Shadow of my Father - 39. Chapter 39

Martha sat in her wheel chair, in the lobby of her attorney’s offices, waiting to be called in. He called her late Saturday afternoon asking her to come in first thing Monday morning, but didn’t say anything else. That had Martha worrying all weekend long. Whatever he needed to speak with her about couldn’t be good news, she kept thinking.

“Mrs. Lopez, Mr. Ryland is ready to see you in his office.” Martha looked at the secretary with a confused look on her face. “Ma’am I can help you if you need help to his office, because it’s all the way down the hall.”

“Excuse me, are you sure you have the right person? Mr. Ryland isn’t my attorney. In fact he didn’t want anything to do with my case. I really do think you have the wrong person for Mr. Ryland.” Martha kept the brake on her chair so it wouldn’t move.

“Ma’am I was just told that Mr. Ryland is ready to see you. He asked me to show you to his office and that’s all I know. If you don’t want to go, I’ll call him and let him know that you’re not willing to see him.”

Martha shook her head in the negative as she released her brake. Kimberly pushed her chair behind the secretary that came out to get her. Once they reached Mr. Ryland’s office, the secretary opened the door and let Martha and Kimberly in before shutting it behind them. They waited for Mr. Ryland to tell them where to sit in his huge office.

“Mrs. Lopez, welcome please come in and relax. I know you’re a little confused about what’s going on, so let me fill you in. Before I get started, can I get you or your friend anything to drink? We have pretty much anything you might want to drink from coffee, to orange juice to any kind of soda you might like.”

Martha and Kimberly asked for coffee. “Okay while my secretary gets that for us, let me start by telling you what’s going on. Your judge wasn’t too happy with your attorney with the trick he pulled to get you bail. He has been hurting us with the cases that are before him and he has gotten several other judges to do the same thing. That is really hurting a significant number of clients, so we needed to find a way to settle that judge down.

The partners of this law firm had a meeting with the judge Friday afternoon. We had to give up some stuff in order to get him to see that we didn’t agree with what your attorney did. One of the things we had to agree on is letting your attorney go from this law firm. Before he left, we had him call in all his clients so we can meet with them face to face today. We’ll give them a choice staying with this law firm or going with him.

Now, as you know, we didn’t want this case from the beginning. The only reason this firm had anything to do with your case was because of your attorney. With that said, we are willing to stick with the case since our name is already associated with you. Either that or you can go with your attorney and see what he can do for you on his own.”

“Let me ask you something before I answer you. Like you said, you didn’t want anything to do with this case. If I decide to stick with you, how do I know you’re going to fight for me all the way? You don’t believe in me, so how can I truly know you’ll defend me with all of what you have? More so because he was handling my case pro-bono as I am unable to pay you one red cent.”

“Here’s how you know we are willing to go to bat for you. If you stick with this firm, we have already got you a deal that no other law firm will be able to get you. Let me tell you why I know that. One of the other things we had to give up was running one of the partners of this law firm against him in his reelection. If he drops from the race, there’s no one that can beat your judge in a year for his seat.

It’s sad that when it comes down to it, but he wants to survive as well. By getting four more years on the bench, he’ll be able to retire without worrying about getting his full retirement. We’re handing him another four years that he needs and in return he’ll help us out in getting rid of this case.”

Martha looked at Mr. Ryland, not understanding what in the world he was talking about. By the sounds of it, they have done something dirty. She’s fine with dirty as long as she isn’t tied to the dirt. If she signs onto anything, she wants to be sure it can’t be overridden or taken away because of the back room deals that were happening right now.

“Before you tell me the deal you got me with this judge, it won’t matter. I still have to face charges in state court and federal court. A district court judge can’t help me in those courts, so no matter what, I’m screwed. I’ll be doing hard time no matter what you do for me here on the district level.”

Mr. Ryland explained to Martha his thinking on what she just asked. He felt that the federal government didn’t have much to come at her with. They’re hoping on jury verdicts on the district and state levels before they come after her. They won’t get that on the district level if she takes the plea.

As far as on the state level, Mr. Ryland believes that her ex husband isn’t going to take it on. It will make him look petty; something a person in his position can’t afford. If he orders his state attorney general to prosecute the case, he’ll get burnt in his reelection campaign in four years and destroy any hope on getting anything through the houses this term. His governorship would be plagued with him misusing his position.

“So as you can see, I have looked at it in all directions. The deal the judge is willing to sign off on and he will get the district attorney to agree with this, is a gift. You plead guilty to one count of attempted murder under your original insanity plea. You will get sentenced under the insanity plea. That means you will be sent to a hospital until a doctor feels that you are no longer a danger to society or twenty five years.”

“No! Forget it! I won’t go to a crazy house for twenty five years no matter what my other options are! My ex will make sure I spend every minute of those twenty five years locked up. The when I get out I won’t be able to make a living anyway. I will be looked at as the crazy woman that tried to kill the Governor of Texas.”

“Let me finish before you jump down my throat on this. After you plead to this, you will be looked at by doctor within ninety days of your arrival. This doctor will be one that we choose to see if you are still a threat to society. We both know you will pass that test because you are not a threat to anyone. That that means you will get out in ninety days, with nothing to worry about.

By taking this plea, the state or federal government can’t go after you because everything dealing with this case will be sealed. That means no matter how much they want to charge you; they won’t be able to use the evidence. Without the evidence, there is no case for them to be able to prosecute you with.”

Martha thought about what Mr. Ryland said. If he was telling her the truth, she would be out in the free in three months with no more worries. She could do three months in a mental hospital without a problem. As long as she could get out and not worry about the other courts trying to get her for the same charge, she could weather the ninety days.

“I’ll sign off on this plea as long as it goes exactly as you told me here. If there is one thing different, I will walk out. So if you are lying to me in order to get rid of this case, I won’t fall for it. Plus I have Kimberly here that’ll say that you sold me a bill of goods.”

“No matter how much I dislike you Miss. Lopez, I can’t lie to you as your attorney. If I misrepresent the facts to you, I can lose my license and you can sue me and this law firm for all we have. There’s no way I would ever give you that chance. I do want to get rid of your case, but I will do it the right way!

Now it looks like we have a deal, so let me get us into court today and get it finalized. If we don’t do it now, the state and federal government might get wind of it and stop the plea from going through. I know it’s going fast, but it needs to be that way.”

Martha agreed and her attorney picked up the phone. He didn’t speak that long with whoever he called, but when he got off the phone, he had a smile on his face. He asked Martha and Kimberly to go and wait in the lobby while he gets ready to walk with them to court. As they walked out, Mr. Ryland kept assuring Martha that she was making the right decision.

Coach Montoya caught up to Josh while he was sitting in the cafeteria eating breakfast. At first Josh didn’t want to be bothered with swim team, but gave in. The Coach just needed to tell Josh that swim practice was starting up this Wednesday. Josh agreed to be there thinking that swim practice was starting early. At the same time he didn’t have any idea when returning members of the team had to start practicing.

