It was what he always said to his grandmother when she told him that his face might freeze. But then his grandmother spoiling him was what likely had led to the pouting behavior in the first place.
Scotty had learned it got attention. Travis was determined he would unlearn it.
“Sure, they can,” Travis said. “They found Otzi the ice man frozen in ice and his whole body had been frozen over four thousand years ago.”
Scotty’s eyes widened; his pout miraculously disappeared. “Otzi the Iceman! Cool! Did he have superpowers?”
“No, he didn’t have any superpowers,” Travis said. He scooted the chicken fingers over in front of Scotty. “But he’d been in a battle with four people because he had the marks and their blood on him.”
“Maybe he was a bad guy,” Scotty said. “And they froze him to stop him. Like that princess in that movie.” Scotty didn’t really like princess movies, but his grandmother did. His favorite part about the movie had been the freezing people part.
“Maybe,” Travis said.
Scotty picked up a chicken finger and started to eat.
Well, that wasn’t too difficult. Diversion. With little kids, that’s one of the keys.
Travis smiled and reached for a french-fry.
* * *
Shopping on Saturday went well,and Ellen finally had two notebooks, several pens, and a purse size weekly planner with a picture of mountains on the cover. Back at the center Ellen wrote the entire schedule for her stay into her planner after talking to Leah. Now, each day she could cross that day off and mark her progress. Perhaps it was the teacher in her, but she liked knowing the lesson plan and being able to mark off and see her progress on paper.
Week one at the center was self-defense class, beginning with situational awareness, and fitness drills. Every morning the fitness drills would continue but the class content would change from week to week.
In week two they went through drills to prevent someone from taking their handgun. They had to learn how to prevent someone from taking their gun which was one reason Ellen had never wanted one. A container of pepper spray was all she had and all she’d ever wanted.
But Rigby Mortimer had grabbed her before she could do anything.
Fat lot of good that spray had done in the bottom of my purse. Nothing would do any woman any good down in there.
It wasn’t the first time she’d kicked herself for that, though her counselors had gotten her to stop calling herself stupid. She was not to use that word about herself anymore.
Instead, she would say she’d made a mistake.
Everyone makes mistakes.
Barrett told them handguns were often used against their owners, who’d never had training in what to do if someone tried to take the gun. So, there would be no training on the gun range until after week two. During week two he also started teaching them kickboxing moves. She learned what a right hook was and that her legs were stronger than she knew.
Ellen hadn’t been paired with Chyna, as she’d hoped since they were both smaller than the other women. Instead, Chyna had been paired with Red, and Ellen had been paired with Janelle, who she still didn’t know very well, even though it was week three. At least she hadn’t been paired with Red who was still mouthy and rude.
Janelle was tall, at five foot ten inches, a lot taller than Ellen’s 5’ 3.” Janelle had long thick brown hair, hazel eyes, and wore reading glasses. She seemed prone to migraines brought on by stress and was a quiet woman. Her day job had been telephone customer service and she had a soft voice.
Ellen wondered if Janelle spoke up more when she was at work or if it was the headaches that made her speak so quietly. Or maybe her ex-husband had bullied her. Something bad had happened or she wouldn’t be here with the other women.
With both women being quiet, neither did much talking, but they got along well. In time, Janelle might even become a friend.
Ellen missed talking to her friends back home.
It would be nice to have a friend here at the center, someone besides Leah to talk to.
In the third week, the women were on the outdoor range learning to shoot firearms.
There were eight places to stand and shoot, one for each woman. They’d set up four spots for handguns and four spots for long guns. Everyone wore ear protection. There would be one trained shooter standing beside each woman to ensure safety and proper training.
Fortunately, Hank had plenty of men available to help teach the class, so it was as if each woman had her own personal instructor. They’d only been one man short because one of the guys had a flat tire on the way and couldn’t be there on time. With Hank stepping into his spot everything was going as planned.
Buck, “Gunny,” “Swede,” and Hank were on the handguns.
