Chapter 3
KITTINIR
Carl hurried over to me, looking eager to share some bit of news. From his excitement, I figured it either had something to do with Friday’s upcoming game or he had news about his car.
“Kit! You’ll never believe it!”
I raised an eyebrow at my friend. “Are you sure?”
He laughed. “Yeah, okay, you probably would. So, anyway, the bowling alley had some footage showing the smash and grab. It was kind of grainy, but it was clear enough to see the face of the guy who smashed my car up. Not only that, but when the officer saw it, he knew immediately who it was.”
“Let me guess, it’s a habitual offender who has done this very thing in the past,” I replied dryly.
“Yep! Only before, he was a juvenile but he’s eighteen now so he’s going to be charged as an adult.
And get this - the kid’s dad is the assistant football coach at McAlister High.
He’s been blowing up my phone half of this morning trying to get me to have the cops drop the charges if he buys me a fancier radio and pays for my car window. ”
“And are you?”
“Nah. With his rap sheet and only getting community service, it’s clear this kid needs a major wake up call.
Besides, like I told his dad, they’ll be buying me a new radio and window anyway, and I don’t want some fancy set up.
I want an original radio, which given it’s a vintage Mini, is already not going to be super cheap, especially after they pay the import tariffs. ”
I laughed. “Sounds about right.”
His expression sobered. “I did tell the police that I want him to face some jail time, but that I also really want him to go into some kind of mandatory therapy. The kid’s been doing this sort of thing since he was eleven or twelve, so there’s gotta be a reason.
He obviously is acting out and he needs to discover the root cause of it and come to terms with it. ”
“Spoken like a true psychology professor,” I told him.
“Well,” he shrugged, “I mean, you’re not wrong. Anyway, I just thought I’d catch up with you on that before teaching my afternoon class. See you tonight at the alley. You have more practicing to do.”
I shook my head at my friend’s antics. He could have told me this over the tacos we’d eat tonight at the alley, seeing as it was a Tuesday which for some reason meant tacos. Even the cafeteria was serving them today.
My kunnasrskyn chirped, and I moved to a quieter spot to answer it.
“Kittinir,” I responded.
“Have I caught you at a bad time?” Xeranos asked.
“Not at all. I was on my way to the library to see if the reference books I’d requested had arrived and been catalogued and placed on the shelves.”
“I see. Well, as soon as you have a chance, you need to report to the nearest Scholarship office. I’m afraid we need you to give an updated profile, including a fresh DNA sample.”
“An updated profile and a fresh DNA sample?” I repeated, puzzled.
“Yes. Your profile was completed before we added the latest biometrics to the psychological part and your DNA sample shows some irregularities that I need to rule out as being caused by contamination during the collection process.”
I sighed. “Very well. How late is the center open?”
“They can wait for you until eight this evening.”
“I can be there by five.” I’d just have to let Carl know I’d have to miss tonight’s practice. I decided it would be best to text him after his class was over, when I’d already be on my way to the center.
“Excellent!” Xero said. “I will inform the Scholarship officer.”
As predicted, Carl was most unhappy.
“You did finally manage to get the speed right and stay in the lane, now you have to master the amount of spin to give the ball and improve your aim so you hit dead center,” he protested.
“I’m off tomorrow. I’ll go practice when the alley opens at twelve,” I promised him.
“Fine. But it’s Taco Tuesday, and now who will I go have tacos with? And isn’t the nearest center in Ogden?”
“It is,” I acknowledged.
“Can’t you just have them send a shuttle to pick you up and bring you back?”
I sighed. “I could, but for such a small errand, I wouldn’t feel right doing so.
Xeranos didn’t offer me one either.” I didn’t add that the reason Xeranos probably didn’t was that I hated flying in shuttles.
I didn’t mind being aboard one of our larger cruisers, but anything shuttle sized or smaller made me uneasy.
I wasn’t a particularly huge fan of the human road vehicles either, but at least those weren’t hurtling through the atmosphere at rates that would disintegrate me if anything went wrong.
“Fine.” I could hear my friend pout.
“How about this,” I suggested, “I will complete my errand and pick up some tacos, take them back to my motel room, and we can Facetime while we eat.”
“Hell yeah! Ohh, I know, we can watch a movie while we eat.”
“What movie?” I asked warily, as Carl’s choices had been questionable in the past.
“The Brady Bunch Movie,” he answered. “You can’t get anymore American pop culture than the Bradys, man.”
“This is not one of your B movies?” I asked, just to make sure. “There are no killer tomatoes and the Bradys are not a murderous walking bunch of grapes or anything like that?”
He laughed heartily at that. “Oh, God, no. Wholesome family entertainment. We’ll watch the movie and then maybe I can get you to binge the series with me.
My mom and I used to watch the reruns all the time.
It was her favorite TV show ever, and I’m feeling kinda nostalgic.
It was her birthday last week, you know. ”
I hadn’t, but I did know that she’d died a few months ago, so this was as much about him missing his mother as it was some TV show.
“Then we should also have some cake.”
“Little Debbie Birthday Cake snack cakes,” he said. “You can pick them up at just about any grocery store. Since it was just the two of us, that’s what she always bought to serve on her birthday, along with some frozen mint chocolate chip ice cream cones.”
“So, tacos, the birthday snack cakes, and mint chocolate chip ice cream cones, and the Brady Bunch movie,” I said as I turned my car’s blinker on to take the off ramp.
“Yep!” he replied cheerily. “Call me when you’re settled and ready to start. Later, dude!” He disconnected the call.