The
Rooters
Leo could see the tears welling
in the boy’s eyes even at a distance and felt the rage build inside him. Here
was another weed that needed plucking and with all eyes on the athletic trials he
couldn’t believe the boy wasn’t at least trying to hide his unseemly display.
Leo tugged on the red badge on his arm and started walking across the grass field
studiously ignoring the approaching runners. He was confident that they all
knew the penalty for crossing a Rooter, even a junior one.
The runners at the front of the
pack saw the seventeen year old walk right across the track and recognizing him
by his blonde hair and tall build, quickly drew to a halt, not wanting to draw
his attention. The object of his rage was leaning against the lower bench of an
empty audience stand while keeping his hand on a bloody abrasion on his knee.
‘Is there a problem student?’
Leo inquired.
The boy lifted his head and his
heart nearly stopped in his chest. Looking down at him with pure disdain was a
pair of cold gray eyes, eyes that he’d often seen scanning the students at New
England Prep for weakness. Junior Rooter First Class Leo Grant was the most
feared person at their school; even the Headmaster stepped lightly around him.
‘No Junior Rooter Grant,’ the
boy replied, his voice quaking.
Leo nodded his head, ‘I see,
then you wouldn’t mind getting on your feet.’
The boy was beginning to sweat
and glanced down at his knee then back into the rooter’s face and found no
mercy there. He struggled to his feet then tried to stand up straight. He
lasted for almost a full ten seconds before falling back on his haunches, a
soft cry escaping his lips.
‘I see,’ Leo said. He turned
his head and called over two second year rooters who had been observing their
senior with interest. They came running over and took in the boy shuddering on
the ground.
‘Sir?’ the first of them spoke
up.
‘I want you to take this
student to the nurse’s office, and inform her that I’ll need her notes for my
report,’ Leo ordered them.
What little color remained in
the boy’s face completely melted away and took on the expression of a condemned
man. The two second years each got an arm under him and lifted him bodily to his
feet. They marched him away with his toes scraping against the dirt, helplessly
dangling between them.
Leo looked around and noticed
how careful everyone was to avoid his eye, including the adults who’d come out
to cheer on their kids. He eventually spotted a woman in one of the stands
being supported by a white haired man, mascara dripping down her face in a
torrent of tears and guessed that they were the boy’s parents. From the cut of
her clothes and the uneven mess that was her hair she must have been a cleaner
or working some other dead end job, which was probably why the senior rooters
hadn’t bothered with her. It was a wonder they’d even gotten their boy into a
school like New England Prep. Leo felt it when the man’s gaze focused in on him
and the heat of his anger couldn’t have been more obvious. He stiffly gave the
man his back and walked away from the practice fields.
The sun was just beginning to
set when Leo brought his bike up to their building’s third floor and turned the
key to let himself in to their apartment. Something rushed out at him from
under a couch, and quickly setting his bike aside he bent down to let his pet
Scottish terrier Byron leap into his arms. Byron started licking at his face
while Leo laughed and tried to hold him at a distance.
‘How’re you doing boy?’ Leo
asked the little dog, rubbing his nose against its cold one. Leo usually set
Byron loose when his parents were out so he could get some exercise, but knew
the apartment could get pretty lonely. ‘Come on let’s get to my room.’
Leo carried Byron under his arm
and into his bedroom kicking the door closed. Placing Byron down he locked the
door and watched the dog run excitedly around the room. Leo was grateful for
the soundproofed walls that were the only reason his parents hadn’t figured out
he was keeping a dog in the apartment. He sat on his bed and smiled at Byron
who stopped playing long enough to sit down and look at his master.
Byron panted softly and gave
Leo a huge doggy grin that almost rid him of the sight of that injured boy
staring at him like he was the devil. He might as well be because his report
was going to get that boy expelled and once his weakness was noted and put on
file it would be nothing but public schools for him for the rest of his life.
After that would be community college and if he was lucky he might get a job
driving cabs for a living.
‘Come here Byron,’ Leo coaxed.
Byron came running and Leo lifted him up and fell back against his bed while
suspending the black furred terrier in the air. Leo knew that those were the
rules and there wasn’t anything he could do to change them, if he hadn’t cited
the boy someone else would have. It was so damn frustrating and even more so
when he considered that if his parents ever discovered Byron he’d probably face
far worse.
Byron started barking and let
his tongue hang out of his mouth, completely oblivious to the world his master
lived in, but happy that he was home. Leo placed the dog beside him on the bed
and laid his ear next to its chest and allowed the sound of its heart to drown
out his thoughts.
No comments:
Post a Comment