Josh looked over at Chris letting him know he wasn’t happy that his father knew exactly where to find him during breakfast. When Chris met Josh’s glare, he knew that Josh wasn’t happy with him. Just the way Josh was glaring, painted him a very unhappy picture.

“Josh you knew that practice was going to start eventually. At least now you can get out there in the pool and start to work off some of this fat you’ve gotten.” Cesar pinched Josh’s stomach. “Don’t get me wrong, I kind of like my dough boy. There’s more of you I can grab onto when we have sex.”

“Shut up, I’m not fat or getting fat. I know I haven’t been doing a lot of exercise, but at the same time I haven’t been eating a whole lot either. You’re just saying that I’m fat so you don’t feel fat yourself.” Josh pushed Cesar’s hand away and started to grab at Cesar’s stomach.

Josh moved his hand little by little down Cesar’s stomach to his dick. Once he reached Cesar’s dick, he found it as hard as a rock. He looked up to Cesar and saw that he was actually smiling back at him. Josh squeezed Cesar’s dick several times through his jeans before moving his hand back to his stomach.

“Later tonight I will take care of that for you . . .” Josh whispered in Cesar’s ear as he grabbed Cesar’s hand and placed it over his hardening dick. “ . . . as long as you take care of this for me at the same time. By the looks of it, both of us need attention thats long overdue. Well, not long overdue, but still, we both need attention.”

Cesar giggled as he returned the favor squeezing Josh’s dick several times through his pants. The last squeeze, Cesar actually wrapped his hands around Josh’s dick, which caused Josh to hit his knees on the table. Everyone looked at Cesar and Josh for a moment before returning to their conversation.

“That wasn’t fair! I’ll get you back tonight when we’re alone in our room. I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I have all day to think of it.” Josh pushed Cesar’s hand away so he had time to let his dick go down before the bell.

As they headed to their lockers, Bernice and Eric kept looking at Josh and Cesar. Josh figured that they knew something happened, but they haven’t figured it out yet. By the time they did, if they did, it will be old news. Something else would catch their attention that made what happened this morning during breakfast old news.

Josh closed his locker and headed to his class. As he arrived, Principal Michaels approached Jonathan and asked to speak with him. Jonathan nodded to another one of his security detail to go in with Josh. Both Jonathan and Principal Michaels moved out of the way in order to let the students get into class.

When the final bell rang Principal Michaels yelled out at several kids to get class. Once the hallway emptied, Principal Michaels walked up to Jonathan. He gathered his thoughts in order to try to make clear to Jonathan what he had to say. He knew that no matter what or how he put it, he wasn’t going to get a good response from Jonathan.

“I know as principal, I’ve made many mistakes since Gov. Lopez has been elected Governor. We’ve never handled this type of situation before in any of the schools in the city. So we’re bound to make mistakes, but as long as we learn from those mistakes and not commit them again, we’re doing our job.

With that said, I need to let you know about something that just happened. Mr. Fields, Josh’s history teacher, won his appeal at the school board. I won’t lie to you, I told him to appeal at the school board. I did what I was supposed to do at my level and the school board did what they were supposed to do at their level. He’s returning to his classroom effective today and there’s nothing else that can be done to stop it.”

“What I don’t understand about this Principal Michaels is the fact that Mr. Fields not only touched Josh, but singled him out by having only Josh give a report in front of the class. No matter how you cut this, Mr. Fields was wrong. His actions may not warrant termination but at least pull him out of classes teaching any more students.”

“I don’t know whether or not you are new at what you’re doing or have never guarded students at a high school level. Teachers have the right to decide what to do and teach their students as long as they don’t break the law or the rules of the school district. Mr. Fields didn’t do either on the issue involving Josh.

Instead assigning Josh make up work that the rest of the class did while he was gone. Mr. Fields chose to have him speak about being there in person while the Governor got sworn in. There’s nothing wrong with that. As far as him touching Josh, he didn’t do it in any negative or malicious way. He just patted Josh on the shoulder to give him confidence speaking in front of the class.

If you or anyone in your detail is going to have a problem with Mr. Fields, I don’t want you in my school. When Mr. Fields and I talked this morning, I told him to let me know if he feels that you guys are interrupting his class. If that happens, I’ll remove whoever is causing the disruption. I don’t care if that means the Governor removes his kids from my school. I run this school, not you or the other guard details that are attached to the Governor’s kids.”

Principal Michaels left it like that, not giving Jonathan a chance to respond. He had been kicking himself in the butt ever since this whole issue came up. No matter how he ran the meeting in his mind, Principal Michaels felt he had let Mr. Fields down that day. After all, the teachers here believe that their principal should have their backs whenever things hit the fan. At least if they are in the right.

Every time Josh would look over at Eric during first period, he would find him staring at him. By the fourth time, Josh started to feel weird about it. Whatever Eric and Bernice had up their sleeves, they were starting to give Josh the creeps. They should just come out with it once and for all. This game was starting to get under Josh’s skin.

When the bell rang, Josh got up and walked over to Eric. “Hey man, what’s going on with you and Bernice. Ever since breakfast, you guys have been looking at me and Cesar weird. All through first period, every time I would look up, you would be staring at me. I’ll tell you, that’s really creepy and I’d like it if either you tell me what’s up or stop looking at me like that.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to freak you out like that. Bernice and I would like to talk with you about something, but we wanted to make sure we approached you at the right time. Our friendship has been rocky for the last couple weeks, or should I say month, and we don’t know if our friendship is still in danger or getting back to how it was before.”

“Look, I have let go of what happened. So let’s stop bringing it up and just move on. If you and Bernice need or want to talk with me, I’m around. I’ll listen to you guys, and if you need an opinion, I’ll give you one. It’s up to you guys if you take my opinion or not; all that is up to you guys.”

Before Eric could tell Josh what he and Bernice needed to talk to him about, they walked into second period. They agreed to pick it up at lunch where they would have more time and Bernice could be there. Josh liked that even better, since whatever Eric needed to talk with him about, involved both him and Bernice.

When Josh walked into third period, he smiled when he saw Mr. Fields. Josh knew bits and pieces of what happened to Mr. Fields and what Jonathan did. He didn’t like it, but he couldn’t do anything about it. Jonathan was the head of his guard detail and he made the decision whether a person was a threat or not.

“Good morning class, it’s good to see all your faces again. I know there have been a lot of rumors floating around the school about why I was gone. Just like I did the first two periods, I’ll clear the air this one time and nothing more will be said about it. You need to get down to learning and I need to be able to teach you.

The only part of the rumor that’s true is the fact I got asked to retire. The rest of the rumor is false and I want to lay that to rest here so we can move on, so there is no whispering or wondering what actually happened. Once I say what needs to be said, I won’t answer any questions about whom and what happened.

