"and by god you can ride him son, i'll have the boys fix him up to a sulkey and after we buy you a watch tomorrow, you can ride all you want."

"gee, thanks uncle pork pie," sidney said, i smiled.

"don't spoil him unc," i said. pork pie sneered.

"bout time you showed up, baby," he said. sidney ran to me, and hugged me tightly.

"he told me to call him uncle pork pie, carlee, is that alright?"

"of course it is sweetheart, i even call him that sometimes." pork laughed. "listen sidney, i've got to go home for a while."

"oh, please carlee, don't leave me!" he shouted. i placed my index finger over his lips.

"shhhh now, i only need to get some clothes, uncle pork pie will see that nothing happens to you until i get back, i promise."

"listen boy, goddamnit, let me take you to bed, by the time you wake up, carlee will be back, ain't that right carlee?"

"yes, that's true sidney, and i surely want to ride with you in the sulkey, andy's babe is my most favorite horse in the whole wide world." sidney sniffed, then smiled.

"ok then, as long as you'll come back." pork took him to the back. sidney broke away and ran to me, hugged me and kissed me. i felt the tears on my cheek. "i love you carlee," he said.

"and i love you tiger, now get to bed,." i smiled.

"can i pour you a drink honey?"

"no pork, i have too much driving to do, make yourself one." i took sidney to the back room and pulled the covers back on a twin sized bed. "now hop in sidney."

"i'm not sleepy carlee, could you read to me, or tell me a story?" his brown eyes lit up.

"i'd love to baby, but i've got to go and get my stuff, i'll spend the whole day with you tomorrow.

"my pajamas?"

"oh, i'm sorry, be right back."

pork pie was drinking bourben right out of the bottle. "you better go easy on that shit," i warned. i walked out to the pig mobile and retrieved sidney's things. i found his new stuff, and brought it in. pork was talking to someone on the phone, he was in his tee shirt and pants, his hat, and chewing on a cigar. he was ranting and raving, cussing every breath, god, how i loved him. at least he was drinking out of a glass with ice in his bourbon.

"here ya go batman!"

"oh, you found them, i hoped you would carlee." sidney made me smile, and a warm smile at that. he stripped and was about to put on his new pj's.

"wait sidney," i said. "what are all these bruises?" sidney hung his head. "tell me," i said.

"mavis," he said. "mainly, some are from dad."

"what did they hit you with baby?" i asked, steaming.

"things carlee, belts and stuff, i don't know, and it doesn't matter now, i'm with you." it did matter, it mattered a hell of a lot, i just wondered what kind of shit terry was involved in these days, i had to talk to pork pie. i kissed sidney on the cheek.

"sleep tight baby, and have good dreams, see you tomorrow." he was asleep before i left the room, which was at least fifteen minutes.

pork pie was a sight, his cigar was hanging out of his mouth, touching his chin, his drink was in his right hand at a fifty degree angle, his big belly was sticking out beneath his shabby tee shirt and he was sound asleep. my god, the blind leading the blind, i thought. i was afraid to leave the boys, even for a few hours. but, i had to know.

"pork, pork," i said as i shook his shoulder.

"what, what in the hell is it?" he stammered.

"pork, what does terry do for sysco?"

"drives, hell, i don't know."

"you'd better wake the hell up pork pie, i mean it, i need some answers." i snapped.

" oh carlee, drugs i imagine, that's where it's at today, probably delivers drugs."

"tell me pork, and wake up!"

"i'm awake damnit."

"what's the big deal with drugs?"

"money, honey, some risk, but lots of money."

"please explain pork pie, i know you think of me as a child, but damnit i need to know."

"little one, do you know how important drugs are to a lot of people?"

"sure i do, they get hooked, my ex husband was a druggie, he would have sold me for a hit."

"you don't do 'em do you?"

"of course not pork, but tell me please."

"alright. i know this guy in indonesia, he owns a lot of land and grows pretty flowers, poppies. he has a work force that harvests the crops, cuts them into opium. i go to this guy and buy forty thousand dollars worth of pure opium. i then sell it to a friend, a wholesaler, for a million dollars. my friend cuts the drugs, like, waters them down, sell to a distributor for four million. that guy sell to those who sell on the streets for five million, and they in turn profit from what they sell. understand?"

"how much profit pork, the street sellers?"

"a million dollars a year is the average carlee, but they take the biggest risk in the chain."

"why?"

"because they deal with the greatest number of people."

"seems to me that you make the least, doing the original buying," i said.

"sixty thousand for a few days work ain't bad darling."

"so where are you in this chain pork?"

