Page 9 of Requiem

But, in a split second he has no choice but to release her, because I’m dragging him across the kitchen table by his collar.

“Let go of me!” he sputters, his face darkening to a garnet color.

I push him back so hard that he stumbles and falls over the chair he’d been sitting in only moments before. He lands hard on his ass on the linoleum floor. Suddenly, we are children again, me standing over him, finally fed up with his bullshit threats. Him, looking up at me, finally realizing he has underestimated my wrath. We’re both older now. We’re both bigger. But I am, by far, the more dangerous at this very moment.

“Don’t you ever lay so much as a finger on her again, or I swear to God I will end you, motherfucker! If you’re not out of this house in the next thirty seconds, we’ll call the police. And, if that doesn’t make you nervous, maybe my call to network stations in Chicago will. They’d be thrilled to break the story and run the video of the Kreisler gold medalist who stood by and watched his father die. Might get them thinking about what else you’re capable of.”

“You don’t have the balls,” he spits up at me from the floor. I squat down so that we are closer.

“No? Then try me. Go ahead. I’m waiting,” I inform him as I look at my watch. “Time starts now.”

At first, he simply sits there, furious and fuming silently. He’s testing me. But he should know better because last time he did this, I broke his arm.

“That’s twenty seconds left!” I inform him.

“Fine,” he fumes, getting to his feet. “Fine! But we are far from done with this conversation. I’m expecting my fair share, Mom. And you know how I can be if I don’t get what I’m expecting.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, Jeremy,” she assures him breezily, as if confirming she’ll handle dinner reservations. “I’ll make sure you get exactly what you have coming to you.”

Her smile as she says this is chilling.

He’s cursing under his breath as he scrambles to his feet and ducks out the back door. When she’s sure he’s gone, my mother gets up and goes to the telephone. She dials information.

“Yes, I’d like the number for a locksmith in Owl Bridge, please.”