CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Reggie’s wake-up alarm beeped longer than usual, so his mom knocked and opened his door. She gasped when she saw Reggie’s hair had fallen to the side revealing his bandaged head and stains on his pillow.
“Reggie!” she screamed as she rushed to sit on his bed. “What happened to you? Are you alright?”
Reggie grabbed a handful of hair and covered the bandages and groaned out, “I’m okay ma, just a few bruises.” “What happened?” She asked.
“Got in a fight with Kevin—I’m not hurt bad.” he answered, dismissing the gravity of it all with a wave of his hand. Then he asked, “Can I get back to sleep?”
Incredulous, his mom said, “No way, we need to talk.”
Reggie responded, “I said I’m okay, mom, just tired. The nurse tried to call you at work, but we couldn’t get through.”
“Dammit!” she said as she shook her head knowing that her phone has not been working right for some time.
Then Reggie reached over to his night table, picked up the suspension notice, handed it to his mom and said, “Talk to Mr. Tremper first.”
“Suspension!” she shouted, “Reggie what the hell?”
“Just call him ma and let me sleep a little longer.”
Sitting there re-reading the note and shaking her head, she said, “Alright, I’ll wake you up by ten o’clock,” knowing that her afternoon shift didn’t start ‘till three.
Carole called Mr. Tremper as soon as she got into the kitchen. She was put on hold and grabbed a cup of coffee and held it with both hands shaking. Saying hello, the Principal first asked if Reggie was okay, then he apologized for not being able to get a hold of her. Carole was so embarrassed, she told him it was her fault. The principal described to Carole what the school knew about the incident so far. He told Carole that when Reggie and Kevin come back from suspension in two days, they will be interviewed by the disciplinary committee. Once they complete their investigation, they will be making their decision.
After Carole asked what they could decide, Mr. Tremper talked about possible expulsion of one or both of the boys for the remainder of the year with possible re-enrollment in the Fall, pending parental involvement and anger management counseling.
After that, Carole started feeling sick to her stomach and felt she didn’t have the courage or the voice to ask any more questions. Then Mr. Tremper asked if there was anything Reggie told her or any circumstances at home that could have precipitated Reggie’s actions. Not wanting to say anything until she talked to Reggie and his dad, Carole told him no, and thanked him.
Carole immediately dialed her husband in Iraq, knowing it was unlikely she’d reach him. His voice mail did pick up however and she left a message that it was urgent for him to call right back, but that everyone is fine. Keeping the phone on the bathroom counter, she jumped into the shower to clear her thinking.
At nine o’clock she woke him. “Reggie, I need you to get up now,” she said firmly. “I put in a call to your father and we will need to agree on what to tell him.”
Reggie got up, dragged himself into the kitchen and slumped into his chair at the kitchen table.
“How do you feel?” his mom asked.
“Tired,” he replied.
“Who put on the bandages?”
“The doctor at the Urgent Care Center on Willoughby—he told me I was lucky the wounds were not deep and everything else was okay.” They tried to call you from there and I guess your phone was on the fritz again, they felt they couldn’t wait and just bandaged me up.” When I called Wal-Mart, they said you had left for the day.”
“I went food shopping, dammit!” she swore. “Look, I want to know every detail,” she said, “now let me fix you something.”
“Not hungry,” he said while thinking he could go for a fried egg and cheese sandwich.
“I’ll make you an egg and cheese sandwich,” she said.
“Alright,” he said as he put his head down into his arms on the table, groaned and hoped she would give him some time to wake up before the questioning began. Carole served Reggie and quietly watched him eat, giving him plenty of time to wake up. Poor kid, she thought to herself. She couldn’t believe, although he could get very angry at times, that Reggie would ever hurt someone without a good reason.
She then told Reggie, “Mr. Tremper filled me in on what they know so far and the possibility that you may be expelled. There is no way we can keep this thing from your dad, he will want to know what happened and hear the truth from you.” She went on, “But, we don’t have to tell him everything, because we don’t know how this will go down. He may call back anytime now and I’ll talk to him first, but we can’t let him get too upset—it might affect his alertness in the field, okay?”
“Okay,” Reggie said, relieved that his mom was willing to downplay it.
“I need you to promise, Reggie, you will not argue with him,” she added.
“Okay mom, I got it.” Reggie agreed and thought, thank God, that’s the last thing I need right now.
“Now, what happened?” she asked.
Looking his mom straight into the eyes and said, “That asshole Kevin was picking on Isaac so I stopped him, that’s it!” Knowing she wanted the complete story, he explained the whole thing.
Feeling relief believing that her son was defending his friend and that this Kevin kid was the instigator, she asked, “Did you hurt him?”
“I got in a few good punches,” Reggie replied, “but he got up and hit me hard—he’s a big jock, you know.”
