After Nate left I looked for Mom. She wasn’t in the kitchen, so I looked in the family room, then the living room. I went back to the kitchen, got a glass of milk and a cookie, and sat down at the kitchen table. I bit into the cookie, my favorite, homemade chocolate chip with pecans and those big chocolate chunks. Eating a cookie before dinner would be a sure-fire way to find Mom. She’d be all over me about eating before meals and spoiling my appetite, like that would ever happen!

“Brian, why are you eating that cookie before dinner? Don’t spoil your appetite!”

See, it worked. That it did work and how she responded so fast made me laugh.

“I couldn’t find you, and I knew you’d find me if you thought that I might be eating a cookie. I wanted to tell you that Nate left.” I finished the last bite of my cookie. “When is dinner?”

“Your dad is picking up Mexican on his way home.”

“Excellent. I love Mexican food. Is he getting chiles rellenos?”

“Yes, and beef taquitos, prawn quesadillas, white chile roasted corn, guacamole and chips, and cilantro rice.”

“Wow, that’s great. It seems like I haven’t had Mexican since like forever.”

“We thought you’d enjoy it. Sort of a treat for having to go back to school, even if it is home schooling.”

 “It’s actually home tutoring instead of home schooling. The TA’s from the school district come to tutor me in my lessons, and don’t do any teaching. Then Nate will come over once or twice a week and we’re going to study together since we’re taking mostly the same classes.”

“I gather that you and Nate like each other. I understand that he lives a few blocks from here. That’s lucky, since he’s the one who’ll be coming over.”

“Yeah, I do like him. He always seemed to be a nice guy, especially since he’s a jock and some of them are sort of stuck up on their marvelousness. Nate’s not that way, I’ve discovered that he’s just as nice as he seemed. He’s smart, too. We’re going to try to get the same schedule for the classes we’re both taking in our junior year. That way we can help each other with our homework.”

“Can you do that? I thought the school had a system for automatically assigning students to their classes.”

“Yeah, we can do that. Four of the classes we’ll both be taking will be AP and college prep classes like AP U.S. History and Pre Calc. And, since Nate is on the football team, he got a copy of his class schedule for next year. We can coordinate our schedules so we at least have the same teachers. It would be best if we are in the same classes, especially if I can go to school in the fall.”

“I’m surprised that Nate can have AP level classes and be on the football team. Doesn’t being a member of a team take a lot of time? When is he going to have time to do his homework?”

“I told him the same thing. Turns out he’s a really smart guy. Since he’s helping me this semester, I can help him in the fall when he has practice every day. We can study together and help each other with our homework.”

“I certainly hope that when you say help each other with your homework that you don’t mean you’ll do his homework.”

“Mom! We’re not going to cheat! You know me better than that. We’ll each do our homework separately, and check each other’s answers afterward. We’ll study the lessons together, asking each other questions if there’s something that one of us doesn’t understand. There’s nothing wrong with that. Rob, Tony, and I had done exactly that before I was hurt.”

“Yes, I know that, Brian. But you need to be careful. Nate may be so overwhelmed that you start to feel sorry for him and do one set of math problems for him because he’s behind, and then you’ll be on a slippery slope and one day discover that you’re letting him copy all of your homework.”

“I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen. I don’t think it will. Nate isn’t that kind of guy.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re planning to be careful.”

We heard the garage door open. “Dad’s home,” I told Mom, “dinner has arrived!”

Dinner was great. I know it’s not real Mexican food, but I love quesadillas. We talked about my home tutoring and Nate. Dad, of course, was interested in whether he’d be first string quarterback in the fall.

“I don’t know. We didn’t talk about football. It was mostly about my classes and what we’d be taking next fall. By the way, I really want to actually go to school in the fall. Even if I have to wear that helmet I got in the hospital or something else to protect my head.”

“Brian, that’s going to be up to your doctors to decide.”

“I know, but this home tutoring is fine but it’s not the same thing. Being in the classroom means I get to hear the questions everyone asks and what the teacher says. That kind of back and forth is important. Also, I thought about my schedule for next semester. I have room for two electives, and I don’t know what I could take from home. The classes I’m interested in won’t work for home tutoring, like Digital Photography, Choir, Digital Media Production, or Robotics.”

