“I’m David A. Dawson, a close friend of the James family. As you can see, this tragedy has a personal face to it. Trip James was with his friend Craig Wild who was here to appear at the Hero Hype convention for comic books. After Craig had finished for the day, he had dinner with his friends, and then Trip and he went to Pulse. Trip was accompanied by his personal bodyguard, Andy Lewis.
“Unfortunately, both Craig and Andy lost their lives. Trip was shot twice and is now recovering from those wounds. Our sympathy goes out to everyone who was there last night, and to the families and friends who either lost someone or who are related to one of the injured.
“Today, Rita James is just like you. She is grieving that she almost lost her son and praying that he will fully recover. We would ask that you respect that and allow her and her family to deal with this tragedy with dignity. We ask that you keep the James family and all the other families in your prayers. This tragedy strikes too close to home. We need to come together and support each other now more than ever.
“Thank you for allowing Rita to make a statement. When she’s feeling better, she will make herself available for questions. I’m sorry, but she’s not in a state of mind to answer any at this time,” I said and stepped back.
Of course, that didn’t stop the press from yelling their questions. Rita led us out of the room, and Fritz had a car waiting for us. We were safely away before anyone said anything.
“Thank you, David. I almost said some things I could never take back,” Rita said.
“It was almost like he’s done this a time or two,” Frank said.
“I just read what you put in front of me.”
“No, seriously. Good job,” Frank said.
◊◊◊
When we got back to the hotel, Fritz had more information. Someone had sent over a copy of the 911 transcript of the terrorist’s call.
Dispatcher:
Gunman:
Dispatcher:
Gunman:
Dispatcher:
Gunman:
Gunman:
Dispatcher:
Gunman:
Dispatcher:
“Who is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi?” Kent asked.
“I think he just became the world’s most wanted terrorist,” I said, and then Googled him. “He’s the leader of ISIS. It looks like they’ve tried to kill him a couple of times, but no one can confirm if he’s still alive or not.”
◊◊◊
I needed to get home. I had to prepare for my U-18 tryouts and hadn’t seen my family in over a month. Rita and Halle assured me they would be okay, so I grabbed a cab to the airport; Flo accompanied me and then took a taxi back to the hotel. Paul picked me up at the Chicago airport and drove me home.
Duke met me at the back door of my apartment. He bowled me over, licked me to death to show his love for me, and sniffed me all over to assure himself I was okay. Then I let him out to run off some energy. At least he was happy to see me. It was close to three in the morning, so I had to try to keep him quiet. When we walked upstairs, I found two cribs in my living room. Duke making a ruckus had awakened Coby.
I checked him, and he needed his diaper changed. He also acted hungry, so I found a bottle in the refrigerator and heated it up. Peggy came out to see what was going on.
“Oh, I didn’t think you’d be back until tomorrow.”
“I caught the last flight to Chicago. How have the boys been?” I asked.
“Growing like weeds. We took them in for their checkups, and they’re doing great.”
“How about you?” I asked.
“I start summer school tomorrow, so I need to get back to bed.”
“Me too. Care if I join you?” I asked.
“It’s your bed.”
“I could sleep on the couch.”
“As long as we’re just going to go to sleep, then I don’t have a problem,” Peggy said.
I put Coby down, and he fell right back to sleep.
It was good to be home.
◊◊◊
Chapter 9 – Think A Little Less Monday June 13
