Originally posted December 30, 2009
((When Chance and Dani first started dating, he didn't realize she had previously dated the leader of The Forgotten, Gray. I used this phone call to reveal Chance's frustration with an interaction that occurred one day in the kitchen.))
"A fucking bully, Eddie. Totally off the hook. Christ. I don’t know what she saw in him. Totally lost respect for him." Chance took a breath letting his friend squeeze in a few words.
"Yes. I know he's under tremendous strain. That's still a poor excuse for the insults. Leader does not equal asshat, Eddie."
Chance nodded. "No. I did not completely lose my cool. I got a little snarky, once. Just a little." Sighed. "No, no. She was there for the whole thing, Eddie. She was completely cool with it. Made a point of telling me. I think I earned some points there." He chuckled. "Yes. It is nice to have someone still like you after making a bad joke about ham hocks as clubs."
Chance sat down on the edge of his bed. He nodded again. "Yeah. Leave tomorrow, maybe the day after. I know that gives him the jump but I still don't think it's anything. He's got 15 ways of contacting me in an emergency and he hasn't used one. This isn't the first tome he's done something like this. It is weird, though. Shelia is freaked out. Something doesn't feel quite right."
"I don't know if she can go with me, yet. I know they both want to. We're waiting on the administrator to sign off on the kid and make sure they have enough protection for the orphanage. If I have to, I'll go alone."
"I know that, Eddie. Thanks. Who knows? I might need you to come over and bail me out."
Chance laughed then shook his head. "It burns, Don Alejandro. We've seen leaders. Seen them lose people and deal with it. Hell, we've lost people we care about. This guy just seems a bit out there. Leaders listen. He just assumed that I couldn't possibly be important. And the insults and threats? Out of line. It like he's forgotten that when we die is sometimes less important than how we live. That scares me. It's like some of the people in that place have forgotten how to live; Forgotten they are alive....
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