Tears started to pour from Tracy’s eyes and she began sobbing for now, out of fear. Fear of being taken away from her mother. The more she sat there, the more she wished she had never come with her mother. The more, meant more of the customers looked her way.

Eva had left the counter, as there were no other people at the counter. Even though she had questioned Tracy’s reason to be there, seeing the girl cry was more than enough reason to go to her rescue. She went to the booth where a now scared Tracy was. “Her mother is in the cooler, right now, grabbing more lettuce. She has the papers to show she is home schooled. Tracy has been here for the morning, but she and Grandma Leone were upstairs, doing her school work. Tracy came down for lunch and her mom should be off of work soon.”

Editing by Djkauf

A return to Tracy at the deli. When last we saw her, she was starting to cry. And we return, before the next teardrop falls.

Tears started to pour from Tracy’s eyes and she began sobbing for now, out of fear. Fear of being taken away from her mother. The more she sat there, the more she wished she had never come with her mother. The more, meant more of the customers looked her way.

Eva had left the counter, as there were no other people at the counter. Even though she had questioned Tracy’s reason to be there, seeing the girl cry was more than enough reason to go to her rescue. She went to the booth where a now scared Tracy was. “Her mother is in the cooler, right now, grabbing more lettuce. She has the papers to show she is home schooled. Tracy has been here for the morning, but she and Grandma Leone were upstairs, doing her school work. Tracy came down for lunch and her mom should be off of work soon.”

“Jonathan Paulson!” Beth’s mother yelled at the officer. “How dare you make that poor little girl cry like that!” She walked past the counter and towards the cops.

Officer Paulson flinched at the sound of his mother-in-law yelling at him. The latino officer didn’t smirk or smile, she did however look from the little girl, to the adults, then back. Now Tracy was crying into Eva's shoulder.

Mark came out of the kitchen, Beth behind him. “Why did you get her crying?” Mark asked. He had already grabbed Maggie and warned her the cops were there, before he noticed it was his brother in law. He had also warned him mother and Grandmother, plus his sister.

“Ask John, he did it.” Eva replied.

“You made Tracy cry?!?” Beth snapped at her husband. “How dare you make some innocent girl cry, you big jerk!”

“Beth, please. We’re just trying to determine why this young girl is sitting here, eating, as opposed to being at school.”

“You could have asked someone. Bad enough this poor little girl has been on an emotional roller coaster all day, thanks to monthly hormones, threats, and a move from her old home. Now you have to go and make her cry again.” Beth said, glaring at her husband.

“This is Tracy. She is home schooled.” Mark said. “Tracy, this is officer John Paulson. He’s my brother in law. He is Beth’s husband. The other one is Officer Hernandez.”

Hernandez, spoke up. “So, if she is home schooled, why is she here? Why not at home?”

“This is for her home ec training.” Eva stated, her arm around Tracy.. “She was doing English and history reading earlier, with Grandma Leone. but to make sure she was a good grounding in home ec, her mother wanted to make sure she could cook. Well, the person who usually teaches her is out of town, so Tracy had to come with her mom, so she wasn’t left home alone. Grandma Leone was with her in the upstairs apartment, until lunchtime.”

“I see.” The female cop said. By this point, Maggie was there, with her papers.

“Is there a problem?” Maggie asked. “Did Tracy do something wrong? Why is she crying?”

“John made her cry.” Eva said, casting a glare at the cop. She got up and Maggie slid into the seat next to her daughter.

“Is this your daughter?” The female cop asked.

“Yes, Tracy is my youngest. Did she do something wrong?” Maggie said with a nod.

John spoke up first. “We’re trying to determine what is going on. Why is this child here, during school hours.”

“John....” Beth leveled her husband the cop, a stare. “Mark told you. She is home schooled. That means she doesn’t have set hours. It also means she doesn’t have to be in any one particular place. I know you have dealt with home schooled children before. Eva told you that she was with Grandma, upstairs, until lunch time.”

Beth’s grandmother came into the main room. She had been listening in on what was going and and she was thankful that Eva spoke so loudly. “Is there a problem with Tracy? I only left her for a moment.”

“So she was under supervision the whole time?” The female cop asked and Beth’s grandmother nodded. Hernandez could see the situation was getting out of hand and now some of the ladies who were eating their lunches, were glaring at the cops for making the young girl cry.

“Yes, until I needed the bathroom.” Beth’s grandmother said. “We’ve been doing her history, English and home ec classes today. Then I figured she could have lunch without an old lady lording over her. Plus, when mother nature calls, at my age, you don’t tend to ignore it.”

