Rumors and Ghosts

iv. the shield is given away

DELACROIX, LOUISIANA

Birds chirped.

As Sam boxed up food, he said, "There we go. Get the plates moving. Get some rice in there. Come on."

"Oh, lined up perfectly," Sarah said as she stacked a couple boxes on others. "You always gotta do the most, huh?" She moved several boxes to the counter behind her.

"You know I don't play with these White folks." He chuckled. "Look, I know you're worried, all right? But I did the research. I ran the numbers."

"You really think this is gonna work?"

He moved closer to her. "I know it will. And then we can renovate the kitchen." He walked towards an oven pan of food. "Now, you said you wanted to sell plates on the weekends, right?" He dumped one oven tray of food onto another. "That's great. You can introduce some of Grandma's recipes and..." He moved to the sink and looked at his watch. "Shit. We gotta go."

Sarah looked at her watch. "Wait, the appointment's in an hour."

He held numerous boxes of food in a cardboard box. "There's no such thing as on time. You're either early or late. Pick one."

Sarah held her hands up. "Okay. Now you're really doing more than most. All right, boys, I love you." Sam set down the cardboard box and put on his jacket. "Now, Mr. Liu's gonna watch over you," she kissed the tops of their heads, "and no video games." She picked up a cardboard box of her own.

"Love you. Bye," the boys said with a wave. "Bye. Yes, video games."

Sam chuckled as he opened the door and he and Sarah walked out of the house.

The younger boy counted down on his fingers as the older boy said, "Three, two," the door slammed, "one. Come on. Go, go, go!" They ran to start their game."

OFFICE

The lawyer said, "Sorry, I keep thinking. Did you used to play for LSU?" Sam chuckled. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

Sam moved forward, resting his elbow on the table. "I don't know. Do you?"

"I do. But where?"

"Come on." He made wings to either side of him.

"I knew it. Falcon!"

"Yeah!" He laughed.

"Yes!" He and Sam high-fived. "Yes! Man!" He chuckled. "Oh...

"I didn't want to say anything."

"You know... I always wanted to be an Avenger."

"Oh, man, it's a dream come true, you know?"

The lawyer took a picture. "That's amazing."

Sam gestured to Sarah. "Like, keeping my family's business afloat by changin' to a fishin' and charter model."

"You know what I've always wondered... how do you guys make a living?"

"You mean those guys or the guy sitting in front of you tryin' to get a loan?" Sarah asked.

"Both." He chuckled. "I mean, your financials are all over the place. Is there some kind of fund for heroes? Or did Stark pay you when he was around? My condolences, by the way."

"Thank you," Sam replied, "but no, it doesn't really work like that. There's a tremendous amount of goodwill and because of that, people are inclined to help, which applies to the business."

"Yeah, right. But were you living off of goodwill this whole time?"

Sam squinted slightly as Sarah said, "I don't get what you're going for here. Are you trying to help us, or indict us?"