Author: marshal

Wearing his over-sized combat boots, Scat stomped up and down the 2A hall singing, “Madie, Madie, Madie.”

Madie pulled her mom’s quilt over her head and tried to ignore the noise.

“Madie….I’m hungry!” the boy yelled as he pounded his fists on her door.

“Go eat a potato!” she yelled from the comfort of her bed, “I’m not your mother!”

“But I don’t like potatoes!” Scat responded. “I want eggs!” His voice sounded pathetic and needy. Tony catered to the boy’s every need and treated the gutter-rat as if he were helpless toddler. The boy’s neediness drove Madie crazy.

Irritated with the boy, Madie climbed out of bed, flung open her door and leaned into the boys face, “I don’t care! Gutter-rats don’t get to be choosy; especially ones that enjoy disturbing my sleep. Now go away and leave me alone!” Madie gave the boy a stern look before adding, “Disturb me again and you die!”

Before Madie could slam the door in the boys face, She hears a familiar voice, “Mornin, Sunshine”, It was Pete.

Pete did his best to keep the lawlessness around Bear Country to a minimum, a difficult task considering the circumstances.

Madie glanced at the clock on the wall. It was much later that she thought. “Afternoon, Pete, How you been?”

“I’m well,” Pete said, “Sounds like  you’re off to a cheerful start.”

Madie rolled her eyes and motions for Pete to enter her room. “Better lock me in my room now. I’m gonna kill that boy one day”.

Pete stepped into Madie’s room and sat on the edge of her desk. “The Hulk and his goons antics are getting closer to Bear Country. I’m thinking we should have an official security force for Bear Country. With your permission, I would like to throw my name into the hat as a candidate for the position.”

“Oh, Pete!, I can’t think of anyone more qualified, especially since you and your boys already take care of much of our security needs.”

Pete smiled, “I’m just wanting to make it official.”

Madie hugged Pete, “I’ll schedule a meeting. We can take care of this right away.”

Still hungry, Scat returns to Madie’s room holding four eggs he stole from the farmers market. “If you cook these, I’ll share.”

Madie couldn’t turn down the boy’s offer. She hadn’t seen or eaten an egg in weeks.

Get up! Get up! Scat yelled as he ran up the 2A stairs in his over-sized combat boots. The boy was a constant nuisance and had a bad habit of waking everyone up before dawn for the attention. Madie slid deeper beneath her blankets and tried to ignore the noise.

“MADIE…PLEASE!” the boy yelled as he banged on her door.

Expecting another false alarm, Madie threw open her door and grab the little pest by the arm. She squeezed hard in an attempt to cause the boy pain. “Ok, we get the point!”

JT and Evan occupy the room next to Madie’s. Irritated with the frequent nightly false alarms, they stepped up behind the boy holding a rope and masking tape ready to hog-tie the boy and toss him into a rat infested dumpster.

“Can we not lock him in a closet somewhere?” Lisa begs from her doorway.

A dozen others agreed with whistles and grunts of irritability. Three nights within the last week, the boy had woken everyone up before dawn.

“Tony’s hurt!” The 8-year-old sobbed.

Madie looked deep into the boy’s eyes for any indications the dramatics on display were a fake. “What happened to Tony?”

Scat wiped his tears and runny nose on his shirtsleeve several times, “The Bobcats beat him up!”

The Davis brothers could read Madie like a book. Before she could say, “grab your weapons” Matt and Jonas were at her side.

The Bobcats were gone by the time the Madie, Matt and Jonas arrived in the basement. Tony’s neat and tidy work-space resembled the aftermath of a tornado. The Bobcats broke what they could, threw tools around the room and knocked over benches. The winter fuel stored in the utility shed, stolen.

Tony was slumped against the far wall, beaten but in good humor. “It’s the Calvary!” he said coughing up a mouthful of blood.

Madie squatted down next to her broken friend to assess his injuries “You should have ran, one person can’t fight an army of thugs.”…….