“Home ec?” The female cop asked.

“You know. Cooking, checkbook balancing, stuff like that. How to take care of the house? Well, today was cooking.” Eva stated.

“Well, today we worked on basic recipes, like a cake and those bars at the counter.”

“The bars? She made those? Here in the restaurant?” Hernandez asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Kind of. She made a small batch with myself, Carla, and Beth, up in my apartment. The one upstairs. We wanted to see if we could use something like that in the deli. We would have never had her working in the main kitchen. With Mark in there, the four of us would have gotten in his way and he’d be in an even fouler temper.” Beth’s grandmother said, then she added. “Plus, it would be very illegal.”

“So, how did the candy get down here?” The female cop asked again.

“That’s easy. See, I’ve had one before and with Tracy’s blessing, Mom and I came down here and we made more for the store, once she gave us the recipe. We’re actually buying the recipe from her. That’s why they’re named after Tracy.”

“I see.”

“We also bought her chicken and ham salad ideas. Just to keep our menu fresh.”

John was aware that the women in the restaurant were staring and the men seemed a little miffed too. He wanted to put the situation to bed and quickly. “Rosa, it’s okay. I’m sure the girl is in safe hands and as a homeschooled child, she doesn’t have to be in any one place. There is no law stating where a home schooled child can be taught. And as for being in a restaurant, she could have done the cooking upstairs, in the apartment, like they said.”

“Do you really think we’d let a child, who should be at school, just sit out in the open?” Beth asked. “Knowing full well that you were headed here today? You should know that your own wife would have called the police for a wayward child. But Tracy isn't that. She’s been as good as gold.”

“I guess not.” Hernandez said with a shake of her head.

“I have the papers with me, but could we discuss this elsewhere?”

"Sure, I guess." John said. Beth gestured to the back and Maggie led them to the bakery.

When they got there, Maggie held out her home schooling papers. “These are the papers the school system gave me. It’s all legal like. I still have the papers from her last school, as well, if you need those.”

“These should suffice, for now.” John said. The officers looked over the papers. Then they handed them back. “Honestly, if there were some kind of issue, they would send a letter first, then a truant officer. So if you got these, this is good by us. Wait.” He paused for a moment. “Why are these listed as Troy and not Tracy?”

And Maggie started the lie she had been working on. She was thankful for meeting Sage, because it was that girl’s story that gave her the idea. “Back in Oroville, at the end of last November, Tracy was attacked by some boys. She ended up in the hospital. During a surgery, they found ladies parts in her. Ovaries, uterus. The whole nine yards. They also noticed that Tracy is slowly developing like a girl her age. Being male, it turns out, was a mistake they made at birth. What would have passed as a testicle was smashed and I guess, it never worked. So now Tracy is Tracy, and until we get the name change finalized in a few weeks, she has to be listed as a boy. That’s why she isn’t in school. So the reason we’ve down here was because of this change. There were issues and people don’t believe it. We had a crazy church lady trying to run us out of town and ruin our lives up there. They think she is a boy, even with medical proof. I also have the papers for the name change on me.”

John and Rosa both nodded, while looking at each other. After a moment of silence, John spoke up. “Okay. I can understand why you’d keep this quiet. We’ll consider this investigated and I'll make a call to the school, and not press the subject. I do suggest that when the name change is done, you change all her school papers.”

"We were going to. Do you need to speak to my lawyers, to make sure it's all on the level?"

"It could be best." Rosa said with a nod.

"Okay. Their business card is in with these papers."

“You won’t say anything? I don’t want to have to move again.” Maggie said.

“Did you move because of this?” Rosa asked.

“Yes. Three attempts on my daughters life was three too many." Maggie stated. "Someone knew that Tracy had been a boy, found out about the girl thing and started to spread a campaign of lies and threats. My lawyers can tell you more.”

"John. We can deal with the lawyers after lunch. We'll check up on it and I'll consider this closed."

"Yeah." John nodded. "There's no way in the world that girl is a boy."

"Not with those waterworks." Rosa said. "I got three daughters and she burst into tears like they do."

"Come on Maggie. We'll let you get back to work, but we'd like to make it up to Tracy and talk to her, so she isn't scared of us, or other cops."

"Okay. Beth trusts you. So can I. I just ask that you don't tell anyone about her birth sex. Please."

"We won't." Rosa said with a nod. "On the lives of my daughters, we won't."

They headed back to the deli and all three went to the booth that Tracy was in. Now Grandmother Leone was in the seat with Tracy, hugging her. Eva was at the counter.

