AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I SPENT Afew minutes with Mary Catherine in the kitchen, away from the kids,wolfing down a few bites of leftover Irish stew from their dinner earlier that evening but also checking to make sure she was doing okay.
She said, “I’m fine, really. I worry about you while you’re working. I’m a little tired. You know, the usual.”
I kissed her and listened to an abbreviated account of the day. I was constantly amazed by this beautiful woman. She managed to guide all ten kids through most days with barely a hitch.
Mary Catherine said, “Ricky and Eddie did have a problem. You should go talk to them.”
I held my questions.
As Mary Catherine told some of the younger girls to get ready for bed, I stepped into the living room and got a good look at the boys. I froze. Ricky had a black eye and Eddie had a cut lip. I knew brothers tended to roughhouse, but these two had never been the least bit aggressive. The injuries were from someone else.
Like any father, I could already feel my blood pressure starting to rise. Who would lay a hand on my kids? “What happened?” I almost shouted.
Eddie said, “Some boys punched Ricky so I jumped into the fight.”
This sounded improbable. I turned a flat stare at Ricky.
He blurted out, “It wasn’t really a fight, Dad. They just came up and punched us both out of nowhere. They both looked a little older than us. We didn’t recognize them.”
“Where, exactly, were you?”
Eddie said, “Sometimes we like to shoot hoops across from the school and down the block a little bit. Not as many rules there. Feels like we’re doing something dangerous.”
Ricky interrupted him. “But it’s not dangerous. It justfeelsdangerous.” He looked directly at Mary Catherine and said, “We’re both very careful all the time.”
I said, “Yes, we know you’re the most conscientious young men in the city. I don’t care that you were playing basketball off campus. You should be allowed to walk around the Upper West Side without being accosted.”
I got a few more details. The bullies hadn’t demanded anything or stolen anything.
Mary Catherine looked at the boys seriously and said, “I don’t want you getting in fights.”
Ricky said, “I don’t want to get in fights either.”
I tried to hide my smile as Mary Catherine and I said they should at least try to reason with boys like that. It was nice to be on exactly the same wavelength.
But it didn’t last long.
Mary Catherine said, “And if reasoning doesn’t work, run away. Find your great-grandfather or one of the nuns.”
Before I knew what I was saying, I held up my hands. “Sometimes you need to get a good lick in yourself. Bullies don’t like it when people fight back. You may not win the fight, but you might discourage them.”
Mary Catherine said, “Are you sure that’s the right thing to do?”
“No. This is one of those situations when you use your experience. I don’t want to see these boys become doormats or afraid to engage with anyone.” I could tell by the look on Mary Catherine’s face how strongly she disagreed with me. I wassure we’d have a discussion about it later. My American mentality versus her Irish mentality. Or perhaps it wasmuch more of a mother’s mentality versus a father’s mentality. I didn’t want to see anyone bother my boys. But I did want them to stand up for themselves.
I decided to talk to my grandfather about it as soon as I could.
Chapter11
THE NEXT DAY,I picked up Terri Hernandez in front of the Four-Six on Ryer Avenue in the Bronx, where she’d been catching up with one of her friends at the precinct. We scooted north on the Bronx River Parkway until we were on the edge of Scarsdale, New York.
Terri said, “I hate leaving the city for the snobby people in Scarsdale.”
“C’mon, how many people from Scarsdale have you ever even met?”
“A few. And I feel bad for this grieving family. I don’t count them as snobs. I just don’t like the vibe. Too many white people clustered together makes a girl like me nervous.”
Westchester County sat just a little north of the city, but the atmosphere and attitude were entirely different. I gawked at the impressive houses as we cut through Scarsdale to the home of Lisa and Robert Schrade, parents of Emma Schrade, the young woman found strangled in the Bronx two months ago. Terri had been working the homicide.
