Tales of a Magician, The Inquiry

Chapter 2

Monty quietly crept up the stairs to the apartment. As silently as he could, he unlocked the door with his key and looked inside. The apartment was empty and quiet, save for his two bulldogs trotting around. Hamlet, the little, brown one with white shoes and a white eyepatch, saw him and started bouncing excitedly and barking. Caesar, stark white with a little blonde, ran up and started pawing at his legs, whimpering happily. Monty quickly put a hand out.

"Shh!! Quiet!" He whispered desperately.

"Monty?" His mom called from the back. He let out an sigh of annoyance and walked into the apartment.

"Thanks guys." He muttered. Hamlet snorted contently. His mother emerged from the back, carrying some towels.

"Monty,what on earth?" She put the towels down. "What are you doing home from school? ... And where are your clothes?" She looked him up and down.

"I uh, I had an accident."

"What kind of accident?" She asked, worriedly.

Monty tried to shrug it off. "Look, I'm fine, it's not that big of a deal."

"The hell you are, you're sweating like crazy. What happened to you?"

"Mom, everything's fine, I'm okay, you're okay, we're all okay, okay?"

She looked at him annoyed. "No, we are not okay. Tell me what happened right now."

Monty sighed and looked away again. "Nothing, alright?" He tried to walk passed her. "The cops were just too slow..."

"The cops??" She cried. "You got in trouble with the police??" She looked like she was about to faint.

"No, mom, no! Well... Okay fine. But I didn't get caught, mom."

"That's beside the point, Montgomery!" She yelled.

"Calm down-"

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down! This is serious!"

"Mom..."

She groaned furiously and covered her face. Then, after a moment of silence, she looked up at him. "Monty... You can't do this... You can't do this to me." She was on the verge of tears. "You're skipping school, drinking, and now you're getting in trouble with the police?... Monty, if you got yourself thrown in prison I don't know what I would do. You just don't understand how many opportunities you have, and if you throw all of that away, I just... I don't even know."

Monty sighed and looked down at her. He felt like shit for making her cry.

"Just promise me, okay? Promise me you won't get into trouble." She sniffled, hugging him.

"I promise, mom." He said quietly as he held her.

She pulled away and wiped her tears. "Good. Good." She was a good woman, she tried her best. His mother gave up fighting Monty's recklessness a long time ago, she didn't have it in her to keep up with it. "Thank you." She cupped his face. "Now. Go on and take a shower, you smell awful."

Monty chuckled a bit. "Thanks."

She pat his cheek. "Go."

"Okay, okay." Monty turned and ran into the bathroom.

The shower was cold, like it always was. The water heater in the building never worked and when it did, people would overload it using as much hot water as they could before it went out again, which it then does, very quickly. Monty got some if he was lucky and early. After turning off the water and toweling off, he changed and fell into his bed, exhausted. Caesar came trotting into the room, panting happily and wagging his tail.