Sunny couldn't remember the last time all three men of the reunited Lawrence Street Detective Club were out together without the women of the club, two of whom were original members and now wives of the men, and one of whom was a newer member and Sunny's wife. It had never entered their heads to get together without the women, not the three of them. At least one of Rachel and Lauren seemed necessary to make the group gel; Sunny even remembered agreeing with Al and Lauren, when they'd been on the side of the highway looking for Joe's phone, that in fact Rachel was the seed around which the rest of the group crystallized. It had been true when they were kids, and it was true now. Rachel was currently occupied, however, with Lauren and Tej and their daughters, out for a girls' day, and they had encouraged the men to take their sons out for a boys' day. It wasn't going as successfully as the women might have hoped.
They seemed to have an easier time when they were kids. Al, Sunny and Joe never failed to occupy themselves if Rachel and Lauren weren't around, usually when they were on their paper route (Sunny and Al usually delivered their papers a little later in the day, just because they were a little lazier in getting up; it turned out to be lucky, because they hadn't set out for their route yet when Lauren came screaming back home, calling for their help in getting Rachel out of the Trybek house.) They had their forts, their Star Wars figures, their sword fights with the vacuum crevice tools, and their cowboys and Indians games, using sticks for guns and spears. Those tools of play weren't available to them anymore; for one thing, they were much older now, and they would have looked juvenile playing with toys, even if there were adult collectors of the very things they played with as kids; for another, cowboys and Indians wasn't an appropriate game anymore, not with the government's acknowledgement of the terrible legacy of colonialism and residential schools. The last thing Sunny wanted to do was perpetuate that legacy.
It was even fine when Joe and Sunny went out on their own as adults. They used to do it a lot more when they first reunited in 2005, and before they reunited with Al and Rachel, but they still got together from time to time without telling Al. They liked to go to Vancouver Canucks home games together. Sunny was a huge Canucks fan, and the Sikh community had all of a sudden jumped on the hockey bandwagon, showing up to games in their jerseys and turbans; there were even Bhangra dancing fans inspiring team spirit in the stands. Joe had a pair of season tickets, and often brought clients to the games, so he saved one of his seats for Sunny every now and then, because Lauren never went with him; she just wasn't interested, especially after Rachel came back into her life. In fact, lately they had gone out more together without Al, with Lauren's full encouragement, and Sunny thought it odd that she wouldn't want Al to go with them so she could have time alone with Rachel and Tej (he only found out later that she was in fact with Rachel and Al whenever he and Joe were out, and that they were enjoying a little adultery together.) He felt guilty not including Al, especially because Rogers Arena was downtown and very close to where Al and Rachel lived at the time, but it still didn't change his mind about inviting him. Al never expressed interest in hockey. He just wasn't sports minded. Sure, he jogged, so he was active, but his interest wasn't in team play.
So, Joe and Sunny had their own dynamic, and somehow they couldn't shoehorn Al into it, because their day at Playland with the boys was almost excruciating.
Again, he only found out later the reason why Joe and Al weren't talking to each other, and why Joe looked itchy and irritated around the smaller man. It was as if he was just looking for a reason to punch Al, but Sunny couldn't explain why that was.
The three boys didn't seem to have a great time either. Tosh and Ajit enjoyed the rides, such as they were (he remembered the PNE having more rides than this, but Playland during the weeks when the fair wasn't on was a smaller affair,) but Logan was unimpressed; he and his sister Emma were Al and Rachel's foster children. Maybe he just wasn't in the mood to go to an amusement park. He'd just been released from jail without charge after having been picked up near the scene of a homicide with blood on his hands and clothes; they'd only just found out he'd tried to save the life of the man who'd driven him and his biological father to Barnet Marine Park to make an exchange, which had turned out to be an ambush. Maybe he was still in shock from the ordeal, but he expressed no desire to go on the rides, although he did try a few games because he wanted to win a stuffed toy for his sister. He didn't win anything.
"You know what?" Al said. "We can buy Emma a stuffed toy for cheaper than it would cost to win one, and it would probably be of better quality, too."
Logan shrugged. "It's okay, it was just an impulse. After being in jail this week, and with my mom dying, I wanted to give her something to reassure her I wasn't going away again. I'm all she has now, and she was really scared she was going to lose her whole family."
Al was smart enough not to mention that he and Rachel were also their family; they might have been their legal guardians, but blood was blood. "What about your father? Has there been any news?" Logan's father had been abducted in the middle of the melee that had wound up killing the other man.
Logan shrugged. "I don't think he's going to come out of this alive, but I'm not telling Emma that."
"I think we should still get her something," Al said. "You know, to celebrate her adolescence."
Logan frowned. "Didn't they celebrate last week, when my mom went with them?" He squirmed and said, "I can't think of my little sister... you know... not being a little girl anymore."
Al shrugged and said, "It's a part of life. Everyone who has those parts goes through it."
