Nathaniel's Chorus. Gary Lightfoot

upbeat voice doesn’t waver, her smile still radiant as she responds,

      “Hey big bro! Don’t worry. Look at me; I’m covered in sticky doughnut glaze having the time of my life. You remember the mess I was when you found me?”

      Nathan says in his big brother voice. “You weren’t a mess, just lost.”

      “What EVER.”

      Nathan begins to smirk and says, “You just take care of yourself, ok?”

      Susan leans out of the drive-through window as she hands him his change,

      “Junior, if there is anything you guys need . . .”

      As Susan is talking she stops mid sentence and looks around, her eyes widen, she leans further out of the window craning her neck to see past The Burb and into the intersection in front of the Big Donut.

      “Here he comes!”

      Nathan turns to follow Susan’s eyes into the intersection, as he does, he hears a deep rumble followed by the screeching of tires and a distant police siren straining to catch up to the wild driver, followed by a “beep-beep” of a British sports car horn as around the corner comes a guardsman blue 427 Shelby Cobra. It’s Neil drifting in full counter-steer around the corner. As he passes the Big Donut, he lifts his right hand waving at his big bro and his adopted little sis.

      Nathan points his finger at Neil then shakes his head as he turns back to Susan,

      “Don’t let him influence you. I swear, between the two of them, he’s going to be the first die.”

      Susan, grinning more than before, “Maybe, but boy can he drive!”

      Nathan waves goodbye to Susan and says, “I better run interference for him or I’ll be trying to get both of them out of jail.”

      Nathan pulls forward and stops with The Burb’s nose halfway into the road blocking the passage of the police car. As he braces for the impact of the police car, the pursuing car is hit, broadsided by a black van driving through the intersection. The police car spins out of control ending up on the sidewalk across from Nathan. Nathan waits to see if the policeman is ok. When the policeman climbs out of his car, Nathan guns The Burb and drives off toward his surf shop.

      When Nathan arrives at the surf shop he looks all around for Neil’s car, but can’t find it anywhere. Nancy is standing at the counter when Nathan comes inside carrying the doughnuts. Nancy raises her hand to stop her husband.

      “Honey, it’s Neil . . .”

      Nathan protests, “Before you say anything, I need a cup of coffee.”

      “Didn’t you get coffee?

      “Yep, it’s all over the inside of The Burb. I was trying to catch up to him . . .”

      Nancy again raises her hand and stops her husband,

      “You’re suppose to be the smart one and you’re trying to catch Neil when he’s driving Shelly?” She breaks out in wild laughter, “Maybe I married the wrong one?”

      “That’s not funny Nancy.” Nathan pushes Nancy’s hand out of the way.

      Nancy follows Nathan into the back as he puts the box of doughnuts on the unfinished surfboard. As she reaches in the box for a doughnut she continues to laugh and says,

      “What I was trying to tell you is that Neil called, he’s down the street at Uncle Carroll’s garage, he thought it would be safer to park Shelly where there were a few others that look similar to her.”

      Nathan now holds his hand out toward Nancy, “First coffee, then Neil.”

      “He said don’t worry, that Uncle Carroll would drop him off.”

      Nathan holds his hand back up and says, “What EVER.”

      As Nancy turns to go back to the front-counter she asks, “Speaking of Susan how is she?”

      Nathan, now completely frustrated, plops down on the couch where he had spent the night attempting to plan the rescue of their baby brother. In front of the couch, sitting on the drift wood table, is a picture album opened to the page containing pictures of Nathan and Neil when they were in the military. The left page has pictures of Nathan in his Navy uniform and pictures of Coronado, California when he was with SEAL Team Five. As Nathan thumbs through the pages he sees pictures of him and Neil posing together somewhere in the desert. It was a rare time when the two brothers saw each other during their time in the military. Both had been selected by Special Operations Command to be a member of a team that combined Special Forces from the Navy, Army and Air Force. Nathan represented the Navy as a SEAL and Neil was a member of the Green Berets. The team was tasked with rescuing captured military personnel and civilian contractors during the Gulf War. The team’s codename was “Tiger”. For the team logo, Neil drew the head of a tiger wearing a little beret. The team had a local artisan make lapel pins with the team logo on it. Every member of “Tiger” wore the pin and when they rescued someone they would take their own “Tiger” pin off of their uniform and place it on the rescued personnel, saying, “You’ve just been pinned by a Tiger!” Almost every person rescued by “Tiger” still today either wears their lapel pin or carries it in their pocket. To honor the team, their commanding officer, Colonel Rich House, commissioned a Challenge Coin to be made with the “Tiger” on one side and “the United States Special Operations Command thanks you” on the other.

      As Neil and Uncle Carroll walk into Footboards they are greeted by Nancy carrying a fresh pot of coffee.

      “Hi Uncle Carroll!”

      Carroll Shelby was not the brother’s real uncle, but he claimed the boys as relatives after he had traveled to Iraq with the USO on a morale-boosting trip. During his stay, the caravan that was transporting the USO group was attacked. Several hostages were taken. One of the hostages was Carroll Shelby. The two brothers never talked about what happened during the rescue and neither did Mr. Shelby. Standing in the doorway today was a healthy man in bib overalls sporting a small lapel pin and Neil had the keys of a “real” Shelby Cobra in his pocket.

      “Good Morning honey, where’s that husband of yours?” Mr. Shelby hugs Nancy and is escorted into the shaping/work area in the back.

      Neil following behind shouts, “Hey how about your brother-in-law?”

      Nancy looks over her shoulder back at Neil, “Junior’s upset with you.”

      “What did I do?”

      “You made him spill coffee all over the inside of The Burb.”

      Nathan stands up as Uncle Carroll embraces him. Uncle Carroll pulls Nathan in close and tells him, “You boys let me know what you need to help Nathaniel. Now I’m serious, you won’t be able to do this one on your own. Don’t go cowboy and charge off half-cocked.”

      Once Uncle Carroll’s bear hug relaxes, Nathan reassures him, “Don’t worry Uncle Carroll, you know us. We’ll have everything planned out before we move.”

      Nathan points to the drawing board where he usually draws out the plans for his surfboards, now it’s covered with printouts and reports on members of congress who might mean harm to them. On a side table are letters from Nathaniel the most recent were post marked a month ago.

      Uncle Carroll nods to Nathan and then turns to Neil, “As for you!”

      “What?” Neil says as he’s reaching for a doughnut.

      “Well, ‘bout Shelly, I’ll have my tech boys go over her with a fine tooth comb.”

      They both knew they were really telling each other that they cared for each other.

      “Don’t worry Uncle Carroll, I’ll come home.”

      “I’m not worried about you I’m worried about you completing my painting.”

      As Uncle Carroll leaves, Nathan asks,