"The devotion of the greatest is to encounter risk and danger and play dice for death." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

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Sucked back into the current again... 

When Buzzy finally shows up at the house, he parks a tired old white minivan at the end of the drive. I instantly lock eyes on him as he slides out of the driver's seat like a snake. Then reluctantly slow strolls up the driveway towards the open garage door.

I note that he is wearing one of those flashy green bomber jackets. The kind that has a dragon with a celestially stylized KOREA stitched down the side of the jacket arms. I'm thinking this is a memento mori of when he saw the Navy world that one time? Most likely donned on, in order to remind Aces that they're warmonger buddies. Probably so he can get the benefit of the doubt when he starts lying his ass off about doing me dirty.

"Hey, Aces." Buzzy sighs and scratches the back of his neck all woe is me. "Look, let me start by saying, I'm really sorry to have to come over so late like this..."

"I think Darren's the one you should be talking to, Buzz." Aces nods sharply over at me. Where I am leaning against the old wood workbench, winding my wraps a slight tighter for the beats that are soon to be forthcoming.

"Right." Buzzy does his best to man up and face me directly, looking me right in the eye.

"Darren, I owe you an apology. I want you to know that I really am very sorry about all this. And I want you to know I feel really badly about..." He starts off weakly and steps forward to offers me his hand. I move to the side away from his proffered hand and right into his blindside.

"About all what?" I circle slowly away eyeing his throat, that I fully intend to rip right out of his neck. "What is the 'all this' shit ...that you're suddenly so super sorry about? Exactly?"

"Ah...everything that happened at school today with Corky Collins?" He wrinkles his flattop forehead in consternation.

"Oh yeah? And what do you think happened at school today with Chad's baby brother, Buzzy?" I eye him harder.

Truth be told, I am kind of curious just how much that little snitch bitch Corky had to say about having his ass handed to him. But instead of snitching, Buzzy can only blink over at Aces for help. But the old warhorse only shakes his head slowly and nods back over to me. The clear message of: tell him, not me.

"What's wrong, Buzzed? Why you suddenly so blazing shy now?" I smile darkness into his soon to be shivering soul. "Oh shit, is it because you have to admit you're a blazing bitch, in front of Aces? Who's probably gonna tell all your other war buddies the truth about you? Or is it that you sent your little minions over to strong-arm me to join you speedo shower team? Then they got their little bitch asses handed back to them?"

"Language." Aces intones, but even I know his old warmonger heart is not in it to win it. 

"Negotiation." I drone back over at him. And if I didn't know any better, I'd swear Aces almost cracks a small smile at this counter back. All this is only for the show, something that both Aces and I understand this now.

"Okay Darren, I get it." Buzzy sighs all putout. "I can see you're pretty pissed off about what happened? And you have every right to be, I would be too in your situation. So I came here to apologize, and to see if we can put this behind us, not make things worse."

"Oh okay, so now that you all 'sorried up', so put it behind you. Well hot damn Buzzard, good for you dude. So do you feel all better now? Cause I feel pretty much the same." I smile as insincerely as possible.

"So unless you want to settle this out in the street like a real man? Why don't you just Buzz off now? Go run back to your mommy-in-law, and tell Mrs. Saint C all about how you manned the flock up. How we buried the hatchet ...just not in your skull this time? Then don't ever come near me and mine again, or I will end you."

"I'm sorry you feel that way. I was hoping that you could just hear me out and we could get past this. But I can see now that you're not going to listen..."

"Are you kidding me with this bullshit, Buzzy?" I seethe into him and face him down in a flash. "I should stand here and listen to this bullshit ...because what? You are such a stand-up guy, that you inspire my respect?"

I have him backpedaling down now, so I keep pushing in on him harder. I twist my rage right up into his fear face, daring him to touch me in front of Aces. Give me any reason at all to tear him apart.