Reggie’s mom tried to get a handle on Isaac’s involvement and asked, “Why was he slapping Isaac?”
Starting to feel frustrated and angry, reliving the whole thing, he answered gruffly, “Kevin is a bully mom, and he picks on anyone he thinks is different, including gays and half-breeds—Isaac never did anything to him.” “Isaac did nothing?” she asked.
“Maybe he called him a name once. You know, even if Isaac was gay, that’s no excuse to hit him,” Reggie answered.
Reggie jumped as his mom’s cell phone vibrated on the table. “Now the damn thing is working,” she said as picked up the phone and gestured to Reggie to go to his room. She silently mouthed, ‘I’ll call you later,’ and picked up the phone, noticing several messages she hadn’t gotten earlier.
Pausing to find a calm voice, she replied to John’s anxious questioning, “No, we’re okay.” Then Carole proceeded to give John an edited version of what happened. She downplayed the seriousness of the fight, that the other kid started it and that she believed that Reggie was only trying to protect his friend Isaac. Once Carole told him that Reggie was suspended, John demanded to speak to Reggie.
Telling John she’d go and get him, she buried the phone in her side, rushed to open Reggie’s door and whispered to him, “Dad wants to talk, tell him the truth, then just listen and go along with what he says, promise?” Reggie nodded so she handed him the phone.
With a quiet voice Reggie said, “Hi, Dad.”
“Are you alright Reggie?”
“I’m fine dad, it was no big deal.”
“No big deal!” John shouted into the phone, “you could be expelled and have a permanent stain on your record, I hope you’re telling your mom the truth about what happened.” His dad continued, “If I find out you were at fault and they expel you— you’re going to be in big trouble when I get home.”
Carole could hear John’s rant on the other end and could see a look of anger growing on Reggie.
“I told mom the truth,” Reggie said defensively, “Don’t you trust me?”
There was a long pause before his dad answered, “Who’s this kid Isaac?”
“A friend, dad.” said Reggie.
“If he was fighting there must be something going on,” he continued, “is Isaac a troublemaker?”
Reggie’s face reddened as the anger level rose, but he held back, “No he’s not—I tried to protect him”
Dad shouted, “Alright, I’m proud of you that you tried to protect a friend. But this friend smells like trouble and I don’t want you hanging around with him anymore, do you understand?”
The look on Reggie’s face signaled to Carole he was about to explode, so she put her index finger to her lips then held her hands together like she was praying and pleaded with her eyes for Reggie to stay calm.
Furious but realizing his dad wouldn’t know if he hung with Isaac or not, Reggie said “Okay” then shoved the phone over to his mom in disgust, grabbed his hoodie and headed out the apartment door.
Carole quickly jumped on and said, “I told him he could leave now, John—he’s pretty upset too, but I think we’ll be okay. I’m sorry to have bothered you about this, I guess I just panicked and I knew you’d want to know, but I will keep you posted, don’t worry okay?”
John, apparently feeling reassured by Carole’s handling of things said, “I’m sorry you have to handle these problems alone; I should be there with you when this stuff happens.”
“I know and I’ve been thinking we ought to talk to his school guidance counselor, maybe they can offer some suggestions.”
“You can give it a try, hang in there Carole. I’ll be home in only sixty-eight days.”
“I love you.”
“Love you too, Carole, let me know what happens,” John said, “good bye for now.”
Carole clicked off, then ran to the window and saw Reggie in his bright blue hoodie running down the street.
****
Running off his anger and frustration, Reggie covered what must have been two miles of Encino sidewalks in twenty minutes. He could feel each footfall in his chest and his head pounded in pain, but he pushed past it. Finally getting winded, he turned around and walked to catch his breath. His cell phone sounded. Figuring it was his mom, he almost didn’t take it out of his pocket.
“Yeah!” he shouted as he saw the call was from Jennifer. “Jennifer, thank God it’s you,” he told her as he ducked into the alley to talk. “How you doing?”
“Okay Reg, but I don’t have more than a minute, my mom’s waiting for me,” Jennifer said. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay, a little sore in the body, but my dad keeps messing with my mind,” he said, “he told me I better not get expelled and not to hang out with Isaac anymore—I don’t think he believes me about what happened.”
She paused for a moment to be sure Reggie was finished and said stammering, “Say, Reggie…”my…my dad, he doesn’t want me seeing you anymore.”
“What?” Reggie screamed.
“I’m sorry Reggie—he told me if I hang out with you…he thinks well, I’ll get in trouble too, by association, he said.”
“He hated my looks and my name didn’t he?” Reggie responded, “Did he say he doesn’t like gays too? What’s with your dad?”
“Reggie, Reggie, he didn’t say that. When he saw that you were in a fight, I…I think he’s just afraid for me. Reggie, I gotta go, maybe we can talk when you get back, but we just can’t meet anymore. I know that sucks, but I don’t know what else to say.” “Goodbye, that’s all.” Reggie hung up.
