The Protectors: Defending His Own / Guarding Jeannie

Allen clung to Deborah for several moments, then glanced over at Ashe. “You can’t let them do anything to hurt her.”

“Allen, will you tell me what happened?” Ashe reached down and patted Allen on the back.

Allen shook his head, released his tenacious hold on Deborah, but still clung to her hand as she stood. “He walked up to me on the playground. I was waiting my turn at bat. He said he knew my sister and that he wanted me to give her a message.”

“Oh, Ashe!” Deborah clenched her teeth tightly together in an effort not to cry in front of Allen.

Laying his hand on Deborah’s shoulder, Ashe gave her a reassuring squeeze. “Had you ever seen this man before?”

“No,” Allen said.

“Come on, let’s go sit down over here on the sofa.” Deborah led Allen across the room to the small, leather sofa situated against the back wall between two oak filing cabinets. “I want you to answer all of Ashe’s questions. He’s here to help us. Do you understand?”

“What—what do you want to know?” Allen looked at Ashe.

“Would you recognize the man if you ever saw him again? Can you tell me what he looked like?”

“Yeah, I’d recognize him, all right. He was big and ugly and he smelled bad.”

“Sounds like somebody Buck would sent around to frighten a child,” Ashe said.

“He didn’t scare me.” Allen tightened his hold on Deborah’s hand. “I told him off. If you don’t believe me, just ask Tripper Smith. He heard me telling that guy he’d better leave my sister alone.”

Ashe knelt down in front of Allen. “I know you’re brave and that you’d fight for your sister.”

Deborah forced a smile when she looked at Allen’s pale little face. “Did the man try to hurt you?”

“Naw, he just said to give my sister a message. He said to tell you that if you show up in court Monday, you’ll be very sorry. And I told him that nothing he said or did would keep you from testifying against that murderer. And he said if you did, you were stupid. That’s when I tried to hit him, but he just laughed and walked away.”

“Did your teacher see the man, or any of the other kids beside this Tripper Smith?” Ashe asked.

“My teacher didn’t see nothing, but several of the kids saw him. Tripper’s the one who went and told Coach Watkins what had happened.”

“Okay, Allen, why don’t you and Deborah go do whatever is necessary to get you checked out of school for the day. I’ll make a couple of phone calls and then we’ll be ready to leave.” Ashe wished he had the big, bad-smelling stranger in front of him right now. He’d teach Buck Stansell’s messenger that it wasn’t nice to go around frightening little boys, especially not a child under his protection.

“Are we going home?” Allen asked. “Do we have to tell Mother what happened? She’ll just worry.”

“We aren’t going home,” Ashe said. “I think you and Deborah and I should go somewhere for burgers and fries and then do something fun together this afternoon. How does that sound to you, Allen?”