Jim! Marti has kidna......"
Marti snatched the phone out of his hand and threw it out the window, then backhanded him across the face.
Jim had started to tell Bobby that he had left his phone at home when he heard Bobby yell something about his mother. He was sure that he had heard the word kidnap before noise had drowned out all else and the connection went dead. Dread filled Jim as he hung the pay phone back in its cradle. He drove surface streets up to Bobby's school. He thought about Marti. She may have been an intense business woman, but he thought she was wacky when it came to family matters. He was still burning over the scene in the courtroom for Bobby's custody hearing. He wondered what she might be up to now.
* * *
Marti crossed three lanes, squeezing in between cars, to get back over to the lanes separating the 210 from the 134 freeway. As soon as the officer in pursuit saw she was headed onto the Foothill freeway, he relayed the information. Up ahead where Marti couldn't see, two patrol cars pulled into the heavy afternoon traffic and started weaving back and forth through the four lanes, slowing the traffic behind them and eventually bringing the traffic to a stop. Another patrol car blocked the exit just in case Marti tried to flee to city streets.
Marti found herself stuck in the slowing traffic. She couldn't see any way to get around, or out of it. She was stuck. She glanced into the rear view mirror and saw the pursuing patrol car slowly getting closer as it came up the median. It was only three cars behind her when the traffic came to a total stand still. She watched the officer get out of his car and walk toward her, removing his pistol from its holder. She glared at Bobby, then collapsed over the steering wheel, and waited for the inevitable.
Bobby twisted around and watched the officer cautiously approaching with his pistol aimed at the car.
"I told you that you couldn't get away with this, Mother," he quietly said
Marti turned her head and looked at him."What did I do to deserve you?" The venom in her voice shriveled his heart. The pain in Bobby's face would have shattered the heart of anyone with half a soul; Marti just ignored it. Bobby wondered for the millionth time what he had done to deserve such a hate filled woman as his mother, on top of a sexually abusive father.
"Step out of the car, Ma'am." The police officer commanded. Marti opened the car door and got out.
"Step away from the car and place your hands on top of your head."
Marti complied. She was dying of embarrassment. The drivers around her were standing beside their cars craning to see what was going on. When the officer snapped a bracelet on one of her wrists, she went berserk and pulled away from him before he could get her other hand snapped into the cuff.
"You bastard! How dare you try to put those things on me?"
She swung the hand with the cuff, intending to slap the officer. He dodged back. Her hand missed him, but the dangling cuff slashed him across his cheek and nose. Some young rowdies, bunched by their car, cheered her on. The man in the car next to her had leaned over his center console to better see what was happening. Marti saw him.
"What are you looking at, you son-of-a-bitch."
She kicked the side of his car. The man quickly straightened back up. The officer grabbed both of her arms from behind and brought them up behind her back. She kicked backward at him and lost her balance. The officer let her fall to the ground, but kept his grasp on both of her arms. He placed a knee in the middle of her back as she struggled to get lose. When the sharp pain of his knee registered in her maddened brain, she stopped struggling and allowed the officer to get the other cuff on her free wrist. Her mouth didn't stop though; she spewed vituperation like a hellcat. The officer ignored her and helped her to her feet. A loud cheer went up from all the drivers watching.
He read her the Miranda Act and informed her that she was being arrested for evasion, resisting arrest, and attacking an officer of the law.
"I'm sure there will be several more charges before we're through with you," he told her.
At that moment, the radio in the cruiser started calling for the officer to answer. As Marti listened to the conversation over the radio, the reality of the situation began to sink through her anger. The policeman turned to her and repeated what he'd just been told. "You are also being charged with kidnapping. That is a Federal offense," he told her. She slumped in defeat.
Two CHP motorcycle patrolmen pulled up on the edge of the freeway and directed the traffic behind Marti's car to stay put as the cars in front started to move forward again. The arresting officer had extracted a handkerchief from his back pocket and was holding it against the slash on his face. One of the patrolmen led Marti to his car and helped her into the back seat, while another moved the injured cop's car from the median to the side of the freeway. He returned to Marti's car and asked Bobby to get out. One of the motorcycle officers got into the car and drove it over to the side of the freeway where a tow truck was already waiting to haul it away.
