Part 5
James lay in bed staring at the
ceiling, he did not understand why he couldn’t fall back asleep and it was
almost morning. With a sigh he finally
decided to get up and maybe take an early morning walk. It was about six o’clock when he left Kia’s
apartment, careful not to wake her up.
Even at this early morning the streets were packed with people going to
work, and children walking to school.
James looked down, depressed at seeing the children running
along together so happily. It had seemed
centuries since he himself had been walking to street. Only he had no friends to share the short
journey with or even talk too. James
looked up as a group of young Dragons and Griffons ran past him, jolting him
from his current stage of flashbacks.
Suddenly as he watched them run around the corner something
bumped into him from behind. Spinning
quickly he saw a young Red Dragoness looking up at him curiously, her cloths
were a bit dirty and obviously old, small holes were in the jeans she wore.
“I’m sorry sir!” She said with a little bow. “I was in a hurry getting to school and I
didn’t see you.”
James raised and hand, “Its ok.” He heard a bell ring from the direction of
the school. “You had better get going.”
She nodded and ran off quickly. As James watched her run towards the school
he noticed his back pocket felt a bit light.
Reaching back to his shock he discovered his wallet missing.
“That little rat robbed me!” He said angrily as he ran
towards the schoolhouse.
Just as he approached the fencing surrounding the courtyard
of the school he heard a commotion. He
looked back and saw a group of Dragons and Griffons standing in a circle
shouting and cheering.
“Get her Wayne.”
“This will teach you to steal you little garbage rat!”
James walked over to the group and looked over them to see
the young Dragoness lying in a ball as another kid kicked her. James saw his wallet on the ground next to
her.
“Please leave me alone.” She would say, but the others
ignored her.
“Shut up!” One would
say.
Then James heard something that pulled on his memories of
being with his mother.
“Please my father will hurt me if I don’t bring him the
money!”
“That’s not an excuse, just because your fathers a jobless
drunk!”
Suddenly the kids ran in every direction as James pushed his
way through the crowd and picked up the Griffon that was kicking her, by the
back of his shirt.
“Hey put me down,” he yelled.
“Stop hurting the girl!” James said fiercely, the kid
stopped squirming and pointed at her saying.
“She deserves it she always steals from people, food, money, it doesn’t
matter to her.”
“Get to class.” James said coldly as he set the kid
down. James then turned his attention to
the limp mass on the ground. She was
bleeding from her nose, mouth and a few cuts on her arm, and she had bruises
everywhere. Picking her up he went to
the nurse’s office, where he too had made several visits in his past.
Seeing James enter the room with the limp body the nurse
jumped to her feet and ran over to take her.
“My goodness what happened.” Said the old False Common
Dragon as she began to treat the wounds.
“Some kids in the court yard were beating her up.” James
said sliding his wallet back into his pocket.
When the nurse pulled back the child’s hair she sighed. “Ah, Tammy again, she is always getting
picked on by the others, she’s in a lot, but mostly because of her father. He lost his wife in an accident and all they
could do was save Tammy by a C-Section.
After that he turned to alcohol and got fired from his job, he grew very
bitter and never took very good care of Tammy.
He..” She paused and looked down, “He will sometime beat her after he
drinks too much, and I have also heard that he taught her to steal for
him. His new wife Peggy is a horrible
person; she works for some group that does shipping around Yann City. She hates Tammy and has been wanting to put
her in a orphanage for years, but her father will not let her go he treats her
like a big source of income, it’s a real shame.” She finished, and gently cleaned some of the
cuts on Tammy’s arm.
James was looking down at Tammy; she was suffering just like
he was at her age.
“Well she will be fine, I’m sure the kick to the stomach was
what caused her to pass out.”
She got up and went to her desk to fill in a report.
“Do you remember what the kids that did this look
like?” She asked looking up at James.
James walked over and described the kid that was attacking
her and a few that were encouraging the fight.