"nowhere sweetheart, i'm a simple gambler, a horseman."

"and sysco?"

"i rent her trucks, carlee, that's all, i don't want to know her business."

"guess then!" i snapped.

"wholesale would be my guess, but i don't know, and don't want to. neither do you, she's bad news baby, see those scars on her face?"

"they would be impossible to not notice pork, and i'm not interested in her scars of battle, i'm only interested in that little boy back there."

pork pie started snoring.

i cried most of the way back home. goddamnit, sidney didn't need to be in this shit. i packed a few things and headed back. pork pie was sound asleep in his chair. i went to check on sidney. sleeping like a baby. i couldn't help buy smile. it was five thirty in the morning, i dialed andy.

"hello?" he sounded so sleepy.

"you still working?"

"yeah, sure."

"then when in hell do you plan on getting up?"

"carlee! is it really you?"

"sure is andy, want to meet me at hardee's?"

"sure babe, anywhere, give me ten minutes, ok?"

"i'll give you twenty, and that's all."

"great, great, that's all i need. see you there, and hey, you've made my day nice." that was sweet, i thought. i checked on the guys again, and smiled. this would work out, i just knew that it would.

the same old crabbie crew worked at hardees. i took a booth and waited for andy. "that booth is taken miss." the biggest crab of them all told me.

"i know it is, I just sat down at it."

"no miss, i mean it's reserved."

"for someone really important?" i asked.

"i wouldn't know ma'me, i only know it's reserved." hands went over my eyes.

"don't make trouble angel." it was andy. i turned and kissed him, hugged him tightly.

"god, it's great to see you," i said.

"what brings you back to town? trouble?"

"wasn't suppose to be andy, but it turned out that away." i told him of my visit to sidney's and the terrible outcome.

"poor kid, i am really fond of him," andy replied.

"i have to stick around until we get this resolved."

"great, baby," he exclaimed. "let's order."

"carlee," a voice came. i recognized it."zimmerman, louisville p.d." i smiled.

"have a seat harry. and meet andy." harry shook his hand.

"nice to meet you son," he said. "do you need a policeman carlee?" he asked.

"maybe harry, not sure."

"if i'm in the way carlee, i need to get to work, please call me."

"i will andy."

"i'm counting on that," he said, and kissed me.

"a friend?" harry asked.

"yup, a good one." i replied.

"can we talk here, or had you rather go someplace else?"

"the park harry, let's go to the park."

on the way, harry turndd and asked, "serious baby?"

"may be harry, do you know a lady named sysco bolin?"

"god yes, don't tell me you're hooked up with her." i told him about sidney and the night before. "now this is privileged harry."

"huh?"

"unofficial, i haven't filed a complaint."

"you should have carlee, you really should have. those tactics are illegal any way you look at it, that's really not security, it's strong arm stuff. this anderson you mentioned, would that be laverne?"

"yeah, but he doesn't like to be called that."

"neither would i," he smiled.

"what do you have on sysco, harry?" i asked.

"we have her down as a paid assassin, mainly, we knew about the drug thing, her way of going legit, i suppose," he laughed.

"are either of them dangerous harry?"

"of course sysco bolin is, she'd kill you or sidney in a heartbeat, me too, i suppose; laverne is a gambler, a good ole boy who does porn and horses, owns a lot of property. he's probably harmless."

"what can we do harry, about sidney?"

"we can't do anything baby, not without a complaint. if you would file one, we could get child welfare involved."

"shit harry, I don't want that."

"they're a godsent when kids are battered, is sidney battered carlee?"

"bruised, mistreated, i think, but not battered."

"sorry babe, that is battery," he said.

"god, what are the options captain?" i asked.

"do just what you're doing angel, his dad may be ok, talk with him when he gets back, and talk with the boy too, it may have just been that lady."

"but the conditions they live in."

"hell honey, you said he fed animals at the zoo, could be just down on his luck." i promised to keep harry posted. pork pie and sidney were on the computer when i returned. a drunken gerbil was giving a fat man a hard time. sidney was roaring with laughter.

"you guys having a good time?" i asked.

"you bet," said sidney. "uncle pork pie showed me a picture of your horse, carlee, he's beautiful." i smiled.

"mine for a day or two."

"and he bought me a watch." he held his arm out. bambi, all was secure.

"i love it sidney, it's perfect, is it magic?" sidney lit up.

"got it from mr. schemile," he answered.

"what happened to god, pork?" he laughed.

"came in second carlee."

"what a world," i said. pork grabbed my hand.

"let's go outside carlee." the hairs on my neck rose. something was wrong, i could feel it. "there's been some trouble in toledo honey."