"Some kids there's just no talking to." He said in a firm voice, as he started to walk after her. "I try. I really do. I try to be positive, and make you see the potential in yourself, by talking to you. I try to tell you how bad it is on the other side of the line, so you'll straighten up, by talking to you. Maybe you just don't listen to talking. Some people don't. I really don't want you to wind up in the system though. I see enough kids going the wrong path as it is. I think you could do better for yourself." Still following her.
"You know why I don't want to haul you in? Because as badass as you think you are, those kids would eat you alive, 'Mutt'. And still have an appetite. You'd either not come out, or you'd come out just as bad as them. But you're not that way now. And you don't have to be. I'm tempted to scare you straight. Just take you in there, let you see how it is, maybe 'accidentally' lose track of you for a night. But, I think I'm too nice of a guy." Catching up to her.
"I'd feel awful if something happened to you. And, innocent as you really are, something might. So, if you don't respond to encouragement, and I don't want to treat you like a hardened criminal, but you do deserve to be punished, but you are just a kid... " Right behind her.
"What to do, what to do, what to... Well, why not." His hand was around her arm now, guiding her back to where they had been talking a moment ago. "I said you needed to be reminded you were just a kid, and not some master criminal. Well, how do you punish a kid when they just won't behave no matter what else you've tried?" He sat down on a pallet of stacked bags of cement and gave a tug on her arm, to spill her over his lap.
|