The Target(128)
“I’m really glad you came up here with us, Will,” said Claire.
“You’d probably like to be back home with your friends,” said Robie.
“Oh, no way,” she said. “My friends are okay, but they’re pretty immature. Especially the boys.”
“Yeah,” said Robie uncomfortably. He looked over at Reel for help, but she smiled and quickly looked away, focusing on Tommy and his bucket of shells.
Tommy held one up for her. “My dad said shells can come from thousands of miles away. This one might have started off near China or something and then ended up here. Pretty cool.”
“Pretty cool,” said Reel.
“Are you married?” Tommy asked.
“No.”
“Were you ever?”
“No. Why do you ask?”
“Well, I mean, most women your age are married, aren’t they?”
“I don’t know, Tommy. Maybe they are.”
“Do you have kids?”
Reel looked past him, out to the ocean. “No, I don’t.”
Tommy looked disappointed. She added, “But I think I’d like to be a mother, one day. I guess I have to make up my mind before it’s too late. I’m not getting any younger.”
“Oh, you’ve got plenty of time,” said Tommy encouragingly. “And I bet you’d make a great mom.”
“Thank you, I appreciate that.”
Tommy bent down and snagged another shell and then pointed to a horseshoe crab scuttling away. “Creepy things.” He straightened and said, “Is what you do dangerous?”
“Why do you ask that?”
“My dad said you guys were heroes. Serving the country. That’s usually dangerous.”
“We try to make it as safe as possible,” said Reel diplomatically.
“Have you ever killed anybody?”
“Tommy!” called out his mother, who apparently had overheard this. “I’m sure Agent Reel would prefer to talk about other things.”
Tommy glanced up, looking embarrassed. “Sorry.”
“No need to be,” said Reel. “Asking questions is how you learn things. Can I ask you some?”
He looked at her nervously. “Like what?”
“Like what you like and don’t like, living where you do?”
“I don’t like any of it,” said Tommy fiercely.
“None of it, really?”
He hesitated. “Well, I mean, riding in Air Force One is pretty cool.”
“You’re one of the few kids to ever do that.”
“And the Secret Service guys are nice.”
“I’m sure.”
“I don’t like people saying stuff about my dad.”
“I wouldn’t either.”
“My sister thinks I’m a useless idiot.”
“Well, I’m afraid that would be the case regardless of where you live. It’s just this thing between big sisters and little brothers. When you’re older you’ll probably be really close.”
“I doubt it.”
“No, you will. Because what you’re experiencing right now is so unique, Tommy, and you and your sister will always share that experience. She may not let on, but I would imagine this has been hard for her too.”
“No it hasn’t! Everybody loves Claire.”
“Really, everybody?”
Tommy looked at the shells in his bucket. “Well, there are a few girls at her school that give her a hard time. And she says one teacher hates her because she doesn’t like Dad.”
“So not everybody loves her, then.”
“No.”
“Your mother obviously loves you a lot.”
“She’s always bossing me. Fixing my clothes, my hair. Checking my homework, telling me to do stuff.”
“Right. I guess it’d be a lot easier on you if she didn’t care.”
“What?”
“You know, she’s the First Lady. She can do pretty much anything she wants. She could have come up here by herself. Maybe go to the spa, get her hair and nails done. Eat out all the time. See old friends. But here she is bringing you here, collecting seashells with you on the beach. And I heard her say later there’s going to be a big Scrabble tournament.”
“I’m good at Scrabble. I almost beat my mom once.”
“Wow, that’s pretty impressive.”
Tommy looked over at his mom. To Reel he said, “Are you close to your mother?”
“She’s not alive anymore.”
Tommy looked shocked. “Oh, I’m sorry. And your dad?”
Reel pursed her lips and looked away. “He’s been gone from my life for a long time.”
“Were you ever close to him?”
“No. We didn’t have a good relationship at all, Tommy. Which I guess is why I envy people like you. Because you obviously have parents who love you very much. Not all kids do. In fact, too many don’t.”