Family Ties

“All right. See you in the morning.” He moved past Danny and went into the house.

“Now you’ve done it,” Danny said. “You made him like you.”

“Lucky me,” I said. Can I have a pet scorpion instead?

I was already awake and dressed when the door from the house opened. I was sitting in the same chair Rich had used the night before. I’d been sitting there an hour. I didn’t have a clue what I was going to do, but I was ready for a fight if it came to that.

A dark silhouette came out of the house. He moved smoothly and didn’t make a sound. He bent over the couch and shook Danny’s shoulder.

“Wake up. Time for PT.”

“Yeah, okay,” Danny said groggily.

Rich moved to my cot. His eyes weren’t adjusted to the dark like mine, so he had to feel around before he realized it was empty. He dropped to a crouch and scanned the dark porch.

“I’m awake.”

His gaze fixed on me. “What, you don’t trust me?”

“Would you?” I scoffed.

“Probably smart.” He straightened. “But I gave my word. Just remember what I told you.”

“Jeez, Rich,” Danny said as he sat up, “isn’t it a bit early for the badass routine?”

“It’s never too early to be a badass. Train like you fight, fight like you train. Now get your ass up. The kid’s ready to go. Why aren’t you?”

“The kid doesn’t have the sense to sleep when he can.”

“Paul,” I said as I stood. “My name is Paul.”

They both ignored me, much to my annoyance.

“Five minutes,” Rich said to his brother.

“No surprises this morning?” Terry asked as he joined us from the house.

“No Birdy this morning,” Rich said. “Besides, the kid was already awake.

Waiting for me, too, ambush-style.”

“For real?” Terry looked at me. “Good for you.”

“Will you guys take the love-fest outside and let me get dressed?” Danny said.

“Sure.” Rich looked at his watch. “Four minutes. Chop-chop.”

I followed Rich and Terry outside and started stretching. Danny joined us a few minutes later. Once we were all warmed up, we walked to the street.

Rich checked his watch and glanced at me. “How far do you run?”

“Farther than you,” I said.

He chuckled without looking up. Then he pushed a button. “All right, let’s move out.”

I thought he’d try to outrun me, but he settled into a distance-eating pace.

We ran for an hour in silence before Danny spoke up.

“That’s enough for me,” he said. “Have fun with your pissing contest, gents.”

Rich simply nodded as Danny peeled off and headed toward the house.

He took it for granted that he was tougher than his brother.

Terry glanced at me. “You good?”

“I’m good.”

“Hooyah.”

I felt I’d earned a bit of respect, if not exactly friendship.

We ran another half-hour before Terry checked his watch. “Any time, Rich,” he said. “This isn’t Hell Week.”

“You head home if you want,” Rich said. “I’m still good to go.”

“Copy that,” Terry said. He angled across the street and turned into the neighborhood.

“I can keep this up all day,” I said to Rich.

“So can I.”

We fell silent and pushed on, each too stubborn to quit before the other.

We probably would have run ourselves to death if Christy and her mother hadn’t intervened. The sun had been up about an hour when we spotted them coming toward us. Rich seemed ready to run right past them, but his mother wasn’t having it.

“Rich! Paul!” She waved.

Rich glared at me sideways, and for the first time I actually felt sorry for the guy. He couldn’t fight his mother, so I decided to cut him some slack.

“On the count of three?” I said.

He chuckled with actual amusement. “Sure.”

“Three… two… one… mark.”

We slowed at exactly the same time. I was a bit surprised. I thought he’d keep running a second or two longer than I did, but he played it straight.

He pressed a button on his watch.

I looked at mine. “Fifteen miles?”

“About that,” he agreed.

We reached Christy and her mother.

“I was hoping we’d run into you,” Anne said. “Will you walk with us?”

“We’d be delighted, mother dear,” Rich said. He wasn’t breathing any heavier than I was.

I stopped at a water fountain and drank a few sips, just enough to wet my mouth.

“Not too much,” Rich cautioned.

I glared in irritation. “Yeah, I know.”

“Relax.” He drank about a mouthful.

“Did you boys have a good run?” Anne asked as we started walking.

We chatted about random things for the next thirty minutes. Rich and I stopped at several water fountains and slowly rehydrated ourselves, and our unofficial truce held as we finished a circuit of the walking path.

The rest of the morning was fairly low-key, and after lunch we played a game of touch football. It was a tradition, and everyone but Anne played, even the little kids. Harold and Danny were the quarterbacks, and the rest of us played with varying degrees of seriousness. The Carmichael men?

Competitive to the core. The women in the family? Mostly there to have fun with the kids.