Family Man

listening to her as she talked to Matt, a dark frown on his face.
    “I told you I was going to a dance down at Water-front Park, remember?” Matt said hesitantly.
    “I remember. Matt, what happened? Tell me.”
    “You're not going to like this, Katy. There was a fight.”
    “Oh, my God. A fight? Are you hurt?”
    “Not too bad.”
    “Not too bad? How bad? Matt, how badly are you hurt?”
    “Just a few bruises. I'm okay, Katy, honest. Some guys from out of town tried to crash the dance. A couple of them were giving some of the girls a hard time, you know?”
    “Are you certain you're all right?”
    “Yeah. The cops showed up and broke up the fight. The thing is, they hauled a bunch of us down to the station. I'm sort of in jail.”
    “Jail?” Katy went limp. Unable to stand, she dropped down onto the nearest chair. “ Jail ?”
    “They said we're not exactly under arrest, but none of us can leave until a parent comes and gets us.”
    “My God.”
    “I told them I don't have any parents. They said an adult has to pick me up.”
    “Oh, my God.” Katy stared up at Luke, who was standing in front of her.
    Luke reached down and took the phone out of her hand. “Matt?” he said calmly. “This is Luke. What's going on?” He listened intently for a few minutes. “Right. Okay, I understand. I'll be there in a little while. Let me speak to one of the cops.”
    Katy stood up slowly as Luke spoke briefly to a policeman. She was recovering from her initial shock. It dawned on her that Luke seemed to be taking charge. Something within her rebelled at that.
    Luke hung up the phone and turned to her. “Take it easy, Katy. This is no big deal.”
    “Are you out of your mind? Matt got into a brawl. He's been arrested.”
    “Matt's fine, and he's not under arrest. The cops are just trying to throw a scare into the kids they picked up tonight. I'll go down to the station and get Matt for you.”
    “No. I'll go down and get him. He's my brother.”
    Luke caught her chin on the edge of his hand and tilted her face upward. “Listen to me, honey. This is men's business. I'll handle it.”
    “What an idiotic thing to say,” Katy sputtered, outraged. “This is my brother we're talking about, and he's in trouble.”
    “Do you know anything about handling a young male who's in this kind of trouble?”
    “No, but I'll soon learn, won't I?”
    “Take it from me, he needs a man, not his sister. You know as well as I do that if you go down there, you're going to get emotional. Hell, you'll probably start crying. Believe me, that's the last thing Matt needs right now.”
    She knew he probably had a point, but Katy was too distraught to accept his edict without a struggle. “How do you know so damn much about this kind of thing? Just what do you think you're going to do?”
    “I'm going to do exactly what my father did the night I wound up in jail.”
    Katy's mouth dropped open. She closed it swiftly. “I won't let you beat him up, do you hear me? You are not going to touch him. I won't allow it.”
    Luke's mouth twisted. “For Christ's sake, Katy, I'm not going to hurt him. Use your common sense. Beating up a kid is not exactly a logical way of teaching him how to avoid getting into a fight.”
    “You beat up your cousin,” she reminded him.
    “That was a different matter altogether,” Luke explained patiently. “I wasn't trying to teach him how to avoid a fight. I was teaching him another kind of lesson.”
    “Are you actually trying to tell me that violence is a permissible approach in some instances and not in others?” Katy asked incredulously.
    Luke considered that briefly. “Yeah, I guess that about sums it up.”
    “Excuse me,” Katy said in scathing tones. “I had no idea there were so many fine nuances to this masculine mystique thing.”
    “Well, there are. And since you're a woman, I don't expect you to understand them all, so you will leave your brother to me tonight. Understood?”
    “Luke, I'll go crazy worrying about what's happening.”
    He smiled reassuringly. “There's no reason to worry about your brother. He's going to be fine. If you want to make yourself crazy, start worrying about how you're going to deal with Mrs. Igorson the next time you see her.”
    “Oh, Lord,” Katy whispered.
    “Maybe you should fish your swimsuit out of the pool. Wouldn't want it to clog the drain. Think what the pool man would think when he found it in the morning.”
    “Oh, Lord,” Katy said