The Art of Being Tony (Tony Winters Book 1)

  The Art of Being Tony

  P.S. Power

  Orange Cat Publishing

  Copyright 2016

  Chapter one

  “Bye!” The voice was pleasant sounding as his mother waved from the window of her old, rather beaten up, gold sedan. It had dents on the driver’s hand side and scrapes that showed the owner probably didn’t care much about how it looked. No, it was for her just a tool. A thing to be used until it didn’t work anymore. Like most of the people in her life.

  Anthony sighed, then made himself smile and wave, half turning to the strange man who was standing next to him. The guy was tall, being about six-four or so and in freakishly good shape. The kind that meant he exercised a lot. Running and lifting weights, most likely. His hair was short, being about an inch long on the top and he had a bit of facial hair. A beard that covered his chin and a mustache. They were well cared for though and he looked sharp and hard. Like he’d been in the military, which, if his mother had been correct in the little that she’d bothered to tell Anthony, he really had, about twenty years before. The Marines. Or the Army. She hadn’t been clear on that part really.

  After all, he was only her brother and they weren’t close. So much so that only four days prior to that, Anthony hadn’t really known that he even had a living relative.

  The big, fit guy looked at him, seeming mildly amused for some reason.

  “Well. That wasn’t the long and drawn out tear fest I expected.”

  Anthony nodded, feeling a bit out of place. More than a little. The man next to him was trying to be kind, but was a bit awkward seeming already. It had only been about five minutes since he’d gotten there and they’d shaken hands. Like strangers. Then, they pretty much were. Really, the man, Rick, had no particular reason for taking him in. His younger sister had just called him up out of the blue, about a week before, spun a tale about having a new job with a cruise line and found a place for her son. It was supposed to be for six months, but there was no real reason to think she was ever coming back.

  So he needed to get along with the man next to him. That fact hit him in a near panic inducing fashion. Fifteen was too young to be out in the world alone. No one would hire him for one thing. They probably wouldn’t rent him a room, even if he could pay for it. So, he had to work out some plan that would let him stay there, with this stranger, until he could find a way to survive in the world.

  “Yeah. That’s my mom for you. I just wish she hadn’t driven off with half my things in the trunk.” That news got the man next to him to wince, but also slap him on the back.

  “Don’t worry. If you need anything, we can go pick that up for you. Do you have enough clothes for the day? A toothbrush?” He glanced down at the poor man’s travel set that Anthony had with him. That being two hefty bags, in a stylish black color, that strained a bit at the sides. This was mainly his clothing and the stuff he needed to survive. That meant he could nod and mean it.

  “Yeah. No problem. It was just my books and comics collection.” Which was pretty close to the only thing he had in the world of any value. Even that was mainly only to him. Reading was important in his life.

  That got the man next to him to nod and then bend over to grab one of the heavy sacks, before walking toward the house behind them. It was big enough, looking to have two and a half stories to it. The thing was white and clean, with a fancy gray trim and it even had an honest to goodness yard. One with living stuff in it. True, that was only about fifteen square feet, but there was grass and even a real flowerbed, that seemed to have things planted in it already. Considering it was only early May, that meant whoever had done the work was getting a real jump on the growing season.

  Not that Anthony knew about things like that. Gardening might as well have been farming, as far as he was concerned. Covertly he looked around for a cow, just in case, but there didn’t seem to be one there.

  Rick didn’t look back, but sounded like he was honestly trying to be nice to Anthony. As if he were going to break down just because his mother had left. It had happened before and frankly, this was the best she’d ever managed to do as far as making sure he was taken care of. Most of the time she’d just slipped him a twenty or two and told him it had to last for several weeks.

  So this situation meant something strange was going on. True, it could be that his mother, who’d given birth to him when she was way too young, was finally growing up. It didn’t though. Not that he was going to believe until he saw it. Maybe not even then. She’d taught him a lot about life, but the main lesson was that you couldn’t rely on her to be there for you.

  The large, way too in-shape seeming man practically rolled up the front steps. Anthony felt tiny, as he walked behind him. Short, being only five-six and rail thin. Not literally, but he was more of a runner than anything else. At least when he had shoes for it. He did at the moment, in the bag he carried.

  As he walked, Anthony glanced at the neighbor’s house on either side. They were honest homes, but a bit narrow and tall looking, with about fifteen feet between them. He’d lived in closer conditions, most of his life, so didn’t let the idea bug him.

  “I set up a room for you. It isn’t much. I’ve been busy at work for a bit, so need to get to the store and buy some things…” The words actually sounded a bit worried, as if Rick cared what the new burden thought of him and the conditions he was going to be living in until he was kicked out for being a pain to have around.

  The place inside was actually decent. Clean and it had nice furnishings inside of it, which wasn’t what he’d grown up with at all. His mother tended to use wherever they were living as a base for her nightlife activities most of the time. So the last thing she was going to bother with was buying a sofa or a comfortable chair for him. This place had an actual living room set up, like people had on television.