“Ok thank you, I think I know the kids your talking
about. I’ll be right back.” The nurse
said as she left the room. James looked
over at the little Red Dragoness, he went down and sat next to her, so may
emotions and thoughts were running through his head. He had completely forgotten about the wallet
when she woke up and smiled as she looked around the room. Her face changed from shock to fear when she
saw James sitting next to her.
“Are you here to arrest me?” She asked not daring to look
into his eyes.
James looked at her and remembered the incident with the
wallet. “No, no, I saw those kids
attacking you and ran over to help, I have my wallet back and although I’m very
angry that you stole it I am glad to see that you are ok.”
James could not quite understand the feelings he was having,
he was pissed at the girl for stealing his wallet, but he also felt sorrow for
her.
She stared at him for a few seconds, not knowing what to say
or do, most people would have had her punished on the spot.
“I am sorry that I stole you wallet.” She said still staring
down at the floor.
Suddenly the nurse came back into the room.
“I had a word with the principle he is going to punish the
young man who did this and he said that you had better go home and rest.”
“No!” Tammy said quickly. “Please don’t send me home, I
don’t want to go back.”
“Tammy I’m sorry but your father has already been told and
will be here in a few hours to get you now just rest.”
Tammy was on the verge of tears when James spoke up.
“I can take her, my room mate is into doctor stuff, if she
doesn’t want to go to her home she can come with me for the day.”
The nurse stared long and hard at him.
“You understand that this would be a disregard to normal
procedures and you would end up in jail if anything happened to her.” In the nurses’ mind she wanted to send Tammy
with the Common Dragon in front of her, besides his appearance of being a
gangster or rocker, he had a very kind nature and she hated sending Tammy home
to her father.
“I’ll take good care of her for today, I promise that
nothing will happen.” James said
Tammy was shocked and slightly afraid to hear this, on one
hand being away from her father was great but being with this Dragon may be
even worse since she stole his wallet.
“Well I can not as a nurse allow you to break procedure and
take this girl..” James sighed but the nurse was not done speaking. “Unless you fill out these forms.” She finished handing James a small stack of
papers. James smiled and began filling
them out.
It took James a good half hour to complete the forms, he was
still learning how to read from Kia and he knew that asking the nurse for
assistance would only cause her to worry even more. When he was finally done the nurse looked
over the documents then to Tammy.
“Tammy you are to go with Mr. James Elias for the remainder
of the day, is that alright with you?” She asked realizing that Tammy had had
no say in the matter to this point.
Tammy stared at James then looked down thinking it over,
finally she looked up and smiled.
“Ill go with Mr. Elias.”
Kia was
sitting down hiving her morning coffee when the door opened and James walked
inside.
“Where have you been?” She asked taking a sip from her
cup. James had been sleeping uneasy for
a while now so she didn’t bother asking why he left without telling her.
James looked up and scratched the back of his head.
“Well, I went for a walk and… well.. I” He was cut off when
Tammy came around behind him and looked into the house.
“Player! Where did
that kid come from?” She asked standing up and walking over.
It took James about an hour to go over the whole story with
Tammy filling in on some parts, and trying to explain why he decided to take
Tammy home with him.
Kia was shocked to here about Tammy’s childhood and leaned
down giving the little dragon a big hug, then asking her if she would like
something to eat or drink.
After a big breakfast Kia noticed how raggy and dirty
Tammy’s cloths were.
“Tammy when was the last time your parents took you to buy
new cloths?” Kia asked passing her a fresh glass of lemonade.
She thought for a moment and answered, “About a year ago.”
Kia’s eyes were filled with fire hearing about what Tammy’s
father and step mother had done to their child, and now hearing that they
barely bought her anything to wear: and allowed her to walk the streets like a
rag-doll pushed her even farther.
“Well then we will just have to go get you some new cloths
then.” Kia said with a warm smile, trying to hide the rage that had built up
inside her.
“Really!” Tammy said looking up overcome with joy.
“Yah, sure.” James said smiling at Kia.
Tammy studied the two of them for a second then asked, “Are
you two married?”
This made Kia choke on her fork as she took a bite. James was poring some more lemonade at the
time, and was letting it pore all over the counter as he stared at Kia, mouth
open.
