Page 45 of Road Trip
“How about we go visit the Fantasy Garden?”
I bent down to kiss her head, and she smiled. She fit so perfect next to me. We walked at a similar pace. She made me happy, and it dawned on me that I’d just been existing for quite some time now. Being with Abra added a layer to the thoughts that had been going through my mind since the assault. The idea of a partner had just been a theory, a nameless possibility. Now that partner had a face. But she kept me on my toes. It would take some work to make her happy. That might be more of a challenge outside of the Coolest Place on the Planet, but I wanted to try.
We made the rounds of the kid rides and agreed that The Lost Boys was still the best. Being here with her was exactly what I needed to escape from my stress. I didn’t want this runaway to end.
Abra got her wish for lunch as we both scarfed down turkey legs. She made quite a dent in hers. I couldn’t believe how much her little body could consume. We shared a soda, and I felt the food just sitting in my gut.
“I’m going to have to get in a good workout later on or I’ll never be able to sleep.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Are you always so proper about your food intake? I mean, do you ever just go crazy and hit the drive-thru? I gotta think those late nights on duty, there aren’t a lot of options.” She was right. It wasn’t always easy.
“I bring my lunch most shifts. I cook once a week and separate it into portions. I have a system. It works.”
“That’s some dedication,” she said, raising an eyebrow at me.
“I have to be able to keep going. It’s important to me to be healthy and to feel good. Otherwise I’d never be able to handle the stress of my job.” Not that I was doing a great job of it now. I was going to have to make some heavy decisions, and I really didn’t want to think about it just yet.
“When you don’t have control over anything else, food becomes one thing you can hold onto.”
Well, when she put it that way.
“I guess.” Was she trying to psychoanalyze me?
“So no eating out at all?”
“Well, at least once a month my partner and I go to La Piñata number one on Mission and Rose. It’s a hole in the wall, but I’m a sucker for good Mexican food and theirs is to die for.”
“Phew,” she said dramatically. “I thought you were going to say you had no weaknesses. They do have good food, but my gran makes some killer Mexican food as well. She’s Anglo, but she learned from my granddad’s mother. I can cook a little, but I am easily distracted, so mine never turns out like Gran’s does.”
Another tidbit about Abra. She came from a mixed background. I had so many questions, but once again, I didn’t want her to think this was an interrogation.
We were waiting in line for The Lost Boys ride, which was always at least a forty-minute wait. I was enjoying the proximity of her body to mine in the tight turnstiles, taking every opportunity to rub up against her, smell her hair. She was watching a woman lift her kids over the bushes to cut in line in front of us.
“What a shitty example to teach her kids. This is what’s wrong with our society today. Kids come to school with such a sense of entitlement and think the rules don’t apply to them. Their parents want us to teach them and then they complain about their kids having to follow the rules. I talk to so many kids who have been in major trouble and it’s always a case of them having horrible examples set for them. It starts with cutting lines at Pacific Playland, and then you’re bailing them out of jail for assault with a deadly weapon!”
“Yeah, then I get to deal with them. I swear, so many of my contacts are juveniles. I really wish they’d get it that there is so much more for them out there. They have so much attitude, though. It’s impossible to get through to them.”
Abra frowned. “It’s not impossible. I refuse to accept that, otherwise my job would be pointless. But it’s true they’ve got attitude. Unfortunately some of your compadres have been real dicks to them.”
Ouch. I guess I’d pushed a button. She was right about some of the other officers. I’d give her that.
“I guess. I try to keep it professional, but it’s hard. I just wish I could have some positive contacts with kids. It might renew my faith.”
“Maybe we can arrange that,” she said, and I could see her formulating a plan.
At this point the woman was just on the other side of the divider from us, and Abra purposely raised her voice for the woman to hear her.
“I’d just really like to know why this woman thinks her kid should skip the line.”
I knew exactly what she was doing and it put me on alert. The woman who had raised her hackles was an Asian woman who didn’t appear to be a threat, but you just never knew. I wanted to avoid a bad situation. However, I had a feeling that if I tried to quiet her, she would get angry.
The woman glanced nervously at Abra and her eyes went wide when she noticed me standing behind her. I shook my head, and she looked admonished. She hurried her kids toward the final turn before they were seated on the ride. Abra turned back to face me, and I felt like I needed to say something.
“Do you ever worry about someone turning around and taking offense?”
She put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow. “If you don’t say something, they’ll never learn. How will our kids ever learn manners? I can’t really turn off the educator in me. I’m sorry if that bothers you. I guess you’ve figured out by now that I say what I think.”
Boy, had I! “I get that, but I worry about your safety. I would hate for it to turn ugly.”
