The Summer Home

10. Even More Service

     Ray had really hoped the highway trash collecting would have kept them busy for at least two or three days. Since they had worked so hard on it, the kids managed to clear it all in just a few days. Ray decided to go a little easier on the kids this time, splitting them up into groups to get more work done around town. The two boys Nathan hardly knew were assigned to a local park to continue to show off their amazing trash collecting talents. A deputy who had been working hard all week earned the privilege to sit out there and supervise them while catching up with his newspaper and crossword puzzles. Ray took Nathan and Cheryl to a local hardware store that needed a little attention. On the side of the rather short but long building was a lot of graffiti that badly needed to be painted over. The big sheriff gave the two of them some rollers and a few buckets of grey paint.

     "I'm leaving you guys to this one on your own," Ray said, tossing the rollers to the two kids, "I trust you more than I do the other two knuckle heads."

     "Are you sure that's wise?" Cheryl asked,

     "I'm confident you two will be alright." Ray answered, not appeared to be that worried about them, "Mr. Davies is still in there and he'll check on you from time to time. If you happen to disappear during this task, I will not hesitate to double the length of your community service. Understood?"

     The two of them nodded their compliance and then watched as Ray got back into his truck and peeled off towards something that required his attention. The fact that he trusted them more than the other two wasn't much of a compliment, but Nathan liked the idea of not having him around so that he could try to talk to Cheryl since he was starting to enjoy her company. He carefully poured the paint into both trays, and then started to paint over the vandalized walls with care. They were both back in their orange jumpsuits so getting paint all over themselves wouldn't be an issue with them again. They were painting for a while before Cheryl finally said something to him to break the silence.

     "So, why did you steal a car?" she asked him.

     "It was a minivan." Nathan corrected her.

     "Did you hotwire it?" she countered.

     "No, I did not." Nathan answered, "The keys were in the house hanging by the front door. I stole my stepmother's mini-van."

     "Oh crap," Cheryl replied as she kept up her work as well. "I'm sure that went over so well with your folks."

     "It did not," Nathan confirmed, "I can assure you neither of them were impressed with that, especially considering I don't even have my beginners. Ray was the one I had to worry about."

     "Ray?" Cheryl asked, unaware of who he was referring to.

     "Oh, sorry," Nathan said, "Ray is the name of the Sheriff that just left us here. He is my Dad's best friend and apparently my godfather."

     "Damn," Cheryl said, almost laughing, "With godparents like that, who needs enemies?"

     Nathan stopped for a moment to chuckle as well. They were both pretty pissed off at what he had done, but they still had to be diplomatic for the sake of the other kids because they wanted Nathan to eventually get along with everyone.

     "I got off pretty easy," Nathan said, "Considering I had half a dozen charges pending against me. I'd rather be here than behind bars."

     "Same here," Cheryl agreed, "Especially considering the company."

     "Ha ha," Nathan said, as he knew she was being cheeky.

     "Seriously," Cheryl insisted, "Why did you do it?"