harsh comments are my suit of armor. I am an introvert at heart, who much prefers the company of no one and is exhausted by too much conversation. The personality categorization comes out, even more, when I work; I don’t allow anyone to look over my shoulder.
The student leaves awkwardly, and I make sure the door locks behind him. Sitting down, I pull my laptop from its bag and plug into the network, putting in some simple codes to decrypt the shitty security system they’ve put in place.
“No wonder they’ve been hacked …” I muse aloud to myself.
Exploring their elementary computer set up, I find myself shaking my head and clucking my tongue in disapproval several times. I’ll have to talk to the Board of Education about ramping up their security. Of course, they’ll agree, because I’ll do it for free and it’ll take me no time at all. Call it a fun side project.
I did this for most of the businesses in town, at no cost. They were easy busy work, and I liked knowing that even if I couldn’t give them neighborly affection, I could help out most of Fawn Hill by ensuring that the town was digitally secure.
“Gotcha,” I murmur when my mouse lands on the exact bit of information I was looking for.
Right there, in the athletic budget, were the inconsistencies. The hacker had disguised the monetary theft well, cloaking the expenditures as uniform deductions or track meet fees. Travel costs, team dinner bills … you name it, this guy had used these false expenses as a way to cover up his stealing.
But I noticed it in the way he coded. You see, hacking could be detected no matter how you did it if you had the eye to spot it. Each computer vigilante left his signature, and that made him traceable.
So, while I might not be able to put a name or face to this asshole, I did know his style and the clues he left. And now, I could trace his trail of wreckage throughout the other networks in the county.
To me, that was so much better than a sketch or a description.
4
Penelope
Ames squirms in my arms as I lug him across the parking lot to the field.
“Come on, buddy, help me out,” I whine, hiking him up my hip while the muscles in my arms protest.
My baby boy is refusing to walk today. Something about the sea level rising or whatever notion he’s got in his head today. By the third kid, I didn’t care what they put on TV. I just needed to focus long enough to get lunches made, and that helped. Ames, he’s my hippy dreamer slash activist. Uninterested in video games or causing a ruckus out in the backyard, he’d rather watch Planet Earth and teach his classmates about recycling.
It’s adorable and so noble, but on the days where it made me suffer, I was cranky about it. Especially the days where it meant I had to carry a forty-pound child up the bleachers to watch his brother’s T-ball game.
“Hi, sweetheart. And hi to my lovey.” My mom’s face lights up when we reach her in the stands, and her arms outstretch to take Ames.
He curls into his grandma’s arms and starts babbling about the newest Earth documentary he found on Netflix. My mother just watches him in awe, hands him a cup of carrots and ranch dressing, and still has time to look up and cheer when Matthew knocks the ball from the stand at home plate.
“Go, buddy, go!” Travis’ Mom cries from the other side of my mom, the two grandma’s sitting side by side to cheer on their grandson.
“Run, run, run!” I whoop, standing up and making the biggest scene I can for my middle boy.
Sometimes, I feel like I need to take on the enthusiasm of two parents, just to show my kids how much they are loved and supported. It’s exhausting, but most of the time, I can’t wait to see what they’ll do next. And I think our whole family feels the same.
My parents and Travis’ mom show up for every single event, whether it’s T-ball or a choir concert. They alternate picking the boys up from school or playdates and keep them one night every weekend according to the schedule they’ve worked out with each other. My mom has always been this involved; she and my dad were all about their three daughters when we were growing up. But now, with me