First, I did ask a student to do something that I didn’t have the rest of the students do. I did that trying to help the student to make up work that they missed. The school board agreed with me, that I was not wrong for doing what I did. We also agreed that I wouldn’t do that again in order to make sure it wasn’t misunderstood in the future.

And the second item that came up was me touching the student on the shoulder. I have been a teacher at this school for decades and have treated my students the same way my entire career. Even Principal Michaels was a student of mine and he knows I don’t touch students in an inappropriate manner which was what was insinuated that I was doing to this student. Still, I will no longer touch students in any way, shoulder, arm or hand.

The way laws have changed and how people mistake a simple gesture makes it harder for teachers to teach. Parents and others wonder why teachers refuse to tutor a student one on one anymore. This is why; the fear that sitting to close or touching a student on the shoulder might be interpreted wrong and the result is the teacher losing his or her job.

Now I have told you all the truth and I hope I have put the rumors to rest. If not, don’t speak of the rumor in my classroom from this point on. No one is at fault here with what happened. It is now in the past and we must move. So let’s open our history books to page one hundred and twenty five, and Monica, can you start us off on reading?”

The class started to moan as they opened their books. They all thought that Mr. Fields was going to take more of the class time explaining what happened. Instead he only took fifteen minutes and was moving on, to teaching. To top it off, they had already gone through this chapter, so they didn’t understand why they had to do it again.

While Martha and her attorney rushed over to the courtroom, Mr. Anderson was having his morning meeting with the assistant DA’s that were not in court. He wasn’t happy with the fact that the state was telling him that he needed to plea more of his cases out to probation because the prisons were full. That was pretty much tying his hands when it came down to sentencing those that deserve to go to prison.

“Listen guys I know I have been on you guys to not show any mercy, but now I have to modify that. Our prisons are over filled and they’re asking the cities to do more pleas to probation rather than sending the individual to prison. It’s costing more money to house these guys, when the state feels they can make money off of them on probation.”

“So you’re telling us that we have no other choice but to put everyone on probation. If that’s how things are going to run, you won’t win reelection because you’re breaking your promise of putting the criminals behind bars. I’m going to enjoy this…..”

“You can do your campaigning outside this office on your own free time. If you want to use the information that you’re getting in these meetings, to take my seat, go for it. Let’s leave the campaigning out of this office though. We need to put those that are really a threat to the public, behind bars and those that don’t show a threat to our community on probation.”

Just then Mr. Anderson’s secretary walked in and handed him a note. He read it, ended the meeting and headed to his office. When he walked in, he started yelling up a storm at no one in particular. His secretary helped him get his coat, briefcase and the Martha Lopez file in order for him to get to court as fast as he could.

Mr. Anderson ran out of the building and down to the courthouse. As he entered the building, he started to take everything out of his pockets and placed it all in his briefcase. That way he wouldn’t get hung up trying to go through the metal detectors. All he had to do was grab and run to the elevators.

That was exactly what he did once he got through the metal detectors. Running as fast as he could push his body, he got to the elevators just as the doors started to close. He shoved his briefcase between the doors, making the elevator open again. As soon as he got out of the elevator, he ran straight into the courtroom, trying to stop the plea.

“I see we have all the paperwork in order for this plea?” The judge looked out to both attorneys. “Since there is no objection on either side to moving forward on this, I’ll read the plea into the record.”

“You honor, I object to the plea.” Mr. Anderson yelled as he ran through the doors of the courtroom. “This plea was not cleared by my office and won’t be accepted. I don’t know what’s going on here, but I won’t have this defendant try an end run around the laws of this state. She will get what she deserves and that is real jail time.”

“Mr. Anderson, you are out of order.” The judge looked at Mr. Anderson with an angry look on his face. “Your Assistant DA didn’t object to this plea when she had the chance to, so we are moving forward on this. I’m tired of your office not knowing what the left hand is doing. This case has been fumbled by your office from the beginning and I’m tired of cleaning up the mess!”

“This plea can’t be accepted if my signature isn’t on it. I will never sign off on this plea, and that means you’re wasting your time. If you choose to continue with this so called hearing, which is nothing but a kangaroo court, I’ll take you in front of the ethics committee and find out the real reason behind the push for this plea.”

The judge just looked at Mr. Anderson, angier than before. “Once again your office didn’t object to the plea when I asked for objection, so we will move on with the plea. You can stay or you can go, but there is nothing your office can do about it now.”

“Fine, I’ll leave and head up to the twelfth floor and ask for a hearing in front of the ethics committee. Before the day is over, I’ll have this plea thrown out and you up on charges of ethic violations. There’s something going on here and I note with great interest that one of the main partners of the law firm that has an attorney that is planning to run against you for your seat. I don’t have to prove that a deal was made; all I have to do is put it out there.”

“You are out of order and I will find you on contempt of court if you continue in this manner! No matter what you think, you will respect this court.” The judge looked at the defense attorney knowing that he had been caught. “Let’s recess this hearing to my chambers and talk this out. I want this case off of my docket one way or another!”

The judge got up and walked out of the courtroom. Mr. Ryland and Mr. Anderson followed the judge. As they entered the hall, Mr. Anderson turned to his assistant DA and pulled her to the side.

“I don’t know what you were thinking when you didn’t report this plea to me. Why you didn’t object and ask for a recess in order to get me down here? You know that this case can’t be pled down because of it’s nature. What the hell were you thinking? Or were you thinking at all?”

“Sir, the judge told me that they cleared this plea with your office. I believe . . .”

“You’re fired effective immediately! I can’t have people working for me that are this damn stupid! You know that a judge doesn’t clear plea agreements with me. Even if I talked with the judge, I would have let you know a plea had been reached, which you should know doesn’t happen. Since you didn’t object I’ll more than likely, be stuck with the plea, but you won’t be the only one losing your job over this.”

Mr. Anderson walked into the outer office of the judges chambers and called his office. He told his secretary what he just did and to lock the terminated Assistant DA out of the system. She was to send another Assistant DA to the courtroom as soon as was possible. And when the attorney he just fired arrived there, she was to have her sit in the lobby while security cleared out her office.

He hung up the phone and walked into the judges chambers. “I just fired the assistant DA assigned to your courtroom your honor. For now I’ll handle matters here until I find a DA that won’t be bullied by this court.”

The judge sat down knowing that with Mr. Anderson firing his DA, showed that he meant business. No matter what happened here, he wasn’t going to be able to scare Mr. Anderson into this plea agreement. He would still try and push the plea in order to keep his seat in the election next year.

“You can fire your DA, but it doesn’t change the fact that she didn’t object to the plea. It is already on record and there’s nothing you can do about it. I’m willing to hear you on what changes you want done with this plea, but a plea will happen today. So tell me what you want changed.”

“I want the whole plea thrown out! I want this case in front of a jury so I can convict this woman for trying to not only kill the Governor, but her kids and law enforcement officers. She, of all people, belongs behind bars for the rest of her natural life, not in a mental hospital where she can get out within a year.”