“Tracy, since your mother is busy and this seems to be the only open booth, can we sit with you?” Officer Hernandez said. “We’d like to apologize for making you cry.”

“Am I under arrest?” the little girl asked, and John chuckled, but he got a glare from his wife.

“We promise you’re not being arrested. We just want to be in a booth. It works better for us.” John said. “Plus, the tables are taken too and we’ve got another pair of cops coming in soon.”

Maggie gave her a comforting nod, and Tracy smiled back. “Sure. I don’t mind.” Tracy said with a shrug. She pulled her stuff closer to her and moved to where she was sitting next to the wall. The two cops went to the counter to order their food and after a few minutes, they came back and sat down, Rosa sitting on her side. Grandmother Leone had left her again, but was hanging out near the counter.

“This is good.” the female officer said with a nod of her head, after taking a bite of one of Tracy's salads.

“Which did you get?” Tracy asked.

“Chicken salad.” The lady officer replied. “And it is delicious.”

“These little chocolate bars are great too.” John Paulson added.

“Thanks. It started out as my Grandma’s recipe, but I made changes.”

“So, how do you like Home schooling?”

“I miss hanging out with my friends, but I like the freedom. Although my last school was up north.” Tracy said. “With home schooling,I can get up and go to the bathroom, and not have to beg for permission. I can pick what subject to do first.”

She hadn't noticed the other cops come in, but they stopped at the booth. Another man and woman team, this time the woman was black, and the man was older, and of Asian descent. “Hey, you feeding the kids you find now?” The male cop, said. He had no accent, but had a very thin mustache. This caused Tracy to look up from her soup.

Rosa shook her head. “Nope. This little girl was here when we showed. She is homeschooled and this is her home ec lessons. Well, upstairs was her home school lessons. Ask for the chicken salad Natasha. You’ll love it.”

“Or the Chocolate caramel bars. Those are also good.” John added.

“Will do.” The two new officers turned to the counter and within five minutes, they were back.

The lady cop slid in, next to John, while the male grabbed a nearby chair and pulled it over.

“So tell me young lady, who gave you the black eye?” Natasha asked. “Looks like its fading, but it must have been big when you got it.

“Some crazy woman.” Tracy replied. “She tried to bite me too.”

“This wasn’t a parent or something that hit you? Maybe a brother or sister?” Again Natasha kept asking the questions.

“No. Dad was still at work and Mom got bit by the woman and hit too. She tried to bite us and my Grandmother.” Then Tracy smiled. “And my brother couldn’t beat me in a fight if he tried.”

Natasha suppressed a chuckle, but continued. “Where did she attack you at?”

“At a court appearance.”

“You were at court and got attacked? Were they after someone else and you got in the way?” John asked.

“No.” Tracy put her spoon down. “See, she attacked me once in early February, and we got one of those order things on her. The thing that says she can’t be near me.”

“Restraining order?” John asked. The story that Maggie and Rosa was now beginning to some into the light. With a daughter who echo’d a story of an attack, it could be rehearsed, but something told him the girl was being honest.

“Yeah, that.” Tracy said with a nod. “But it was a temporary one. When we went to Oroville for the real one, she attacked me in the courthouse and hurt me and a friend of mine, Sage Miller. That’s one of the girls she attacked the first time, too. She had also come to our house and threatened to run us out of town and threatened to make our life horrible. There was another guy who was calling and threatening to rape Mom and I and murder my whole family, but they never knew each other. They took the woman away and put her in the mental hospital place. She kept yelling that I was going to hurt other kids and rape and murder. It was all kinda crazy.”

“Why did she attack you in the first place?”

Before Tracy could reply, Maggie had walked over, surprised to see her daughter in with now four cops. “She was under the thought that my daughter was a rapist and a murderer.”

“She what?” All four officers asked.

“The woman was very religious, and delusional and there was a picture of my daughter hugging another girl. From that picture, she insisted my daughter is a lesbian and she believes that lesbian meant rapist. She also thinks that lesbians are cold blooded killers. Same with gays. I heard that she has had mental issues before, but this isn't the first time she attacked Tracy. Heck, it’s not the first time she attacked anyone she thought was a lesbian. We’ve put out a personal suit against her for the second attack. And if you need proof, I can get a hold of my lawyer.”

“The same two on the buisness card you gave us?” John asked. He didn’t want to, but now that the story was out there, they’d have to confirm it. “No offence, but it is our job.”

