[center][h2][b][i]Gabriel[/i][/b][/h2][/center]

Gabriel left the house after their discussion regarding Allison’s part in their father’s death. He walked around south Boston for several hours thinking about it. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that she did the right thing. He was no longer upset with his sister. He did wish she had told him while he was away but then no one wrote him letters or sent him emails. He couldn’t blame her for the faux pas. He resolved to forgive her and move on. After all, she was his support system. He needed her.

Gabe decided to buy lunch for him and Allison. He stopped into a Subway shop to buy a pair of grinders. He knew what she liked and bought her favorite sandwich and then he got one for himself. He bought two bags of chips and two tonics. For those not from the Boston area, a tonic would be referred to as a soda, a pop or a coke depending on where a person was from. He paid for the meal out of the money they took the night before and walked back to the house. Technically, they lived in an apartment in a three-story building. Their apartment was half of the third floor of what is called a [i]Dorchester Triple decker.[/i]

As he crossed [i]E street[/i], he noticed a Boston Police Cruiser. He didn’t know if they knew who he was, if they were looking for him or what. Gabe attempted to hide his face from the Police. He was sure no one knew who he was, and no one was looking for him. But he didn’t want to be known, especially by BPD. Within a few blocks, he made it back to the house. He climbed the stairs to the third floor and walked in, it just after noon. He looked for his sister, calling out, “Allison, I brought lunch!”

He plopped the sub down on the kitchen table alongside the bag of chips and the tonic. Gabe took a seat and pulled the Italian sub out. He began chewing his food and sipping his Coca-Cola before his sister entered the room.

After she sat down, he thought about apologizing. It was the right thing to do, but he felt weird about it. It was not something his father ever told him to do. No one in his life ever taught him how to have what other people call [i]polite manners[/i]. It just wasn’t their way. He assumed his sister would know he felt sorry about what he said to her that morning by his gesture. He felt she would realize buying lunch was his way of apologizing for yelling at her this morning.

“Maybe we could go hang out at the club tonight?” Gabriel offered.
[hr]

[center][h2][b][i]Detective James Graham[/i][/b][/h2][/center]

The following Saturday, Jimmy woke up and ate breakfast with the family. He didn’t have to work, but he still woke up at six in the morning. By family, he really fed the baby, Charlene while Leo ate his cereal and drank a glass of milk. Jim also had a bowl of cereal while Charlene sat in her high chair, talking to her dad and her brother. Leo talked back to her. He played with his baby sister as their dad ate his meal. The infant babbled primarily but could say about twelve words including; [i]mommy[/i], [i]daddy[/i], [i]Weo[/i], [i]Addy[/i] and [i]no![/i] No, was indeed her favorite word even when she meant yes.

“Leo are you going to karate this morning?” Jim asked his son.

“yup,” the 8-year old responded curtly while playing with his sister.

“I’ll put Charlie in with mom. Get your Gi on. We’ll leave at 7:35.

“k’ dad,” Leo gave his father a brief salute with his right hand. He cleared his own bowl and glass from the kitchen table and marched up to his room to get dressed for karate. Jim cleared his dishes and Charlene’s plate and baby spoon. He wiped her off and cleaned off the tray to her high chair. He then hefted her up into the air, talked to her and carried her upstairs to his room. The doting dad placed the baby in her mother’s arms who roused, smiled and gave her little daughter a kiss on the head.

“I’m going to check on Addy,” Jim told Diane.

“OK,” she said sleepily.

Jim walked down the hall to his oldest daughter’s room. Addy had beautiful blonde hair that was all matted and knotted. It would take Diane the better part of a half hour to get her hair straightened out. “Morning princess!” Jim stated to his daughter with glee. The girl lay in her bed with removable side rails. “How are you feeling?”

“Good, daddy!” She giggled at her father. 

“Would you like me to bring you downstairs or do you want to go lay with mommy?”

“Mommy!” Adelaide exclaimed cheerfully to Jim.

“Ok sweetums, I’ll carry you down to lay with mommy and Charlene.”

Adelaide threw out her pouty lip. “No Charlie!”

Jim worked at changing his five-year-old daughter’s clothing. “Charlie is your baby sister, Addy. I’m afraid she will be your sister for the rest of your life. You better get used to her. I expect you to take care of her.”

“OK daddy. Can Charlie be my baby?” Adelaide giggled. She liked the idea of having a baby of her own. She did have Miss Tally, her American Girl Doll, but it wasn’t the same as a real baby.

“Ok, Charlie can be your baby. Talk to mommy about it.”

Later that morning, Jimmy and Leo went to the martial arts school in Waltham. Jimmy’s class was from 8-9. The class worked on gun defense techniques. After class, Mr. Arujo, the head instructor called a handful of students over to him. Jim received a letter stating that he was invited to the school’s boot camp program, intended to prepare the student for the Black Belt tests. It was a 16-week program of intense training 2-3 hours every Friday night starting at 7PM. After the first 6 weeks, they would take the first of three black belt tests. Once the third test was complete, the school held a graduation a week later at a venue to be determined. Leo was working on his green belt and still had a few more years before he would test for black belt.

They got home around 10:30. Leo ran off to his room. Jim took a shower and changed into more work out clothes, planning to work with Jenna after lunch. He figured going over gun and knife defense would be perfect given their line of work. Although knives are used more frequently in the commission of crimes than guns, guns seem to grab the headlines more frequently. Knives are just way more accessible, especially in Massachusetts where some of the strictest gun laws in the country exist.