“I won’t throw the plea out and you should have known not to ask for that. You tell me where to change it, I will see about it and then Mr. Ryland will have to present it to his client. If she rejects the plea then you can have your jury trial. I don’t think she is stupid enough to reject any plea that keeps her out of prison.”

They sat there going back and forth over what should be changed in the plea. Mr. Anderson stood his ground wanting the entire plea thrown out, but he wasn’t getting anywhere. Then he moved to have her serve her twenty five years in prison, with no chance of parole. Once again he was turned down. The judge kept throwing back that he didn’t have to do this since the plea wasn’t objected to.

“This is getting tiring your honor. If you are unwilling to budge on anything, then we are wasting our time here. Let me see how far you have been influenced by the other side. Since Miss. Lopez isn’t an American citizen by birth, but by marriage, you put in the plea once she does her time and gets out she loses her immigration papers. When she gets released from the mental facility, she gets taken across the border and never allowed to reenter the U.S. again.”

“I don’t see a problem with that at all. I can put that in the plea and recommend that Mr. Ryland sells this to his client. Is that all, or is there more that you want?”

“Oh yes! There is a lot more, but I have to settle for what I can get. Also she has to give up parental rights to her kids to her husband. She can’t go after the Governor for any kind of monthly payment and anything that they have she loses her rights over it. And finally, if she comes back into the United States, she will be arrested and sentenced to twenty five years in prison without a chance of getting out; PRISON, not some mental hospital!”

“You are pushing it Mr. Anderson; you are really pushing it. I will go ahead and put that in the plea, but I won’t make any more changes. Now we need to go out there, get this done and you’ll need to sign off on this plea Mr. Anderson.”

Mr. Ryland and Mr. Anderson got up and walked out of the judge’s chambers. Mr. Anderson was still very unhappy about how all this came about; he wanted to make it clear to Mr. Ryland how unhappy he was, so he pulled Mr. Ryland into a conference room.

“What you did for this one client just cost your law firm. No more pleas with my office. Both of our offices worked well in the past and now that relationship has been destroyed. While I am district attorney of this county, every single one of your cases will go to trial costing your law firm thousands more than it should. Once the Governor finds out what happened here, he will come in and do whatever he can to destroy your law firm. I hope this client was worth your destruction!”

Mr. Anderson walked out, leaving a stunned Mr. Ryland standing there trying to pick his chin up from the floor. It took awhile to get Martha to accept the plea, but Mr. Ryland did get her talked into taking it. Once the plea was put in and both sides signed off on it, Mr. Anderson stopped the judge from adjourning the court.

“This case may be over as far as Martha Lopez is concerned, but not for you, your honor. I will find out what happened here, even if it costs me my job. Once the dust settles on this whole thing, there’s no way I can see you still sitting on the bench. I still plan to head up and start an ethics investigation on you along with Mr. Ryland and his law firm. There was a back room deal made here and I know it as sure as I am standing here in front of you.

In the meantime, every case will go to trial in your court room. There will be no pleas or talks between my office and anyone of the defendants in front of you. You wanted to save time on this case. That just cost your courtroom a lot more time in the long run with all of your other cases. There is only one of you and I have an entire office I can use.

If by any chance you get out of this still sitting in your seat, you won’t get reelected. You can count on the most popular Governor in this state’s history to come down here and help whoever is running against you. You should have not made a deal with the devil, because those that make deals with the devil, get burned!”

Mr. Anderson grabbed his briefcase and walked out of the courtroom. Before heading back to his office, he headed up to the twelfth floor to start the ball rolling. There was no way he was going to let this slip through a crack. Once he was done there, he would have to make a call to the Governor to deliver news that he never thought he would have to deliver. He shuddered visibly at the thought.

All through class, Josh wanted to go up and apologize to Mr. Fields, but every time he got up the nerve, another student would go up to him. Before Josh knew it, the bell rang, leaving no chance for him to talk with Mr. Fields. He gathered his books and headed out to lunch wondering if Mr. Fields blamed him for what happened.

Nothing unusual happened during lunch, until Bernice and Eric pulled Josh aside. The gang was heading out after eating when Eric asked Josh to follow him to the end of the hallway. Not asking why, Josh followed. He knew whatever it was; Eric and Bernice have wanted to get it off of their minds since the morning.

“Josh I know you don’t think much of my word right now, but Bernice and I need to make sure you’re okay with the decision to go back on the swim team. We know you love swimming and if it wasn’t for Elizabeth, you would have had a record breaking freshman year. Still you have to wonder what’s going on here.

Although Elizabeth is gone, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t others like her on the swim team. There’s no way the coach and the captain were able to reign in all of the swimmers. There has to be a few in the bunch that don’t want to be around or associated with you. Not because you’re a bad person, but because you’re gay.”

“You guys shouldn’t worry about me or the others on the swim team. Trust me, I thought about those issues you brought up and many others. I’m not dumb; I know there are going to be a few on the team that are going to cause me trouble. They won’t want to shower while I shower, change while I change and even swim in the same pool.

When they show their true colors, and they will, I’ll deal with it. Until then I’m going to do what I want to do. I need to stop looking over my shoulder for those that want to hurt me. I’m tired of worrying so much. Look at my little brother Brandon and what’s happening to him for worrying so much. That won’t happen to me. I need to be there for Brandon to help him through what he’s going through because of me.”

“We just wanted to make sure you’re not worried about the others on the swim team. When Coach walked up and told you about practice, we saw your face. It looked like you were about to throw up. If this is something you feel that you’re being pressured into, don’t do it! Both Eric and I know that you’re bored now that you don’t have Glee, but doing something that doesn’t sit right with you isn’t the answer either.”

“Bernice, the pool and the locker room brings back memories both good and bad. Yeah Elizabeth caused some bad memories for me in that place, but at the same time the good memories over shadow the bad ones. That’s where I got to know my first boyfriend. In return I was able to come to terms with who I am. Plus, it reminds me of the time that Eric here caught me and Chris in the storage room, he almost had a heart attack!”

Josh slapped Eric on the shoulder laughing. “That isn’t funny Josh. When I walked in there to find what you two were up to, almost gave me a stroke! I had no idea that you weren’t into girls and for that alone I kept kicking myself. I’m your best friend, we grew up together, and I didn’t know you. I really didn’t know my best friend!”

Not wanting to worry Cesar or the others, Josh promised Eric and Bernice if he felt at anytime uncomfortable, he would quit. That satisfied both of them and they dropped the subject as they made their way outside acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary was between them. Their friendship was standing as strong as it had ever been.

The rest of the school day flew by quick. Josh couldn’t wait to get home and have some alone time with Cesar. Bernice and Eric wanted to study with Josh and Cesar, but they changed their mind. Josh was relieved that they did because he didn’t want to tell them they couldn’t join him and Cesar. He already told Chris, and he felt bad doing it.