“I understand.” Maggie said with a nod. "It's the same two. Bart has been taking most of the case work for us."

"Bart? Rogers?" Natasha asked.

Maggie nodded, just slightly. "Yes. We've only known him for a short while, but we like him. We hired him and Lance Williams."

"Both are very good men." Natasha said.

"Yes. Tracy is friends with Lance's youngest. He's the in-law to Tracy's Godmother." Maggie stated.

"Ah, so he's like family." John asked her. Tracy was glad her mother was taking the hard questions. It kept her from revealing too much.

"Distant. But yeah."

When she finished, the Asian male cop took over. “So was this all around here?”

“No, a town north of here, called Oroville. North of Sacramento and in the foothills.”

“I’ve heard of it.” The Asian cop said with a nod. “Small town, lake nearby. Large earth dam.”

“Yeah, thats the one.” Maggie said with a nod.

“Were you visiting there?” The Asian cop asked her.

“We lived there for ten years, until someone was spreading rumors about my child, so we left town. There were threats on Tracy’ life, mine too, and I am determined to keep my daughter safe. My Lawyers can attest to this. We’ve kept them informed on the threats.”

“So was the woman the one spreading rumors?” Natasha asked.

“Actually, no. Like Tracy siad, there was another person. this was a man. He was spreading the rumors.. She only tried other things, like getting a restraining order on Tracy so she couldn’t be with her friends. And attacking Tracy and her friends in public. Plus threatening us in our own home. She heard the rumor second hand from her kids, they got it at school and she took it as the truth.”

“What?” John asked. “Bring that by me again. The restraining order thing.”

“When we got the full restraining order. She tried to get one that covered Tracy’s friends, so Tracy can’t be around them.” Maggie stated.

“Wait, she wanted one on Tracy’s friends, so Tracy couldn’t see them?” John asked, looking to make sure he was hearing her right. He had seen many people try and use the restraining orders to their advantage, but this was a twist he had never seen used before.

Maggie nodded. More of the people were doing their best to listen in, but not look like they were. “Yep. Claimed she was their guardian.”

“So was it a lie? I’m guessing it was thrown out? That doesn’t seem too legal.”

“It did. Since her first attack also managed to get two of the other girls hurt, their parents got a restraining order on her too. We had all the parents of her friends with us that day. It kinda worked in our favor. And with her being arrested before the hearing, we got them thrown out. Plus, two of the kids she tried to cover, are two that she hurt.”

“And this wasn’t the person threatening her? How bad was that person?” Natasha asked.

“He was actually a kid. Well, one of them was” Maggie quickly gave a brief telling of the attack from Bruce, Clark and the calls from the cousin, but she kept Tracy’s birth sex quiet. John knew, and so did Rosa, but Maggie knew stuff about them that could equally hurt their lives. So it evened out.

Natasha quickly put the pieces together. “So that kid spread pictures and rumors, sent threats through the mail and the crazy lady got one mailed to her?”

“No, the brother of the first attacker took them to the school Tracy went to. They were in the same grade, different classes. And the crazy lady’s kids go there too.”

Natasha nodded. “Ah, now that makes sense. So that’s how it got spread around.”

“And in a situation like that, I can see why you moved.”Officer Hernandez stated. “We’ll still need to check it out, though.”

“I totally understand." Maggie said with a smile and a nod of her head.

“Is there a number or address we can check up on you at?” John asked. “In case we need to ask any more questions?”

“Beth has it. But I’m willing to give it again.” She quickly wrote down her address and Shelly’s number.

“Thank you, Maggie. We’ll keep in touch. I’ll be sure to let you know what’s going on.” John said.

“Thank you.” Maggie replied. She was about to turn to go when Tracy spoke up.

“Are we leaving?” Tracy asked.

“Not yet. I want to see what all Beth wants me to learn, so you can sit here and not pester the nice cops too much. When your lunch is over, see what Mrs. Leone wants you to do.”

“It’s no bother. She’s a very well behaved child.” John said.

“Thank you. With all she has been put through, I’m surprised she is so talkative to strangers.”

“They’re nice, Mom.” Tracy said with a smile. “Like Keith.”

“Keith?” John asked.

“I’ll let Tracy fill you in. I got to get back to work.”

“So, who’s Keith?” Natasha asked. “A boyfriend?”

“No.” Tracy giggled. “He’s old. He’s like thirty. But he’s the cop who came to my first attack and the one who helped find the man calling me and the boy sending the pictures. He was also there for the crazy lady.”

“I see. At least you had a helpful experience with the police. Sometimes the police can seem very scary to a kid.”

