“I guess,” says Daniel.
Braedon watches his father flip the bike in his hands so the handlebars and seat are near the ground. “Why are you doing that?”
Clay doesn’t answer. He’s reading the serial number on the underside of the bottom bracket. When he’s pretty sure he’s committed it to memory, he says, “Do you mind, Daniel, if I rub a fingernail on this bottom part?”
Daniel shrugs. “I guess it’s fine.”
Clay draws his fingernail along the bottom bracket. After a few passes, a line of lime green emerges. He flips the bike right side up and presents it to Daniel. “You guys have fun. Dinner will be ready in about forty-five minutes.”
“Hey, new friend,” says Clay into his phone. The chicken is in the oven, a sheet of frozen french fries getting unfrozen on the rack below it. The kitchen smells like heaven. That is if you like chicken and french fries.
“Why, hello, new friend,” says Chief of Police Zoey Jensen. “I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon. Aren’t you supposed toplay it cool? Not contact me for a few days? Maybe a week? You’re coming off as kind of desperate.”
Clay laughs. He doesn’t want to laugh, but he can’t help it. “Have any bikes been reported stolen recently?”
CHAPTER 13
“Is Daniel going to get in trouble?” says Braedon.
It’s the next day, late Sunday afternoon. Clay has just explained to Braedon that the bike given to Daniel by the older boys is stolen. Most likely by those boys. Clay and Braedon are in the truck, headed to Judd’s for Sunday dinner. Only this one will be different because Teddy won’t be there unless he shows up from wherever he’s been, and Mei, Judd’s girlfriend, will be. They’re going to meet her for the first time, something no one is comfortable with.
“No,” says Clay. “Daniel won’t get in trouble. I told the police what happened. That the boys gave it to him, and Daniel had nothing to do with where it came from. But Daniel will have to turn in the bike. I just want to figure out a way he can do it without those boys thinking that Daniel ratted them out.”
“Yeah,” says Braedon. “That would be bad.”
“Really? What else do you know about those boys?”
“Nothing,” says Braedon. “I don’t know anything about them. I don’t know any kids other than Daniel.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll meet plenty of kids when you start school in the fall. And you’ll meet more local kids, too, I bet. It’s good to have different friends in different groups of people. It helps you understand people better.”
Braedon lets that sink in but he’s not sure he agrees. He spent the first eleven years of his life in Europe and the last few months here in the United States. It seems to him that people are people. Same everywhere. But maybe that’s his dad’s point. Knowing that one group of people isn’t better because of where they were born. Or what school they go to. Or a whole bunch of stuff. Still, he knows if those boys stole a bike and painted over it, they must be trouble. And he’s worried about his friend Daniel being on the wrong side of them.
“Dad, how can Daniel give the bike to the police without those guys knowing he ratted them out?”
“We’ll have to work something out. Like Daniel rides it and parks it somewhere and the police find it that way. And I think Chief Jensen will do us a favor. Get the bike back to its rightful owner but not arrest the boys. She’ll just keep an eye on them so if they steal another bike, she can arrest them for that one. Daniel will have nothing to do with it.”
“Why would the chief do that?” says Braedon. “Are you guys friends?”
“I don’t know,” says Clay. “I just met her yesterday when I talked to her about Teddy. She’s a nice person. I think she’ll help us out.”
They drive in silence for two minutes, then Braedon says, “Do you like her?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, do you like-like Chief Jensen? Are you going to go on a date with her?”
Clay doesn’t answer right away. He doesn’t answer because he doesn’t know. Finally, he says, “How would you feel if I did go on a date with her?”
“Fine,” says Braedon without hesitation. “You have to go on a date with somebody sometime, otherwise you’ll end up like Grandpa Judd and not have a girlfriend-woman-friend whatever you call it until you’re sixty-three. What’s the point in that?”
“Cut your grandpa some slack. He loved Grandma Pam very much. It’s not easy to start dating when you’re in love with someone else. Even if that person isn’t with us anymore.”
“Is that why Grandma Pam still lives in a jar on Grandpa’s fireplace?”
“It’s called an urn. And yes, I think so, Brae.”
Braedon considers this for a moment, then says, “Well, you shouldn’t wait until you’re sixty-three to get a girlfriend because I’ll be long gone by then.”
