Settling Old Scores: BWWM Second Chance Romance Read Online Free

him on in math and
science, and being a surrogate Dad when he really needed one. Kevin
never told any of his friends Mr. Sharpe's story because he felt it
had been shared with him in confidence, and Kevin valued that trust.
One thing you could say about Kevin was that he was loyal in the
extreme, and blind to his friends’ faults. He never failed to
visit Mr. Sharpe when he came back to town to resume his studies. It
was Mr. Sharpe that had talked Kevin into going into the Navy instead
of the Marine Corps. In retrospect, this was a decision that Kevin
was eternally thankful to him for.
    The
city, village, and neighborhood elders went to work getting everybody
settled down after the disturbance. Nobody wanted to call it a riot,
but that is what it was. Despite a lot of rhetoric, the Avenue was
never rebuilt as a commercial area. Like a long drawn out Greek
tragedy, things just degenerated into a sad, rapidly declining
status. Slowly, over the ensuing 10 years, the land was taken up
mostly for public housing.
    Within
the week, Kevin quit the paper route. He was never the same after
that, either. He became more cynical, and pessimistic. That chip
implanted on his shoulder started to grow and fester, too. The
Vietnam war escalated. Sometimes, kids from classes ahead of his
would stop by the school to visit while they were rehabbing from
injuries in Vietnam. Some of the formerly healthy 18 year old boys
came back and pulled off shirts to reveal red ugly big scars. It was
sobering stuff to see. King and Robert Kennedy were assassinated.
Maybe it was hormones, the era, or Kevin himself. Kevin was drifting.
His grades were nowhere close to what he was capable of, and he
didn't care much.
    Patrica
helped him through the roughest patches. He felt a huge debt of
gratitude to her, and the same loyalty in this case proved to be a
vice, rather than a virtue. Or, so he thought when he finally gave up
on their relationship in 1973.

    6.
Foxholes
    A
lot of the old time paperboys used to carry a three cell flashlight
in their paper bags. In theory, it was supposed to help to find
addresses and see in the dark. You could even win one from the paper
if you sold enough new subscriptions. A lot of the boys used them as
weapons to fend off unfriendly dogs. The three cells from the paper
were cheap made in Japan flashlights. The correct way to grip it was
by choking down on the bulb part, and striking with the handle part.
Once, Kevin walloped a dog with one and had the batteries fly out of
the end of the flashlight. You don't want to be a one-hit wonder
around a Doberman, a big Shepherd, or a Rottweiler. People in the
neighborhoods along the Avenue didn't have little lap dogs for pets.
    Kevin
switched to a weighted roller from an old typewriter for his weapon
of choice. The roller of a typewriter was a little heavier and much
better constructed; he never had it fail him. He sometimes used the
roller as his weapon of choice on older kids he got in scrapes with.
It never failed him then, either. It had the advantage of bruising
rather than causing stitches to the victim. Willie had showed him how
to use the roller, initially.
    Then
there was the one time instead of taking the fight out of the guy, it
made the guy more fighting mad. Kevin ended up being the one with
stitches that time. He used to joke with Willie about "Overhand
with the Olivetti", "Upside with the Underwood", or
"Crowned with the Corona." Until that happened.
    In
those days, there were kids up to age 21 going to high school. They
could actually get deferred from the draft if they were working
toward their high school diploma up to age 21. It seemed only fair,
as they were giving deferments to plenty of affluent white boys to go
to college at the time. There was a world of difference between a 16
year old boy and a 20, or almost 21 year old man. These guys used
their alpha male status to get 16-and 17 year old girls at school.
Sure, the girls were under age; but these guys went by the