Chapter 7

Christopher wakes up early and goes outside to get his paper. He does nothing more than take a few more pages of notes, drinks a few beers and relaxes the Sunday away.

Come Monday morning he does the same ritual, but this time when he goes out onto his porch to get his paper he hears, "Shy little Sarah, so ugly and stupid."

"Hey, you little motherf•©kers, leave her alone." The boys from next-door jump at the sudden intrusion and the ferocity of the command, and then they run off up the street.

Sarah turns to Christopher and just stands there looking at him. He still can't see what she looks like because she is so bundled up. Finally she gives him a half wave. Christopher smiles at her and waves back just with his fingers moving up and down. Sarah puts her head down and disappears around the hedge heading up the street to where Christopher assumes the school must lie.

"Little bastards," says Christopher to himself as he walks back into his house.

Christopher listens to the morning news on the radio to hear what the weather is going to be like so that he can start on his front yard. He will be glad to get his satellite hooked up today so he can watch the weather. It is the only part of the news he watches, because he can't stand the liberal bias of most of the media and he is tired of watching his countrymen and women acting like fools.

Also he watches a lot of sports. Many people are surprised to see such a strong man like Christopher watching mostly women's sports. He watches his baseball, football, NASCAR, bull riding and the Olympics when they come around, but he really loves women's tennis, women's gymnastics, women's collegiate volleyball, women's diving, and anything that shows the world the true beauty and ability that is girls and women. Being raised by a single strong mom has definitely shaped his views, and he is glad.

From within the garage with the door open a chainsaw firing up can be heard. At last it idles so he takes it out there by his tree between the driveway and walkway. He brings out his twelve-foot aluminum ladder and stands it up. He then goes and moves his truck and moves it in front of his neighbor's yard on the street. Then he goes over and starts the chainsaw again, and slowly, piece-by-piece, he cuts off every single branch so it doesn't go more than a few feet.

Even if you can't cut a tree down without a permit, he hopes you can at least trim them. He doesn't want to take the chance of annoying somebody yet, as he prepares himself for calling the local government to find out the rule and regulations. He is ex-military and has no problem with rules and regulations as long as they don't border on the ridiculous and stupid.

For the rest of the day he cuts up the limbs into manageable pieces and starts to carry them to the backyard. He wants to go through his north side gate, but the hedges are in his way. He can either walk around the hedges, which will force him to go onto his neighbor's property for a second, or he can go through his garage risking hitting his beloved Chevelle.

As Christopher is taking two logs at a time through the garage, something dawns on him. After he puts the wood in the spot he has chosen for it, that is just to the left of the fireplace as you walk out the back doors, he walks out his north side gate and it hits him. "Wait a minute! If my fence line goes out further than the hedges, that means the hedges are on my property making them mine. Excellent!" Christopher grabs his chain saw and cuts them down. It's not that he wouldn't mind hedges separating the properties, but these are off center and in his way. "Now I can use my wheel barrow."

Not long after he cuts the last hedge down, he'll dig the roots up tomorrow, the raven-haired blue-eyed beauty Casey comes out. "What are you doing to our hedges?"

"Sorry, dear, but they are my hedges."

"No they are not! We planted them so they are our hedges."

"Sorry, dear," he says, emphasizing the dear with annoyance, "But they are on my property so that makes them mine."

Acting all tough she says, "You just wait until my husband gets home."

"If my truck's in the driveway I'm usually home, so have him stop on by any time."

"Move your truck out from the front of our property."

"No! That is a county street. Have a nice day, Casey." You can tell she is pissed as she walks back to her house.

As the day progresses he is slowly making headway on the mess he created. It's always that way. You have to make the mess a little worse before you can start making things better. It is the way of life, usually.

Soon Christopher starts noticing kids returning home from school. Eventually the two boys who were picking on Sarah come by and they are giving him a hard look. "What the f•©k are you looking at?" Their eyes go big as they start running towards their house.

Shortly after Christopher has finished for the day and moments before nightfall is completely upon this part of the world, he sees a car pull into his neighbor's driveway. He goes and sits on his steps waiting for the husband and father to try to rationalize his family being a bunch of punks. It doesn't take long.

"Excuse me." The six-foot-two slightly over-weight brown-haired brown-eyed man says. "Why did you cut down my hedges? And my boys said you called them little motherf•©kers!" He is screaming at this point trying to gather his righteous courage.

"First of all, the hedges are on my property so that makes them mine. But as for your boys, they were picking on the girl next door and that is unacceptable." At this point about a half dozen neighbors are standing around watching, including the state trooper from across the street. "If your boys ever pick on her again it is you I'm going to come to."

"Nana, come look at this," says Sarah, as she is standing at the screen door listening to and watching the goings on.

"You want some of me, boy?" says the six-foot-two neighbor named Ryan, trying to tower over the six foot Christopher.

"I would back the hell off of me if I were you," says Christopher, calmly.

"Oh, I'm scared. Huh, what are you going to do about it?" he says as he shoves Christopher hard. "Huh?" he says coming at Christopher again.

All in one motion Christopher pivots his whole body so he puts all his momentum into his right fist that comes up into the neighbor's jaw. He drops like a sack of potatoes.

The state trooper neighbor comes running over. "Alright, that is enough!"

"John, arrest him, he just attacked me."

"Actually, Ryan, I was standing right there and I saw you hit him first with the shove." He turns to Christopher and asks, "Do you want me to arrest him?"

"No, I'm good."

John turns to Ryan after he is standing somewhat shakily again. "He is ex-Special Forces. You might want to leave him alone, and besides, I've told you a half dozen times your boys are bullies."

Ryan, still trying to seem like a man, yells over his shoulder once he is back on his property. "You'll be hearing from our lawyers."

Ignoring him, Christopher turns to John and says, "Thanks."

"No problem. Let me know if he gives you anymore trouble."

"Okay." Christopher says, never really having the need to call the police for anything. He called them only one time, and that was when he saw a woman being slapped around but couldn't get to the situation.

"Hey, the yard is starting to look nice."

"Thanks. Hey, maybe you would know. I want to completely take out that tree right there that has limbs hanging into the street and is tearing up the sidewalk."