Chapter 11: Faith

...Riley and Mara...

“It’s so peaceful here.”

He looked to Mara walking beside him and smiled. He could use some peace after the events of the past week. The night before he told her about his encounter with Joe. Later, he slept restlessly. She said she didn’t slept well either. So, finding each other awake, they decided to walk to the Embarcadero.

Downtown early morning on a Sunday was quiet, prompting a kind of meditation as they walked. When they reached the Ferry Building, they went south and passed through the angular concrete arbor of Pier 14.

The air was fresh. A cap of fog clung to Treasure Island, which lay before them, looking as if they could step onto it. The Bay Bridge sliced the sky and plunged into that same fog.

As they walked to the end, head high guardrails shrank to the waist, enhancing the sensation of being part of the bay. Silver metal seats, swiveling like small barber’s chairs, were scattered along the pier. They sat and focused their attention on a solitary sailboat headed towards the Pacific, its sails not yet unfurled. Like the boat, they were alone.

“It feels like someone should do something.” Mara said.

“I only know a nickname.”

“That might be enough.”

“Why should they believe me?”

Mara shrugged.

“I think the police see what they want to see. If I tell them about Flea, they’ll ask how I know so much and think I’m trying to deflect attention.”

“Aren’t you afraid anymore?”

“Joe helped put it in perspective. A man died. I was inconvenienced. The cops don’t have anything. They threatened me hoping something would shake out. That’s all.”

“What about justice? Shouldn’t Flea pay for murdering Robbie?”

With his leg, Riley propelled his seat like a roulette wheel. It stopped facing the bridge. He kicked again so that he faced Mara.

“Joe’s the one who lost a friend. If he’s sure Flea’s going to pay, I’m satisfied.”

“Why’s he so sure?”

“I saw the police, I saw the guy looking for Flea. He was more motivated.”

“But he’s in a gang. You have confidence in him?”

He held his hands palms up.

Their eyes followed the shell of a truck on the bridge coming into the city. It inched along like a leaf borne on a file of ants, slowly reaching its destination.

“It feels creepy having faith in a guy like that,” she said. “He doesn’t believe in justice, he believes in-- I don’t know what.”

“Street justice. I don’t believe in him. What I know is the guy’s a tornado, destroying whatever he runs into. Flea’s in his path.” His voice rose. “And when they find his body, maybe floating—“

She reached out, resting a hand on his knee. “Don’t.”

His anger drowned in her blue eyes. He continued in a lower voice.

“When they find him, they won’t know to connect the dots. They won’t know he killed Robbie or why. He’ll just be a statistic unrelated to another statistic.”

“Unless he has a friend. I like to think everyone has a friend who cares enough to cry and try to make sense of it all.”

A tear escaped her eye. Bringing his finger to her cheek, he wiped it away. They looked at each other, aware of forming a new bond.

“Spin your seat!” Riley shouted.

They spun around, arms and legs splayed, the surrounding sights flashing by as fast as they could kick. Skyscrapers, the Ferry Building, Treasure Island, the bay, boats, and then again, each other.

They stood and hugged, bumping lips awkwardly. They walked back into the city, their linked hands swinging.

Riley thought about Joe saying something had ended, then about the things that happened when he left his apartment that day. Who could have predicted a man staggering to his death would bump into him? Or that he’d find the very backpack he was carrying? And that the police would suspect him when he turned it in? But he knew he’d do it again, because it was the right thing.

He felt a strain on his arm, Mara pulling him back to the present. Riley completed the thought Joe had left unsaid: something had ended, something new had begun.



The persons and events in this story are fictitious and do not represent any living person or real event.

The next chapter will be posted June 27.