“Brian,” Dad said, “let’s make an agreement. First, you agree that it’s up to your doctors to give the okay for you to return to school. Your recovery, health, and safety are the most important things for you. Second, if they say no that you need to continue being home schooled, then we’ll work with your school to find elective classes you’d like and come up with a way for you to take them that will give you the credits you need to graduate with your class. Okay?”

 “Okay. I hate the idea of not going to school. I’m already getting antsy about being at home all the time.” I looked at Mom, “Please understand that it has nothing to do with you, Mom.”

“Yes, I understand that, Brian.”

I ate the rest of my meal and didn’t say much. I had so much going on in my head. There were so many things for me to think about, and so many things I needed to do.

“Have you talked to any of your friends other than Nate?” Mom asked.

“Not yet. I remember Inspector Kozara saying that now it’s okay, as long a I don’t talk about what happened so it doesn’t end up in the news.”

“I suggest that we call Inspector Kozara tomorrow and confirm that it’s okay.” Dad looked at me. “Do you agree, Brian?”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. And at the same time I’d like to find out about the stuff that was in my backpack. I’d like it back because the books and my notebook will help me get caught up with where my classes were for the last few weeks. And I think there was a library book too, and the fines will start soon.”

After dinner we went into the family room to watch TV. I’d set it to record the entire season of CSI, so I selected the most recent episode to be played back. Since it was recorded on the DVR that meant we could skip past the commercials. It had just started when the phone rang.

Mom got up. “I’ll get it.” She knew that Dad and I were sort of addicted to CSI.

When she came back she didn’t say anything about the call, so I assumed it was for her. But when the commercials started she looked at me.

“Brian, put it on hold for a minute, okay?”

“Sure.”

“That was your TA, the one for Algebra and Physics. He wanted to know if he could meet with you tomorrow morning at nine. I said that was fine. I assume that’s okay with you and that we’d call back if there was any problem.”

“Sure. What’s his name?”

“David Choi.”

“He left his phone number?”

“Yes. Here it is.” Mom handed me a note with his name and number.

“Hmm. I wonder if we’re going to do some kind of interesting Physics experiment while he’s here tomorrow.”

Dad chuckled. “If he has any sense he’ll give you the instructions for the experiment and then leave and get as far away as he can before you blow up the house.”

“Dad! That’s mean. I’ve never blown up anything. I might have wanted to, maybe even tried once or twice, but….” Dad scowled at me, then I started laughing and he shook his head and grinned.

“Alright, enough of this joking around,” Mom declared. “We need to decide if these Physics experiments are going to be conducted in the kitchen or in the garage. I vote for the garage, not because I think the experiments are dangerous but because they might interrupt how I use the kitchen, like fixing meals.”

“Where in the garage do you suggest?” Dad asked.

“I’ll pull my car out, and they can use the area near the sink. That will give them hot and cold water, and they can use that old card table that’s out there. Greg, you’ll have to get it down for them, and it needs to be done tonight or before Brian’s TA arrives at nine o’clock tomorrow morning.”

Dad looked at Mom. “Do you really think he’ll want Brian to do an experiment tomorrow?”

“Brian?” Mom dumped it into my lap.

“There’s no way to know. I’ve missed almost two and a half weeks of classes. We do two experiments in Physics each week, so I’ve probably missed four or five of them. We’re studying electricity and magnetism right now, so the experiments aren’t going to cause any explosions or fires. The last section is electronics and that’s going to be later this semester. That wouldn’t cause any explosions either. So, I think we should be able to do the experiments in the house instead of the garage. If you don’t want us on the kitchen table, we could do them in my bedroom. You could set up that card table for me to do the experiments, and that way we wouldn’t have to use my desk for doing them and it will be available when I need to use it for homework and getting on my laptop.”

“I’m not sure if there’s enough room for a card table in your room,” Mom replied, “I think we’d have to move your bed. Greg, what do you think?”

“Phyllis, do you remember that old console table that got all dinged and scratched when we moved here? We put in the garage and I’ve been using it as an extension to my workbench. I think that would work for Brian’s experiments, and it should fit in his bedroom because it’s not as deep as the card table, and it’s tall enough that Brian and his TA can stand to work on the experiments.”

“Oh, yes, I remember that table now. I think it’s mostly being used as a storage shelf and less as a workbench. What are you going to do with the stuff that’s piled up on it?”

