Chapter 73

Mrs. K started to bark questions and people started to move...in no time at all the waiting room was empty but for her children and myself. No sane biker would have attempted to withstand that woman’s grief.

She alternately barked questions and wailed like a banshee for the better part of 10 minutes before a nurse came into the waiting room to advise her she should “try to hold it down”.

The very suggestion raised Mrs. K’s volume and decibel level substantially…she tore a huge strip off of the nurse and then went back to her grief.

Jaimie the cop paced the floor and glared at his brothers and sisters balefully, stopping occasionally to pat his mother’s shoulder. Grey and Rosie look exactly like one would expect them to look had they been pierced balloons.

The clock seemed to be stuck on the 6 permanently and each waiting second seemed drawn out to take forever. By now there were upwards of a dozen family members collected and pacing and wailing along with their mother.

I watched the family dynamics take shape around the room, the “good” boys and girls clustered around their mother, speaking platitudes and nodding knowingly and derisively at the “black sheep” members of the family. The black sheep members all sat or stood leaning against walls arms crossed morosely…lips pressed firmly shut…mute.

Suddenly it “felt” as if the climate in the room had changed. I looked up to see Mrs. K standing before me, Grey and Rosie. She held a trembling hand out to me and said…”the girl will tell me the truth”.

Grey straightened up in his chair, and began to “now Mama” but she silenced him with a withering glance as she leaned forward to grasp my clammy hands in my lap.

Her fingers crushed my hands; I was amazed at the strength in this old woman…”the truth now girl” she said, “you owe me that”. So I hung my head down and stared at those fingers and told her the story of the arrival of the now disappeared friends, and the trip to the Silver Dollar. I went on to describe the shock of Robert and Snot swinging through the bar doors covered completely in blood and the ensuing joke before admitting that it was pig blood from butchering the pig with a chainsaw.

She smiled and murmured…”just like his fadder, my Roibhilín” and then patted my hands to get me to continue.

So I told her the rest, about the partying, and the aborted trip home…and then about my panic at the gunshots and the news that Robert had been shot. I told her about Grey having to wrestle Robert to the ground and both he and Rosie having to virtually lie on Robert to keep him on the ground when he was trying to go after the truck that carried the shooters off. Grey and Rosie both stiffened at the telling.

I looked up to see all of the family standing around behind their mother kneeling in front of me, but for Grey and Rosie on each side of me. I told her that Grey and Rosie had likely saved Robert’s life, just like they’d saved Barry before him. I told her that they’d have done their best to save David had he not been shot in the head. A dozen family members sucked in their breath at once.

I looked up to her face to see tears quietly rolling down her cheeks, and realized there was a wetness on my face too. She nodded and patted my hands again. Then I told her that I knew the license number of the truck.

Jaimie jumped like he’d been stuck with a pin. There was a rustle and a murmur from the family as a group, Grey and Rosie both turned stiffly towards me.

I wondered briefly if there was a possibility that I was breaking some “secret silence” rule but in the end, I knew that I had to tell the truth as I saw it.

Jaimie stood before me waiting, the family, collectively held its breath.

I recited the plate number and a sigh rippled through the people standing and sitting around me. Grey slipped an arm over my shoulder and Rosie dropped her head to my other shoulder.

Mrs. K smiled at me. She patted my hands one last time, took a deep breath and began to wail again as she rose to her feet. Family fluttered around her as Jaimie made his way to the phone.