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Randall
RANDALL FINISHED TAKING Milo on a quick tour of the police headquarters and pulled out a chair in his office. “Here sit down and don’t touch anything. I’ve got to make some calls.” This day was a waste. He had nothing but paperwork piling up and the time he had spent with Milo was painfully awkward. But he had promised Traci he would do this. So, here they were. Milo glanced around the room but mostly plucked at the lint balls on his sweater. That reminded him to follow up with the local school superintendent about the two buses that had been vandalized. The graffiti would be removed, and a couple of cameras mounted over the parking lot. It was an easy conversation, thankfully.
“Well, how about this,” Randall said looking up at Milo. “Let’s go grab something to eat and beat the lunch crowd.” He cleared his desk and escorted Milo out of the room.
Randall saw Father Kearn leaving the KMP chapel. He was acting Chaplain while Brother Drake attended the Odyssey Ministers Conference back East. He was sitting on the edge of a short pew. Randall didn’t know what could possibly make a volunteer chaplain look so tired. Perhaps it was boredom from listening to other people’s troubles all day. Regardless, he had some things rumbling around and needed to get them off his chest. This priest was the only person on-site that he could trust right now. He decided to join him.
“Wait here,” he said to Milo and pointed to the wall next to the Times Daily newspaper stand.
“I’m not a very religious man, Father. Do we go inside a little closet to talk or something?” Randall said.
“No, not necessary.” Father Kearn removed his eyeglasses and wiped his eyes with a handkerchief.
“I see. I guess I should be brief. I’m involved with this woman. You probably already know about it. She’s in a bad way right now, mentally. Her emotional state, I think there’s been some serious damage.”
“We’ve all been damaged son. As soon as we leave our mother’s womb, the evils of this world start their attack. No one is without damage.”
“I mean, I don’t know if I can ever reach her again. She’s shut me out, totally. None of it was my fault ... I know you probably hear that a lot.”
“Yes, quite a lot.”
“Well, in my case it’s true.”
“I see. Why does that matter?”
“Excuse me. What?”
“Whose fault it is, why does that matter?”
“Well, if it was my fault, I could fix it. Or, at least I would try to fix it.”
“And, if it’s not your fault, you wouldn’t bother. Is that it?”
“I guess, maybe. No, that’s not it. What I mean is ... I don’t know what I’m saying. Or why I’m bothering you. Or why I’m even trying to figure this out. She clearly isn’t trying ...”
“Let’s start over. This is about a woman.”
“Yes.”
“You love her.”
“Well ... I feel ... I think ...”
“Have you ever said ‘I love you’?”
“I think she knows how I ...”
“Ah, there we are. You’re not sure that you love her. She’s currently in some kind of trouble. Doesn’t want to talk to you. It’s weighing you down. Right?”
“Right. Something like that.”
“I’d say it’s probably a good time to just cut your losses and move on, son. I mean, it sounds like she’s not interested in you.”
“Well, I think she might be ... we’ve been ...”
“Well, maybe she is or maybe she’s not.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Sounds confusing. Lots of maybes between you two.” Father Kearn stood up and wiped his face again, then shoved his handkerchief into his back pocket. “Yes, I’d say just stop wasting your time and move on to someone that’s not so messy and let her figure things out on her own. You’re young. Plenty of fish in the sea. I wouldn’t bother with her anymore if I were you.”
“Is that your advice? Seriously? Just walk away from someone when things get tough. Throw everything away and give up? Is that what you would do?”
“Probably.”
“Well, Father, I’m not like you, I guess. I don’t give up on people.” Randall stood up and looked over this priest.
“Ah, then you have your answer don’t you.” He winked. “And, by the way, the Friendship Hall at St. Andrew’s is available for rental. You know, for special occasions like weddings. Just keep that in mind.” He walked away.
“Captain,” Officer Harrison approached him, holding Milo by the arm.
“Again?” Randall sighed and grasped his forehead.
“Yeah, we found him near the evidence room, and hanging around outside the Chief’s office this time. We can’t have him wandering around unescorted, sir.”
“Right, I know,” he shook his head. “C’mon, Milo, let’s go.”
––––––––
RANDALL AND MILO TOOK their seats in a booth near the entrance of Red Roasters.
“There are no pictures,” Milo said flipping through the menu.
“No, you have to read the menu here, son.”
“I'm not your son.”