“I’ll just box it up temporarily. When Brian is finished with his Physics class I’ll take it back.”

“You’ll have to wipe the spiderwebs and dust off of it before bringing it into the house.”

I listened to this conversation. It’s not about some old console table, whatever that means, for my bedroom. It’s about me, and I’m sitting here like a stump and they’re talking over and around me. Why do parents do that? But I’m smart, and I know that bringing up this argument now would be a very bad idea. Very bad, indeed.

“Okay, it’s settled then. I’ll go box up my stuff, clean the console table, and bring it in. I’ll need you to help me get it upstairs and in Brian’s room.”

“Alright, let’s get started.”

So my folks disappeared, saying absolutely squat to me, and that was just fine as far as I was concerned. I turned back to the TV and pressed the play button and continued watching the CSI episode. When the next round of commercials came on I pressed the pause button, got out my cell, and dialed David Choi’s phone number.

“Hello.”

“Hi. I’m Brian Anderson, is this David Choi?”

“Yes. How are you, Brian? Are we still on for tomorrow morning at nine?”

“Yes, absolutely. The reason I’m calling is to find out if we’re going to do a Physics experiment tomorrow, and if so which one.”

“Yes, it’s the experiment where you build an electromagnet and compare its power to a permanent magnet. I have all of the equipment which I’ll leave with you, and if you read chapter seventeen the experiment is number two in the projects section at the end of the chapter.”

“Are we skipping the first project?”

“No, you can do it yourself. It’s a no-brainer.”

“Okay. Anything you’re going to need, David?”

“Nope, I’m good. Is nine really okay for you?”

“Yeah, actually it’s no problem. I’ll see you then.”

“Okay. Nice talking to you. I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Bye, Brian.”

“Bye.”

Okay, that was good. He sounded like a good guy. He had a happy voice and talking to him made me happy.

I picked up the remote and skipped past this group of commercials and continued watching the CSI episode. It was one I’d already seen, and since it was sort of funny in a silly way, it was worth watching again.

After about a half hour Dad came downstairs and looked into the family room.

“Brian, come on up and see what your mom and I did to your bedroom.”

I followed him upstairs to my room. They put the table they called a console table along the wall next to my bed on the window side. It fit perfectly, and it left lots of room for me and the TA to stand between it and my bed, and if I got tired I could sit on my bed and rest.

“Sweet. This will work perfectly. I might want to keep this table after I’m finished with my Physics class.”

“We can have a discussion about that later,” Dad said. “I’m sure we can arrive at an acceptable price for this fabulous antique.”

“Yeah, antique junk you wanted to get out of your way in the garage.”

Dad turned to Mom, “Here we slave for hours getting this laboratory table ready for our son, and what does he do? Disparage it, that’s what. What is the youth of our country coming to, I ask you?”

“I think it’s time to go downstairs and see if the news is on yet. Are you coming down with us, Brian?”

“No, I think I’ll stay here and work on a story for Creative Writing. And since my TA David Choi is coming at nine tomorrow, I think I’ll hit the sack early tonight.”

Dad hugged me. “Good night, son.”

“Good night Dad. I love you.”

Mom kissed me on my forehead. “Good night, Brian. Don’t forget to brush your teeth.” Good grief, she’s such a typical mother. She knows I never forget to brush my teeth.

“Good night Mom. I love you.”

First I read chapter 17 in my Physics book. It was lucky that I had brought it home the night before I’d been attacked. So, I had the two textbooks I’d needed for first sessions with the two TA’s. Anyway, all I needed to do was skim chapter 17 because I’d read it before.

I paid more attention to the first two projects at the end of the chapter. David had been right when he told me the first one was trivial. It was an experiment to check the voltage of a battery using two different resistors connected in series, then connected in parallel. We’re to measure the voltage drop across each of the two resistors. The R value for one resistor is given, the R value for the other is not given. We’re to determine the R value of the second resistor. The second project was the magnet experiment. It was also straightforward. I had to build an electromagnet following the directions in the project, then find the heaviest steel ball that it could hold. Then I had to compare that to a permanent magnet. This was a more complicated but still an easy project.

