Nantucket Five-Spot, page 29
But as he jumped at me, Mike Henderson and three other parents grabbed him. One of them was the garbage man Sam Trikilis—Alana’s father. I was stunned to see that David Trezize was one of them—he had Sauter’s left arm. The fourth guy I had never seen before. The group of five thrashed and careened in a tight circle: Mike had Sauter’s other arm, Sam had a grip on his waist and the fourth Samaritan was holding onto the giant’s left leg. Somehow they managed to stop him.
“All right! All right! Get offa me!” he bellowed. He shook himself, like a dog after a swim.
“Fine,” he said, catching his breath. “You win, Mr. Police Chief. But watch your back. Because these people won’t always be around to protect you.”
For some reason that moronic threat made me angrier than anything else.
“Yes they will!” I shouted at him. “Don’t you get it? They’ll always be here to protect me and I’ll always be here to protect my son. This is our town and we take care of each other.”
He glared at me for a second and then stormed off. I looked around for Tim and Caroline, huddled together near the parked cars. Debbie Garrison ran up and hugged Tim. He was too surprised to react.
“That was incredible,” she was saying to him as I limped over. “You were so brave! I thought he was gonna kill you. O my God. I’m so glad you’re okay.”
She kissed his cheek and then bolted.
“She likes you,” I said. “And she’s right. You saved my ass today.”
“I bit him.”
“Good move.”
We started for the car and Caroline gave her final verdict on the incident. “Boys are all insane. And this proves it.”
The afternoon had lurched back to normal as the crowd scattered. I waved to Mike Henderson. He lifted a fist in solidarity. David gave me a thumbs up as his kids climbed into his car. Sam saluted me with a grin. The other guy waved. I had to find out who he was.
When we were alone, I sat behind the wheel of my police cruiser for a minute or so, battered and hurting, craving an aspirin or six, breathing with the wind that rocked the car on its springs, watching my friends drive off. Good friends, it turned out.
And I didn’t even know some of their names.
I closed my eyes for a second, then keyed the ignition and drove my kids home for dinner.
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Steven Axelrod, Nantucket Five-Spot
