JamesSavik

In the Green household, Detective Chris Butler was standing beside Rochelle Green. They had been talking over coffee at the kitchen table when the four boys called them in to see the news segment. Rochelle asked, “Are you sure that’s him?” James nodded and Marcus said, “Yeah, that Jeffry’s friend all right. We didn’t know he had lost his Mother and best friend.” Jon-Jon said, “He’s really nice. He brought Baskin-Robbins over and talked to us about the Y.” Detective Butler sai

Someone had the local ABC affiliate on the television in the living room. They started with national and local news, sports and weather, and then they came to their Good News segment. Three windows appeared on the screen with the reporters Phillip had talked to earlier in the day. “Hi I am Daniel Sokolsky, and I’m with my colleagues Matt Stevens of Fox and Stacy Scott of the Banner.” The two other reporters gave a perfunctory, “Thanks Dan.” Stacy Scott said, “We went to c

Stay tuned. This isn't a given. Phillip is tolerant but, he ain't stupid.

Casey made a thorough inspection of the kitchen, pantry, and freezer. He looked appalled at the spice rack. Casey’s verdict was: “I can do great things in this kitchen. We just need to get some food in it.” Phillip said, “Billy and I were talking it over. We were thinking tacos and maybe lasagna. Then I can grill a time or two and, we’ll need breakfast stuff.” Casey said, “That’s a decent plan for a start. I can do either one in my sleep. I have a couple of suggestions. You need a bl

There were two locker rooms on the 2nd floor of the pool annex building. They hadn’t been used for years since competitions had started being hosted at a nearby Junior College. One of Phillip’s side projects was to get them in shape for kids like Scotty to use that were intimidated by being naked in front of a crowd. As Phillip was working to get one of the Sanctuary locker rooms in shape for use, the phone in his office rang once. Phillip had it forwarded and the call bounced to his cell

The Philosophy of Science Fiction Star Trek: "Let's appeal to their humanity. What do you mean they don't have any? Quick! Someone reverse the polarity of something and hang on!" Star Wars: "Let's just wing it. Hell, the Force is basically a religion based on luck, so let's not over plan anything here." Dune: "If the 'spice must flow', why is everyone so determined to screw that up, when everything depends on it. Also give me back my PlayStation you joyless freaks." Firefly: "Let's be bad guys...OK not really bad, but bad guys you'd still be all right bringing home to mother." New Battlestar Galactica: "I'm pretty sure we spaced your mother. Also, who told the tin cans they were allowed to actually kill anyone after the pilot episode?" Old Battlestar Galactica: "Frack, Starbuck there must be more women left in the fleet that aren't my sister. Also, I just saw a kid with a coconut destroy a Cylon. Are these things using Windows as an operating system? Because that would explain a lot." Babylon 5: "Things are happening way above my pay grade and we need an actual plan. Also God is dead, but we should really go to church more often." Lexx: lets bang nearly everyone, and everything we can, and then eat a planet or three. EVE Online: Here’s a ship. Fuck you. Stargate SG1: I’ll irritate my enemies with my sarcasm and then shoot them in the face.

Phillip spent the rest of the afternoon taking care of his Thursday checklist and having light conversations with a few kids. About four, Seth and David caught up with him and wanted to have a word so they retreated to his office. Seth said, “When I talked to my Grandma a few minutes ago, she said some reporters had come by and asked her questions about you.” Phillip said, “Me? What did they ask?” David said, “Grandma doesn’t suffer fools well Phillip. It’s not what they asked, it

They arrived at the Y and they all made their appointed rounds. Phillip got on his computer and logged his time. He took a look back at the SecureCamDVR and saw that about ten after two, a number of members of the Gentlemen’s club had used the mat room. Later, he saw four kids go in the bathroom and stay for fifteen minutes. He rolled it back to get a good look and saw that it was four of the neighborhood kids who came in the afternoons, not any of the swimmers or day-campers. He recognize

After having a word with Mr. Cassidy, Phillip gathered Tanner and Jeffry and left in his car. Tanner asked, “Where are we going?” Phillip said, “First Baskin-Robbins and then to see some of Jeffry’s friends we are trying to get to come to the Y as day-campers.” Jeffry said, “You’ll like them Tanner. They’re cool.” Tanner replied, “Cool”, but was unclear on whether he was excited about ice cream, meeting new friends or Phillip’s promise. Phillip had spotted the Baskin-Robb

Phillip went to the office and had a word with Mr. Campbell about the four Green boys. Once again Phillip surprised him. When he asked his boss for an hour after the hospital visit, Campbell was happy to oblige. Frank Cassidy was in charge of loading up the van to visit Rodney. Only eight kids could go and most of them were from his age group but, Jeffry and Tanner were going. As Phillip planned to visit the Green brothers, he followed in his car. They arrived shortly before two and

Stay tuned.

