A few moments later they are interrupted by a loud explosion coming from outside. The two women jump back. They look each other in the eye. “Is that normal or...unusual?” Marie asks. Goldberg gets a concerned look on his face. “I don't know mom, that was the first thing that caught my attention when I came home” he answers. He starts to look around nervously. Suddenly he hears a knock at the front door.Marie walks to the entrance and opens the door. Standing there, leaning against the front stoop, is the man that Goldberg saw leaving the bar the other day. He has changed into a pair of dark jeans, dark brown loafers and a black turtleneck sweater. Goldberg recognizes him instantly."Liam? Is that really you?" Marie asks incredulously.Goldberg sits down quietly on the couch in the den. He looks over at Sean who has gone quiet too. Both brothers seem stunned that Liam is actually there. Neither of them say anything for several minutes. Liam keeps looking
Goldberg arrives at the station, heading to the counter where he meets with a cop busy sorting out documents while humming along with the radio. “Hello?” he greeted the cop who ignored him, not listening to him.“Hello?? Hello??? Is anybody there??? Can you hear me? Hello??” Goldberg asked again loudly. He was starting to get annoyed by the lack of response. Just then, the cop stopped whatever he was doing.“What is it?” he asked calmly, his brow creased.“I would like to see the sheriff" Goldberg replied coldly, ignoring his question.“Sure. Hold on” the policeman replies as he pulls out a notepad and pencil. Then after writing something down, he hands it to the older gentleman. “Here’s your information. Go right this way.”Goldberg quickly signs his name at the bottom of the paper and hands it back. “Thank you. Have a nice day”.The cop responds politely and returns to his paperwork.Goldberg heads toward the office area and enters a small room that’s empty save for the sheriff
taking a few steps towards the car, where his daughter had left her bike. Suddenly, a thought comes into his mind and his mouth forms into a smile, then he slowly walks towards it again.“I know what I’m going to do! I will take that motorcycle, ride home to California in it, show that asshole what a fool he has made me, then drive away with it. No doubt he will be too scared of me to send anyone else there to take care of things, that’s when I will finally get rid of those bastards”. As he walks back to his car with his face filled with determination, he passes by the old couple again and once again ignores them. This time they ignore him as well, choosing instead to focus on their conversation.“I don’t think he should be coming over” she says as the Sheriff approaches with a confused expression. The look on his face says it all: ‘Did you not hear anything I just said?! Get out! Now!’“But it’s his car, he must have been here to pick it up” the Sheriff says as he reaches to open t
Not today...but I have a plan for us. It’s going to be our best day yet!”“So where are we gonna go?”Goldberg grins proudly. “We’re going to a very special place. Where nobody else knows about except for us. Well maybe except for my friend who knows about it all”. The little girl lets out a small laugh“Oh? A secret friend” she inquires.“Uh-huh! That’s right! Now let’s hurry and find her before everyone else does... Come on. Let’s go.” Goldberg picks up a small bag that was laying on his desk. He pulls it over and opens it, revealing a variety of colorful items inside of it; a picture frame, a teddy bear-shaped pen, a book, and a little stuffed dog. The little girl stares at the items inside the bag in surprise.“Is that what I think it is? Is this a gift?” she asks happily. Goldberg laughs nervously. “Not quite. It’s more like a reminder of...well.. a special memory.” He quickly puts the bag and its contents back then get up and start to put on his shoes. “Come on! We’ve gotta get
a loud roar interrupts the tense situation.“Get your filthy hands off her now”, growls a darkly menacing voice. Goldberg’s eyes widen as he turns in the direction that the voice came from. From his peripheral vision he sees the man’s grip loosen on his gun. He takes advantage of the opportunity to push forward and kick the weapon right out of the attacker’s hand as he turns around to face him. “Get out of my sight”, he tells him.The stranger looks surprised, but quickly recovers. With a quick nod of his head, he walks away in the direction that he came from, leaving Goldberg alone and confused. Turning back to face the woman, he takes a step forward to ask her how the hell she managed to sneak up on him like that, but when he sees the look on her face, he stops dead in his tracks, wondering just why this girl looked angry enough to shoot someone, even if the guy was threatening her. Looking closely, he notices a bruise on the side of her head and blood dripping from t
Are you okay?” he asks, reaching his hand towards her face as he starts to kneel beside her.The woman immediately shoves his hand away.“No. Just leave me alone!”There is a hint of fear in her voice. Goldberg hesitates, then slowly backs away from her, realizing that he should listen to her.“Okay,” he simply says. “But please know that nothing bad is going to happen to you. I don’t think the man is going to be back here.” Goldberg turns and begins to walk toward the street where the two of them first came into the park.The woman follows behind him, keeping a careful distance between them as they continue through the city. Goldberg stops briefly to grab the backpack that is sitting on the bike, and then proceeds down the sidewalk as though nothing has happened. The woman stands next to the bike, watching him suspiciously. After a minute or so, he stops again."You can ride on the handlebars," he tells her, nodding toward the basket attached to the front of the bike. "If anything ha
That must be pretty cool to have someone who likes you so much as I do, huh?” he chuckles lightly before continuing. “Things were good until we ran into that man outside of your house, then everything turned sour,” he adds as his expression grows grim.“Yeah…I don’t want anyone to hurt you or your family. Mom told me that you didn’t do anything wrong, but that didn’t seem to matter because of what happened to your parents. What can I say? My sister can be a bitch sometimes…but she means well,” she shrugs, smiling.Goldberg chuckles, relieved to hear that she is okay with who he is, but it doesn't make things easier as he suddenly remembers that she may be in danger. Suddenly he stiffens and turns toward the staircase that leads to the bedrooms."Your father is downstairs," he informs her quickly. "Go and check to see if he needs anything."The young girl pauses for a second and stares at him in confusion, but eventually nods her head and makes her way upstairs. Once she disappears, he
she places the plate full of scrambled eggs in front of him. They sit silently for a few minutes, watching each other, and Goldberg is surprised to discover that she is the first person he has talked to since waking up this morning. The silence between them feels comfortable. Goldberg can feel the warmth radiating from his mug warming his fingers and he starts to eat.“How did you sleep?” she asks casually as Goldberg eats, keeping her eyes fixed on him. She notices he hasn't answered her question and decides to ask another one. “And what’s your name?”“My name?” he mumbles as he chews, swallowing before answering. “It’s David Goldberg. I guess you already know that, huh?” He laughs. “You were there when I met your mother.”“I sure did! She didn’t stop gushing about you after she introduced us yesterday,” she says as she raises her eyebrows in surprise. “But I’m not sure why you were sleeping here. Did something happen to your mom and dad?”A knot forms in Goldberg’s stomach. Why did