Los Angeles, California

BEN BRIAR

Victor let me sleep on the couch for the night. In the morning, he cut raisin bread for me and the boy to savour. The kid doesn't talk much. I wondered if it was because of me or if it was because of the trauma he experienced as a youngling.

There were rigger gloves in the fruit bowl upon the kitchen bench. The dad's, most likely and most definitely. The boy saw me looking at them and took them from the fruit bowl.

"They ain't yours to look at," the boy said, bereft of manners. At least I knew he could talk in the morning.

The phone rang. Victor snatched it off the base and placed it against his ear.

He asked, holding up a plate he was cleaning, "He-llo, who is this?"

Five seconds passed of my quiet eating and tele-speech. "Yes he is, I'll pass you on."

He put the phone to my ear and I held the curved handset, surprised a phone call would be addressed to me.

"Yes," I answered, "Ben Briar speaking."

"Mr Briar - it's me! It's Jennifer!" I hopped off the tall, spinnable seat. I guess the same landline number was kept or else she wouldn't have been able to get in contact with me.

"Jen - where are you?"

"We're in Shasta County," Jennifer said. "Molly reckons it's in California. Where are you?"

"It is. I think it's north of LA. Far north. I'm back in my condo. But it's not my condo anymore, it's the bellhop's. Honey, it's not 1984 anymore, it's -"

"Yeah, I know. It's 2020." Victor's grandkid had confusion written all over his face and I mean all over. Even his ears were twitching in uncertainty.

"We've been gone for 36 years."

"Molly - I mean your grandmother - I mean Molly, has been gone for longer," Jennifer said. "It doesn't matter. We'll get used to it."

"Yeah, maybe. Is Molly with you?"

"Yep. So is Valery." I tittered out loud.

"That son of a bitch made it through. Do you still have... your powers?"

"No, weirdly. You?"

"No. My theory is that they disappeared when we returned. Are you safe?"

"Well..."

"What is it?"

"Bad people are looking for us. 51 agents of the Fifty-One. 50 now, we just took one out. Or rather the dragon did."

"What? What are you talking about? I'm gonna pick you guys up, I just need -"

"No! No - no - no, I called for a reason. I need you to check up on my mom. See if she's still alive and doing well. You remember the address, right?" I sat back up, trying to remember.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course. But what are you going to do? And how are you going to escape these people who are tracking you down?"

"We're gonna fly over to LA. And don't worry, we still have Valery's bubbles. And a dragon, don't forget that part."

"What if these bad people check airports?"

"Who said anything about taking a plane?"

"Oh yeah, gotcha. Your mother will be fine. Hopefully." She hung up. I memorised Jennifer's phone number before putting the phone back into its plastic mould.

Victor and the boy were leaving the condo. The boy was heading off to school, an inference made from noticing the backpack.

"Do you need to be somewhere?" Victor said. I met them at the door.

"Yes," I replied. "Is he going by car or bus?"

"Well I wouldn't be going with him if he was going by bus."

"Right. So would you mind if I borrowed your car? I mean, only if there's a bus to take him there."

"Yeah, there is a bus!" he barked. He leaned forward and half-whispered, half-muttered: "But between you and me, he doesn't like the bus too much. The boys on the bus pick on him."

"I'm standing right here pap," the kid sighed.

"And I told you to knock their teeth out! Teach them a lesson."

"Kid, why do they pick on you specifically?" I asked.

"I don't know." The boy looked perfectly normal appearance wise, albeit a bit rough around the edges. So it must have been the personality.

"You know. You're just not telling me. And it's fine, why tell your problems to a stranger? But I'm sure you've told your pap here. Let me tell you what a stranger can do for another stranger though. That a pap can't."

I crouched down and whispered in his ear, in fine detail, the pain I could inflict through sheer force to these so-called bullies. Even without my powers, I was still ready and able to scrap with younger folk. "That acceptable, champ? I'll swing around your school sometime. But I'll need the car. You'll just need to be on that bus for one trip. One trip. Maybe more after I'm done with him - them?"

"Her," the boy murmured.

"Oh, uhhhh, sure," I said. "I can handle her. I'll just be careful. Very careful."

"And I like her as well."

"Like her? Why would you like a bully - oh - you mean like-like. See - look at you. You've revealed your problems to me either way. That's the charm of strangers. Actually, that's a bad lesson to teach, don't trust strangers - ignore that." The kid checked his wristwatch. I needed to hurry up with the figurative lesson. "How do you know she's not picking on you because she likes you as well?"

"Because she makes fun of everything about me," he babbled. "My face, my hair, my feet..."

"Well, that just means she looks at you," I replied. "She notices you for everything. She's fooling around with you because it's the only way she knows how to talk with you. She's playing hard to get. But you are gonna outplay her. And I'll be your coach. But I need the car. I'll head to your school after it ends if your old man here knows where it is. And we'll talk with her, set things right. But the car is mine."

The boy went from staring at the ground to looking into my soul with faith in his eyes.

"Promise?"

"I don't promise anything. I complete and I conquer."