My Words - Read Them

Small Town Hero

“Erik?” Chris yelled into the other room, “Want to head home or make a pick-up?”
Erik walked into the office with a cup of coffee, “I’ll take it, you head home. Seeing as though I just had to have one of these.” Erik held the cup up in the air and smiled.
“Good,” Chris stood up and started toward the door, “I need some sleep. You coming down to the match tomorrow?”
“Have I ever missed a match?” Erik asked.
“No, and you even had the courtesy to get hit by that car after New England’s,” Chris turned and leaned in the doorway.
“Yeah, a big ball of consideration,” Erik took a sip of his coffee which was still too hot.
“Anyway, the address is on the desk. I’ll see ya in the morning. Drive safe.” Chris turned and walked out of the office.
“You too,” Erik walked over to the desk and picked up the address. He recognized the address and laughed out loud to himself. “The middle school? This has got to be a joke.”
It wasn’t cold enough for the snow to stick to the ground, but it came anyway. It melted the moment it hit Erik’s windshield and what made it to the ground blew around in little funnels sparing the snowflakes a few moments grace.
The streets were empty, but Erik still took it slowly. Even under the speed limit it only took five minutes to get to the middle school. He pulled into the entrance and drove around the circle of grass in the center of the parking lot. He searched the foyer but couldn’t see anyone or anything there. So, he came full circle to the entrance and drove back toward the street.
Out of the corner of his eye Erik saw something fly out of the gazebo sitting on the lawn in front of the middle school. He came to a stop and looked out of his passenger window and could barely make out a figure standing in the gazebo. Then the figure walked down the steps and looked over at the car.
Erik lowered his window, left the car in park and got out. The figure began walking toward the car Erik could see it was a man wearing a suit with the tie balled up in his jacket pocket and the collar hanging open.
“You need some help, Mister?” Erik yelled through the wind and snow.
“Yeah,” the man in the suit said and Erik knew the voice from that simple proclamation. “I could really use a ride.”
“Saferides is a program for students,” Erik said and turned back toward his car. “Not middle aged alcoholics.”
“P-please,” the man squinted in the flurries, “I don’t have enough for a cab… I don’t…I don’t think I could even get a c-cab out here now.”
“Again, our service is for students,” Erik was at the car now and got back inside. He rolled the window up, put it in drive and pulled out onto the street. He drove slowly and in his rearview mirror he could see the man in the suit begin walking down the sidewalk in the other direction. The man stumbled and fell to his hands and knees and his breath filled the air around his head as he struggled back to his feet. Erik punched the steering wheel then pulled at his hair.
Erik put the car in reverse, threw his right arm over the back of the passenger seat and looked over his shoulder as he backed-up the street. He stopped on the side of the road where the man wiped off his suit missing the dirt and snow completely.
“You don’t live in that direction,” Erik said through the open passenger window, “Mr. Reynolds.”
Mr. Reynolds leaned into the car and Erik returned his view to the street in front of the car. Erik could smell the liquor from his breathe even through the cold and the snow, “You know me? Who... who’s that in there?”
Erik kept his stare fixed ahead of him on the swirling snow on the blacktop. A few spots had started to dust over with the light powder, but they were few and far between.
“Just get in the back Mr. Reynolds,” Erik said.
“Mr. Reynolds reached out and grabbed onto the front passenger side door handle but slipped off because the door was still locked, “Fuck!”
“I said the back, Mr. Reynolds,” Erik rolled the window up and waited for Mr. Reynolds to put his hand on the rear handle, then unlocked the door.
“You know where I live?” Mr. Reynolds said righting himself in the back seat after falling into it.
Erik looked at him in the rearview mirror but didn’t respond. Then he put the car in drive and pulled off down the street.
Mr. Reynolds sat with his forehead against the cold glass staring at the flurries as they whipped by the window. “Can I open the window, its so much cooler outside?” He pushed at the window lift button but Erik had locked them.
“No,” Erik said, and he wondered how Mr. Reynolds had gotten the number for Saferides.
“I didn’t have anyone else to call,” Mr. Reynolds seemed to read Erik’s mind, and he held a business card up in font of his face. “I found… this in my pocket. Must belong to m daughter. Do you now my daughter?”
“Yes, Mr. Reynolds. I know her.” It was Marie’s fault he was in this situation. Seemed like the whole family wanted to torment him in some way.
“Wait... I know you. You’re the McManus kid aren’t you?” Mr. Reynolds looked over the business card that he was still holding up in front of his face. Erik could see his eyes were glassy over the card in the rearview mirror.
“Yes, Mr. Reynolds, I am.” Erik pulled his bad leg up and shifted in hi seat to fend off a hip cramp.
“You can let me out here if you want,” Mr. Reynolds reached for the handle, but the door didn’t open, Erik locked it.
“I don’t leave people stranded when they need help, Mr. Reynolds.”
“I don’t suppose you would be that kind of person.”
“Just sit quietly and I’ll have you home in a few minutes.” Erik turned off of Main Street and was back near the high school when Mr. Reynolds broke the silence again.
“I really didn’t know what I did, Erik.”
“So you’ve said before Mr. Reynolds.” Erik wrapped his fingers around the steering wheel so tightly you could hear his calluses scrape over the vinyl. “And I would prefer it quiet while I drive.”
“Your parents must be good people,” Mr. Reynolds said quietly, “raising such a respectful and tolerant young man.”
Erik kept quiet as he turned onto Mr. Reynolds and his road. He pulled to a stop a few minutes later in front of Mr. Reynolds’ house and put the car in park.
Erik turned in his seat calmly and said, “They did just that Mr. Reynolds. But my tolerance is only so fervent. If anything like this happens again, I will report it to your Probation officer and do my damnedest to make sure it hurts you.”
Mr. Reynolds looked at Erik with a sullen face and then dropped his chin to his chest. Erik unlocked the door and the man got out. Erik pulled off and headed up their road toward his house. Mr. Reynolds watched for a moment, then walked to his door and unlocked it but not after trying three keys before finding the right one.