Then he yelled to the top of his voice, “Fucking parents! That Fucking Kevin!” echoed down the alley.
Standing next to an alcove behind a store where they keep the trash bins, he spotted a can with long fluorescent light tubes sticking out. Growling with rage, he ran over to them picked a tube up and, one at a time, like a Javelin thrower at the Olympics, started hurling them against the wall. They made a satisfying crack and popping sound with each hit, shattering tinkling shards everywhere. Four more. Three more. Two more. And just as he hurled the last tube, a door opened and a man’s head missed the shattering tube by a couple of feet. The man yelled at the kid in the blue hoodie, and Reggie took off as fast as he could down the alley.
Reggie only got two blocks when he heard sirens. The guy must have called the cops right away, he thought. He hung a left into the next alley and ducked down alongside a dumpster. The siren got louder and soon it reverberated even louder in the alley. Maybe they weren’t looking for him, he thought. He hoped for a moment they didn’t see him as the police car whizzed by him in the alley. But halfway down, the car screeched to a halt, with gears grinded into reverse. It burned rubber and headed back to where Reggie was hiding.
****
By this time, Reggie knew they got him. So he simply stood up as the car stopped. Both doors flung open and two cops with hands on their holsters came rushing towards him. They yelled at Reggie to put his hands on his head and face the wall. They frisked him, flipped him around and the Asian-American cop said, “Having some fun, kid?” The cop could see Reggie had a fearful, not defiant look on his face. He shouted at him to show his ID.
“I don’t have it with me, sir.”
“Where do you live, kid?” the cop asked.
“In Encino, on Dean Street,”
“Are your parents’ home?”
“My Mom is. I didn’t want to hurt anybody.”
“Maybe, but you better hope it’s just a vandalism charge,” the cop said. “Get in the car.”
At the station, they put Reggie into a holding cell and asked for his mom’s phone number. While sitting there the anger had worn off and the shame took over as he realized he had gotten himself into deep trouble. ‘Shit,’ he said to himself, ‘you’re a royal fuck-up.’ As he imagined how angry and disappointed his mom would be, a woman cop came into the holding area, unlocked the door and told him that his mother was here. When Reggie saw her, he knew she’d be mad—and she was.
Carole rushed in and grabbed him by the shoulders and said, “What the hell is the matter with you? You could have hurt someone.”
“I was stupid,” Reggie responded.
Carole shook her head in disgust and said, “We’ve got to figure what we’re going to tell your dad!”
Reggie looked at his mom feeling like he used to feel before he cried, but held it back and held his head down.
The woman officer interrupted and told them that Captain Arnold will meet with them now to go over procedures. The Captain, whose head was shaved like a marine, introduced himself and explained how the janitor identified the kid in the bright blue hoodie and that when apprehended, Reggie admitted he did it.
Since he was a juvenile, he would probably go to Juvenile Court where his case would be heard. Then the Captain asked if Reggie had any explanation for what he did.
“No excuses, sir. I was just angry,” Reggie answered
The Captain waiting to hear more, but after a long pause, Reggie’s mom spoke up, “If I could sir, let me say that Reggie has been having a hard time at his new school and that with his dad being in Iraq, Reggie hasn’t been himself lately.”
The Captain’s demeanor changed all of a sudden and he asked Carole, “Who’s his dad with?”
“The 105th Armored Brigade,” Carole told him.
“Fallujah?” he asked.
“Yes, how did you know?”
“Well, I was with the 32nd Infantry Battalion,” the Captain replied “and knew some of the guys over there from that unit—we all had some rough going there.” The Captain must have seen Carole’s face drop having realized that her husband was still in the thick of it. “But I’m digressing,” he said. “We will have to complete our investigation, see if the janitor and company want to press charges, file a complete report of the incident and determine the appropriate resolution.”
Looking over at Reggie, the Captain asked, “Did you know that these fluorescent tubes contain mercury and lead and that when the glass breaks, poisonous gases are released?” “No sir,” replied Reggie.
“Yeah, most people don’t,” said the Captain, “you could have cut that man’s face up and permanently blinded him too.”
“I didn’t mean to… to…” Reggie said as he looked for more words.
Then the Captain interrupted, and sensing that Reggie was remorseful asked, “You think you can control your anger and not strike out like that again, Reggie?”
“I think so, sir,” Reggie answered.
“Alright,” the Captain said, we will let you know if you will have to go to Juvenile Court and we may also have to notify your school.” At that point Reggie and his mom looked at each other with mutual horror.
“Stay clean, Reggie,” the captain said extending his hand “and thanks for coming in, Mrs. Youngblood.” Then he added, “How much longer is your husband’s tour?”
“Sixty-two days and counting,” Carole told him as she thanked him for his understanding.