  There was even one of those, a large flat screen, that had black cables to it that went out the side of the wall. Anthony was aware of the concept of cable television of course, but he’d never stayed in a place that had it. Not other than in the lobby.

  “It’s on the second floor and isn’t that big. If you want, we can clear out the store room next to it and knock out the wall? It isn’t structural, so that should work for you. Right now it’s just being used for odds and ends.” The words were like they had been before, gentle.

  Almost like the man thought he was going to spook the new kid or something. Considering Anthony had figured that the guy was going to start out with a list of demands and possibly yelling at his mother, or maybe him, it was a pleasant surprise.

  When they stopped in front of the room, the one that was probably their destination, there was another shock. It was nice. Not a palace or anything, but ten by twelve at least and it had stuff in it. Including a door that was probably going to lead to a closet. Also, a bed that wasn’t just a mattress on the floor and a dresser. It was older and had scratches on it, but nothing all that bad. Just the dings and roughness that old things got over time.

  “This is great. Thanks.” It really was, but his natural shyness was kicking in, meaning it sounded like he was damning the set up with faint praise. So he tried to push a bit more energy into his words. He really needed to get this man to like him and even he knew you didn’t do that by being too shy.

  After all, it was one of the only pieces of decent advice that his mother had bothered to give him. It had been on the car ride the day before, as it turned out. It had been clear that she was trying to justify abandoning him, but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t actual wisdom in what she’d said. For once.

  When you see an opportunity, take it. Don’t let it pass yo
u by.

  It was kind of clear that this guy he didn’t know, who had no reason to help him, was starting out by offering him a real chance. It was up to him to make that work though. Just like always.

  “I’ve lived in places no larger than this with three people. Five, once, in one room. It was a flop house too, so, you know, this is a lot better. You have power for one thing and I bet the toilets flush.” It was true and not great to recall, but even Deirdre, his mom, hadn’t left him there for long. Only about three weeks.

  The tall guy just shook his head and took a deep breath.

  “We can get you some new stuff for in here. Um, my girlfriend, Jenny, she lives here, too. I think you’ll like her. We’re on the first floor. I… Kind of need to get back to the gym. Unless you need me to stay with you? You can unpack here, or… Come with me, if you want? It isn’t far from here. I normally just walk in.” It was early in the day still, since they’d gotten there at about eight in the morning.

  Rubbing his face, Anthony smiled. He was tired, since he hadn’t really slept for about a day or two and hadn’t shaved in three. Showered either. Meaning that he was a little ripe.

  Still, if the man had work, that had to come first. He didn’t know why he thought that, but it made sense to him, on some level. If someone he knew had a real job, then he needed to help them in it. Especially if he wanted to stay for longer than fifteen minutes.

  “I can go with you? Help or something? I should catch a shower and clean up first, if that won’t take too much time?” Instead of looking put out by the request, Rick just smiled at him. Like he meant it or something.

  “Good man. Sure, that would be really great, actually. Have you eaten anything today? I can set you up with a muffin, or some fruit? We tend to eat pretty healthy here. It’s a training thing.” He seemed a bit sheepish about it, as if having quality food around would be too strange for Anthony to handle.

  Which was probably true.

  Most of his life he’d eaten fast food, or things from cans. Normally without warming them first. Cooking was kind of a magical art and took things like stoves and pots. He thought.

  “Sounds good, but we stopped a few hours ago and got something. Nothing healthy, of course. That’s hard to do in a car. I can be ready in… ten minutes? I just need to find a bathroom.” That would be good for more than one reason, he knew.

  Almost as if he were joking, the man pointed at the closet, but also went to open the door, showing that it wasn’t a place to hang up his clothes, after all. No, he’d been given an actual room, in a real house, that had its own bathroom attached. Nodding, he tried to play it cool, like that kind of thing was normal and hurried to open his bags so that he could find what he needed. He almost got jeans and a t-shirt out, but noticed that Rick was dressed in sweats and a light shirt. It wasn’t that warm outside, so it probably meant that they were going to be doing things that took energy and would keep them warm.

  He pulled out an old, pretty warm, pair of rust colored sweats and heavy exercise shirt. Then some dingy socks that were rolled into a ball and his running shoes. It might not be the right thing to do, but when he turned around, his uncle had already left. He dug a bit more and tried to find his shaving gear and toothbrush. His mouth felt disgusting, since everything had been packed up for the last days as they drove almost non-stop.

  The warm water didn’t take long to heat up at all, so he was able to be ready to go not much later than he’d said he would be and actually jogged down the stairs, to see that Rick had peeled an orange for him, which was on a small white plate.

  Anthony assumed it was for him, since the thing was being held out at nearly arm’s length.

  “Eat this first. Scurvy is a horrible thing, after all. Nice threads.” Rick waved at the clothing after the plate was passed over, nodding. “About right, actually. You fight?”

  That got him to shake his head, mainly at the strange fruit. It was cold and not horrible or anything, but wasn’t as sweet as he’d figured that kind of thing would be.