“Like earlier?” Tracy asked.

“Yes. Like earlier.” John said with a nod, but he also blushed.

“Earlier?” Natasha asked John.

“We made a young lady cry and we got yelled at in front of the deli.” John replied.

“Cry?” Natasha asked.

“Hormones.” Hernandez stated, in a quiet voice. “Monthly ones.”

“Ah!” Natasha said, looking to Tracy and giving a motherly nod.

Tracy wanted to change the subject, so she asked a basic question. “So, what are all of your names?”

“I’m John Paulson. This is Rosa Hernandez, That is Natasha Billings, and he’s Katsu Maki.”

“Chinese?” Tracy asked. “I’m learning to speak it for my Tai Chi class.”

“No. I’m Japanese descent, but American by birth.”

“Cool. I should try and learn Japanese too.”

“Hey, don’t forget Spanish. The Bay Area has a large hispanic population.” Rosa stated. “If you’re going to stay here for a while, Spanish isn’t a bad language to learn.”

“I guess, I could try to learn both.” Tracy said with a shrug.

“Being multi-lingual could help you land any number of jobs, when you get older.” Natasha said with a smile. “I know Spanish, English and French.”

The rest of the hour had passed by with your average small talk. The officers took the time to get to know Tracy, as much as she would tell them. But it ended when Officer Paulson looked at the clock. “Well, that’s our lunch hour.” Mr. Paulson said with a nod. “We need to get back out there and protect and serve.”

“Another five hours till home.” Rosa stated. Natasha got up and let John out, and Rosa got up.

“Bye Officer Paulson, Officer Hernandez!” Tracy said with a wave. Katsu slid into the seat next to Tracy, but he kept a bit of distance between her and him.

“So, tell me young lady, what subjects do you like the best?” Natasha asked.

“I kinda like history and English. I hate math.” Tracy stated.

“I hear that. Math is the worst.” Natasha said with a grin. “And home ec, you seem to love that?”

Tracy nodded. “I love cooking. Back home I was doing a lot of the cooking, with mom’s help that is.“

“I love the eating.” Officer Maki said.

“Me too.” Tracy said with a giggle.

“So if Mama Leone is teaching you history, who teaches the other subjects?”

“Well, she only helped. My Aunt usually does all the teaching. Except science and Math.”

“Why not those?” Officer Maki asked.

“Her husband, Uncle Frank, he does those. See he works at that Government lab in Berkeley and he really knows science and Math. And he makes it fun.”

“Well, a scientist would be a good person to teach science.” Officer Maki said. “But is it really possible to make math fun?”

“He kinda does.” Tracy said, shrugging her shoulders.”But he’s not really a scientist. He works on computers.”

“I see. But if he has a good grounding in it, that makes him the best choice to teach you.” Officer Maki stated.

“And do you get enough exercise?” Natasha asked.

Tracy nodded again. She was starting to feel like a little dog she had seen in the back of a car once. “Yeah. I take Tai chi and Mom and I are walking every now and then.”

Natasha smiled and patted her hand. “Good. Never stop working out. Your health is very important to a child.”

“Yeah. I know.” Tracy nodded.

~o~O~o~

The weather was cold and misty as Maggie and Tracy walked the main road, starting on the side that the deli was on. There were several restaurants, although for Bakeries, Beth’s was the only one. There was another store that worked in the sandwich trade, but nothing else. “Seems busy.” Tracy noted.

“Only subs. Nothing else.”

‘A hair cutting place?” Tracy said, pointing to the store.

“Yep. Maybe we can get you styled, when we have the money.”

“Neat. But I like it long.”

“Hey, an ice cream shop. And this makes four pizza places?”

“Yeah. I don’t see how all of these can keep going strong.”

“What’s this?” Tracy asked, pointing to a darkened door.

“I don’t...Hmmm...” Maggie read the sign over the door. “Emil’s?”

“Hey. A menu.” Tracy pointed to a sign on a window near the door.

“Looks like italian food." They had reached the end of hte road, so they turned around. Tracy now paid attention to the other side of the street, but they didn't cross over.

“Hey. The same bank you have back home.” Tracy said, pointing to a place just down the street from where they were, and across the road from the bank.

“Yep. Already moving some of the account information.” Maggie said.

"So we're really moving?"

"Yep. Into what could be a better life than what we had before." Maggie stated as she put an arm around her daughter's should. "Come on, let's get out of this weather and go get your brother."

Ha! Nice cops are deflected by angry mother-in-law! More Tracy coming soon.