"Cause you and I both know, that your being here isn't about you feeling all ashamed about yourself for trying to screw me over at all. Naw not nothing, cause this shit is all about your team of lapper shower bang buddies failed to do your dirty work right." I snap on the attack. "And this latest round of bullshit is about trying to cover your ass, for breaking faith with Aces here. Or your mother in law with Irish?"

"And I think that we both know you're way more afraid of Mrs. Saint C. finding out that you are exactly what she has always thought you were." I eye bone him hard. "The total flocking screw up, who unfortunately banged up her daughter. Isn't that right, asshole?"  

By his pained reaction at the wound I sliced up, I know exactly where he bleeds now...it's the wife. So I push on his weak point even harder. 

"Sheeet Buzzy, you can't even say out loud what you did wrong to apologize for, can you? Cause you are such a blazing cowardly piece of shit. Damn son, your wife must be so flocking proud of her little man."

"You leave my wife out of this..." Buzzy's mean comes up now. 

Oh yeah, the wifey is definitely his trigger.

"Why should I? You brought my mom into it, didn't you?" I twist the knife harder into his soft spot. "So what? Now your wife is off limits, but my mom is still fair game? Is that how you wanna play this game with me, asshole?"

"I didn't mean for this to become a bigger problem?" I can tell Buzzy is at a loss now, because this has all gone way too far sideways for him to wrap his mind around. "That thing about you and your mother? It wasn't intentional, it was an unfortunate accident. Okay?"

And finally, there's the truth of it. I know it when I hear it out of his suckhole, that I was right all along. That blazing Buzzy was the source of all this shit coming at me. Who knows maybe even since day one with Or'sir too?   

"So let me get this straight? You and Chad told Corky all about my mom accidentally?" I glare my hate into him harder.

Because now it's pretty obvious to all parties that he's just slipped up and got caught in the lie. So now Aces can see exactly who his buddy is all about, and we can end all this buddy business bullshit once and for all.

"Oh riiiight ...it was all an accident?" I mock him harder. "Yeah right dynamite! That's right up there on the all-time coward's list of lies with 'it's all a misunderstanding'."

"Just another weak-ass excuse, not to get his ass handed to him for the checks his mouth wrote. You remember paychecks, right? You dishonorable little piece of shit." He reacts like he's been slapped hard. "Yeah, Buzz Off  you heard me right."

"I knew what you were all about, since the first day I met you." I smile slices into his soul. "That big ass honor tat blasted down your arm, that you sport so proudly around the pool? That shit told me everything I ever needed to know about you. That you have to advertise that shit? Because without that ink blasted on your arm? No one would ever think of honor and you in the same room, let alone the same sentence."

"Honor, courage, commitment?" I snort in the local custom for effect. "Maybe to your paycheck whore."

"Yeah, you proved that this summer twice ...and look how well that worked out huh? After all, you made it pretty clear that you will sacrifice anything you say you believe in for the almighty paycheck. You proved it today with Chad, and you're proving it again ...right flocking now. Because that's why you are really here, right? To make sure I don't go running to Mrs. Saint C. over this shit, so that your paycheck stays secure."

"Now you see what I was talking about, Aces? He's impossible to reason with." Buzzy turns to my grandfather looking for the out.

The whole "let's keep this between the grown-ups" thing, so that he can evade my attacks and accusations. I can see him starting to rattle a bit now. His hands have a slight tremor running thru them like electricity. The only question now is whether this reaction is fear or anger? 

"Yeah, check it out, Aces ...look at him shake like a little girl. All your gonna get from now on is his bullshit lies, denies, and justifies. No responsibility taken and no flocks given." I ease back slightly. "So Aces, remind me again why you want to waste our time talking to a little money-grubbing coward? Instead of just letting me beat the shit out of it?"

