The Battle Begins, Part Three

Continued from Part Two

Dave sat at his computer, skimming the Seattle Guardian online. Powerhouse had decided to take the rest of the day off after his run-in with police. He clicked on a story about the Seattle police chief issuing a statement against him. Dave read the caption of the picture. “‘The Chief and Captain Jake Welch.’ What’s his problem?”

On the next page, a Frank Leonard had written a scathing editorial against him.

Dave sighed and x-ed out of the page. “Who gave him a wedgie?”

His kids burst in through the kitchen door. James dropped his soccer cleats in the dining room and headed to their room. As usual, dear old dad was ignored. Derrick ran up to Dave, but stopped and pinched his nose. “Dad, you stink.”

Oops. “Guess I do. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

After hitting the shower, he played with Derrick until Naomi got home. On his way out to work, Naomi stopped him. “Dave, we have to talk.”

“Not tonight, honey. I really have to get going.”

“Dave, you need to-”

“Later.” He kissed her cheek and ran out the door.

In Seattle, Powerhouse flew to the Chief of Police’s house. The Chief answered the door. “What do you want?”

“To talk, mano a mano.”

“You want to talk hand to hand?”

“Sue me, I didn’t take Spanish. You don’t understand me. I’m not a bad guy.”

The chief grimaced. “You’re a vigilante. You take the law into your own hands. If you want to fight crime, get a badge.”

“It’s not like that at all. Let me explain myself. Let’s go bowling.”

“Bowling?”

“My late father taught me that bowling is the great meeting place of life. Anything great and important must be discussed over bowling. If they’d had bowling alleys when they wrote the Declaration of Independence, they’d have all gone bowling.”

“Do you really think I have time to go bowling with a vigilante?”

Powerhouse wouldn’t be denied so easy. “What else are you going to do?”

“Um . . . watch a rerun of Friends.”

“Uh huh. When’s the last time you’ve been bowling?”

“It’s been a while.”

“Then, come on, let’s go.”

After the eight frame of their second game, Powerhouse said, “See, I don’t take the law into my own hands. I leave the criminals for the police and prosecutors to handle. Forget vigilante, just think of me as the world’s most powerful neighborhood watch.”

The chief took his turn. “A neighborhood watch doesn’t confront the criminals.”

“You can’t always wait for the police.”

The chief’s bowling ball went into the gutter. “It’s our job. When you don’t even give us a chance, you’re insulting the men on our force.”

“Crime waits for no man.”

The chief rolled his eyes. “Cute.”

Powerhouse grabbed his bowling ball. “Trust me, I don’t want your men to get hurt. Plus, if I bring them out to fight a crime I could have taken care of, it’ll take them away from other crimes.”

“Maybe. In college, I read that 90% of crime isn’t even reported.”

“See! There’s more than enough crime for everyone.”

The chief sighed. “I suppose.”

Later, on their way out of the bowling alley, the chief said, “I think I understand you better now. I’ll talk to Welch. He said you were brutalizing suspects, and I’ll find out why. If everything is okay, and Welch was just mistaken, we’ll take the heat off.”

“Could I be a fully deputized agent of the law like Batman in the ’60s TV series?”

The chief laughed. “Sure, if you can get your own liability insurance. The city sure as heck can’t afford to insure you.”

Darn. “Oh. Thank you for the evening of bowling, anyway.” Powerhouse flew off. “Powerhouse away!”

Continued next Tuesday

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