He blinked and glanced at the taller of the bomb squad men, who offered a she’s-right nod. A bit of a smile too.
“Give me your email and I’ll make sure you get it.”
“ASAP.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
62
Like, what is it exactly you do, Mr. Shaw?”
“People post rewards. You’ve seen them.”
A nod. “For missing kids and things.”
“And the police post them for criminals they can’t find. Escaped prisoners. I see an announcement and I try to find who’s missing.”
“And you’re a bodyguard too?”
“Sometimes.”
“You know how to fight?”
“A few things.”
“Could you teach me? Like karate?”
“I don’t do that. It takes a lot of time to master martial arts. Too much. I’m hardly ever in a fight and when I am it’s a type of wrestling. Called grappling.”
“I got sent to detention for fighting.”
“What happened?”
“This girl, she was trash-talking to a trans friend of mine. And I’m like, ‘Bitch, back off.’ And she got in my face and it just happened. I was so frigging mad I was screaming and we were fighting and everything. Kicking, rolling around. She was bigger than me.” A shrug. “I guess she won. But she lost some hair. Got a bloodynose. I told the safety officer what she said about my friend. And he was like he didn’t care. And the principal said I should’ve told the sensitivity counsellor about it, and the school could’ve handled it.” She scoffed. “Sensitivity counsellor. Bullshit.”
For homeschooled Colter Shaw, this was a staff position new to him.
He said, “Some advice?”
She frowned. “One of your father’s rules: Never fight somebody who weighs fifty pounds more than you?”
Shaw smiled. “ ‘Never engage unless you have to.’ ”
“ ‘Engage’?”
“Engage your enemy. Fight. You weren’t going to change... What was her name?”
“Brittany.”
“You weren’t going to change Brittany’s mind. She was a bigot. What was the point?”
“She was a bitch was the point.”
“Fighting won’t make her less of a bitch.”
Hannah thought for a minute. “Okay, what was the point? It felt good.”
“Fighting’s not about feeling good. Take that out of the equation. Let’s say you’vegotto engage. Brittany was going tohurtyour friend, bad. You have to stop it. Then remember the next rule: ‘If you have to engage, never fight from emotion.’ ”