house. Followed in quickly. Before he could react, chest-punched him again-harder, hard enough to slam him into the wall. The house shook. He bounced off and this time met my fist in his gut. His gut was hard, but the brass knucks were harder. He grunted, didn't double up, but he lurched -it was enough, I pulled his head down to meet my rising knee, felt his nose break with a satisfying crunch of bone and blood.
Hauled him to his feet. His face was bleeding. 'You're a big man, aren't you? Beating on a kid.' He was still trying to catch his breath. 'Matt, go get your things. Now.'
A woman came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands in a dish towel. 'Matty-?' Then she saw me. 'Who are you -?' Then she saw her husband. 'Joe -?'
I grabbed the towel from her hands, pushed it at Joe, pushed Joe at a chair, he flopped into it, covering his bloody nose. 'You can sit down too, ma'am; probably a good idea.' She hesitated, then sat. Joe was still gasping, eyeing me warily.
Nobody spoke for a long moment.
Finally, the wife. 'Are you going to hurt us?'
'Not planning on it. Of course, that can change.' I nodded meaningfully at the asshole.
'You-you won't get away with this - '
'You won't call the police. He won't let you. He doesn't want anyone to know he's got a queer son.' Took a breath. I wasn't planning to play counselor, but Matt needed time to gather his stuff, and I needed to keep the asshole from thinking too hard. 'All right, look, lady-you should leave this jerkoff. Because if you don't, he's going to kill you someday. The only thing that's saved your life this long is that he's been taking it out on the kid instead, hasn't he? With the kid outa here, you're wearing the bull's-eye now. If I'm not mistaken, that bruise on your cheek is recent. Like maybe, this afternoon? And maybe there's a few more under that dress that don't show?'
She didn't answer.
'You're not doing yourself any favors, being a punching bag for this miserable failure. And you sure as hell didn't help your kid any, did you? Letting him beat the kid-you're a coward. Do you know what the word 'enabler' means? You're an en-abler. You're just as fucking guilty. Because you let him get away with it.'
Turned to the gorilla. 'See, here's the thing, Joe. You're an asshole. You're beneath contempt. That's your son, your own flesh and blood. You should love him more than anybody else in the world. But he's fucking terrified of you. The one moment in his life, he needs his dad to love and understand and be there for him more than anything else, what do you do? You beat him up and throw him out. What a fuckwad you are. Your wife's a coward, you're a bully, and the two of you are throwing away the only thing in the world you've done right-raise a kid who still knows how to smile, god knows why, growing up with you two creeps. You don't deserve this kid. Shut up, both of you. I'm in no mood to argue. You can beat your wife, Joe, and you can beat your kid-but you can't beat the butt-ugly truth. You're a waste of skin. Oh, and if you're thinking about getting out of that chair, don't. If you try, I'll kill you. I'm in that kind of a mood.'
'He means it, Dad - ' That was Matt, coming back into the room. 'He's an ex-commando. Special Forces. Green Beret. Or something. He was in Vietnam. I don't want him to hurt you - '
'You got everything?'
He hefted a duffel and a suitcase. Hastily filled.
Mart's mother looked back and forth between us. Finally, she worked up the nerve to ask. 'What are you? Some kind of queer?'
I looked her up and down. 'Are you the alternative?' Jesus Christ on a pogo stick, I can't believe I said that. 'Wait a minute.' Turned back to the gorilla. 'Your son's leaving home. You'll never see him again. Give me your wallet. No -I didn't say think about it. I said, give me your wallet.'
He passed it over. Nearly three hundred bucks. I passed the cash to Matt. 'Here. Your inheritance. It's enough to live on for a couple months. If you're careful.' Dropped the wallet on the floor.
'You two are getting off lucky. I'm letting you live.' Looked at the gorilla again. 'You come after this kid, you ever come near him, you ever lay a hand on him again, I will kill you. I will hunt you down and I will make sure you take a long time to die. You ever beat your wife again, I'll break both your arms. Are we clear? Nod your head, this isn't television.' Glanced sideways. 'Matt, you want to say good-bye?'
He shook his head.
'Then go get in the car.'
Waited a moment, looking to see if the asshole was thinking about following. He wasn't. His face was ashen. He was still having trouble breathing. I looked to the wife. 'You know what? I think you'd better call an ambulance. I might have punched him a little hard, I might have cracked his sternum. I wish I could say I'm sorry about that, but I'm not.'
Drove back without talking. The rain was coming down harder now. Matt was shaken. Probably didn't know what to think, what to feel.
Got back to the apartment. He hesitated. 'You coming up?'
'I thought you wanted me to - ' He held up the money. 'I mean-isn't what this is for?'
'There's plenty of time for that tomorrow. Or the next day.' And besides, 'You shouldn't be alone tonight.' I grabbed his suitcase and duffel. Not as heavy as I'd thought. Gorilla and wife hadn't been very generous.
Inside, I went scrounging through the junk drawer, found the extra key and handed it to him. 'Listen. Don't take this the wrong way. But I'm worried about you. You stay here as long as you need to.'
He looked at the key in his hand, looked up to me, a question on his face.
'You can cook, right? You can clean? That'll be your rent. We'll move my typewriter in here, over against the wall or something. And you can have the other room. Just one condition. Stay away from Gino's -' No, that's not fair. 'I mean, don't go there without me. And don't go out with anyone without-well, checking with me. Okay?'
'You trying to be my dad?'
'No. Well, maybe a big brother. I dunno.' I sat down opposite him. 'Can you keep a secret?'
'Not very well. I mean -my dad found out.'
'There is that. When did you know you were -?'
'When I was twelve. Or thirteen.'
'So you can keep a secret for five years. Six? Right?' He nodded.
'All right. What I'm going to tell you is that big a secret. You up for it?'
He didn't say no. I took that as a yes.
'You know how I knew where you lived? I know a lot of other stuff too. Some bad shit is going down this year. Dangerous shit. People are going to get hurt. Killed. I'm not a cop. But I'm -I'm like a private investigator. And I'm looking for the guy. And you're his type. And so are a lot of the other kids at Gino's. I wish I could warn everyone, but if I do, it'll spread. You know how those girls love to gossip. And if the perp knows I'm looking for him, I'll never catch him. So you can't tell anyone. And the only reason I'm telling you is -is because I want your help.'
'You need my help?'
'I want your help. I don't need it. But I can use it. If you're up to it.'
'Up to it? Is it dangerous?'
'Do you think I'd put you in danger.'
He thought about it for a moment. 'But you want to use me as bait.'
'I want to see who cruises you. I want to know who talks to you. That's all.'
'Can I ask you something?'
'Go ahead.'
'Was this your plan all along? From the very beginning? When you brought me home the other night?'
'The truth?' I looked him right in the eye. 'No. This was not what I planned. You were just one of the boys I was going to watch for a while - '
He frowned. He turned that over in his head. And then -oh, shit-he got it. 'You son of a bitch!' He started to get up. 'You know, don't you!' He looked around for his duffel and his suitcase. I resisted the temptation to get up. Force was absolutely the wrong answer here. He waited for my response.
I nodded. 'Yeah, you're right. I know.'
'You're a-a time-traveler?'
Nodded again.
'Then it's true? There really are? Because I thought that was just-like an urban legend or something.'
'It's true,' I admitted.