When they walked in, Josh’s grandma met them at the door. “You guys need to go up, put your books away and clean up. We’re going to go out to eat dinner tonight and to beat the evening rush, we’re leaving in just a few minutes. So hurry up and get back down here. You’ve got five minutes!”

Josh ran upstairs, followed by Cesar. They did what they were told to do and came back down in the time allotted. When they got downstairs, Daniel, Carlos and Brandon were already waiting at the door. They walked out to the car, looking at each other trying to see if any of the others knew what was going on.

It didn’t take them long at all to get to the Golden Corral. Once everyone settled in with their plates of food, Rose and Isaac just looked at each other. Right there Josh knew that there was something up. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good because those two were looking at each other to see who was going to deliver the bad news.

“Okay you guys I need to talk with you about something important.” Isaac looked around the table with the same look Daniel had when he was worried. “You guys know that your mother got bail and was out here the other day making trouble. Well she went to court today and it went good for her.”

All at once, everyone stopped eating. Josh dropped his fork on the table wondering how good it went for her. He didn’t want his mother to spend her life in prison, but he didn’t want his mother out and free trying to kill him either. When it came down to it, if her spending the rest of her life in prison would keep him alive, then he was for it.

“Martha’s attorney did a bait and switch today. Your father got a call from Mr. Anderson, the District Attorney, letting him know what happened in court. Your mother got sentenced to twenty five years in a mental hospital, but she can get out in ninety days. To make things worse, she can’t be charged for anything else because of the plea agreement.”

Right away questions started flying at Isaac. All he could do was to try and answer them, but he knew that there was nothing he could say to keeps them from worrying. The mother that terrorized them would be out to do it again. The fact that she would be deported to Mexico when she was released didn’t assuage their fears. Nothing would stop her from trying with all her power to get what she wanted, and that was Daniel Jr., Carlos and Brandon.

None of them touched the food on their plates after getting the bad news. They picked at their food until Rose got up and told them it was time to go. All the way home, the car was silent. Each of them just stared out the window in their own little world. They all had the same thing on their minds; Martha.

When they got home, Josh went up to his room, followed by Cesar and his brothers. Cesar closed the door when he walked in and sat down on his bed. At first they didn’t do anything, but stare at the walls. Eventually they pulled out their books and started doing their homework in silence.

After completing his homework, Josh got ready for bed. All the sexual tension that had been building all day between Josh and Cesar got blown out of the water during dinner. Neither of them felt in the mood to be with each other anymore. They just want to crawl under the blankets and end this day.

Just as Josh started to doze off, he jerked back awake. He looked around the dark room and heard nothing but the soft breathing of Cesar in his bed. Pulling the covers off of him, Josh walked over to Brandon’s room. When he peaked in, he saw Brandon in his bed, but still Josh wasn’t sure that he was asleep. So he quietly walked over to Brandon and leaned in to hear his little brother breathing very lightly.

Once he confirmed that Brandon was sound asleep, Josh made his way back to his bed. He felt a little better knowing that his brother was being kept up with what was said during dinner. Now he could go to asleep and not feel bad. The moment his head hit the pillow, Josh fell asleep, not waking up until the alarm clock went off.

Just like the night before, no one said a word during breakfast. Rose felt better when she saw her grand kids eating their breakfast, instead of picking at it. One by one they got up and put their dishes in the sink before heading out. On the way to school, Josh grabbed hold of Cesar’s hand and held it all the way until they walked into the cafeteria. This was something he had done in the past, but only for a few minutes at a time.

Josh just looked at his friends as they talked among themselves. Not paying attention to what they were talking about, Josh just stared at them. Even when they asked him a question, Josh just stared at them. Cesar answered the questions for Josh to keep them from asking questions about what was bothering Josh.

“Hey you guys, do you think we’re boring?” Josh looked around the table. “Look at us; we do the same thing every day. We walk in here, sit down, eat breakfast, go outside, go to classes, come back here for lunch, go outside and back to classes. We really don’t do anything else and I say that is a clear definition of boring.”

“Well, this is what we have done since we started high school. No one has complained about us being boring, at least not until now. What do you think we should do, Josh to keep us from being boring?”

“Patrick, I really don’t know, but this is boring. There has to be something else that we can do instead of sitting here, in the library or out in the stadium. Again what it is I don’t know, but I will figure something out. We’re freshmen and we haven’t done anything to be noticed here at school. Now we only have half of a year to correct that.”

“Trust me Josh, we’ve been noticed. Not to dig things up, that we don’t want to talk about, but we are going to be known for many things we did this year. From Elizabeth, to swim team, to Glee Club and your father Josh, you for sure, out of all of us will be remembered. No one has shined brighter than you have.”

“Yeah I will be remembered all for the wrong reasons. When you talk about these things I’ll be remembered as the person that caused our swim team to end their season early. The person that changed from liking girls to guys and because of that my crazy ex-girl friend came after me! I got voted out of the Glee Club and my father’s success isn’t mine.”

No one responded to what Josh said. “Look, all I’m trying to say is we need to spice it up some. Stop sitting around and do something. Let’s eat breakfast, but afterwards let’s go and do something besides talk. What, I don’t know and that’s why I’m asking you guys. But we need to figure it out soon before I drive myself up the wall.”

After a few seconds of silence, they started talking about what they should do instead of what they have been dong. The talk didn’t last long. Before they knew it, they were back in the conversation they were talking about before Josh threw out the question. Josh just laughed as he looked at his friends who seemed okay with how things were.

Josh got up and headed out of the cafeteria. The only ones that followed him were his security detail. Cesar and the others were so into their conversations, they didn’t even see Josh leave. That didn’t bother Josh because all they would be doing was talking about the same thing they were talking about right now.

Instead of going to the library like they have been doing, Josh went out to the stadium to see if could find something to pass the time. But Josh ended up just sitting down in the stadium looking out at the popular groups on the field. In the mix of these groups, Josh could see his older brothers being the ones that all the other students were listening to.

Having his head in the clouds, Josh didn’t hear Jacob and Joey walk up to him. When Jacob touched Josh’s shoulder to get his attention is when Josh knew that there were others around him. Josh quickly turned and looked up to see the two guys that he hasn’t spoken with since their Christmas break.

“What’s up guys? I haven’t seen you guys around for a while.” Josh shook Jacob’s and Joey’s hands as they joined him. “You are looking good Jacob. By the looks of it, you’re putting on some pounds. That means soon you’ll need to buy a whole bunch of clothes, unless you don’t plan to gain much more weight than you have already.”

“Let me tell you, no matter how much I try, my body won’t get any fatter. I’ve gotten used to that. In fact I have no problem being slim because I can get into places that other heavier set people can’t. Anyways what’s going on with you? Every time we see you around, you’re with your group of friends, except now.”

“I don’t know what’s up with me right now. Things at home are okay as far as everyday things, but we got some bad news about my mother that I don’t want to even get into. Then this morning as I sat with my friends, I just looked out and wondered if this is all. Isn’t there more than just the normal routine that we go through every day?”

