Chapter 32
Dad
In his backyard, Leo danced around the elm tree, hitting it furiously with his bat, retraining his body in the skills that had kept him alive in his previous life. In addition to his baseball bat, he used a couple of sticks like knives, stabbing and slashing at the tree. He was getting better. He flung himself to the side, rolled over on the grass, shot back up, feinted high, struck low at the root at the base of the tree, to one side then the other, ducking away from an imagined attack.
He heard the back door open.
“Wow, what did that tree ever do to you?”
“Hi, Dad.” Leo stopped training, dropping his banged-up bat and putting his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. If Dad was going to notice anything wrong with him, it would be now. “I saw this online video where a guy showed me how to do this.” Leo picked up his bat again and poked the ground with it, trying to seem boyish.
“What online video?” Dad asked, curious.
“Crazy Vlad's school of combat,” Leo said, tossing out the first name that came into his head.
“Looks like you're getting pretty good.” Dad wandered over and looked at the elm tree. The blanket was a bit torn up and there were dents on the tree bark, but the tree was fine. “Anyway, it's time for dinner, and if you still want to shoot the pistol, I can take you out tonight.”
“Wow. Really? Great! Thanks.” Leo stood up.
***
“What's wrong, Leo? You not hungry?” Mom asked, taking a swig from her Bio-Blessed energy drink. Her plate held a large mound of meat that was shrinking quickly as she stuffed her face, appearing to barely chew before swallowing and taking another bite.
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“I'm not that hungry.” Leo had taken a few bites of his large slice of ham. It was good, but it reminded him of the animals he'd eaten in his previous future, the freshly killed bloody animals he'd torn into and eaten raw because he was starving. That tended to take away his appetite.
“Leo's so weird,” Lydia said. “Since last Sunday.”
“I am not,” Leo said. “You're just ugly.” Leo made faces at her across the table.
A fork shot out and speared Leo's ham. “You snooze, you lose,” Dad said, placing Leo's slice of ham on top of his own meat pile. He took a huge bite. “You know the rules,” he said through a mouthful of food. “You don't eat it, it's mine.”
Leo shrugged, ignoring Lydia's laughter, and took a bite of mashed potatoes.
After dinner, Dad unlocked his bedroom safe. Leo saw Dad push a 0 and a 5 on the safe keyboard, but couldn't make out the other three digits. Dad pulled out a large plastic box. Leo followed him through the house and out the front door.
“Me and Jason were doing some online research the other night. We found this site claiming Body Booster, Inc. is a fraud. The owner got 100 billion in loans for a worthless formula and now he's covering it up,” Leo said as they headed for Dad's faded orange Subaru.
“That's impossible. They just got FDA approval,” Dad responded, not really listening. “Did I tell you I own stock in that company?”
“The FDA got bribed.” Leo got in and buckled his seatbelt. “Everyone with a chemistry set is trying to reverse engineer the Bio-Blessed formula. Don't you think it's odd Body Booster, Inc. has been the only one to succeed?”
Dad started the car and put it in gear. “They got good people? I was lucky to get the stock when I did. It's already tripled in value. I was thinking of buying more.”
“I think you should sell.” Leo wasn't sure why he was bothering to talk to Dad about this. It certainly wouldn't affect anything in the long run, but he remembered how upset Dad had been last time around when the stock tanked, and he'd feel bad if he didn't at least try to warn him.
Dad reached out and grabbed Leo's shoulder and shook it gently. “Leo, if I sold that stock and it went up to over ten times its current value, like they're saying it will, I'd have to kill you, and you're my only son.”
“I can see how that would be a problem,” Leo answered.
“Anyway, you're twelve. When did you start giving stock advice?”
Leo shrugged.
“Well, here we are.” Dad turned into a parking lot in front of a large white building with a black sign on it saying “DAVE'S SHOOTING RANGE”