Pizza Talk

A placid smile was plastered on Ethan’s face as he ended the call with the DA office. The trial for the bank robbery will be postponed until next week. Both good news and bad news for the young attorney. Bad news because he spent his whole weekend studying the case, pulling an all-nighter, and had to hire a pet-sitting service to walk Terry--his Boston Terrier. Which he almost forgot that he had to pick it up today.

Gosh.

Maybe Terry could stay there for another night if he gave the pet sitter a call right now.

Which he did. 

Now, the good news was that the young attorney could get some rest in his cozy lair, far far away from people. Alone at last. For Ethan, people were so draining. Despite working with people on a daily and doing a lot of talking, he did not change his inner introvert a tad bit. In fact, he disliked them even more. One could say people in the courtroom, can be quite… aggressive. He did not even care how his opponents (a.k.a. defense attorneys) deliver their arguments. He just had to counteract each argument, in his uniquely calm demeanor, which had the power to silence the whole courtroom. On some good days, his client could be released of all charges. What attracted Ethan to working as an attorney was the art of winning arguments, not people.

Ethan unbuttoned his blazer, loosened his tie, then threw himself on his cloud-like sofa. After Stacking two throw pillows on the edge of the sofa, he lied down in a fetal position. A good nap is the only thing he needed at this exact moment. His eyes became heavy as sleep started to engulf him. 

Then his cellphone rang, its maddening tunes woke him up instantly.

He cursed at the empty abode, then scrambled to pick the call.

“Good afternoon, Wesley speaking.”

“Thank god Ethan!” a familiar voice sighed in relief, the voice of his younger sister Janette, “can you please pick Daniel up, today? His school ends in fifteen minutes.”

“Why don’t you pick him up yourself? I have—”

His sister sighed in annoyance. “Look, Ethan can you do me a favor just for this once, please? I swear, I’ll explain later.”

Ethan rolled his eyes as she walked to his front door, grabbing his car key along the way. “Fine, I’m on my way.”

“Wait! Can he also stay a night with you?”

“For this once,” Ethan murmured, locking his flat door then went downstairs to the parking lot. 

“I can’t thank—”

He abruptly ended the call as he reached his metallic black SUV. His wavy hair is a tangled mess, and he did not even bother to comb nor slicked it back with a dollop of hair gel that he kept inside the passenger-side compartment. He just drove to his nephew, racing with the school bell. And just like that, his “hermit-day”, as he liked to call it, had just been blown away.

===

His car stopped a few feet from the gate, parked strategically. It was a miracle finding a spot during this particular time. The school bell had just rung, as he stepped out of his car. He stood near the small step beside the gate, then lit up a cigarette. The weather today was warm, so he rolled both sleeves of his white shirt until just above his elbows.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited until someone poked him on his clothed arms. Without turning his gaze to the little boy, he put out his half-burnt cigarette in its designated place. Ethan glanced at his seven-year-old nephew, who greeted him and threw him his biggest grin. Seeing his nephew’s face, he could not help but smile a little. Both silently walked to Ethan’s nicely parked car. After his nephew got in and put the seatbelt on, he started the car and drove away from school.

===

The whole way heading to his flat, Daniel was unusually quiet. Although Ethan and his nephew seldom met, due to his work demands, the young attorney could sense that something was not right. 

“How was school, Dan?” A classic conversation starter. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Daniel was fiddling with his rubric cube. 

For a good second or two, there was only silence except for the faint sound of the radio and the soft humming of the car. 

“Good,” The seven-year-old boy answered, barely audible, “Uncle Ethan, can we go to the pizza place? My lunch box fell today so I haven’t had lunch.”

Upon hearing that, Ethan pushed his lips into a tight line. He thought he had an idea of what had happened to his nephew. Without taking his eyes off the road, he agreed to Daniel’s request. 

===

Inside Pizza Albertina, the one and only authentic pizza joint in town, they sat on a table that was closest to the kitchen. Ethan’s nephew’s idea, actually. Every time the double-doored kitchen swung open; their noses were blessed with the mouth-watering smell of the pizzas. When their order finally arrived; a regular-sized Capricciossa, a personal-sized Margherita, accompanied with a jug of cold water. 