I spent the next couple hours finishing a story about a mermaid for my Creative Writing class. I did an edit pass and two read-throughs and caught a few typos like a missing closing quote on some dialogue, and using it’s instead of its which is something I mess up at least once in almost every story I write. I decided to upload the story on the Blackboard section for my class. It was due Friday which was tomorrow, so there was no point in not submitting it tonight. I thought it was a good short story. It had to be at least 2,500 words long and not over 5,000 words. The words count on the status bar read 2,996. Hmm… if I added four words it would be exactly 3,000 words. That idea made me grin, so I found a few places where I could add the word ‘that’ or ‘the’ and upped my word count to 3,000. At least it was the word count as Microsoft Word calculated it.

That was a good breaking point. After uploading the story to Blackboard, I cleaned up, brushed my teeth, and hit the sack.

I woke to KOKQ at seven, the same as the day before. I used the plastic bag to cover my cast and showered, but this morning I skipped washing my hair. Taking a shower with one arm incapacitated and painful is not an easy task, let me tell you.

When I got downstairs Dad was reading the newspaper and munching on a toaster waffle. They aren’t as good as the waffles Mom makes from scratch, but they’re okay in a pinch. Dad eats them like toast, with some butter and jam. I pile four of them on a plate, butter each one, and pour real maple syrup over the stack. The major flavor is maple syrup, which is just fine with me.

Dad took off for work, and Mom sat drinking her coffee and skimming through the newspaper.

The doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it, Brian. It’s about nine so this must be David Choi, your TA.”

It was David Choi. He was Asian, about my height though perhaps a little heavier. He had his hair spiked and it was so cool! I love that look and I’m jealous of the Asian guys at school who can wear their hair that way.

“Hi, David. I’m Brian.”

“Nice to meet you face to face. Let’s sit down and I’ll go over how I plan on tutoring you in Physics and Algebra 2.”

“Sounds good. Come on into the kitchen. I’ll introduce you to my mom.”

Once the introductions were over we sat down at the kitchen table.

“Would you like something to drink, David?” I asked. “We have Coke and root beer and Sprite, and orange juice, and I think we have coffee.” I looked at Mom.

“Yes, I just made a new pot of coffee. It’s full strength, not decaf.”

“A cup of black coffee would be great,” David replied.

“Alright, coming up. Brian, what would you like?”

“A mug of coffee, please.”

Mom gave me one of those looks. She thinks I’m too young to drink coffee, and if I have more than one cup in a day she thinks I won’t be able to sleep. Actually, I can drink a large mug of coffee at night and when I go to bed I fall asleep right away and don’t wake up during the night. I think I’m immune to caffeine.

“Alright, Brian, I have a few questions for you. I see you’re getting an A in Algebra 2. Are you comfortable with where you are now in that class? Are you going ahead in your textbook and getting caught up?”

“Yes, I’ve gone ahead and worked all of the problems in the next two chapters. I was already two chapters ahead of the class, and Algebra is easy for me.”

“What about Physics?”

“It’s not as easy as Algebra. There’s a lot more to learn and remember in Physics. I could use tutoring to make sure that I understand the material. Then there are the experiments that I guess I’ll have to do without seeing Mr. Nayak’s demonstrations.”

“Okay, here’s what I think we should do. I’m a Physics major at OCU, and I went to Deer Valley High and had Mr. Nayak for AP Physics. I think I can give the demonstrations for each chapter. Then you can do the experiment on your own. We’ll review your Algebra 2 homework each week and assuming that you stay several chapters ahead of your class that should be all we’ll need to do. Of course if you have questions about anything in Algebra 2, or Physics, just ask them when we get together. If it’s something that’s stumping you and you need an answer to turn in your homework on time, you can phone me. The number you have is my cellphone, and if I’m in class I set it to Airplane Mode so it goes to my voicemail without ringing. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. The other thing I’ll do is give you quizzes and exams, and return the answer sheet to your teacher. How does that sound?”

“That’s great. I’m not sure about doing the experiments on my own, though. With one arm in a sling I’m not able to do things that require two hands.”

“In that case I’ll assist you with the experiments. But you need to show that you know what should be done, and I’ll follow your directions. Is that okay?”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

“Do you have friends from school you can meet with to go over what’s being covered in your classes and to study for tests?”

“I’m meeting with a friend from school and we’re going over what’s been covered in our classes that week. We’ll probably get together two or three times a week, and work on our homework and then review it with each other. We’ll also study for tests together.”

“Who is he, maybe I know him.”

“It’s Nate Mead.”

