Victor the Crab's Epic Continues: Barclay Davis - Getting To Know You

After that weekend at the Crow's Bar, Max was a little more open with Frida. Although he still kept to himself, most of the time.

A couple of weeks later, Max was taking his lunch with him into the school auditorium to eat in peace, as he sometimes does. He sat at the front row, pulling out a sandwich and a bottle of water. He had just taken a second bite of his sandwich when he was unexpectedly startled.

"Mind if I join you?" Frida said to Max, which caused him to scream with surprise.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to startle you!" Frida said.

After a brief second, Max laughed a little and told Frida, "That's OK. You're not the first person to startle me, and you won't be the last." He then welcomed Frida to sit down, with her salad and water, to lunch with him.

Max and Frida basically talked about their past lives. Max told Frida about growing up in a broken household, how he was picked on all throughout school, his failing love life, and of course, Lydia Cole. Frida was surprisingly upset with how Max got treated growing up.

Then Frida told Max about her life story. How she saw her father die, her mother's subsequent collapse into alcoholism, the rough treatment she got at school, her being placed in a foster home, and of course, Archie Sanders and how he got her pregnant. Near the end of her story, Frida was holding it in together, until a little tear rolled down her cheek, which took Max by surprise. And while Frida was still going on talking, Max leaned into her to give her a kiss on her cheek. After Frida felt that, she turned to Max staring at him.

Max picked up on Frida's look and started freaking out. "YAAAUGH!!! I am so, so sorry for doing that, I was just..." Max said as he got up, continuing, "I gotta go now!" As Max was leaving, he bumped his leg into an arm rest and was wincing in pain. Frida asked if he was alright, and Max said "I'm alright! The school nurse knows how to treat this!" And Max limps away from Frida again.

After school, when the students have already left, Max runs into Frida. He apologizes for kissing her on the cheek.

"Don't be, Max." Frida said to him. "You were being sweet to me. You have no idea how much I appreciate it."

Max felt better after hearing that. He then tells Frida, "Look, if you're interested, maybe we can stop off for some coffee and talk some more."

"I'd love that, Max." Frida tells him. "But I already have a date for tonight." Max looked upset after hearing that. Frida continued, "A beautiful blonde haired, blue eyed angel who can steal your heart, easily."

"Oh." said a disapointed Max. "OK...well...I guess I'd better be on my way then. I'll go home, have my dinner, take a shower, watch TV...(and just wimper!") Max mumbles to himself.

But then, the air was disrupted with the scream of "MOMMY!" Max looked up and saw an elderly couple holding on to a little girl holding a stuffed rabbit, who ran to Frida after she was put down.

Frida stepped in front of Max to grab her. "How've you been, my little angel?" Frida tells her.

"She's been a good little girl all day." said the woman. "She's been so looking forward to watching that movie with you, tonight."

Max was confused. He stepped in to say "Wait, wait, wait, just a second. You mean to tell me she's your date for tonight?"

"Yes, a mother-daughter date. Why, what were you thinking?" Frida said, looking at Max with a bit of a smile on her face.

"Oh, nothing, nothing. Nothing at all!" a grinning Max said, rather nervously. Frida then introduces Max to Angela, her daughter. Max tries to say hi to her, but Angela puts her head on her mother's shoulder.

"You'll have to excuse Angela." Frida told him. "She's quite shy around people she's never met." Frida then introduces Max to Marie and Gerald Webster, Frida's former foster parents turned Angela's babysitters. After a bit of small talk, Frida and company leave. As they were walking out, Max noticed Angela was looking at him, as her mother was carrying her. Max wiggles his fingers at Angela to say "bye" to her. Angela responds by wiggling her fingers back at Max, which surprised him. But he liked Angela's response to him.

***

After that day, Max was hanging around Frida a lot more. When neither were teaching their classes, they'd be together talking about things going on at school and at home.

Frida tried to get Max out of his shell more. She convinced him to chaperone with her at the high school's 80s themed dance party.

Max dressed up in a two tone black and white suit with a skinny tie and gelled spikey hair. When Victor saw him in that outfit, he started laughing.