The arresting officer with his hand on Bobby's shoulder followed on foot. The blood had coagulated and started drying on Bobby's forehead. They looked like a couple of war casualties. As they walked past the four jeering men, who had cheered when Marti had hit the officer, they were still making loud rude comments. Bobby broke away from the officer and walked up to them. "You men should be ashamed of yourselves. He is only doing his job."
The men shut up and looked ashamed. He turned and walked back to the officer's side. "Thanks, young man. That makes it all worthwhile," he said, and smiled at Bobby.
Bobby grinned back at him.
Jim arrived at Bobby's school in time to see a policeman taking a statement from the school security officer. He walked up to the two men. The policeman turned to him.
"May I help you, Sir?"
"I'm late picking up my ward, Bobby Baxter. I just got off a frantic telephone call with him. It sounded like he said that his mother had kidnapped him."
"Yes, Sir, I was just taking a report from this school guard. It appears that a woman about thirty years of age forced the young man into a red Camaro and drove away with him."
"Oh, my God," Jim said. "She really did kidnap him." He went on to explain about Bobby's custody, and how his mother was so condescending to the court. "She obviously didn't take the judge seriously."
"If you'll give me a minute, I'll call in and see if she has been apprehended yet, and the status of the boy."
"Thank you, Officer... Hodson." Jim said, reading the officer's name tag. "That would be much appreciated."
While the officer went to his car, Jim called Nathan and told him what was happening.
"Damn, I thought that looked like Bobby and his mother."
"What?"
"I'm watching a live news report on channel 7. The police stopped the traffic on the 210. They're showing a telescopic shot of them from a news 'copter. Bobby has blood running down the side of his face... Marti's fighting with the officer."
The police officer came back while Nathan was reporting what he was seeing on TV. Jim motioned for him to listen.
"He's got one of her arms cuffed. Oh, God, she hit him with the handcuffs across his nose. He's bleeding worse than Bobby. There are motorcycle cops taking over the scene. One is leading Marti away. The injured cop is leading Bobby over to another police car. Bobby's pulled away from the cop and appears to be yelling at some men standing next to a car. The cop's now patting him on the back. They've pulled Marti's car, and the police car, over to the side and traffic is beginning to move again."
"Hold on a minute, Nathe."
Jim turned to the officer and asked if he knew where they were taking Bobby. Huntington Hospital he was told.
"Nathe, I'm headed to Huntington Hospital. Do you want to meet me there?"
"You're at the school now?"
"Yes."
"Why don't you swing by the house and pick me up. It's just a few blocks out of the way."
"I'll do that. Bye."
Jim turned to the officer and thanked him.
When Jim and Nathan walked into the emergency waiting room at the hospital, they right away saw Bobby sitting against the wall in a straight chair. He had a small bandage on the side of his forehead. The officer that Marti had hit with the hand cuffs was sitting beside him. He had several stitches across his nose and cheek. Bobby saw them and jumped up to greet them. He flung his arms around Jim.
"Man, Marti is one crazy bitch."
"Bobby! That's not the way to talk about your mother - even if it is true." Jim scolded. He couldn't help but grin as he said it.
Nathan rubbed his hand through Bobby's hair.
"Are you okay, Kiddo?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm doing great."
"You looked awful on TV. You had blood all over your face."
"Ahh, it's just a scratch... were we really on TV?"
"Yup, live coverage."
"Cool. Hey, come meet Officer Evans. He's really neat."
Both men glanced at the police officer who was sitting there observing their reunion. Bobby grabbed their hands and led them over to him.
"Hey, Cal, Nathan watched us on TV. Just think the whole world got to watch Marti hit you with those cuffs."
The officer blushed. "That's just great." Jim and Nathan couldn't miss the sarcasm in his tone of voice. Bobby in his excitement missed it completely.
"This is Officer Cal Evans. Cal, this is my cousin Jim that I told you about. And this is Dr. Nathan Taylor."
The three men shook hand with enthusiasm.
"Officer Evans, I want to thank you for rescuing my young ward from his crazy mother."
"Call me Cal, Jim. I just happened to be the responding officer to that particular situation."
"Well, Cal," Nathan broke in, "we really are thankful to you and the whole police force for saving Bobby. If there is any favor we could do for you, let us know."
"You can always make a donation to the police relief fund. And personally, if you two will agree, I'd love to meet you for dinner some night with my partner."
