Because it was the middle of the day, there were only a handful of other passengers in the seating area. DeMarco and Alexis followed me inside. Just like Ernest to conk out again somewhere in public, I thought. I shook him gently at first but didn’t get a response. I shook a little harder, “Ernest, are you okay?”
His eyes slowly opened, and he looked frightened. Then he realized it was me. “Cody. Jesus, lad. At first I thought you were my father. I must have been dreaming.”
“Do I look like your father?” I joked, relieved the guy had just been asleep and not dead.
He took a deep breath and tried to straighten himself up. “No. It was just the dream. But the damn man keeps showing up when I sleep. When I was a kid, he beat the crap out of me on a regular basis. Nothing I ever did was good enough for him. And he told me so. He still haunts me, the old goon, even though he’s dead.”
I introduced DeMarco and Alexis.
“Shouldn’t you hoodlums be in school?” Ernest asked.
I explained my current problems.
“Running away from shit like that usually doesn’t work. It’s like running from my old man. He always caught up with me. He still catches up with me.”
I guess I rolled my eyes a bit. Look who was giving me advice.
“I wanted to get the hell out of the city too. But the farther away I went, the more lost I felt. So I came back. Not much of a life, I guess, but at least I know my way around.”
“What are you doing on the ferry?” Alexis asked. “Where are you going?”
He laughed. “Oh, I’m not going anywhere. It’s a cheap ride. I like the feel of the water under the boat. I get to sleep. Usually I can go back and forth a few times before they put me ashore. They all know me, so they leave me alone unless someone complains.”
The ferry was coming into the dock on the other side of the harbor now. I’d never experienced anything quite like it before. I thought for a second we were going to crash, we were moving so fast, but whoever was steering cut the engines and we glided to a stop right beside the dock. Some people were standing there, waiting to get on board. One of them was a cop. I nodded to DeMarco.
He saw that I was about to make a run for it, out the door and past the cop. He grabbed my wrist. “Be cool,” he said.
The doors opened and we moved toward the ramp off the ferry. I watched as the policeman walked through the exiting passengers and headed our way. I was still ready to bolt, but then I realized he was ignoring us and focusing on Ernest.
Ernest knew what was coming.
“You’ll have to go ashore,” the cop said. “You know how it goes.”
Ernest nodded. “Yes, Officer.”
So the four of us walked off together. The cop followed, but once we were out of the ferry terminal, he headed down the street. Ernest let out a big sigh. He pulled an empty booze bottle from his coat pocket and deposited it in a recycling can. “Guess I’ll have to walk the bridge back to town,” he said. “It’s a good day for a hike. See the sights, get some fresh air.” Then he let out his loud, unhealthy, signature cough.
We stood silently there by the water for a minute. Ernest was just staring up into the sky when he started talking. “Cody, is your home that nice little hobbit hut in the woods, or is your home where your parents are and”—he nodded at Alexis and DeMarco—“where your friends are?”
I didn’t say anything, but his words were getting to me. I really did want to see my home again, but what was I going to do when I got there? And what was I really running from? I was running because I was afraid, not because I’d really done anything wrong.
And then Ernest drove the point home. “What if you run off and something happens to your dad in the hospital and you’re not there? They wouldn’t even be able to get in touch with you.”
I looked at Alexis, and she nodded. DeMarco looked at me and said, “It’s your call, Codeman.”
The ferry had not left yet. “I’ve got some more money,” Alexis said. “Enough to get us all back across the harbor.”
I nodded at Ernest. “C’mon. Let’s go.”
“You guys go. They won’t let me back on today. Like I said, it’s a good day for a walk.” And then he shook my hand and looked into my eyes. “Do whatever needs to be done, brother. And take care of those parents. They’re the only ones you’ve got.” Then he turned and began to walk toward the bridge. The ferry sounded its horn, and Alexis slapped my arm. “Let’s go, Cody.”
The three of us got back on the ferry, and almost immediately it left the dock. We stood outside at the front of the boat, watching as the city grew larger in front of us.
“What are you going to do?” DeMarco asked.
“Guess I’ll just go straight to the police. Tell them my side of the story.”
“We’ll go with you,” Alexis said.
When I walked through the doors of the police station for the second time, I feared I might never walk back out. But Alexis and DeMarco were with me, and I had faith in them.
I told the desk cop who I was, why I was there and that I wanted to talk to someone about it. He looked me up on his computer. “Says here you were involved in some kind of fight at your school. I don’t see anything else.”
Austin and Jacob had not reported what happened in the cemetery. “But I feel like I should talk to someone and explain what happened next,” I said.
The cop didn’t seem that interested. “We’re pretty busy around here,” he said, even though it didn’t look busy at all. “Why don’t you go back to school?”
I felt like a weight had been lifted off me. I guess I had not badly injured Jacob after all. Maybe he and Austin would still try to get back at me, but I wouldn’t fight them again. I’d find ways to stay clear of them, to get them off my case. I’d use my wits instead of my strength. It was all about a new set of survival skills.