"Cause this little piece of shit right here, isn't here to fight or apologize." I seethe into him hard and startle him stupid. "Naw bro, he's here just to justify himself to you. So he can go back home to tell his mother in law he said his sorries and shit. He doesn't understand why I can't just accept his big boy apology in the flock you spirit it was meant in."

"So why don't you do us all a favor and just stop running your mouth Buzzy. Or looking over at Aces like he's gonna save your punk ass from the beating you so righteously deserve. Prove me wrong and step out to the backyard and we can settle this shit like honorable men?" I wave him out of the garage.  "Com'on bitch ...your beats await you." 

"That's not going to happen." Buzzy's eyes are glued on Aces, practically begging him to put an end to me and my stupidity. "I'm not going to fight him, Aces...he's just a kid?"

"Yep, there's your honorable man right there, Aces." I smile savagely driving the point home with a vengeance. "Look at him cower behind your bullshit like the coward he is. He's a coward that can't stand up and take his beats like a man. Once a coward, always a coward. Enjoy your next thousand deaths you little piece of shit."

"That's enough of that talk, Darren." Aces sighs and shakes his head. To be honest, I'm not even sure at this point who he is shaking his shame at.

"Yeah, I think the initial negotiations are now over. Your turn Aces, why don't  you go with that compromise thing you like so much? Just look at him, he wants that so bad he can taste it." I snort disdainfully hard to make the point. "So make your deals, take whatever trades you have to trade. Just make damn sure you get this rat flock gone out my life for good." I dead eye Aces hard in passing. "Or else."

"Oh, and one last thing, Buzzard? No matter what you and Aces come up with to make this nice for Irish? You, Brad, that piece of shit Chad ...or anyone of you plunging flocks even look in my direction. Or devil help you, come at me or mine sideways again, even a little? I will burn your world up so badly, you'll wish you'd never heard my name."

"I said I was sorry...okay!" Buzzy shouts back. 

"Whatever asshole, so not my problem anymore." I shrug off the stupid and head for the house. "Work it out with Aces, and stay the hell away from me and mine. Cause next time, Aces or not, you and me are gonna dance with the devil. And I am sofa king gonna end you and yours, tit for tat."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Buzzy demands to get beaten. 

"Goddamn, you're so stupid it hurts. Try to use your flocking imagination asshole." I snort in retort. 

"Language." I hear Aces drone halfheartedly at my back.

"Irish." I drone back over my shoulder as I hit the steps up to the back door and into the galley kitchen. Where I imagine even the Egui are confused as to why there is no blood for me to feed them. 

When I am finally gone from the garage and back in the galley kitchen for some water for my burning throat, I can sadly still hear the bullshit being worked out in the garage.

"The mouth on him?" Buzzy immediately starts complaining about how badly he just got handled. "Like I am gonna fight some kid in the middle of the street?"

"He makes all the smart moves." Aces mugs appreciatively.

"How's that, Ace?" 

"Because either way he wins and you lose." Aces shrugs off the stupid. "Either he beats the tarnation out of you? Or he can send you to jail for assaulting a minor. The boy's definitely got a mouth on him like a drunken sailor, but he's no dummy. Got that from Irish's side, I suppose?"

"No offense Aces, but that kid of yours drives me nuts." Buzzy tries in vain to make this about me and not him. "Honestly, I don't know how you and Irish do it quite frankly. If one of my kids talked back to me like that?" Buzzy shakes his head askance.

"It's probably because he's not wrong, Buzzy." Aces counters coldly. "Not about that nonsense with Dotty Hendricks this summer. And not about this current thing either. Now is he?"

"It's like I explained to you on the phone I messed up. But it's not how he thinks...it truly wasn't intentional." Buzzy starts in on his justifications. 

"And now how I think as well." Aces scathing gaze burns bright. Now that I am gone, he can show his inner warmonger to the world.

"Accidental...unintentional...incidental...collateral? I was in the Air Force for over twenty years Buzzy boy. So I know what cover-your-ass smells like from a mile away. So if you came all the way over here to just stand there in front of me and tell tales? You can save us both the time, and just let Irish and Patrice work this thing out between the two of them."