“The quarterback?”

“Uh huh.”

“And he’s in most of your classes?”

“Not most, three out of six. That’s not counting PE. Why do you ask?”

“I didn’t know any of the guys on the football team were taking a heavy load like you’re taking, Brian.”

“Nate is. He says to be a quarterback you have to be smart and have 20/20 vision. A couple of my teachers recommended that he get together with me. It will work out great because he’s in three of my tougher classes and we have one other class the same but with different teachers.”

“What are the classes?”

“English 2, Physics, and AP World History are the same, and we’re both taking Algebra 2 but with different teachers.”

“Excellent. It’s going to be a pleasure tutoring you, Brian. It’s not often that I get someone as smart as you to work with. My objective is going to be to push you enough this year so you end up with an A average. I was told that you have a TA for some of your other classes. Which ones are those?”

“English 2 and AP World History. My TA is Evan Jameson.”

“Oh, I know Evan. He’s a great guy. He’s a European History major so you can’t go wrong with him. What are your other classes and how are you being tutored for those?”

I’m taking Creative Writing, and Evan will help me if I need him to do something like read and critique a story. My other class is Desktop Publishing and Mr. Wilson is working on a way for me to do everything over Blackboard. I was taking Weight Training and there’s no way to take that from home. So Mr. Wilson and I talked about it and I’m going to take Web Design 2. I didn’t take Web Design 1, so Mr. Field isn’t very confident that I’ll be able to keep up with the class assignments since I won’t have any interaction with him. But I have Adobe Creative Suite CS5. I know Dreamweaver and I’ve used it to create and update my own website and blog. I use InDesign and Photoshop for my Desktop Publishing class, and I’m familiar with Flash though I’m far from being an expert, but I think I’ll be able to keep up.”

“If you need any help with your website class, I know Dreamweaver, HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL, and both JavaScript and Java. I use Photoshop, but what I have is an earlier version, CS3. I don’t know Flash at all, so I won’t be able to be of any help with that.”

“I’d like to learn Java. I’d like to get into Android programming.”

“That’s something you can learn on your own, and I can give you some help with it. The first thing would be to make sure you have the runtime installed on your PC. But that’s something we shouldn’t get into today. I need to walk through the demonstration for your Physics experiment. Where do you want to do that?”

 “My folks put a table in my bedroom that’s tall enough so we can stand and the top is at the right height for working on an experiment or for you to give a demo. Let’s go upstairs.”

David looked at how the table was set against the wall.

“This is okay for you when you’re working on an experiment. But it will be hard for me to do a demonstration when we’re side by side. Can we move the table so it’s against the end of your bed, then you can sit on your bed and I can be on the opposite side giving the demonstration?”

“Sure, why not?” Only thing is I’m not sure how much I can help moving the table with only one arm.”

David lifted one end of the table.

“It’s pretty lightweight, give it a try.”

He was right, and with a minimum of effort we had it moved around so it was against the foot of my bed. Because it was tall, I could sit on the end of the bed and my legs fit under the top of the table.

“Okay, I think this will work for me. Are you ready to show the demonstration?”

David grinned, opened his backpack, then turned and bent over so I couldn’t see what he was doing. When he stood he had put on a wizard’s hat, the tall pointy kind that has stars and planets and moons on a black background.

“Okay, where’s your magic wand? You can’t do alchemy without a magic wand.”

“Dang, the party store was out of magic wands. Seems there was a recall and they had to send all of their stock back to the manufacturer. Will this work?”

He pulled out a normal wooden pencil and waved it around and grinned.

“I don’t see any smoke or mirrors, so no, I don’t think your number 2 pencil will work.”

“Then I guess I’ll have to do it that hard way.” With that he began the demonstration, and I learned a few important things about what I needed to do to complete the magnetism experiment successfully.

I ran through the beginning of the experiment. This wasn’t like the wire-wrapped-around-a-nail experiment that we did in middle school. Instead, we were building a major electromagnet out of a big bolt and a ton of copper wire. That was real difficult for me because I had one arm in a cast and couldn’t work with the wire.

“Okay, how am I going to wind all this copper wire around this bolt one-handed? Hold the bolt in my teeth?”

“I see your problem, and while winding the wire around the bolt is a major part of the experiment, if you know what you’re supposed to do, all the rest is mechanics. All you’ll have to do is describe how you can accurately wind wire. Let me solve that for you.”

