Michael Kirkpatrick risks everything to save his brother, Teddy, from drug dealers.
From the large, fenced pen set back from one of the goal posts, two Pinto mascots eyed the crowd gathering for Dos Pinto High School’s bid to win New Mexico’s AAA championship. Keeping his focus on the teenagers meandering near him, one Pinto gnawed at a string which held a banner: “Mustangs Rock”. Until now Dos Pintos’ only claim to fame had been the old Indian legend from which the town got its name. The story went that two children of a family of early settlers came down with an illness from which they did not recover. From a herd of mustangs which remained wild and never allowed any kind of contact with humans, two younger members of the herd unexplainably came down and remained near the family’s meager farm. The Mescalero Apache Indians believed that the spirits of the children had gone to rest in the two paint horses who deserted their herd to remain close to the family. Visiting Spanish soldiers dubbed the small ranch “Dos Pintos” and as the town grew, the name remained.
The bleachers on both sides of the football field were rapidly filling with excited, local parents, faculty, and townspeople. Wrapped up for the crisp, clear Autumn night and hyped because their team was finally a powerhouse, the adults began to think that maybe the small high school could win two championships once the basketball team took its place in the spotlight.
Being a huge basketball supporter, George Eagle of Apache Fishing & Hiking Supplies, readily joined in. “There’s a real basketball star, Michael Kirkpatrick. See him? Next to his brother, the short guy that looks like football’s in his future? How can you miss Michael? He’s taller than all the kids. Look. Right next to the snack stand.”
At 6′5″, Michael did tower over everyone, including his 5′10″ brother, Teddy, but Teddy bested the basketball player’s weight by about 15 pounds. Finishing off hotdogs and sodas as they walked to the sidelines, Michael tried to spot the arrival of his long-tiome friend and now girlfriend of two years, Kelly Lambert
Teddy checked out the band forming up on the far end of the field, ignoring the cheerleaders loudly trying to get chants out of the cluless adults in the stands, and hoped to see the team emerge any second from the locker rooms nearby. A muffled neigh floated down from the mountain beyond. Teddy jerked his head around, trying to find the horse that called.
“Did Dad like football, Michael?”
Michael had heard the distant neighing, too, and knowing his younger brother as he did, Michael could read the off-the-wall thought going through Teddy’s mind. “Teddy, that was not Dad you heard.”
“I know, Michael.” But Teddy did not sound truly convinced of that. “But did he like football? Will he watch my games from heaven when I play?’
Michael just shook his head. How in the world should he answer? Teddy loved the legend of Dos Pintos. To a boy of limited mental capabilities with concentration problems that made even special education classes a chore, imagining his father watching over him made life a big easier for Teddy. Losing their father to a heart attack when they were young had been devastating for both boys and their mother. Michael imagined that Teddy kept his father nearby extending the Dos Pintos legend to include a great stallion housing his father’s spirit.
“Did you hear me. Michael?” Teddy’s words broke into Michael’s thoughts. “There’s Kelly over there.”
Kelly grinned at seeing Teddy waving eagerly. Her honey blond hair bounced in its usual ponytail as she weaved through the milling crowd of teenagers.
“Did you eat anything?” Michael asked as he took her hand.
“I didn’t want to miss any of this. The whole town must be here.”
“Come on, let’s get you something from the snack stand.” They began walking toward the stand. When Michael looked back he saw that Teddy wasn’t following. “You too, Bud.”
“I wanna see the team come out.”
“Hey, Teddy,” called Raymond Garcia as he ran up. Teddy gave an answering grin to the only friend he had outside his special classes.
For once Michael relaxed his vigilance. “Hiya, Raymond. Okay, Teddy, we’ll be right back. You stay right here, okay? Just wait right here for us.”
Teddy nodded in agreement.
Raymond drew Teddy’s attention with, “I came with my brother and sister like you did.” He realized what he had said and added, “I mean with your brother. You don’t have a sister.”
When Teddy realized Raymond’s mistake, he gave his friend a jab to the arm and laughed, too.