"Right, Irish." Buzzy finally hangs his head in defeat. "Honestly, I didn't tell anyone about his home situation. When you first talked to me about him, you asked me to watch him for you, that there might be substance issues?

"So I did, and that's all I did. So like I told you over the summer, if he has any substance issues I sure as hell couldn't tell? But I never said word one to anyone about what you told me about his mother having drug issues. Not even my wife."

"Alright, then explain to me how did this Chad character, that he's so pissed off at, got a hold of that information?" Aces counters evenly.

"That would be due to another one of my assistant coaches. Brad Weston." Buzzy shakes his head. "For whatever reason, Brad likes the kid ever since the summer. So he asked his girlfriend, who works in the main office, to pull Darren's old school file. Which I swear to you, I didn't know what Brad did that, until it was too late to put the genie back in the bottle."

"Why?" Aces eyes narrow into cold calculation.

"Because Brad wanted to see if the kid was even eligible to swim for the teams this year? Before we approached him and asked him to try out." Buzzy sighs. "To try to put that nonsense with Dot this summer behind us, and focus on his future."

"When I found out he pulled Darren's file, I ripped Brad a new one. Then I took the file away from him and locked it in my desk in the office." Buzzy begins to explain and elaborate his cowardice. "But before I could get the file back to Pat. Have her talk to Crystal on the sly, about why you don't pull kids files for your boyfriend ...even if he is an assistant coach? I think another one of my assistants, Chad Collins, must have gotten his hands the file at some point."

"And again...why?" Aces repeats, like an old dog with a favorite bone.

"Because believe it or not, your grandson is the fastest thing in the water that any of us have ever seen." Buzzy starts pacing away from the problem. "As in college scholarship, full ride to a major university and maybe even national level fast."

"So he can swim fast. What of it?" Aces shrugs.

"Not just fast Aces ...really really fast." Buzzy rubs his short-shorn hair in frustration. "Look, I assume you know who Johnny Weissmuller is, right? The Olympic gold medal swimmer and the first man to ever swim the 100 meter in under a minute? Then went on to play Tarzan in all those old black and white movies?"

"Yes Buzz, I know who Tarzan is." Aces drones dryly.

"Three weeks ago at the school pool in a PE class, I watched that kid beat Weissmuller's old record time in the 400 hundred using a fish kick and slow suicide turns." Buzzy pauses. "Do you have any idea how rare it is that your grandson can fish kick in high school? Let alone do it proficiently?"

"Nope, never heard of it." Aces shrugs. "So he kicks like a fish and turns like suicide? What of it?"

"Okay, for starters you have to understand a couple of things." Buzzy starts pacing around the front of the garage. "The fish kick is a highly controversial swimming technique. That only most elite swimmers even think to attempt to use, or are let alone are proficient at."

"It was invented in secret by a crazy coach named Bob Gillet in the late 90's. Gillet's protégé, Misty Hyman, used the fish kick style to take two gold in the 2000 Olympics and set multiple world records using this style." Buzzy explains to an uncaring audience.

"So while slightly insane, it also happens to be the fastest underwater swim style ever created. It's also one of the most difficult styles to master. In order to do the fish kick proficiently, a swimmer needs to be able to coordinate four undulating hinges on the body: shoulders, ribs, hips, and knees in a precise rhythm."

"And this somehow explains why Darren's file was pulled how again?" Aces is already bored with the irrelevant history lesson.  

"Brad Weston, the coach that pulled his file, was a great high school swimmer and a pretty damned decent college swimmer. And he can't even come close to Tarzan's time in a freestyle 400, let alone do it using a fish kick? But your grandson beat Weissmuller's record, mucking around in a PE class using slow suicide turns."