David handed me a four inch long quarter-inch bolt that had the wire pre-wound from the head end to about two inches from the other end of the bolt. “I assume you know how to wind copper wire, so will this pre-wound bolt help?”

“Oh, yes, this will make it possible for me to complete the experiment.”

The next part was to wrap the copper wire on the bolt using electrical tape.

“I assume that electrical tape is chosen because it’s non-conductive. Right?”

“Yes, that’s correct Brian. Some kids might choose duct tape, but it’s usually conductive and that would not be good.”

There were three twelve inch long by one inch square boards. One of them needed to have a nine-sixteenths inch hole in the center, and with David holding the board I drilled the hole with an electric drill he brought. I thought it looked great, straight through and not at an angle.

The next step was to make a frame, sort of like a crude partial picture frame with one side missing, out of the three boards. David held the boards as I screwed them together with wood screws using my power screwdriver, the one I used when I built my desktop PC. The top board would be the one with the hole, and it was mounted so the hole was vertical. The bottom of the frame was a twelve-inch square half-inch thick piece of wood, and after screwing that to the vertical pieces of the frame, with my directions and David doing most of the work, it formed a frame securely attached to a solid base.

Next I attached the electromagnet to the frame I had just put together, with David’s assistance and his pre-wound bolt. I first put a half-inch diameter nylon washer that had a quarter-inch hole onto the bolt, then pushed the bolt up through the hole I’d drilled in the top board so it hung down from the top center of the frame, and attached it using a washer and a quarter-inch nut.

I soldered a wire to each end of the coil using a little soldering gun David brought with him.

I mounted a knife switch to one corner of the base of the frame with his assistance. I told him it needed to be as far from the electromagnet as possible.

I connected one of the wires from the electromagnet to the output post on the knife switch, and with the switch open, which means off, I connected another wire from the input post on the knife switch to the positive screw post on a large lantern battery David brought. Finally, I connected the other wire from the electromagnet to the negative post on the lantern battery.

Now to test my electromagnet. I put a few paperclips on the base below the electromagnet, and closed the knife switch. The paperclips jumped up to the electromagnet.

“Congratulations, Brian. Your electromagnet works perfectly. You also did a very nice job assembling the frame and base, and it was correct to mount the knife switch off on one corner of the base. You can turn it off now.”

I did that, opening the knife switch.

“Now what?” I asked.

“This baggie has the rest of the parts for the experiment. You’ll use this setup to complete this experiment, and it will be used for several more experiments in chapter 17 and other chapters. For now, you need to read the rest of project 2 in your textbook and perform each of those steps, and fill out a project summary report as outlined in Appendix C. That project summary report needs to be turned in. You said Nate Mead was in your Physics class, right?”

“Yes, he is.”

“Then maybe you can give it to him the next time he comes to see you.”

“He’ll be here this afternoon. I’ll finish up the rest of project 2 and have my report ready to give him. I’m already familiar with the format for the project summary reports.”

“Well,” David said with a smile, “my job here is finished. At least for today. How about next Friday, same time?”

“Sure. Let me ask my mom just to be sure there isn’t something she’s scheduled like my physical therapy.”

“Do you mind if I ask what happened? It must have been a bad accident.”

“Accident it wasn’t. I was beat up by a couple of assholes and… well, I almost died.”

“I hope you turned them in. Did you?”

I was surprised by his question. “Of course I did. Why wouldn’t I?”

“Lots of kids who are victims of attacks, or if they witness an attack, don’t tell on the ones who did the attack. They don’t want to snitch, or they’re afraid. I’m glad to see that you were willing to identify who did this to you.”

“I’m not that way. If someone attacks me I’ll turn them in to an administrator at school or, if it’s something serious like what happened to me, I’ll report them to the police. I want the SOB’s who beat me up to go to jail for as long as possible. I’m going to testify against them.”

“Good for you, Brian. Now, I’ve got to get going. I have a class at one o’clock.”

We went downstairs and I checked with Mom and Friday mornings were fine with her, too. I walked David to the front door.

“Have fun in class. I’ll see you next Friday.”

“See you then, Brian. Remember, if you have a question you can call me.”

“I will. Thanks, David.”

I walked into the kitchen. Mom was fixing egg salad sandwiches for lunch.

