The Crew

Untitled Part 9

Chapter Nine

After rounding the curve at the bottom of the hill and clearing out of sight, we all began hooting riotously in unison, tears of joy and relief welling up in our eyes.

"Goddamn Dog, that was freaking crazy!" Cannon yelled in delightful terror. "I feel like a character in Homer's Iliad, like an epic hero escaping the wrath of some demon beast or something!"

He's telling me. I thought my mom was going to throw a fist through Bear's Jeep and punch him square in the head. I mean, c'mon! She chased us with a damn glass shard. I remembered my mom once telling me she'd read an article in Time Magazine wherein a woman columnist had said that a mother would break a man's neck if he tried to harm her child. Well, there you go.

"I never would've suspected my old lady would react that way and take off after us! I didn't even think we'd get that far: that staring contest between you two was intense."

"Your mom's a smart, tough cookie, but she's wound too tight, ace. She knows what the score is, and who's winning the war. I don't blame her for being pissed. This is out of her control."

I wanted to defend my mother. It seemed wrong for him to refer to her as "wound too tight." Who was he to say that? He didn't even know her. The truth was I felt bad, too. We'd stolen from my parents, for one thing. I'd defied her sacred rules, which, yes, I loathed, but there was some pit of sadness after doing it. The memory of her bouncing me on her thick, tan thighs when I was a child, calling me her "bunta," flashed across my mind. How had everything between us changed so drastically?

But what came out of my mouth was not what I'd been planning.

"Hey, Cannon, think I could crash at your dad's place for a few nights, let the heat wear off?"

He wrapped around in his seat to eye me. "I don't think avoiding her is going to help your cause in that department, but sure Dog; you bet." He swiveled his head toward Bear. "And Bear, you son of a bitch, when I tell you to go, you freaking GO. Don't you ever disregard my instructions again. You got that? Do I make myself clear?"

Bear sighed, his fat paws gripped tightly around the wheel, guiding us out of Ojai. This was the first time we'd seen Cannon truly take control of his command; take control of his soldiers.

"I said," Cannon continued, "Do. I. Make. My. Self. Clear?"

Bear said, sullenly, "Yeah. Sorry Cannon. It won't happen again."

"You're damn right," Cannon added. "I run this ship, remember that, Bear."

"Right," Bear said.

"Say it, Bear. Say I run this ship."

Looking over at Cannon, as if to make sure he was serious, Bear slightly shook his head and then said, "Cannon runs the ship."

Turning around in his seat, Cannon eyed me once more. "You, too, Dog. Say it."

This was too over the top. We all knew Cannon was the aforementioned leader. Why did he have to treat us like kids, like slaves, like assholes? "Cannon runs the ship."

"Good. That's right, boys. Everyone knows their place. Now hoot and holler you bastards. We've achieved victory against Dog's mom!"

At first there was an unholy silence. Bear began to smile, and then chuckle, and before we knew it we were all cackling again.