“You know I think we all think what you’re thinking right now. I’ve even asked the same question, but I’ve come to realize that I have my friends, my boyfriend here and I am above ground another day. As long as I have Joey and my friends, I don’t really care about anything else. Just like you, we have routines that we are basically ditching today because we’re bored. That happens every so often and all you can do about it is work through it with those close to you.”

Josh knew that Jacob was telling him the truth, but at the same time Jacob didn’t have to go through what he has had to go through. Then Josh remembered that Jacob may not have the pressure on him that comes being the son of the Governor, but he had other pressures. He just came out of recovering from cancer, barely went back home and he was fighting his own people that don’t like the fact that he was gay.

“Yeah you’re right Jacob, with everything you’re saying. Just look down there on the field at the two guys in the middle.” Josh pointed at his brothers. “They’re my brothers and the life of the party. They are so popular people want to be like them and will do whatever they need to do to be around them. It may sound ugly, but that’s what I want. At least half of what my brothers have would be okay with me.”

“People like you and me Josh, will never have what your brothers have. No matter how good we are in sports or whatever we do here in high school the others won’t want to be like us. Plain and simple they will always look down at us because we’re gay no matter what they say to your face.

Don’t get me wrong, I have some great friends that are straight, like Chase, but I have other friends that are straight and only talk with me when we’re alone. When we’re one on one, they’re cool, but once again when they’re with their other friends they don’t give me the time of day. The reason for that, I think, is that they feel they’re guilty by association. If you’re friends with someone that is gay, you must be gay as well.”

“I have never thought of it that way Jacob, because I have had the same group of friends since I started high school. A few new ones pop in, but nothing big. We’re like the group of friends that are outsiders, that the other groups have rejected. Kind of worse than the nerds and those devil worshipers when you put us on the ranking of popularity chart.”

“My group of friends is the same, but I don’t think of us in the ranking like you do. Look, what you should do is go up to your brothers and use them to get into the popular circles. Once your group get in, show them that you’re as good as your brothers. You have that to use that none of us had. If I had that, I would milk it as much as I could.”

That made a lot of sense to Josh. His brothers were part of the football team, jocks, but at the same time in ROTC, normally nerds and they were very popular. If they could pull that off, why couldn’t he pull it off no matter if he was gay or not? If people didn’t like that part of him, screw them! It’s time to get off the sidelines and do something or stop complaining about how boring life is.

“Thank you Jacob and Joey! You guys have helped me. When I get home tonight I’m going to talk with my brothers and ask them if my friends and I could hang with them. Like you said, once we get in, it’s up to us to show that we belong there.” Josh got up, dusted himself off and helped Jacob up.

“You guys have been strangers since our Christmas vacation. My father made sure that you and your friends are clear to come over and hang whenever you want to. I know that you guys are older than us, but I would like it if we can hang with you as well. There’s so much I’d like to talk with you guys about. There’s no doubt there are things I can learn from you guys like what you taught me today.”

“You have yourself a deal Josh. We’ll start to find time to hang between our different schedules. It might not be everyday, but it will be a lot more than what we have been hanging out.” Jacob and Joey shook Josh’s hand as they started to leave. “And damn the age difference, you’re really cool Josh. I would be here whenever you need someone to talk with about what you’re going through. Sometimes it helps to talk with someone that has gone through what you’re are going through or at least like you.”

Josh smiled as he shook his head in agreement, while he walked back to the building with a skip in his step. With Jacob’s help, Josh was now seeing things clearer. He could see that there were things he could fix and things he couldn’t fix. Those things that he could fix, he needed to be the one taking the steps to fix them. Nothing in life falls in your lap.

Still upset with what happened yesterday with his ex-wife, Governor Lopez was on a rampage. No matter how small the mistake was, he would take the head off of the person that made it. When Barbara saw that Daniel actually made one of his male advisors cry as he walked out of the office, she felt she needed to do something.

As she walked into the Governor’s office, she saw him at his desk yelling at whoever was on the phone. By the sounds of the conversation, it had nothing to do with the business of his office. It actually sounded like he was yelling at someone that had something to do with getting his ex-wife her walking papers.

“I don’t give flying rat’s ass who in the hell you think you are! You fucked with the wrong person. When you go up for reelection I will be down there and make sure that you don’t get reelected if it’s the last fucking thing I do! That woman belongs behind bars, not on the streets to cause my children problems!

Plus I know about the deal you made with that law firm. I will make sure that everyone knows about it as well. Once I’m done with your ass, you will be forced off the bench and the doors of that law firm will be closed for good. Back room deals like that won’t be accepted as every day practice anymore in this state. You’ll be one of the first that will fall and be used as an example!”

Governor Lopez slammed the phone down so hard that the phone flew off his desk. As he got up to pick up the phone from the floor, he saw Barbara standing at his door. She walked over and helped him not only pick up the phone, but the other things that he had tossed around. It looked like someone ran sacked the office looking for something.

Not saying a word to each other, they picked everything up. They both reached for the same paperwork on the floor when their hands touched. Instead of moving her hands, she grabbed a hold of Daniel’s hand and pulled him close to her on the floor.

“I know you’re angry with what happened yesterday and no one can blame you for the way you are acting. Still in all the years I have known you sir, I have never seen you lose your cool like this. Don’t let her win. Don’t let her take everything that you’ve worked for. If you let her do this to you, she will have won more than just her freedom. She will have put you in her place; a prison of mental anger.”

As Daniel got up from the floor, he pulled Barbara up as well. They walked over to the couch in his office and sat down. Once they sat down, Daniel turned to face Barbara and grabbed hold of her hand once again.

“I never thought that my ex would have gotten out of this, so I didn’t pay attention to it. If I ever had a clue that there was a chance of this, I would have paid a lot more attention to her case. I should have done that when her attorney got her bail. That should have been enough for me to wake up and go down there to put her back behind bars.”

“Daniel you are the Governor of the State of Texas. You have so much on your shoulders; you have to depend on others to do their jobs. I don’t know what happen with her case, but someone dropped the ball and that someone isn’t you. You being here, yelling and tossing things around isn’t going to correct what went wrong.

You picking up the phone and calling those involved personally and telling them off isn’t going to help. In fact it will come back and bite you in the butt. You might get away with the call you just made by saying you were angry, but don’t make anymore. Don’t give anyone a chance to put you in a different light than the light of you doing what you were elected to do. That wasn’t calling people and tearing their heads off.

You have people for that and let them get their hands dirty. Talk with Rich and tell him what you want done. He in return will get the right people and get it done for you. If it’s leaking the information about the judge being dirty, let someone else do it; not you. You stay above it all so when people look at what’s going on they can’t say one bad thing about you. Don’t let Martha take you down to her level. You’re better than her.”