Philip had lunch with Mikie, Randy and Tanner. Tanner could make a dead person smile and helped Phillip recover from the funk the interview had unleashed. It didn’t take long before he was smiling again surrounded by a small crowd of happy day campers. His phone rang and he saw it was Mr. Oswald. He excused himself and headed for a quieter spot to take the call. Phillip answered on the fourth ring. It was obvious Oswald was in a good mood. He wasted no time, “Little Phil: I tal

Stacy Scott got in her news van and opened her laptop. She did a Google search: Phillip Wright, maritime, attorney, fatal, accident, and March. She wasn’t sure where Phillip was from, so she ran the search as is. She clicked the first link from the Virginian-Pilot of Newport-News, Virginia: Three Killed in Four Car Accident with a Semi on 264 Near McArthur Center. Phillip’s story was instantly verified. Gwen Wright, Angelica and Javier Perez were all listed as dead at the scene. She

On his way back upstairs, Tanner and Ryan saw Phillip and followed him up. Tanner asked, “What’s wrong Phillip?” Phillip said, “Those reporters brought up something that happened before I moved here that really spaced me out. Please don’t ask. It’ll be in the news, so everybody will know, and I won’t have to tell the story over and over.” Tanner did what he always does that made Phillip’s day: hugged him like only Tanner could. Ryan asked, “Tanner, I need to talk to Phillip

Mr. Campbell had Phillip ushered into his office and asked him, “So Phillip, how are you going to answer what qualifies you to be a counselor?” Phillip replied, “Absolutely nothing. I don’t even pretend to have all the answers but, unlike some of the boys, I’m not afraid to ask. I have a huge advantage over the guys with degrees and training. I’m not much older than the kids and don’t intimidate them like an adult might. I know the easy answers. When I get a tough one, I can talk to the st

He was mean after all.

You will find out tomorrow.

As Phillip was looking at his phone, he saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye on the SmartCam display. Looking closer, he saw Sammy Lewis, one of next year’s seventh graders who had twice followed Phillip to the can for a peep, furtively making his way to the lonely restroom that seemed a lot more popular than Phillip had thought. He was looking around like he was trying to see if anyone was following, slipped into the restroom and, made sure the door closed quietly. Almos

After going over a list of emailed requests for services and parceling them out between himself and his helpers, he logged Mikie and Randy’s hours for the morning and tasks completed. He looked at the time and knew a person he needed to speak to was probably free enough to talk, so he picked up his phone and dialed. Marty Oswald was a gruff, retired police detective who worked as a private investigator and security consultant for the firm. Phillip wasn’t quite sure how he would react to hi

They were shocked enough

They installed it in the old supervisor's office, but the poor old guy had no clue how to use it. Phillip figured it out pretty quick.

Phillip found Andy Larkin waiting for him in his office. Andy embraced Phillip enthusiastically and said in a rush, “You were right about Bryan. We stayed up late talking and, he never really wanted to stab me after all. We were both so different at breakfast my parents asked what the heck happened. I told them that Bryan said you were good to talk to and, you helped me get some things sorted out. They want you to come over for supper soon.” Phillip hugged Andy back and said, “That’s

As Phillip fooled around with the computer, he found a program running in the background called SecureCam. He clicked on it and a display of the two cameras came up. He clicked the help about button and a short Using SecureCam video started. In about ten minutes he learned how to control the program which had been state of the art several years ago. It was full of buzzwords like IEE802.11g and end-to-end encryption. As he watched the video, he saw something interesting: the program saved 72

Like it or not, drug and alcohol abuse is out there and, kids have to deal with it. ~15-25% of Middle School aged kids have tried marijuana and/or alcohol. Depending on the community, it can run much higher or lower. The opportunity to at least try alcohol and marijuana is almost a universal experience by high school in the United States. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/substance-use/index.htm GLBT youth are particularly at risk as they are often the target of bullying and other stressors. https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/gay-teens-least-twice-likely-use-illegal-drugs-study-suggests-n898671 I tried to give Phillip a reasonable attitude about it. His reservations about weed were well taken and, good reasons to leave it alone. As the story progresses you'll find out why Phillip does not smoke grass and always stops after one drink. I'm glorifying nor advocating it. It is simply there. It is part of the whole raft of issues adolescents have to deal with that make us uncomfortable and, speaking as an author, provide opportunities for drama. FYI- I'm a recovering addict myself and have been clean 18 years.

The next morning, Phillip, Mikie and Randy got up a little early and were much better rested with an extra hour or two of sleep. During their showers and preparations for the day, Mikie and Randy wheedled for gossip about Andy’s visit. As curious as they were, all Phillip would say is that Mikie would have lost his bet. After a stop by McDonald's for breakfast, they arrived at the Y an hour early. As Phillip had the keys, he opened up, entered and locked up behind him. Mr. Campbell was alr