Tales of the Ragoon, Kate's Movie Star by Stan Morris Page B

class again I’m going
to talk to the Ragoon and have your internet and television
disconnected.”
    If Runyon thought that his threat would
provoke a reaction he was correct. The Garcia boys were furious at
him.
    “Screw you, Silverstar,” yelled Juan. “This
ain’t your house. You’re just mooching.” Pete echoed his brothers
sentiments if only in a slightly lower tone of voice.
    “Yeah, well, no class, no internet,” replied
Runyon just as angrily.
    “The hell with it then,” rejoined Juan.
    He smacked the top of his head so hard that
the television misinterpreted his motion and switched to video
phone mode. Pete turned off the TV, and the boys stomped out of the
house.
    To Kate’s dismay, the two boys missed the
next three days of school. This resulted in a call from the school
and a warning about truancy. Kate begged her brothers to return to
school. Sullenly, they did so, but this did not mean that they were
doing their homework. The school sent notes home warning that the
two boys were in danger of failing a grade.
    Relations between the boys and Runyon were at
an all time low. Even Pete, who had a severe case of hero worship,
was disillusioned with the movie star. Matt understood Kate’s
point, but he had his own life, and he could easily escape to his
room behind the garage. Carlos was aware that something was wrong
but, to their credit, all of the involved parties strove to keep
him unaware of the problem so that it did not affect his
health.
    Runyon and Kate talked about the situation on
Valentine’s Day when they had dinner at the hotel.
    “This is all my fault,” moaned Kate. “I
should never have asked you to talk to them. This was my problem,
and I sloughed it off on you. I’m really sorry.”
    “I should have been more diplomatic,” replied
Runyon moodily. “I don’t have any brothers or sisters, so I never
learned how to deal with family.” Runyon genuinely missed the
camaraderie that had existed between the boys and him.
    “But you get along with Luke really well,”
observed Kate.
    “Yeah, that’s true. But if he gets annoyed at
me, he can walk away. Your brothers are stuck with me. At least
until I get off probation in July.”
    Kate felt a pang in her heart when Runyon
spoke about leaving. She wondered if he would remember her. He was
working every afternoon on the talent show, and she saw a lot less
of him in the afternoons. Sometimes, she wished that she had never
mentioned the show to him.
    Relations between Runyon and Kate’s brothers
stayed tense for another two weeks. But the three young males were
growing tired of the situation. Something needed to be done. On an
impulse and a pretense, Runyon called Kurt Santini. While they
spoke, Runyon casually mentioned the dilemma. Kurt listened, and
then he had a suggestion.
    After the call ended, Runyon thought about
Kurt’s idea. He wasn’t sure that it was a great idea, and his pride
almost caused him to reject it, but finally he went to talk to the
boys.
    He knocked on their door and was told to
enter. The boys were startled to see that it was Runyon. They had
assumed that the knock was from Kate or Matt.
    “What do you want?” asked Juan gruffly,
frowning at the intrusion.
    “I have something to say to you,” replied
Runyon.
    “What?” demanded Pete.
    “I want to apologize for this thing that’s
happened to us,” began Runyon. “It’s true that Kate asked me to
talk to you about school, but I never should have threatened you.
You were right. This is your home, and I should have respected
that, no matter what Kate wanted me to do.”
    The two boys looked at one another. Juan
stubbornly looked away, but Pete said, “We know that Kate wants us
to go to school, but school sucks. We’re just going to end up
helping our Dad build houses anyway. We don’t need to read that
Shakespeare junk for that. Who cares?”
    “You never can tell,” replied Runyon. “You
might change your mind. You might end up becoming a famous