As the waiter left, Daniel hurriedly dove into his piping-hot pizza, only to be stopped by his uncle. Ethan put a slide of Margherita and a slice of Capricciosa on his nephew’s plate, then told him to wait for a little until the pizzas cooled down. He poured the ice-cold water into his and Daniel’s glass and took a sip. His nephew did the same. When the pizza had cooled down, they devoured pizza after pizza, savoring each bite, until there were only crumbs left on the plates. 

“Can we get more?” Daniel asked just after he swallowed his last bite. 

He forced a quick smile, wondering at his nephew’s sudden huge appetite. Or is it? “You really eat a lot, don’t you?” He called the waiter and ordered a regular-sized Margherita.

Daniel thanked him. Ethan did not answer but smiled.

“Is it the first time that your lunchbox fell, Dan?”

The seven-year-old boy didn’t answer and just stared at his empty plate and just shrugged. 

Seeing that, the young attorney immediately knew as he was in the same shoes as his nephew over two decades ago. Ethan sighed then pour the remaining liquid on the jar into Daniel’s half-empty glass.

“Did he or she threaten you?” He asked his nephew in a more kid-friendly voice. 

Little Daniel just burst into tears.

The young attorney panicked as he scrambled to get a napkin. He dabbed the napkin to Dan’s teary cheeks. The waiter came and set the pizza on the table, as he stared suspiciously at Ethan.

The attorney just glared.

The waiter hurriedly left.

Even though Daniel was still crying, he took a bite of the pizza. Ethan felt sorry for him, so he moved to sit beside him then rubbed his back to calm him down. As the boy crying come to a halt, he looked at his uncle then hugged him with one hand, while the other hand still held on to the pizza slice. 

“I can’t tell you, Uncle E… because if I did, he would kill you!” Daniel croaked, wiping his own eyes with his little hands. 

The attorney raised his eyebrows, amused. “No, he won’t Daniel.”

“Okay, I’ll tell you,” Ethan’s nephew said in a whispering tone, “it’s Brody, he is in the fifth grade.”

“Ah.” The attorney nodded, took another slice, and sat back, “He won’t kill me, don’t worry.”

Bullies. Always picking on younger or kids that they find weaker. 

“And- and- he said I’m a bad person because I want to be a lawyer, just like you.” Daniel blurted, still talking quietly, “Brody said, people that stood up for bad people should die, because they are as bad as the criminals. He saw you on the TV Uncle E, he said you are… evil.”

Hearing that, he sighed and looked at the young boy. “You know Dan, people have their own idea of good and bad,” Ethan took a sip from his glass, then continued, “For example, Brody bullied you because he thinks he is doing a good thing, but he is not. He is hurting you, and hurting people is a bad thing. The same thing goes to lawyers.”

Daniel listened to his uncle attentively, still munching on his now cold pizza. “You are a good lawyer, aren’t you?”

Ethan chuckled and ruffled his nephew’s jet-black hair. “I try to be, pal.”

“Then I want to be like you. I want to stand up for other people.” The boy exclaimed, wiping his marinara-covered hand to his pants. 

“You must stand up for yourself first, before you stand up for other people, Daniel. I know it is not going to be easy, but you’ve got to keep trying. The strength within you is a strength for other people.” Ethan replied.

They both sat in silence, Daniel’s brows knitted as he just stared at the ceiling. “How can I do that, Uncle E? Can you not just stand up for me?”

“I will, in other ways.” The young attorney assured, “But you have to stand up for yourself too because I will not be here forever. When he hurt you, fight back, kick him, punch him—”

The boy suddenly spoke, “No, I do not want to hurt him, Uncle E!”

“Then use your words, Dan. If everything fails, tell your teacher or you can just give me a call, alright?” Ethan stood up, as they finished their meal. 

Little Daniel jumped from the seat, trailing behind his uncle. “Okay, Uncle E.”

After their delightful lunch, they drove back to Ethan’s flat, just a good twenty minutes from the pizza place. As Ethan’s favorite song “Eye of The Tiger” by Survivor playing faintly on the radio, the young boy drifted to sleep with a full stomach. The attorney hummed to the tune, the song that gave him the strength to stand up for himself, and for others now. He genuinely wished Daniel could find his own strength from him, as he didn’t want his nephew to suffer the same thing as he did; feeling the guilt of not being able to stand up for himself until he graduated high school.

As the flat building was now in sight, Ethan thought to himself:

Maybe today wasn’t a bad day after all.