"The blood scared me a little," Logan said in a remarkable moment of candour for a teenage boy.
"Imagine how she feels. It's a huge moment in her life, just like it is in Naomi's, and now Harpreet's, too," Al said, looking at Sunny.
"Is that what Harpreet's going to do now?" Ajit asked. "Is that why Mom's out with her and the other girls?"
Sunny nodded, wishing Al hadn't passed him this conversational hot potato. "Rule number one of congenial brother-sister relationships: do not comment on it in your sister's presence. It's none of your business, nor is it anything to be feared or made an object of disgust. You'll soon find there are things coming out of you that are just as scary or disgusting, but are also completely natural."
"Jesus, Sunny, what a way to put it," Joe said, in a rare moment of jocularity for this group of sullen males today. "But I agree, it's completely natural, and there's no reason for you to make a big deal out of it. If you ever get girlfriends, be prepared to give them what they need when they're going through it, up to and including buying for them whatever sanitary products they happen to use."
Ajit seemed awed by the prospect, but Tosh grimaced and said, "I'm not getting a girlfriend. Girls don't interest me."
Joe chuckled and said, "You're young, yet. Give it time. It'll come roaring at you like a freight train."
He walked on ahead, Logan and Ajit following after him, before Tosh said, a little quieter, "That's not what I meant." Sunny didn't think Joe heard it in the tumult of amusement park noises, but he did, and he suddenly realized Joe had missed out on a potentially life-changing moment of communication with his son, who might be going through a very scary time himself.
Al must have heard it too, because he crouched down beside Tosh and said, "Did you want me to call him back? I think he needs to hear what you have to say."
Tosh grimaced. "It's okay, Uncle Al. There'll be another time."
Al looked after Joe and shook his head. "Well, you can always talk to your mom about it; she'd be the last person to judge. And heck, you can talk to me too, if you want. There's nothing to be ashamed of, it's completely natural."
Tosh shook his head in irritation and said, "That's easy for you to say. You never went to Catholic school."
He ran after his father. When Al stood back up, he said, "You know, I feel for the boy. I know what it's like to be small and sensitive, if not of his sexual orientation. I've noticed how Joe barely registers Tosh's presence sometimes, while he dotes on Naomi."
"If I were you," Sunny said, "I'd be careful what I said about Joe's kids while Joe's nearby. It already seems like you're not in his good books."
Al sighed in resignation. "Yeah, well, there's nothing I can do about that. If he wants to be angry at me, that's his right, but if he screws up his relationship with his son because of whom he chooses to love, then he's not the good man we all think he is. I didn't miss Tosh's remark about Catholic school."
"There's no reason to think Joe aligns his own beliefs on that subject with his religion's stance."
Al nodded thoughtfully. "As always, Sunny, you're the voice of reason."
They followed after the others, but when they arrived at the Hellevator, they found that the others had stopped and were looking at Logan, who seemed to be talking with a woman, probably their age, who had candy-red dyed hair and wore a leather jacket. Sunny had no idea who she was, but as soon as Al saw her he strode forward and stood beside Logan. "Hello," he said, "I'm Logan's foster father."
The woman glanced at him briefly before turning back to Logan. "I'm sorry about your mother," she said. "I heard the news, and I just wanted to let you know you can depend on me for anything."
"Uh, thanks," Logan muttered. He turned to Al and said, "This is Auntie Kathy."
"I see," Al said. He turned to Kathy and said, "When you say he can depend on you, does that mean you'll apply to foster him? I take it you're family?"
Kathy looked him up and down, then looked up at the Hellevator, which had just launched a group of screaming riders a hundred feet into the air at breakneck speed. "I'm more of a family friend," she said. "I don't have the room to take in two kids, but they can call me for anything. Their mother was my best friend."
"Do you have kids of your own?" he asked. "I only ask because it's a little odd for a grown woman to be at an amusement park on her own."
Kathy smirked and said, "I'm here with friends who have kids." She looked at Logan and said, "You have a good set, this time. Don't screw it up."
"I won't," Logan muttered, clearly uncomfortable at the whole situation.
"Well, nice meeting you," Al said, steering Logan away. Joe and the other boys followed, with Sunny taking up the rear.
They walked to the other side of the park before Al stopped and pulled out his phone.
"What are you doing?" Sunny asked.
"Calling Detective Pak," Al said. "He needs to know we ran into that woman the day after Emma said her mother told her to look out for her." He looked to Joe and said, "Thanks for standing there with me; I never would have felt brave enough to confront her if you weren't there."
Joe shrugged. "I didn't do much, just stood there."
"Still, I think it made a difference. I think she would have said more if it was just me there."
"Do you really think she was here with friends?" Sunny asked.
"I don't know, it just seems too convenient that she's here at the same time we are. Did I tell you we have police watching the house?"
"No," Sunny said, surprised. "Jesus, Al, should we be worried?"
"I don't know, but I'm calling Pak, and to be safe I think we should go home now."
