A few hours later, they reassembled at Cooper’s house. Cooper had decided to begin emptying out his freezer first and so he had fried a dozen frozen sausages, cooked a mess of hash browns, and mixed up some orange juice from concentrate. A pot of hot coffee rounded off the repast. Cooper and Dranko gathered at the table. Jake was still asleep in the basement. After the night’s events, Cooper wanted him to sleep as much as he could. He would warm the breakfast for him later.
Uncharacteristically, Dranko spoke first. “I owe you an apology, brother. I shouldn’t have come at you the other night like that. Not publicly, anyway.”
“Well, I owe…” Cooper began, but Dranko waved him off with a sausage link skewered firmly by his fork. He was chomping on it as he talked.
“Let me finish. You are wrong, Cooper. It would be safer where I want to go. Hell, last night proved that beyond a doubt. But, I understand you aren’t going to leave. This means I have an important decision to make: to go where I know it’d be safer or stick around here with a stubborn old friend who isn’t thinking sensibly.”
Cooper interjected this time, impossible to restrain, “I just can’t leave. I know you think it’s silly, but she’s still here. There’s something in every room. I don’t want to leave it all behind and I sure don’t want to take Jake away from it all either.”
“I get it, brother. Your stubborn stance on this—and the reason why—got me thinking. What do I want to survive for? I know my carcass isn’t worth keeping safe and sound based upon any intrinsic value!” He paused to laugh at his own joke and almost choked on a piece of sausage. “I thought about this a good long time. I decided that you were right. You survive so you can help keep some other good people alive with you. It’s no secret that I’m a guy who keeps to himself mostly. But, your bond with Elena and Jake has me thinking about all that too.”
Cooper smiled impishly at his friend, “Does that mean you’ll stay around here, then?”
Without looking up, Dranko stuffed a dollop of hash browns into his mouth and waved the empty fork in the air, “For now. For now, brother.”
Cooper thumped the table with an open-palmed hand, spilling coffee as the table bounced in response, “Nice! Very nice! I can’t tell you how much it means to me. As the last few days have shown, I need you around to make it through. Last night being Exhibit A,” he paused and took a swig of coffee.
His tone turned serious, “But let me apologize to you. I shouldn’t have been so stubborn about all this, I know part of it is crazy and doesn’t make sense to anyone else. But it makes sense to me. And, I could have done a better job of explaining it to you instead of just getting angry. I owed you that.”
The two men looked at each other in the eye, catching the deep gaze that only longtime friends can exchange.
“So, we’re good?” Cooper asked.
“We’re better than good, brother.”
They ate the rest of their breakfast in companionable silence, only the sounds of slurping coffee and chomping of sausage links to punctuate it.
Dranko helped Cooper clean the dishes from the table, rinse them, and put them in the dishwasher. As they turned to clear the remaining items from the table, Dranko stopped in mid-stride.
“We need a redo.”
“A what?” Cooper asked.
“We need to reassemble everyone. Since I screwed up the meeting yesterday, I’m going to help make it right. I’ll make the rounds, tell everyone what happened last night, and get ‘em all here at noon today.”
Cooper thought for a moment, “That’s right. After last night, it’s more serious than even I thought. Go get it done.” Dranko launched the towel he’d been holding toward Cooper and rose to leave.
As he reached the door, Cooper called out, “Oh, wait. Can you visit Calvin and make sure he’s on board with pulling another meeting together?”
“Yeah, got it,” he said and scampered out of the house at full speed.
Chapter 14
The scene at Cooper’s house looked almost the same as the meeting yesterday, except the sun was shining brightly and there were a dozen more people clustered around his front yard. A brisk breeze brought the faintest hint of spring to his nose and goose pimples on his bare arms.
He was ready to begin addressing the crowd when Dranko leapt onto the steps and nudged him out of the way. He looked at the small crowd, grew nervous, and began awkwardly.
“Ah, this isn’t easy for me. But, I need to apologize to everyone. I was wrong yesterday. We can defend our homes and neighborhood and keep ourselves safe. Most of you have heard this by now, but we stopped three attackers last night. Three. In a surprise attack. So, we all should listen to Cooper today. I should have yesterday. We all should have listened.”
A smattering of unsteady applause broke out as Dranko jumped down to the ground like a man fleeing the porch after a bad first date. He hated having attention focused on him. Cooper smiled and stepped to the front again. He motioned for Calvin to join him on the steps and he did so.
“Last night was my worst nightmare. Waking up to the sound of intruders in your own home is terrifying. I was armed and I’ve had some experience. Dranko’s right, we can defend ourselves. But, last night I got lucky. It could have been much worse. If Dranko hadn’t been awake, heard the gunshot, and come over, I would be dead and Jake would be an orphan, or worse.” Remembering his father’s advice, Cooper paused to let the words sink in. Whispers broke out and several people clutched their hand to their mouth in fear.
“Some checkpoints and patrols could have stopped that from happening. At a minimum, we’ll have some warning before anyone is inside our home.”
Heads began nodding furiously throughout the group. Cooper interjected before it rose to a crescendo, “I know Calvin, the President of our Neighborhood Association, was wise in recognizing our divisions yesterday. For any plan to work, we must all be behind it. I’m sure he has good insight to share as well today.” Calvin recognized political graciousness when he saw it and winked at Cooper as he stepped forward. Cooper’s gleam in his eye was the only response that Calvin needed. What little political chops I have, I owe to my father. Cooper smiled to himself at the thought.
Calvin turned toward the audience, “First, I want to thank Cooper and Dranko for their heroism last night. Because of them, one punk was dealt with and the other two were run out of our neighborhood on a rail!” Everyone began clapping at once and pumping their fists in the air at Cooper. Dranko, in the audience, was thumped on the back by several men and hugged by a few women. His face turned bright red and he looked intently at the ground.
Calvin adroitly waited for the noise to subside, “Second, what happened last night gave us all new information. We have never had a home invasion situation in this neighborhood before last night. Third, after due consideration of this new evidence, I now fully support yesterday’s plan to defend our neighborhood.”
More applause greeted this announcement and he continued without pause by raising his voice, “Any discussion?” People looked at each other and shook their heads.
A moment later, Gus Varela called out, “I like the plan, but let’s include nominating Calvin as our Defense Captain, too!” Cooper couldn’t tell if he’d imagined a sly glance between the two men just before Gus blurted out the suggestion.
Calvin bellowed, “All in favor say ‘Aye’.” A thunderous chorus of “Ayes” rang out.
“All opposed say ‘Nay’.” Dead silence.
Pandemonium broke out. A few hats were thrown into the air. Some started to applaud. Others embraced in tight hugs. There was lots of backslapping. Hands reached up and pulled Calvin and Cooper off the steps to shake their hands. Cooper found himself being hugged and palms thudding against his back. It was a sea of smiling faces and a chorus of “thanks” and “I should have listened to you yesterday.”