“No,.. cough.. We’re not married.” Kia managed to get
out as she rubbed her throat and passed James some more napkins.
“Well then why do you live together?” Tammy asked, her
childish curiosity suddenly taking hold.
“Player is a friend of mine and he’s staying with me for a
bit.” Kia answered.
“Player? Who’s
Player?” Tammy asked taking a bite of her cereal.
“That’s my nickname.” James told her.
“O.”
After
finishing breakfast Kia, James and Tammy headed towards the nearest cloths
store. Inside Kia had Tammy pick out and
try on a few new outfits, while James sat back bored out of his mind. But when he saw Tammy come out of the
dressing room with a new blue school dress, smiling happily and spinning around
so Kia could make sure it fit perfectly, he smiled and anxiously waited for the
next.
Lunch with an Old
friend
By noon, Tammy had 5 new outfits
and a new pair of running shoes. They
all sat in bags by their feet as they waited for the server to bring their
food. It was just then that a familiar
voice could be herd from a table behind them.
“So your saying that because of the “Free Rights Law for All
Island Inhabitants” the TDO was formed and is now trying to gain control of the
government?” It said with another much older voice following it.
“Yes, but new laws have been passed and the TDO have almost
all been apprehended. You know you
should really try and get a case against the TDO, I’m sure you would do great.”
“No I’m not ready yet, I’ve only been at the University for
6 months.”
“Yes but you also came with a very good recognition of the
laws, and the laws of your world are very similar to ours. Your also one of the best in my class.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about.”
“O, yes your still worried about racial discrimination, well
like I said, the “Free Rights Law” was for all races living on this
island. Now where do you live?”
“On the Island.” The familiar voice said with a laugh.
“Now I will here nothing more of it, besides it looks like
our foods coming.”
James looked over his chair and saw Shane sitting and having
lunch with an old law professor from the University. Seeing this too, Kia got up and walked over,
James and Tammy following behind.
“Hi Shane! How have you been, I haven’t seen you in months.”
She said giving him a hug.
“Hey, its great to see you guys. I have been finishing up some college classes
at the University. I took a lot of test
to prove my knowledge in law and they bumped me up a few notches. Lol I still have a long way to go but hey it
will be worth it in the end.” Shane said shaking James hand.
“O, guys this it Professor Adam Walton, he is my main
professor in law at the University.” Shane said introducing the old
Griffon. “Professor this is Kia, and
James, they are in a band.”
“Yes, yes the Deep Rockers, my niece fancies you.” The
professor said bowing his head.
“I keep telling Shane here, he’s should start the young
lawyer intern program but he doesn’t think he’s ready. Maybe you two could knock some sense into
him.”
Suddenly Shane noticed the little red dragon hiding behind
James’s wing.
“So what’s with the yearling you got on your wing there
Player?”
James looked behind him at Tammy, and then went on to
explain everything and what they were doing to help her.
“Well that’s unusually nice of you.” Shane said and leaned
towards Kia. “Did he hit his head again?”
Kia laughed and James puffed up with anger. Shane looked at the little dragon and smiled.
“So whats your name?” He asked.
“Tammy.” She said shyly
“Well its nice to meet you Tammy, I’m Shane.” He said shaking
her hand.
They finished catching up and went
back to their meals. After lunch James,
and Kia decided to take Tammy somewhere fun for a few hours. After a long argument between Kia and James,
over the Planetarium and the Rock’n’Roll museum, they decided to head to the
zoo. Tammy had never been to the zoo and
she was very exited to see all the animals.
“Wow what’s that?” Tammy would ask and either Kia or James,
would answer, normally it was Kia and James would also look at her with a
questionable look.
When they came to the polar dragon paddock, the wall around
the viewing area was too high for Tammy to look over. James looked down and picked her up, setting
her on his shoulders. She laughed and
stared in aw at the large dragon prowling the frozen terrain.