"Darren's what, barely sixteen years old?" Buzzy snorts. "Bottom line Aces, he can break every national high school record easily...today. So if he is that good right now, without coaching?"  

"Even if he's as half good as we think he might be? With two years of swimming competitively and the right coaching? That kid could write his own ticket to a major university...maybe the nationals and beyond."

"Aces, he could be in the next Olympics." Buzzy finally admits the truth he never wanted to say aloud. "He's hands down the best swimmer that I've ever seen in the water. And we let him slip right through our fingers this summer over that drunken idiot Dot Hendricks."

"Okay, so then why didn't you just ask him to join the swim team? Why all this cloak and dagger nonsense? And what does any of that have to do with these other kids you coach confronting him about his mother?" Aces counters logically.

"Because when we tried to talk to him about swimming for us, he wouldn't give us the time of day. Not after that thing this summer with Dotty Hendricks." Buzzy starts his complaining. "He's made it very clear to all of us that he thinks we're all about as qualified to be in a pool as Dotty is."

"So Brad got Crystal to pull his file to get some insight on who he is, or was at his last school. Maybe call his swimming coach down there and get him to reach out. Build a bridge, make amends for the way he got treated...something?"

"But then you found out there was no one to reach out to because he's never done anything even remotely competitively?" Aces drones dryly. "Hell, I could have told you that had you bothered to ask me, and saved us all the trouble of this nonsense."

"I was planning on talking to you at the next poker game..."

"Would have, could have, should have." Aces cuts him off cleanly. "So while that's all interesting, it still doesn't answer the question? Of why he had his personal life exposed in such a manner, by those under your command."

"Which brings up the next issue. In his old school file, there were some annotations in the file about his mother." Buzzy attempts to curry favor in his commiseration. "The notation said that the kid's mother was not to be contacted about him under any circumstances? That all contact regarding him should be referred to an Aunt. Because his mother had shown up drunk and/or high to a parent-teacher conference and threatened to kill a teacher at some point."

"That does sound like her." Aces shakes his head sadly. "What else?"

"Only a contact number for an Aunt Sunny something?"

"Sunny Hauser." Aces nods slowly fitting the pieces together easily. "She would be his contact with his old school because his mother's in rehab, and not for her first time either. Which is why Darren's was with us for the summer and is staying with us now for the foreseeable future."

"Oh...shit."

"And honestly, I just told you that to make you realize the extent of the damage you've done by interfering in his life. Not because I trust you ...well not anymore anyways." Aces rumbles lowly. "Because whether your intentions were noble or not? You look like a complete asshat right now, Buzzy."

"Aces, I'm sorry, I had no idea."

"No one did, not until now anyhow." Aces retorts coldly. "Which I am assuming is the whole idea behind student confidentiality."

"That children shouldn't have to pay for the sins of their parents. That they can be judged on their own merits, instead of by those of their parents. Perhaps, like having a father who was too drunk and angry to hold down a decent job. Or a son who stole food from the neighbor's orchards in order to eat? Before he was old enough to join the Navy and get his act together." Aces pauses to let the hook sink in. "Need I go on with the life lesson Buzzy? Or is that sufficient to make the point?"

"No, I got it." Buzzy drops his head a little lower like a good dog. "Okay Aces, we ...I ...screwed up worse than I even thought I did. So what can I do here to make this right?"

"Well, you can start by leaving him alone from now on until he cools off." Aces wisely instructs his dog. "That means you, your staff, and your team, or anyone else who thinks to cut him down to size? Because in case this was lost on you, he wasn't kidding around with you about solving this out in the street. From here on out there will be no quarter asked for and none given."

"So if anyone is dumb enough to come at him sideways? Trust me, he's gonna rip their heads off. And unless I miss my guess there will be blood...and a lot of it." Aces jabs the finger of death right into Buzzy's chest.  "And that blood will be laid right at your feet Buzz, not ours."