Both Jim and Nathan's eyes widened at that. Before they could reply, Cal injected, "I hope I haven't misread things here. You two are mates, right?"
They both looked at each other, and then back at him and nodded.
"Bobby didn't say so, but as enthusiastically as he talks about the two of you, I kind of made the assumption. Of course, being gay, too, I kind of watched the way you two interact, and decided it was safe to out myself to you."
Nathan was near panicking.
"We act gay?" he whispered.
Cal chuckled.
"Hell no. You're both butch. Only another gay guy would ever really know what to look for. If I saw either one of you alone, I'd probably never pick up on it. That is, unless you were cruising the uniform."
Jim grinned and said.
"You do look hot in it. But you probably look hot out of it, too."
"God! Jim. Why don't you just make a pass at him?"
"Geez, Nathan, unwind. I'm not making a pass at him. He just told us he's married. Besides, I've got the very best." He turned to Cal. "Pardon me for saying so in front of you, but to me it is true." He turned back to Nathan. "Now tell me why would I want anyone else?"
Nathan grinned. "I'll shut up - while I'm ahead."
Cal laughed.
"You two are definitely a married couple. Bad as Jerry and I."
* * *
That night Bobby woke in a cold sweat, his heart thumping a mile a minute, yelling for his mother to let go of him. He sat up, getting a grasp on reality. It had only been a dream. His mother was ensconced in a jail cell downtown L.A. Once the Pasadena police had gotten matters straightened out, they gladly turned the woman over to the feds. After calming down, Bobby decided to get a glass of milk and some cookies to calm himself more.
Jim, who'd always been a light sleeper, heard the creak of the stair treads and figured Bobby was having a difficult time sleeping. He slid out of bed and quietly, trying not to wake Nathan, slipped into his jeans and headed downstairs, too.
Bobby had already poured himself a glass of milk when he was startled by Jim coming through the door. "I didn't mean to wake you." he said, smiling at Jim's tousled hair.
"Sorry, Bud, but the stairs are like an early warning system."
"They do squeak." Bobby set his glass down and took the lid off the cookie jar.
"They're old. Your mom giving you bad dreams?"
"Yeah, I woke up dreaming she was trying to force me into her car again."
Jim padded across the room to hug the boy. "She won't be bothering you again, Bobby."
Bobby hugged him back. "Thanks, Jim."
"Hey, I didn't have anything to do with it. She managed, all by herself, to get put into jail."
"You know what I mean. I love you, Cuz."
Jim squeezed him and kissed the side of his head. "Another six months, you're going to be taller than me."
Bobby laughed. "Jim, everyone is taller than you."
"Hey, no height deficiency jokes."
"You want some cookies and milk, too?"
"Nah, I'll just sit here and keep you company until you're ready to go back to bed."
Bobby munched on his cookie and gazed at his sleepy cousin. "Didn't Nathan stay here last night?"
"He's sound asleep."
"When are you going to ask him to move in with us?" Bobby asked, before putting the glass of milk to his lips.
Jim was suddenly wide awake. Bobby set the glass down as he swallowed. Jim's scared rabbit look tickled him. "He practically lives here anyway," Bobby added.
Jim just stared.
Bobby shrugged. "I just wanted you to know - it's okay with me, if you do."
At that moment, the door swung open and a nearly naked Nathan stumbled in. "You guys okay?" he mumbled, as pushed Jim over a bit to share his chair, and sat with his arm wrapped around him.
"I just had a bad dream," Bobby answered, looking Nathan up and down. "The stairs squeaking woke Jim. Yeah, we're okay."
Nathan ignored Bobby's blatancy and looked at Jim, who turned and looked back at him and said, "Nathe, I want you to move in with me." He glanced at Bobby. "Us."
Nathan fell off the edge of Jim's chair that he barely had his haunch on. He scrambled to his feet, trying to look as dignified as possible, dressed only in his boxers. "You're sure?"
A big grin spread across Bobby's face as Nathan stared in surprise at Jim. Bobby started vigorously nodding, as Jim said, "Yes, I am sure."
Nathan pulled Jim out of his chair and to his chest, kissing his face as he hugged him tightly. Bobby watched with a big grin as Nathan said, "I love you, Jim."
"You know I love you, Nathe," he replied with fervor. He mentally grimaced as he thought, 'So much for finding that special moment.'