  “I run away, mainly. When I can. As you can no doubt tell by my muscular physique? I was on the Cross Country Team this year, at my last school. The worst member of it, but that was in the fall and I kept running each day, just in case I get the chance next year.” It wasn’t exactly true, since he only went out about five days a week and had been near the middle of the pack as far as runners on the squad had gone.

  Instead of seeming disappointed, the muscular man nodded and looked nearly happy about that news.

  “Great. Running is the hard part for most people. We do boxing and MMA at the gym, pro and amateur. Along with a few other things to round that out. Mixed Martial Arts? Promoting, as well as training, so there’s a lot to keep us busy. We got in on the MMA part when it was just starting to take off, so we have a decent reputation as a place to learn skills. Here, we should rinse that plate off?”

  That got him led to a strange room that nearly confused Anthony for a moment.

  It was a kitchen, but not only did it seem to have working appliances, most of them in shining silver, but it was clean. The lack of a pile of broken and dirty dishes had thrown him for a few seconds.

  The plate was taken away and rinsed, then a dishwasher was opened and the thing was placed inside of it. It was mainly empty.

  “Try to clean up after yourself? Jenny won’t complain about it, but I feel bad if I leave too many messes for her. Which means you should, too.” There was a smile with the words, as if he were playing.

  It actually made sense to Anthony, though. Pissing off this Jenny would probably be what got him kicked out, if he wasn’t careful. So, if that meant cleaning and even gardening, he could learn to keep that kind of thing up. He hoped. Again, there seemed to be a chance to get in with these people and he’d be an idiot not to take it. Even if it meant being their slave or something.

  “Got it. I’ll make sure that gets done each time.” The words were serious and he meant it, but there was no way for his uncle to know that about him. Not yet.

  After all, his little sister had raised Anthony, which, he knew, probably shouldn’t have gone that well. Thankfully he was smart enough to understand that not everyone was like her. That, along with being shy, meant he tended to keep his mouth shut, instead of getting into trouble. In his world he’d never been able to tell what would set off one of his mother’s boyfriends at any given point. That meant he was used to guarding his thoughts from others.

  After he washed his hands, which were sticky, Rick waved for him to follow along and walked out of the house. He didn’t even lock the door on the way out, which was strange. Then he headed down the street, to the left. The sidewalk was uneven in places, since trees had grown up under the thing and pushed the concrete out of the way in places. Those had leaves on them and looked big enough to have been around for a while. There was a light breeze in the air and the day was still cool and a little humid. The sky was blue above them however, which meant it probably wasn’t going to rain.

  At first it seemed like there couldn’t really be much of a gym in the area, since it was all houses and things like that, but after three blocks they made a right hand turn, which showed that there was a huge brick building and what looked like an actual city past it. Reaching out to touch the red wall, Rick smiled.

  “We have the whole building. I own it. It’s in three main sections, inside. The MMA and boxing gyms, a weight room and exercise areas. We have some exercise bikes too; in case it rains too hard to get out for roadwork. Normally you have to pay to use the facilities, but you get that as a perk of being related to the owner.” They had to round the building, which took a bit, the place not being small. It was three stories high and had a large sign on the front of the place. That was in blue and gold letters and looked tidy, as well as slightly new.

  Winters Gym.

  It made sense that Rick would have the same last name as he did, since his mother had never bothered to marry. Honestly, if she even knew w
ho his father was, Deirdre hadn’t bothered to mention it to him. Anthony had figured out years before that she just didn’t have a clue that way. She went out almost every night of the week she could and came back with guys about half the time. The rest, well, she just didn’t come home at all, which even he could understand. Those were the nights she went back home with the men she found.

  It wasn’t a great way for a mother to live her life, but Deirdre Winters wasn’t a great mother, so it kind of fit.

  They didn’t have to use a key on the door, since there were already people inside. The place smelled slightly of sweat and disinfectant, but it wasn’t overpowering or anything. Inside the decently large front area, with a desk for signing in. Through an open door to the left there was a strange sound. It was rhythmic and regular, though faster than he would have thought it might be. A person was busily skipping rope. Like they really meant it, or something.

  Rick patted him on the back, so that Anthony would go with him when he went in that direction.

  The rope skipping mad-person turned out to be a woman. One with long blonde hair, that had been put back out of the way and skin tight blue and black clothing. She had shorts on over that and a baggy shirt, probably indicating that the woman was there to work, not put on a free show for anyone walking past.

  The thin rope whistled through the air and she didn’t stop when she saw people there, though they did. Just standing there, waiting for her to talk to them. She smiled, but sped up, as if using the line in her hands to keep them at bay. Making a force field of rope that none dare try to pass. It was clever of her, since he at least wasn’t going to risk getting too close. That thing would probably hurt if it hit a person it was moving so quickly.

  She didn’t look all that old or anything. Probably in her late twenties or so. What she did look to be was in fantastic shape. A bit sweaty, but that was probably the norm for the kind of building he was in.

  Rick stood there and just as a timer on the bench behind her, about ten feet away, made a beeping noise, patted Anthony on the back again.