After a few minutes, during which Teddy saw Michael waving to him from the snack stand, Raymond announced suddenly, “I have to go find my brother and sister now.” And with that, Raymond ran off, leaving Teddy alone.
Teddy once again turned to watch the gym’s doors. Nothing. As high school kids filled the sidelines near him, the noise level seemed to rise. Teddy didn’t know any of the people near him. He couldn’t see Michael now. “I have to find Michael,” Teddy thought, and he quickly started toward the snack stand.
“Hey, there, kid.” An older boy blocked Teddy’s way. “How ya doin’?”
“I’m okay. What’s your name?”
“I’ve got something for you,” the boy continued, ignoring Teddy’s question. He placed a small plastic bag in Teddy’s hand and closed Teddy’s fingers around it. “You wanna buy it?”
“I don’t have any money,” Teddy responded while trying to give the packet back. “My brother, Michael, told me not to take anything from strangers.”
“Michael? You don’t mean Michael Kirkpatrick.” He patted himself on the back for picking out Michael’s brother for this. “So you’re Michael’s brother. Tell him Leo says ‘hi’.”
“I don’t want this,” Teddy shoved the bag into Leo’s hand and moved away quickly.
Halfway to Michael, a hand suddenly caught Teddy’s arm and pulled him from the crowd, away from the snack stand. Realizing it was an adult, Teddy didn’t struggle until his internal alarm bell rose to panic.
“What’s the matter? Where are you taking me? You’re a stranger.”
Assistant Principal Martinez kept walking. “Just come with me.”
“Michael!” Teddy yelled.
Michael glimpsed Teddy disappearing behind the bleachers, He ran as fast as possible through the crowd and stopped short when he saw Teddy being held by Mr. Martinez.
“What are you doing to my brother?” Michael yelled as he pulled Teddy to him. Holding Teddy tightly, Michael glared at the vice principal.
“This is your brother?” Mr. Martinez knew Michael and had heard about Michael’s mentally-challenged brother. “I’m sorry, Michael, but I just saw him hand off a plastic bag to an older boy. I was just going to ask your brother about it. That’s all. I’m sorry if I scared you, son,” he added directly to Teddy.
Mr. Martinez’s apology seemed sincere to Michael, but it still sounded as though Teddy were in some kind of trouble. “What are you accusing Teddy of?” Michael asked through tight lips.
“You know we have to check out suspicious things like this.”
Michael turned to Teddy. “What about it, Bud? Did you give something suspicious to someone?” Suddenly Michael realized that something was not quite right about the situation. “Wait a minute…” Michael turned back to Mr. Martinez. “Where is this other person? Who was it?”
“It was Leo,” Teddy broke in. “He said he knew you, Michael. He told me to tell you ‘hi’.”
“If it’s the guy I think it is, I’ve heard of him. Teddy, you are never to have anything to do with him. Understand?”
“Yes, Michael. Are you mad at me?”
“No. Just tell Mr. Martinez what happened.”
After Teddy finished relating the events, Michael was more than satisfied that Teddy had proven himself innocent of any wrongdoing.
Looking pained, Mr. Martinez said, “Turn your pockets inside out, Teddy.”
Of course, Teddy had no drugs or any incriminating residue. But Mr. Martinez explained that no matter how innocent and inadvertent Teddy’s actions had been, he had handled the plastic bag and the school had no choice but to place Teddy on OCS - on campus suspension - for two weeks.
“What? That’s not fair!” Michael was so incensed he bellowed his remarks at the vice principal, drawing the attention of everyone nearby. “This Leo guy doesn’t get in trouble but Teddy is on OCS? He can’t even wait for me when basketball practice starts? I’m not going to tell Coach I’ll miss practice because Teddy can’t stay home alone - YOU tell him.”
Mr. Martinez’s mouth dropped as Michael led Teddy away. The school wasn’t going to like this. The basketball coach wasn’t going to like it. But rules are rules…aren’t they?
* * *
From this beginning Michael soon finds himself plunged into the world of drugs among teenagers and finds he must either find some way to stop them or risk seeing Teddy unwittingly drawn into that world.
Copyright 2008 J. A. Fulkerson. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
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