Chapter 7

Don charged at Chas, bellowing like an angry bear. Chas was able to step out of the way and landed a cross punch to Don’s left shoulder. Don retaliated by whirling around and hooking his arm around Chas’s neck to deliver a series of headshots. Chas elbowed Don in the stomach and managed to break free from his grasp. He gave Don an uppercut in the jaw, sending him reeling back a few steps. Chas tried to imagine that this was another boxing match like the many he had fought in high school, but he had never been this scared in his life. Something told him Don wouldn’t stop until he had broken his neck.

The fight continued for several more minutes before some sailors broke through the circle the others had created and pulled Don and Chas apart. Chas was fairly certain he already had a black eye and a few bruised ribs, but Don was bleeding from the nose and mouth and was flinching to one side where Chas had hit him with a particularly hard right hook to the abdomen.