“What’s up?”
“Emergency. I’ll be back in a bit. Just chill here or go over to Meijer or Target.”
Walter walked into the police station a moment later and was met by Wilkins and another cop.
“Hey Walter, this is Officer Ben Motz. He’ll be accompanying you tonight.”
Motz stuck out his hand. “Nice to finally meet you.”
“Same here,” Walter said, taking his hand.
“Ben is a demolitions expert,” Wilkins added by way of explanation.
“Yeah, we get in there and hopefully I can disarm it. If not, that’s where you come in.”
“Now all we need to do is get you in unnoticed. Add some facial hair, glasses…should do the trick,” Wilkins said.
Twenty minutes later, Walter and Officer Motz presented tickets and walked in the Taft Theater.
“My beard itches,” Walter said.
“Hopefully you can shave soon. I’m gonna head to the restroom and we can make sure these comms are working.”
“Okay.”
Each had a small earpiece in that would allow them to communicate remotely. Motz entered the restroom and said, “Check.”
“Hear you loud and clear.”
“Good deal. The show’s about to start. We should have a few minutes to walk about and look. You don’t have X-ray vision by any chance, like Superman?”
“Don’t think so. Would come in handy. I can smell and hear like a dog. Would the bomb smell funny?”
“It might, depending on what it’s made of. You spot anything, call me over and I’ll see if it can be disarmed. If not, you pick it up and get the hell out of Dodge as fast as you can.”
“Does this show have an intermission?”
“I believe so.”
“That’s good. If we keep walking around after things start, it might look suspicious.”
“Sounds good. Have a quick look around and I’ll see you at the seats.”
“Get you anything else?” the server asked.
“Nah, maybe a Coke. I can get refills on that, right?” Franklin said.
“Sure, where’d your friend go?”
“Off to save the world, or track down some crook. Not sure. He got a call from a cop and flew out of here.”
“So, you’re friends with Walter?”
“It’s complicated.”
“How so?”
“Long story.”
She looked at her watch. “I get off in…three minutes. I’ll bring you a Coke and the bill and you can tell me all about it.”
“So, where were we?” She sat down across from Franklin after settling the check.
“Well…my name’s Franklin. Franklin Jones.”
“I’m Kendra…but you could see that on my name badge. Kendra Williams. What part of town you from, Franklin?”
“I stay down in Clifton right now.”
“You still live at home?”
“Not exactly.”
“You’re on your own then?”
“Not exactly.”
“Where…oh pardon me for being so nosy.”
“No problem. I’m staying with Walter.”
“Oh, how cool is that?”
“I don’t know. He has this huge dog. I feed him and walk him and I get the spare bedroom. I guess it’s cool.”
“I mean…with Walter…you know how many people would be jealous?”
“Guess so. He’s a nice old dude, really. Gets kinda cranky sometimes, but he’s a softy.”
“How’d you end up with him? You been there long?”
“Man, you’re asking a lot of questions.” Franklin looked around nervously to make sure nobody was listening in.
“The place is empty. Just you, me, and Jeremy in the kitchen, and he can’t hear us.”
“That’s good. You can keep a secret?”
“Depends on what kind of secret.”
“Well, you see…Walter didn’t think to get a secret identity, so everyone knows him…but so far nobody knows where he stays. We want to keep it that way.”
“That makes sense. What’s his place like?”
“It ain’t much, really. Run-down apartment close to U.C.”
“Excuse me for being so rude again, but how’s a guy like you end up staying with Walter?”
“I was there when he got his powers…or when he first used them. Funny, he didn’t know it yet. Some dude tried to rob a lady, and he punched him, and I mean punched him good. Dude flew three blocks and landed in a parking lot, dead as a doornail. Same dude that tried to rob the Shell station earlier and shot him. Old man didn’t even know he’d been shot. I picked up the bullets off the floor. Take a look.”
Franklin took the smashed bullets out of his pocket and showed them to Kendra.
“Wow…so he was shot and the bullets just bounced off?”
“Yeah, happened again later that night in a park. He stopped some guys from raping a girl. One tried to shoot him. After all that, I kind of followed him to his place and I’ve been there ever since.”
“Where were you staying before that?”
“Uh…here and there.”
“Wait…you didn’t have a place?”
“Not for the last year and a half. Man, don’t know why I’m telling you all this.”
“Because I’m nosy and asking all the questions.”
“Maybe.”
“You want another Coke?”
“Sure…but you’re off now.”
“No big deal. Linda can bring you another. I’ll flag her down. You’ve been on the streets, or what?”
“You could say that.”
“What about your folks?”
Franklin wiped the corner of his eye with his napkin and looked down at the table.
“I’m sorry, if you don’t want to talk about it.”
“Mama…mama…my mom’s dead. Dad’s in jail.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything. It is what it is.”
“It’s sad, is what it is. How old are you? You look about my age.”
“Turned eighteen a few weeks ago. How about you?”
“I was eighteen three months ago. Just graduated from Deer Park. Where’d you go?”
“Until a year and a half ago…Walnut Hills.”
“Oh yeah…what happened?”
“I was stupid. Didn’t like the last foster home, so I took off. They were really okay folks. Didn’t like staying with a white family. Wish I could take that back.”
“We all make mistakes. Look where you are now. You might not have met Walter.”
“Maybe not. It is pretty cool, when you think about it.”
Franklin was starting to notice that Kendra was in fact quite good looking, and the fact that she didn’t seem judgmental regarding his situation was astonishing. He wasn’t sure what to make of that. They continued their conversation until he had told her everything from how he and Walter had met up to the present.
The show reached intermission and
