The Fury - Jason Pinter [107]
pretty pink bow. I never want to set foot in this city
again."
"I still don't fully get it," I said. "If Stephen was
really as high up as Kyle and Scott said he was, did he
really need to leave the country to get away from them?
And if they were able to get close enough, obviously
Stephen didn't think they were a threat. Which makes
me wonder just who Stephen was afraid of."
"No disrespect to the dead," my father said, "but I
don't think any of those boys were in their right mind."
"And the cop, Makhoulian. I'm glad he worked so
fast to get you out. I just didn't think he needed to kill
Kyle. He looked like he was giving up."
"You're saying the guy who killed your brother
should have lived?"
"One death doesn't always merit another. We have a
justice system."
"Which would have probably screwed up somehow
and either let that boy walk on a technicality, put him in
some cushy detention facility because some quack doctor
on somebody's payroll said he has woman issues. Or he'd
be out in enough time to kill somebody else's son. I don't
know what's going on in this city, Henry, but being
among criminals day in and day out is no way to live."
"Maybe I'll move back home with you and Mom,"
I joked. That made him laugh. He checked his
boarding pass.
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311
"I should head to the gate. They'll probably give my
ticket to some freak if I'm not there on time."
His flight didn't board for another hour, but the
Parker family bonding hour had run its course. We both
stood up. My dad stepped forward, then wrapped his
arms around me, the most tentative hug I could imagine.
I returned it. Just a little stronger.
"Thank you for your help," he said. The feeling was
genuine. He wasn't going to apologize for the years
before that, and I wasn't going to ask him to.
"Take care of yourself," I said. "And please take care
of Mom. Do me one favor?"
He frowned. "What?"
"Mom was knitting something when I saw her in
Bend. If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to have it."
"I'll tell her," he said.
"And if you change your mind and decide to take a
vacation in NYC, at least give me a call."
"I will. And give my best to your girlfriend. She
seems like a catch."
"One in a million," I said. "Without her you'd still
be in jail."
"Guess I owe her a thank-you then. Pass it on for
me, will ya?"
"I will. And Dad?"
"Yeah, Henry."
"I'm sorry too. About Stephen. I wish I'd had a
chance to know him. Maybe we could have saved him."
His eyes closed as he took a deep breath. When he
opened them, he sighed and said, "Take care, Henry. It's
good to see I raised you right."
Then he was gone.
34
We were almost done packing. After several years in
that apartment, the time had come to say goodbye
before the floor gave out or a black hole opened up that
sucked us into some alternate universe. A man can only
face so many attempted assaults on his doorstep before
rethinking his living situation. And since I'd already
been thinking about more space, when Amanda agreed
with me it made sense. My lease was up in a few weeks.
It was as good a time as any to start over.
We were submerged amongst folded cardboard
boxes, masking tape, clothes, books, papers and every
thing else you forget about and probably have no need
for. My books took up the most room. I packed all of
my first-edition Jack O'Donnell tomes in a padded box,
reinforced with enough masking tape to hold up the
Brooklyn Bridge. My clothes were another story. There
were two small boxes marked Henry's Clothes. They
weighed about as much as a pizza.
"You know," Amanda said, "you could have saved on
the moving van and just rented a bike. You could have
fit all your stuff into one of those E.T. baskets."
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"I'm not a shopper, what do you want from me?"
"Not a shopper?" she said, putting down her Sharpie.
"Even being able to use the word shopper implies that
you have, in fact, shopped in your life. I'm guessing
most of these clothes survived from college, or else the
local Salvation Army dropoff