"So consider this my final warning on the subject. Stay away from my grandson or face the Irish consequences. Because if there should be a next time for this nonsense, I don't think I am going to be able to stop him from taking you apart. And to be quiet frank, I think you got very lucky this time, Buzz." Aces scowls up at the stars, probably trying to figure out why I didn't spill blood.

"Perhaps only because you came over and he got his say in instead of bottling it in." Aces muses over the apparent inconsistency in my death threat. "But make no mistake, he'll be laying in wait for you next time. And he won't take kindly to any more broken deals. To my detriment, I've learned that is a very serious thing with him."

"Okay Aces, I can take care of that much at least." Buzzy agrees too quickly and immediately start to justify himself, yet again. "I'm not proud of what happened here. In retrospect shipping him off to ol Joe over that thing with Dot, might have been a mistake on my part?"

"But it was like I told you over the summer, he didn't leave me much of a choice. You told me he was only supposed to be here for the summer? So I chose the easier path on that thing at the Plunge and sent him off to Joe. To keep us all out of getting into it with Don Hendricks. Or worse putting Pat and Irish in the middle of that. You know Don Hendricks well enough to know that he wouldn't have cared if Dotty was falling down drunk." 

"Probably not." Aces observes dryly. 

"You're not even going to try to talk him out of all this misplaced anger are you?" Buzzy practically begs.

"Wouldn't do any good if I did." Aces pulls the garage door down. "Because I know him well enough now to know he's made up his mind about you. That he firmly believes that you and yours are out to get him. Or at least make him look bad at school in front of his classmates? So if you want to change his mind about you and your aspirations? I guess you need to show him that you really aren't the man he thinks you are."

"The second thing you need to face Buzz, if you're being honest with yourself ...and me." Aces turns on him sharply. "Is that your subordinates violated your trust, and put you in this position. That is if you're telling me the truth? Which honestly as I stand here looking at you, I am no longer so certain of."

"But I didn't..."

"Based on your track record with the boy? Who would you believe?" Aces snorts. "You or him?"

"Yeah, I guess I deserve that." Buzzy grudgingly concedes his cowardice.

"Then I shouldn't have to explain to you that an officer is responsible for the acts of his men under his command. And if we were still in the military? You know damn well how something like this would shake out." Aces slowly draws his finger across his throat to make the point.

"Gaining access to information above your clearance level? Then divulging that information to people lower than you in the chain of command, for mass consumption?" Aces shakes his head in disgust. "But you're not in the military anymore Buzzy, now you're just dealing with kids. Kids who you are supposed to be watching out for and protecting them from just this kind of violation of trust. But especially by the adults who are supposedly responsible?"

"So even if your subordinate was the one who pulled his file? That's still on your head, Buzzy. Someone broke ranks and made you look the goat?" Aces shrugs. "I guess you need to decide where your loyalty lies. To your office and your sworn duties? Or to the subordinates that betrayed your trust."  

"Irish trusted Pat with our grandson. So you either face your faults head-on, or Pat will have to face Irish? Try to explain to Irish, how confidential information about the boy was passed from your office to your kids ...to be used against her grandson?" Aces drives his last point home with a vengeance. "And not to put any additional pressure on you, Buzzy. But Irish will be back home from Mahjong in an hour. While I won't be bothering her with this just yet, it will be on the list of things she will learn when she returns."

"Oh boy." Buzzy sighs. "No pressure there."

"Good night Buzz, I trust that you can see your self off." Aces smiles coldly. "Because if I was you, son? I wouldn't want to be around here when ol' Irish comes to town looking for satisfaction."  

"Knowing Irish, there will be blood." Aces intones with an air of finality that brooks no argument. "As to who's pound of flesh, she will want to exact over all this nonsense? Only time will tell. But I think you know Irish's temper well enough to envision how that is going to play out." 

"I almost feel sorry for you." Aces adds one final parting shot before marching towards the house, and his sports only television.

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