“So, how did it go with David?”

“Good. He’s a Physics major at OCU. He also knows a lot about web design so if I have any questions for my Web Design 2 class I can ask him. He said he can also help me learn Java programming.”

“What about Algebra 2?”

“He can help with that, but really, I don’t need any help. I have my A in Algebra 2 locked down.”

“Just don’t be so positive that you become complacent.”

“I won’t, Mom. You can count on me to pay attention to all of my classes.”

“What do you want to drink?”

“A glass of milk, please.”

Mom and I sat down to lunch. I ate two egg salad sandwiches, potato chips, and two glasses of milk. When I was finished I went upstairs to my room.

I decided to read about the other projects at the end of chapter 17 in my Physics textbook. Since I was going to be reading, this would be a good time to start encrypting my hard drive. I woke up my laptop and read about EFS, the Windows Encrypting File System. It’s simple, but it’s only as good as the Windows login password. I knew that my login password was weak, ‘Hawk5’ — the name of the Deer Valley High mascot with the ‘s’ replaced by ‘5’. Yeah, I know that’s a lame password. So I came up with a new password that’s a mix of upper and lower case letters, digits, punctuation characters, and spaces and was 37 characters long. This password is too complicated for anyone to break yet easy for me to remember. I changed the logon password and made sure I could get in if I’d screwed it up somehow by not changing the Administrator password. Once I could log off and log on I changed the Administrator password to be the same as my login password. I’d already backed up all of the folders I was going to encrypt in case something went horribly wrong. Now it was time to set the flags to encrypt all the files and folder in my documents, pictures, and music folders, my email folder, and all of the temp folders. It chugged away in the background doing the encryption. Cool.

While that was going on I opened my Physics textbook and started reading about the other three projects. I decided it would be better if I waited until Nate was here around four today. I went downstairs to watch some TV and wait for Nate.

As usual there was nothing on TV. I looked through what was recorded on the cable box DVR. There was a CSI Miami episode that I hadn’t seen, so I clicked Play.

“Brian?” It was Mom.

“Yes?”

“I’m going to the market. I’ll be back in about forty-five minutes or so.”

“Okay. See you later.”

I heard the garage door open, her car pull out, and the garage door close. Those were background noises that I heard subliminally and basically ignored.

One thing I always wondered about CSI Miami is why are the CSI guys usually the first ones at a crime scene? That doesn’t make sense to me. The cops should be there first, and they should be the ones calling for CSI to come and process the crime scene. Whatever.

The doorbell rang. I shut off the TV and got up. I looked at my watch. It was ten minutes to four. Nate was a little early today. I went to the front door and looked through the peephole. It wasn’t Nate, it was a middle-aged man in a suit and tie. Some salesman, I figured. I opened the door.

“Yes?” I asked.

“Are you Brian Anderson?”

“Yes. What can I do for you?”

“I’d like to talk with you for a few minutes.”

I became suspicious. Maybe this guy was a lawyer or a reporter. I put my hand in my pocket and turned on the digital recorder I always carried with me now. That was one of the things that Inspector Kozara recommended.

“Who are you and why should I want to talk to you?”

“I’m Gianni Santoni, Quin’s father. I want to talk to you about the case against my son.”

“You can talk to my attorney, John Gibbs, or to Ian Kilpatrick, the Assistant District Attorney assigned to this case.”

“I need to talk to you. It will only take a few minutes. I’d like to come inside where it’s more private.”

“I’m not going to talk to you.”

I started to close the door but Mr. Santoni put his hand out and held it open.

“Please. All I want to do is talk to you. Please. Just a few minutes” He sounded desperate.

“If you don’t leave now I’m going to call the police.”

“Please don’t do that until you find out what I’m willing to offer you and your family. I know you’ll find it interesting.”

“The only thing that I’m interested in is sending Quinten Santoni and Tom Calloway to prison for what they did to me. I almost died because of how they attacked me.”

That’s when Nate arrived. Now, Nate might be a quarterback but he’s a big quarterback. He’s about six-two and weighs around 200 pounds and it’s solid muscle. He’s an imposing guy, even if he is only fifteen. He walked onto our porch.

“Is there a problem here?”

“Not if Mr. Santoni leaves. Now.”

Mr. Santoni looked defeated. He shook his head, turned, and walked to a car parked in front of our house.