James kept Tammy on his shoulders for a while as they went
from exhibit to exhibit, looking at the mammals, reptiles, birds, insects and
other animals that lived on the island before the dragons and griffons
came. He had a new feeling in him as he
held Tammy up, watching her laugh and smile, he didn’t want to let her go. But the day finally ended and Tammy had to go
back to the nurses office to wait for her father.
Tammy’s Father
When they reached the school Tammy
was on the verge of tears and didn’t want to go back. Kia gave her a hug and told her that she
could come back any time she wanted but knew that after this her father might
make sure she goes to school.
“So Tammy did you have fun?” The nurse asked.
“Yes, Player and Kia were great, they took me shopping and
to lunch, I got to meet that human, Shane, and we went to the zoo.”
The nurse looked up with tears in her eyes at hearing that
Tammy was happy for the first time since her mother died. Suddenly the door slammed open and a big red
dragon walked in. He had an unlit cigar
in his mouth and was dressed almost as bad as Tammy was.
“Come on runt lets get you home.” He suddenly noticed the
new clothes. “Where the Hell did you get all these new cloths? Have you been
stealing money from ME!” He yelled and slapped her across the face. It was probable the biggest mistake he would
make that day.
James lashed out and picked him up by the neck, pinning him
against the wall.
“We gave her the cloths.” He roared. The red dragon said nothing, just stared at
him coldly.
“Let me down you big lummox.” He yelled back trying to break
James’s grip. “She’s my kid I can do
what ever I want!”
“No you cant!” James roared, “And if I ever… Ever! Catch you
hitting her again, or see her with cuts and bruises from you I will..” He was
cut off by Kia.
“Press charges against you and have you sent to jail!” Kia
said putting a hand on James’s shoulder.
“You don’t have what it takes to stop me.. I have friends in
high places.” He said as James set him down.
“Come on!” he yelled as he pushed Tammy out into the hall
and towards the exit. Turning only to
give Kia and James the bird.
“Well it was good
that she had fun.” The nurse said behind them.
”thank you both for taking her today, you really didn’t have to do all of
that. I’m just glad to see that some
people are still good in this world.”
Kia was about to
leave when she had an idea and rushed back into the nurses office. After a few minutes she came out and told
James to wait there while she saw the principle. A little while later she came back with a few
documents and explained to James what she had done.
Kia’s Plan
The next day Tammy came to school in
her new blue school dress, and got a lot of attention from the other
students. Some of them knew who she had
spent the day with and wanted to talk to her about how it was being with the
Deep Rockers. Hearing the name of the
band she suddenly realized who the two dragons that she had spent the day with.
“Oh my goodness your
right, that was Player and Kia from the Deep Rockers.” Tammy said to Gregg one
of her few friends that was a huge Deep Rocker fan.
“Yah you didn’t
realize it until now?” Gregg said taken aback by her reaction. Gregg was only a few weeks older than Tammy
and was like a big brother to her when he was around. He was a mountain dragon, with long black
hair and brown eyes, his family ran their own business and they always drove
him to school. Thus he was always too
late to help Tammy if the other kids decided to beat her up before school.
When the last bell sounded Tammy
walked outside expecting to see her father waiting for her. But instead standing in a crowd of kids was
James and Kia. James looked up and waved
her over. As she approached she noticed
Gregg standing next to Kia getting an autograph.
“What are you guys
doing here?” She asked.
Kia smiled and held
up a piece of paper.
“Since your father
has been mistreating you we have permission from the Principle to take you home
ever day after school until eight o’clock when you must be returned to your
father.”
Tammy’s heart
jumped with happiness and she ran over giving James a big hug.
“So what do you
want to do today?” James said smiling and lifting her onto his shoulders. He had finally come to realize the feeling
that he was having for the longest time.
It was of fatherhood, and he loved it.
At Tammy’s home her father was
receiving a call from the school board about a fine and the loss of his
daughter until eight o’clock every weekday.
He was furious and slammed the phone down.
“Ill teach those
bastards not to mess with me, and that little rats gonna get it when she gets
home.” He said angrily and quickly made a phone call.