Daniel looked at Barbara and wondered to himself where she had been all his life. This was the woman he wanted at his side in the days to come. She could come in and settle him down when things didn’t go his way. Martha always had the opposite effect on him. Whenever he was around her, he would come away worse off than when he walked in.

Just then Rich came through the door like a man with a mission. “Mr. Governor we have a problem that needs you immediate attention!” Rich walked over to the TV and turned it on. “We have an uprising in one of our prisons. At first it was only one block, but now the prisoners have taken over more than half of the prison!”

“What in the world is going on with our legal system? First my wife walks pretty much free after trying to kill me and my kids and now this. This is the wrong time to test my resolve as far as being tough on crime. Those that are in these prisons are there because they are guilty. I really don’t care what their problems are; they don’t settle it by taking over one of my prisons!”

Barbara let go of Daniel’s hand. “Sir I will be at my desk if you need me for anything.”

Daniel wanted her to stay, but knew that he needed to take care of this. He asked her to call in several of his staff members and get his plane ready to take off when he is ready to go. Barbara wrote it all down as she walked out of the office.

“Governor, if the prisoners have overrun the guards, I expect you’ll have no other choice than to call in the National Guard to get control of the prison. I know you don’t like to use your National Guard, but you can’t have this go on for days. In the past when governors were afraid to take back a prison that had been taken over by the inmates, it dragged on for days and innocent people died.”

“Do we know if the inmates have any hostages at this point Rich?” Rich shook his head in the negative. “We must assume they do and hope they don’t kill them. Call up the National Guard and get them down to that prison. At the same time I want to speak with the warden and find out how he lost control of his prison!”

Rich walked over to the phone and started to make the calls. While Rich was on the phone, the other staff members that Daniel asked Barbara to call into his office started to arrive. They already knew what they were being called in for, so they had a briefing ready for the Governor if they were asked to give one.

“Mr. Governor the National Guard are already being dispatched to the prison.” Several of the Governor’s staff objected to the use of the National Guard. “Plus I have the warden on the line for you to talk with. He told me that he doesn’t need the National Guard, he has things under control with the staff he has on hand.”

“If the warden had things under control, he wouldn’t have lost my prison!” Daniel walked over to the phone and put it on speaker. “This is Governor Lopez; I understand you told my Chief of Staff that you don’t need the National Guard. If that’s true, how in the world did you lose my damn prison in the first place, warden?”

Daniel caught the warden off guard so he fumbled around with his words. “Governor Lopez, I’ll get control of my prison without the help of the National Guard. We just fell back in order to go in with full force. Once all of my guards are together they’ll be going back in to take back the prison.”

“What caused this uprising in your prison warden? And do you know how many of your staff is not accounted for at this moment? These inmates are not going to go back to their cells without putting up a fight. They have gone this far already and they have nothing to lose to get their point across.”

“As of this moment I don’t know if I am missing any of my staff. I won’t know until I get control of my prison. As far as what caused this I don’t know and I don’t care sir. These are animals that need to be kept behind bars. This prison is full of prisoners that are the worst of the worst. We can’t allow them to think they can call the shots when they have lost the right to do that.”

“No warden you won’t send your guards in. Pull them back and keep them in areas that you still have control of. At the same time you will find out how many of your staff is unaccounted for. When I arrive down there, I want answers to what happened and to know how many of your staff are now hostages and anything else I might ask for. Until I get down there, don’t you lose anymore of my prison.”

Governor Lopez hung up the phone and walked around the desk. “Rich we are going to go down there and pick up the ball that the warden fumbled. I won’t be the first governor of this state to lose control of a complete prison. If that happens, I’ll never be taken seriously whenever I talk about crime legislation.”

Rich and the members of his staff walked out of the office behind the Governor. On the way out, Governor Lopez asked Barbara to join him. She turned everything off and joined the group as they headed to their cars. Rich and Barbara were the only ones that got in the Governor’s car, while the others got in the limousines behind his.

When they arrived at the private strip at the airport, the Governor’s plane was waiting for him and his staff to board. Members of the press snapped pictures as the governor and his staff made their way onto the plane. Minutes after the door shut, the plane took off. The whole way down to the prison, they discussed the pros and cons of the Governor going down, but the Governor didn’t care. His mind is set on being there in person.

Once the plane landed and the door opened, the press was waiting to ask the Governor questions and take his picture was four times as big as the press was when he left Austin. Not saying a word, the Governor and his staff got in their cars and drove out of the airport. Barely moving, they made their way through the press and others that have made their way down to get a glimpse of the Governor.

When he drove up to the prison, the amount of press and people standing around either in support or against what was going on, were once again was a lot bigger than those that met the Governor at the airport. Daniel couldn’t understand how people could be down here supporting the uprising that was happening in the walls of this prison. Their signs and chants were just confusing him as to how they should go about taking back the prison.

The convoy drove into the yard of the prison and stopped right in the middle for all to see the Governor getting out of his limousine. The warden and his captain of the guards met him the moment he stepped out of his car. They started to brief him on every thing he asked them to know by the time he arrived.

Daniel looked around to for the National Guard Commander and he found him. “Are your soldiers geared up and ready to go in when I give the order colonel?”

“Yes sir they are ready when ever you give us the green light. We’ll try to take this prison back without casualties. But if there is in resistance or threats to my soldiers, they’ll use any force necessary to protect themselves and come out alive.”

“I have no problem with that Colonel. Make it clear to your men that I don’t want them losing their lives while trying not to kill one of the inmates if they come after them. If they show they don’t want to give up peacefully, take them out. I want a clear message sent across this state that I won’t allow prisoners to rise up and take over the prisons.”

Daniel walked over to the command post where the warden and his staff were waiting. “Let me understand this, you still don’t know why your prisoners are doing this. They haven’t made any demands yet?” The warden answered no to both questions. “This really doesn’t make any sense, but I don’t care at this point. We’ll get control of this prison before I leave here today; that I promise!”

The Governor walked over and asked for a bullhorn. Once he got the bullhorn, he walked to the middle of the yard and looked around the prison. All the lights were off, leaving the prisoners in the dark. That meant they didn’t have water or food either. The warden was following procedure by the book. Daniel turned and yelled for the lights to be turned on in the yard.

“I am Governor Lopez and as you can see I have ordered in the National Guard. If any of you know about me, tell the others that I am a man of my word. I have stood on battle fields, facing down heavy armed enemies, telling them how I plan to win the war. Now I am standing here telling you, the inmates, how I plan to take back this prison.

I won’t give you a chance to make demands or keep control of this prison. After I finish talking I will be sending in the National Guard to take back the prison by force. They won’t go in with rubber bullets and darts. They will go in with live ammunition with standing orders to shoot any inmate that isn’t in their assigned cell or not laying on the ground with their face down and arms above their head.

When the dust settles, if there are any dead staff members of this facility, everyone that was out of their cell will be charged and convicted of capitol murder. That means you all will never see the light of day again at the least. So if you have members of this facility as hostages, you better send them out right now.”

