Chasing the Bear

Leo and his gang moved closer. I noticed Croy stuck pretty close to Leo.

'You think you can fight us all?' Leo said.

Besides him and Croy there were about ten other kids. The answer was obviously no. But I didn't care to say so.

'You ready to get it handed to you, backstabber?' Leo said.

'You first?' I said.

'All of us first,' Leo said.

The gang spread out and formed a circle around me. They didn't seem in any hurry. I think they wanted me to be scared. I was scared. But I did everything I could to keep them from seeing it. I kept facing Leo, the leader. And as the circle formed, I took a step closer to him.

I said, 'You and me, Leo? One-on-one?'

'Why should I do that?' Leo said. 'There's twelve of us. Why should I do all the work?'

Everyone was quiet. It felt thick and strained, like it does just before a storm breaks. I was debating whether to hit Leo first. I had just decided to hit him when my father's gray pickup truck pulled into the school yard and my father and my two uncles got out. I felt all the tightness go out of my stomach. My back loosened. My breathing slowed a little. My father and my uncles pushed through the circle of boys as if they weren't there, and walked to where I was, and stood in a semicircle behind me.

Nobody said anything.

Finally Leo said to my father, 'This is just us kids fooling around, Mr. Spenser.'

'Lot of you,' my father said. 'Just thought there should be a few more with him.'

'What are you gonna do?' Leo said.

My father ignored him.

'You think you're gonna have to fight him?' my father said to me.

'Yes,' I said.

'Now's a good time, then,' my father said.

'Oh, sure,' Leo said. 'And when I kick his butt, you big guys jump me?'

'Nope,' my father said.

'What'll you do?' Leo said.

'Can't handle losing,' my father said, 'you got no business fighting.'

'You touch me and my father will sue your ass,' Leo said.

My father smiled faintly.

'You two fight,' he said, 'we'll see that it's fair, and win or lose, when it's over it's over and everybody goes home.'

'Okay, Leo?' I said. 'You and me?'

He didn't answer. I slid into the fighting stance they had spent so long teaching me.

'Don't rush things,' Patrick said to me.

Leo tried to kick me in the groin, but I turned my hip and put a jab on his nose. The nose had recently taken a beating thanks to Petey and his friends. It was tender. He yelped. I followed with a right cross. He backed up. I shuffled after him. He hit me with a big looping right hand, which I half blocked. He followed that with an equally looping left, which I stepped inside of, blocked with both forearms and slammed him on the side of the head with a back fist. He tried to get his arms around me. I drove both my hands, palms up, under his chin and bent his head