Enforcing Justice

Swings and Smoke

Bill left a couple days after he arrived. Over the years, momma seemed to bring in more and more losers, trying to get one of them to stay. But sooner or later, they'd each pack up and leave. I wasn't impressed with any of them. I didn't expect to be. 

I was sixteen now and long out of the daycare. Officer Ryan, which I was now comfortable calling just Ryan, was still in my life. If I ever had a bad day or felt like I needed to get away for awhile, I'd take my bike and ride on over to his house. Even if he wasn't there, I'd sit on his front porch and wait for him. Anytime I had a problem, he'd be there to listen. It felt nice to have someone care like he did. Sometimes he'd give me some advice, but he was mostly the listening type.

 There was a nice bench swing on his front porch that I liked to sit on while I waited for him. I'd rock back and forth as if I was trying to comfort myself. I was addicted to the same repetitive motion. I don't exactly know why. Maybe because it was constant. I could always rely on it to carry me in the same two directions. It was something I could trust. 

Early that year, we had moved once again. This time, we moved into a duplex apartment. The landlord, who lived below us, was a rotund, callow man that smelled like smoke. His body was littered with tattoos and his bushy mustache seemed to hid his mouth. He was bald, but his uni-brow made up for the lack of hair. I could barely tell where on brow stopped and the next started. 

The house itself was poorly cared for. The walls had a severe case of dandruff and the floors crackled like a wild fire. The lighting was dim, which cast an eerie glow throughout the main room. Gloomy shadows hung under the glow the light fixture produced only adding to the lonely effect. The windows were cracked, which made for a poor view. The yard next door was a scrapyard anyway, so there wasn't really much of a view to ruin.  

 Most nights, the landlord would host poker parties on the floor beneath us. They were loud and obnoxious, but we put up with it. We had no other option.