Part 1 - Pre 2/28, Chapter 2c

As Corey departed, he overheard Stace admonishing Jimmie, "You KNOW he hates that name. When you going to learn?" Gee thanks, Stace, he thought. You just made it that much harder for Jimmie to give up using that stupid dumbass name my father gave me.

Corey crossed the parking lot walking at a brisk pace, no longer seeking the support he got from the fans. Thirty minutes later, he finally crossed the perimeter and entered public land. Before, when the fire department and paramedics were privately funded by the Raydars, they lived on a small compound on the other end, on the other side of the stadium. However, the families in the houses surrounding the stadium complained and the city-state took over responsibilites for the upkeep of both the fire department and EMTs. Both departments moved off-premises.

Huffing and puffing by the time he reached the apartments of the paramedics, he cursed his decision to walk instead of taking the company limousine. Pausing at the doorway to his sister, Raqi's house, he could hear his father's voice getting agitated and more strident. Corey wondered if he should wait a while and figure out a response to his father's complaints or just walk in and act as if he didn't realize Drew was pissed.

Corey opted to listen in.

"... 75? Why did they finally stop scoring during the 4th Quint? I think it was the middle of 4c that they finally stopped. 4C! The last third of the 4th Quint! That's... that's...." Drew was almost spluttering at this point.

"That's unseemly?" Owen, Corey's nephew offered to his grandfather, Drew.

"That's unfair?" This one came from Raqi, Owen's mom.

Drew shook his head vigorously. "No, stronger!"

Corey used his own key on the door and walked in with, "That's obscene?"

"YES! That's exactly the word I was searching for. Obscene."

"But Dad, don't you see? There's a hardcore, diehard group of fans out there we gotta please, and to them, obscenities are what it's all about."

Corey saw the sadness behind his father's eyes. "But, Manticore, is that what the Raydars are all about?"

Bristling at the usage of his formal name, Corey shot back with, "Profits are going up."

"That's ANOTHER thing: profits. How are the profits going up? The cheap seats have seen an increase of 150% over three years and yet the luxury seats have gone down? What th -"

A clearing of Raqi's throat broke up the tightening tension, "Dinner's ready."

Corey thought about leaving right then and there, but the look in his sister's eyes beseeched him to stay. Hating himself for not being able to resist his sister's look, he took his jacket off and headed to the dining room. Drew's head was already bowed in a prayer of thanks to Shon, as was Owen's but with one difference: one of Owen's eyes was open and looking at Corey. Corey gave a stern shake of his head accompanied with a frown and Owen quickly closed his eyes to murmur "Sobeeyit" at the end of the prayer.

Both Raqi and Corey murmured "Sobeeyit" too though neither participated in the prayer; some habits were hard to stop. Just then, the front door opens and Raqi's husband Rich, walked in. "Hiho all!"

Owen got up from mid-bite and ran to hug his father. At 10, he still hadn't hit that pre-adolescent embarassment about affection yet. Corey wondered if Owen would handle puberty the way Corey did, with a girlie magazine hidden so that no matter where he was, whether it was the car, or different rooms in the house, or even in the classroom, there was one handy, so to speak.

Rich handily picked up his son and flung him into the air. Owen giggled despite himself. "Dad! I'm too old for such things!" he protested amidst bursts of laughter. Leave it to Raqi to find herself to find herself an ex-professional Zingball player with an IQ of 142. Rich had been a Protector for the Hunting Royals but had retired about 8 years ago when he blew his knee out diving against a Raydars Defender about to tackle the Shooter he had been protecting.

Nowadays, Rich wanted little to do with Zingball, especially since the woman he married was the daughter of one of the "dreaded and hateful" Raydars. Honestly, Corey felt that Rich had a lot of respect for Drew; rather, it was the organization that Rich deplored. And sometimes, Rich would meld the organization with Corey, since Corey was now "management." As usual, there was an undeclared truce that existed between Rich and Corey which meant that shop talk wasn't allowed at the dinner table.

Instead, they oftened turned on the digivision during meals and let the non-stop chatter fill in the voids that often occured during dinner conversations.

"How was work, beachums?" Raqi leaned over and pecked her husband on the cheek.

Smirking, Corey recalled the time Raqi and he were drunk, both commiserating over recent break-ups when Raqi confided to Corey that she called ALL her lovers "beachums," the local term of endearment, just so she wouldn't be embarassed if she forgot the name of her current paramour.

Rich was a freelance truck driver who worked just enough hours to qualify for medical insurance from his union. Because Raqi worked for the government, and the government only pays for insurance for dependents and not spouses, Rich thought being a truck driver would afford him the most freedom, and Corey suspected that the job provided Rich opportunities to get away from Raydars territory. More often than not though, Rich was found at home, tending to Owen's needs, leaving Raqi the latitude to go be on call as often as needed.

"Not bad, delivered a truckload of meat over to Hunting Royals terrirtory, visited Mums, - she says hiho by the way, and special hugs to you, Owen. Had to go to five different places to get my truck full. First off, it was Shirley's Quails for a couple of palettes of quails, then to McNeil's Scotch distillery..."

Corey turned his attention to the digivision which Raqi flipped on before sitting down.