The Governor waited to see if they were taking him seriously. Not even five minutes passed when the door to the yard opened and members of the staff came running out. They were ordered to hit the ground and stay there until they were confirmed to be staff and not inmates.

“That is a positive step so let’s keeps going that direction. Now I am going to order the National Guard in, so if you value your life, get back in your cells. Since you gave me the staff, I will give you ten minutes to get back in your assigned cells. When the National Guard comes in, anyone out of their cells has taken their own lives in their hands.”

Daniel walked over to the Colonel and ordered him to send the troops into the prison once the ten minutes expired. The Colonel walked over and ordered his detail to get ready. If any inmates were watching, they would see heavily armed military soldiers preparing to go in. That should be enough to make it clear to them that the Governor was a man of his word.

TO BE CONTINUED…………………

WRITER’S CORNER:

{I like to welcome you guys back to another chapter of “Shadow of My Father”. As usual in this saga, there is a lot going on. So much I can’t seem to find a breaking point to end the chapter. I know that I kind of left it at a cliff hanger, sorry, but you will need to come back next chapter to see what happens.

Let’s start at the beginning with Martha. This woman seems to have more than nine lives. When it looks like she is going to get put away, she somehow gets away. The law firm that represents her wanted this client to go away so they made a deal in order to do that. But they must not have thought it through when they agreed to this deal.

First, they made an enemy out of the sitting district attorney! Every law firm needs to have good relationship with their district attorney. If they can’t get the best deal for their clients, their clients will get convicted to harsher sentences than can be negotiated in a plea. They just burnt their bridge with this district attorney. Even if they try to unseat him, they will fail because he has the support of the Governor; the first Governor to ever be elected to office from their city!

I know you know in a year the district attorney is going to become the state attorney general, but right now no one knows that. So why play with fire knowing that you will get burnt in the long run.

Second, the judge has just sealed his fate. Not only the District Attorney is after him now, but the Governor is as well. There is no way I see this judge getting a chance to run for his seat again. He will be forced to retire in order to stop an angry Governor coming after one of their own. They all have secrets that they don’t want uncovered. In return they will sacrifice one to save the rest.

I don’t think any of us blame how Daniel Jr., Carlos, Josh and Brandon reacted when they found out about the news. Look at what is already going on with Brandon. Martha should realize that she is causing more harm to her kids than good. They made it clear to her that they don’t want anything to do with her. Still I can tell you that she isn’t going to go back to Mexico and stay there when she gets out.

Now, what Josh is going through about doing the same thing over and over again? All of us have looked at our lives once in awhile and asked the same thing. He wants more out of his life than what he is getting. He doesn’t want to be remembered as the freshman that had a crazy ex girlfriend trying to kill him or the one that caused the swim team to end their season early or the one that got one of is teachers almost fired.

Jacob and Joey appeared in this chapter to help Josh get through what he is feeling. Remember that Jacob went through the same thing not so long ago. I really hope they do start to hang out more, but don’t plan on having Jacob and Joey in each chapter. When I put those two in this story before, some readers wrote me that they didn’t like it. It reminded them of a time between those two that will never come again.

Unless you are blind or I am not writing it the way I want it to come across, you got to know that Daniel Sr. and Barbara are getting close. Although they only went out on one date, they both have liked each other for years, but never acted on it because of their marriages. Also Barbara is able to settle Daniel down and make him see clearly. This woman will be a very important character as the story unfolds.

Finally the up rising at the prison! We know this happens and we know that governors do get involved in retaking a prison. Although they don’t get as involved as Governor Lopez, but at the same time we haven’t had a governor like this guy before. Let’s hope in the next chapter the prisoners continue doing the right thing. If not, many of them might actually lose their lives if they test this governor.

I would like to thank several readers out there that have written me and given me new plot lines for this story. You guys know who you are and I thank you for your emails. Because of your ideas of bringing the swim team plot back and sending Martha back to Mexico is giving this story more life. I was going to go a different way with Martha until I read the email about sending her back to Mexico. Plus I was never going to bring back the swim team plot, but it was a good idea. So thank you and I hope other readers will let me know their thoughts or ideas.

So many open plots and so many more plots to come in this story. I love the political scenes a lot and I hope I am not offending anyone with them. Keep in mind it is only a story and I am trying my best not to preach my beliefs. Please stay tuned and I promise that you guys won’t regret opening every new chapter.

I could stay here all day long, with all the open plots already in this story, but I won’t. I warn you though! Don’t skip a chapter, or you will be lost. There is a so much to answer in the chapters to come. Keep reading the future chapters, and enjoy! Please email me and let me know how I am doing at jacobmillertex@aol.com, Thanks!}

EDITOR’S CORNER:

Martha is coated with Teflon; NOTHING sticks to her! The boys reacted predictably about the news that she’s not going away permanently, which I’d bet they feel she deserves. They did not, however, catch the fact that once she’s released, she’s going to be deported to Mexico. Now, I don’t think for a moment that her being deported will result in her nevermore causing problems for the Governor or the boys. She’ll get some scheme going and end up being busted by the security detail and end up in prison. The drama isn’t over, but there is a finite end; at what point we don’t know yet.

Josh is going through natural teen impatience and unrest with life. I think Josh’s sense of things in a bit magnified with his special circumstances being the Governor’s son. He’s also in a state of flux; dreading on one hand any backlash to his rejoining the swim team and his no longer being in the Glee Club. I think he needs to get back to being overly busy to get the drama in his mind to settle down. Josh needs to be kept busy and feeling productive. I also think Josh would be a bit more settled and focused if he and Cesar could get their love life going with more stability and routine. Many times Josh seems to be getting out of sorts and just needs to GET LAID! I hope I didn’t put that too strongly!

I’m glad that Barbara and Daniel have planted the seeds for a relationship. There is fact behind the old adage that behind a good man stands a good woman. Daniel needs the power of a woman’s spirit in his life. We’ve already seen the good she does him. I’m sure the reverse is true; that Daniel brings good feelings to Barbara’s life. I’ll enjoy watching their relationship blossom and the interactions along the way. I think it will be awesome to see Daniel’s intimate side revealed, although Jacob won’t give us the nitty-gritty details. I’ll bet he’s an awesome and powerful lover when he’s with the right woman.

I don’t expect the inmates of the prison are going to use good sense. I suspect they are going to hold out and there’s going to be bloodshed with some loss of life. I am not optimistic that there will be enough good sense in their decisions to realize that the former GENERAL Lopez won’t pull any punches. His handling of the uprising will send a message that will resound through all the penal institutions in the state.

I was glad to see Jacob and Joey make a cameo appearance in this chapter. It would be nice if they were occasional friends to Josh and Cesar. They have a touch more experience and wisdom in life and could provide some insights. I’m not suggesting they become best friends; just the occasional night out for food and a movie with some good conversation afterwards. Just a thought….or two.

Until next time,

“Daddy” Rick