None of the kids had an objection to that. The day's fun had been minimal up to now, anyway, and this was the excuse they needed to cut it short.
When Tej got home later, she seemed to be floating across the threshold. Harpreet was smiling too. Obviously the girls had more fun than the boys did.
"How was your day?" he asked.
Tej blinked as if she'd just woken from a dream and looked at him. "Oh! Hey! It was... fun. Really fun. Right, Harpreet?"
"We did everything I wanted to do today," Harpreet said. "Brunch, pedicures, bowling, and a movie!"
"All of that in one day?" Sunny said. "Do I want to see the Visa bill after this?"
"No, I don't think you do," Tej said, "but our daughter's worth it."
"Of course she is," he said, winking at his daughter.
"And you guys?" Tej asked.
Sunny and Ajit exchanged a glance. Ajit said, "We talked about buying our girlfriends sanitary products."
"What?!" Tej squawked. Harpreet looked suitably horrified.
"Ajit, you forgot rule number one," Sunny said in mock admonishment.
"What is rule number one?" Dad asked as he and Mom entered the living room.
"Uh..." Sunny didn't want to lie to his father, but the last thing he thought he should be discussing with him was the female reproductive system. "Just that a brother should always look out for his sister."
"Yes, indeed," Mom said. "I still remember you, Sunil, when you were five years old, and we had just brought Bishan home from the hospital. Your friends were with you, and they were all crowding in looking at her, and you suddenly backed them off and said something like, this is my sister, and I will protect her until my dying day."
"Really?" Tej squealed. "You never told me that, Sunny. I bet you were so cute when you said it."
"He was my brave boy," Mom said.
Sunny had never expected to end this day in tears, but he was coming dangerously close to them when he said, "Yeah, well, I never told you because I failed, didn't I."
"Oh, Sunny," Tej breathed, placing a hand on his arm. Mom and Dad held each other close, looking sad. None of them said anything, and Sunny was glad, because he didn't want assurances that it wasn't his fault, that no one could have foreseen what had happened.
"Will you tell us about Auntie Bishan, Dadiji?" Ajit asked Mom, saving them all from sinking into recrimination.
Mom smiled and sat on the couch, beckoning her grandchildren to her. "Come," she said. "I'll tell you about the time she defied me and took lessons in martial arts from Sunil's friend Lauren."
"She did?" Harpreet asked, impressed. "Naomi and I sometimes play fight, and she shows me the moves she learns from her grandfather."
"You're a lot like her, you know," Mom said. "I only wish I had just let her take lessons from Lauren's father when she asked me. Maybe then she wouldn't have gone so hard at it later in life, and maybe she wouldn't have met that Jordan fellow."
Suddenly Sunny had to leave the room. It was just too much. He didn't want to yell at his mother, but this retroactive permission was too little and far too late to help Bishan, who'd been under her thumb for too many of her formative years.
Tej found him in their bedroom a few minutes later. "Are you okay?" she asked.
He wiped his eyes furiously and said, "Yeah. It just came out of the blue, all this talk about Bishan after so long. It hit me harder than I thought."
She came forward and hugged him close. Then she said, "Did you guys really talk about sanitary products?"
He chuckled and said, "Unavoidable. We were at an amusement park because we couldn't think of any place better to take two preteen boys and one teenager, and someone remarked upon your girls' day and the reason for it."
"Did you not have fun, then?"
Sunny shrugged. "It was all right. Al and Joe were tense around each other. We're not used to not having the women around."
She pouted lasciviously. "Aw, did you miss us?"
He squeezed her tighter and said, "I did, for sure. And then something weird happened."
Tej blinked in surprise. "What was that?"
"We ran into a friend of Logan's family. He called her Auntie Kathy, but apparently she's not a good person. Al actually called the police after we walked away from her, and we left Playland right away."
"Oh. That sucks. I hope everything is all right. You know, when I drove Rachel home, I saw they had a police car outside, keeping an eye on the house."
"That's a relief. Whoever shot that guy is still out there, looking for Logan, so it's reassuring to know the police are looking after them." He paused and said, "You know, you had a big smile on your face when you mentioned Rachel's name. Did you have a lot of fun today?"
She blushed a little and said, "Did I? Well, yeah it was really fun. That was the first time I hung out with Rachel and Lauren, just us girls. It was nice to just dish without worrying about the boys hearing us."
"Huh. Well, I think you had more fun than I did." Later, though, when he remembered that blush, he would wonder if maybe Tej had had more fun than a girls' day with daughters in tow would allow for, and what she'd gotten up to that would explain it.
Thanks for reading this far! This is the last of the flashback scenes in this novel, and closes the circle on Bishan's story. If you liked what you read so far, hit "Vote" to send this title up the ranks. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think.
Now, let's return to the present day, and see who's in that truck that's following Sunny and Naira, and get the answer to how Jordan met his fate, by clicking "Continue reading."