A Morning Like This by Deborah Bedford

Author:Deborah Bedford [BEDFORD, DEBORAH]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC042000
ISBN: 9780446551328
Publisher: FaithWords
Published: 2009-06-10T04:00:00+00:00

As if David wasn’t already smarting enough from his conversation with Nelson Hull, when he walked into the lobby of The Jackson State Bank, there beneath the mammoth taxidermy head of a bison that had been the bank’s logo and mascot for the past seventy-five years sat two security guards flanking his son. One of them hefted himself from the chair, his leather belt squeaking as he hoisted it. “Mr. Treasure? Is this your boy?”

Heaviness, rock-solid, bore down on him. What next? The other guard stood, too. Still sitting between them, Braden pursed his bottom lip, brought his elbows close to his ribs in shame, and stared at the floor.

“Is this your son, Mr. Treasure?”

“Yes, it is.” A pause. “Braden?” Then, back to the intimidating men, “Is there some problem here?”

Two dozen pairs of magnetic eyeballs locked on them. From the personnel at the customer-service cubicles and the tellers lined up behind the long, narrow desk to Francisco, head of maintenance, who was busy rearranging velvet ropes, everybody was watching.

“Yes, we have a problem.” Security Guard One locked his forearms across his chest. “Even though the police were not called, Snow King management did not want this boy released to anyone except his father.”

“Released from what?”

“He’s a minor, so it hasn’t been determined which charges will be filed. But it might be reckless endangerment, Mr. Treasure. Your boy injured someone on the Alpine Slide.”

As often happens to a parent when his child stands accused, David’s thoughts pendulumed between defense and blame. First he thought, Oh, good grief, sport. Why did you do that? Second he thought, My child would never behave that way! Who do you think you’re kidding?

But the misery on Braden’s face warned David that he’d best get the whole story before he passed judgment. “Would you both like a Dum Dum? Here. Have one.” He lifted a jar from a customer-service desk and offered it to the guards. “Try the green. They’re the best. Yellow is good, though, too. You might think it’s lemon, but it’s pineapple.”

They declined, one of them soundly and one of them looking like he would rather have said yes.

“Why don’t we go to my office? We can hash this out.”

They started toward the stairs with Braden in tow. As David panned the room, all gazes withdrew to their proper duties. Except for Francisco, who accidentally knocked over a brass post in his haste to occupy himself.

Once they’d closed the door and all the pomp-and-spectacle of the guards had ended for everyone, David sat in his thick swivel chair and motioned for Braden to join him. When his son came, he gave him a place to perch on his knee and hugged him. There he sat, hanging on to his son for dear life, as if they were both dangling over a dangerous cliff.

“Now, who’s going tell me what happened?”

The two guards stumbled over each other to recount the details—how they’d been called from their offices by two-way radio and how they’d found

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.