“Right, it's just an expression ... never mind. What do you want to eat?” Randall said, and took a sip of ice water. “Pick anything you want. Traci won’t know if you don't eat your vegetables today.” He smiled.
“It doesn't matter. I mean, I'll eat pretty much anything.” Milo closed the menu and shoved it aside. “Whatever you choose is cool with me.”
This kid is one of the lucky ones. Not many make it through those streets without an arrest record by his age. Plus, he has someone as wonderful as Traci in his corner. And, here he is. No motivation, no direction. He has a million options, and he just sits here with no plan for his own future. Every time he turned around Milo had wondered off somewhere in the building. Thankfully, he didn’t cause any major security violations. There was enough to deal with considering the investigation still had people walking on eggshells around him. But maybe the kid saw something that interested him. “Something that would light a fire under him, some motivation or passion, or ambition ... something I can work with at least,” he thought.
“So, what do you think about maybe joining the force after high school? We've got a few programs that might interest you. You'll have to take a few classes at the community college. Nothing too heavy. I can introduce you to the guys in charge of ...”
“No. I mean, no thanks.”
“Why not? Why not look into it at least? It's been a good career for me ... “
“Everybody's not you. “
“Of course, not ...” There he goes slouching again, no eye contact, nothing. This kid.
“Everybody doesn't want to be like you ... Captain.”
“Right, right.” He was too tired to push this conversation any further.
The waitress joined them. Randall ordered burger platters for both.
“Pretty good, right? Best burgers in the county. I could eat these every day. But they can't beat Moe's ribs. And that's the truth.”
“You know ...” Milo said glancing up from his meal.
“Yeah?”
“I know a guy ... he knows a lot about cellphones. And towers. Computers, y'know?”
“Okay ...”
“Like ... he's a real techie when it comes to stuff like that. And, he said ...”
“So, you want to be a tech? Okay, there are a lot of opportunities in that field. You'll have to pick a specialization, but you can narrow things down later. The key is to just get started. So, yeah, good choice, son ...” He put up his hand. “I mean, Milo.”
“Right, sure,” Milo said softly and finished eating the fries from his platter.
“Maybe I'll order one of these bean patty things Traci likes and take it over.” He pulled out his cellphone, placed it on the table and opened the FriendsTagAlong app. The green dot was steady at 220 Spring Street, as always. “Couldn't hurt, right? She should be ready for lunch right about now. What do you think?”
“Sure.”
When they finished eating, Randall paid the bill and left a generous tip at the table. Then drove Milo to McClendon Library.
“Good talk today,” Randall said. “Maybe we can take in a game next week. The Ragin' Reds are smoking hot this year, so far.” He laughed. “There's a home game coming up. I'm pretty sure I can get the afternoon off. Yeah, I can swing by and pick you up. I’m sure Moe won't mind.”
“Okay, sure. That'll be fine.”
“Alright, I'll work it out with Moe. It would be great if Traci would come too but I think it should be just us fellas. What do you think?”
“Yeah, okay.” Milo glanced up at Randall, and then turned away.
“Is there something on your mind?”
“No,” he sighed. “Yeah, what I was trying to say earlier ... about the phones ...”
“About being a tech?”
“No, not about being a tech. About knowing a tech.”
“What's going on?” Randall rubbed the top of his head trying not to lose his patience.
“The guy I know, he says you can do almost anything with a cellphone.”
“Okay ... and?”
“Like ... I don't know how to explain it like he did, but you can make one cellphone pretend to be a different cellphone. Do you know what I mean?”
“If you're asking me if I understand how cellular technology works, the answer is 'no.' What's your point?”
“I'm saying ... I could send a message and pretend to be you, if I had a cellphone, and if I had your phone number. I could trick people like that.”
“Why would you want to do something like that? That's illegal and ... stupid.”
“I wouldn't want to ... I don't want to ... but people do it. And other people pay you to do that stuff.”
“Well, I'm going to advise you not to do it.”
“I can't. I don't even have a cellphone.”
“I'll talk to Moe about getting you a phone. Doesn’t seem like an unreasonable thing. Hop out, my guy. I've got to get back to work and you need to check in at the library. How’s all that coming along, by the way?”
“Fine.”
“That’s great to hear. I'll catch you next week, okay?”
“Sure, okay.”
“And hey ... call me Randall.”
“Sure.”