"You think I look funny in this, shellface?" a pissed off Max asks Victor.

"Uh...hells yeah I do!" replied Victor, as he continued laughing.

"I'll have you know, this getup was very popular back in the day." answered Max. "The ladies loved the look."

Victor responds. "Uh-huh, and how many of the ladies did you manage to attract back in the day?"

After a few seconds of silence, Max turns away from Victor, saying "Just shut the fuck up already!" to a laughing Victor, as he's soon out the door.

When arriving at Danforth, Max soon met up with Frida, who was dressed up as mid 80s Madonna.

"WOAH, you look quite something in that outfit!" Max tells Frida.

"Thanks! And you look quite handsome in that suit." Frida responds, as she was adjusting Max's suit and tie.

Inside the gymnasium, where the party took place, the students were dressed up in some 80s style theme. There were new wave types, punk rockers, Michael Jackson types, Prince types, Springsteen types, ska, rap, heavy metal. Max met Jeffrey, who was wearing parachute pants and alcohol on his breath, which Max picked up on.

"A little too much booze on ya, Jeff?" Max said rather sarcastically.

"Ah, c'mon Maxie. No one's going to notice here." Jeffrey responded. Max was about to say something to Jeffrey, until Frida dragged him out onto the dance floor.

Out there, Frida was dancing up a storm. She danced wildly and sexy in front of Max, who tried to keep up with her but was not in her league, dance wise. Everyone took notice of Frida's dancing, and quite liked what they saw. Especially Jeffrey.

After dancing, Max and Frida went to get some punch. After consuming her drink, Frida stuck her tongue out to capture the small amount of ice in her glass, and Max was shocked! Frida's tongue was the longest he's ever seen.

When Frida saw Max staring at her awkwardly, she responded to him coyly, "And what are you looking at?"

Max was like "Oh nothing. Nothing at all!" Max said, awkwardly with a stupid grin on his face.

Later on during the dance, Jeffrey asked Frida for help bringing in food from the school kitchen, which she agreed to. Max had gone to the washroom to take care of business.

As he was heading back, Max heard some loud screaming from a distance. It sounded like it was coming from the kitchen. He ran over to see what was going on. When he arrived, he saw Jeffrey physically forcing himself on Frida, who was terrified. Max went over to pull Jeffrey off of Frida, and threw him away from her.

"GOD DAMNIT JEFFREY, WHAT THE FUCK?!!" Max screamed at his friend, who had to have been doing some more drinking.

Jeffrey face was full of fear, as he sobered up enough to realize what he had done. He begged Max for forgiveness, but Max told him that it wasn't up for him to decide. It was Frida's call to make.

After a moment, Frida, knowing what alcohol did to her mother, said that she would accept his forgiveness, on the condition he gets help for his abuse. Jeffrey agreed to do it, thanked them both and left. Frida then turned to Max to thank him, but Max said "Jeffrey was like a mentor to me, I might not have continued being a teacher were it not for him." And then, out of frustration, Max grabbed a nearby glass and threw it violently against the wall in disgust.

Frida slowly moved towards Max and put her hand on his shoulder. When Max turned to Frida, she said to him, "Thank you." They both hugged and left the kitchen to return to the dance. When arriving, Frida dragged Max onto the dance floor again for a slow dance. During the middle of the dance, Frida rested her head on Max's shoulder, which surprised Max but he rather liked it.

And while all this was going on, Victor managed to show up to the dance to take over the DJ duties!

***

The annual Broadview Harvest Festival was taking place at Broadview Park. The area was filled with booths that displayed souveniers, games, and of course food. Lots of food. The centerpiece of all this was the BBQ cook off, where besties Gail and Abigail turn into bitter enemies over their own brand of BBQ - Gail with her Nashville hot style, and Abigail with her Carolina vinegar based style. Both Gail and Abigail were swearing up a storm at each other, while their husbands (both named Elvis) sat and watched and laughed at them.

Max brought Frida and her daughter Angela to the festival to enjoy themselves. Angela brought her stuffed rabbit with her. He bought a small cotton candy floss for Angela, which Frida monitors because Angela gets too jacked up on sugar. They ran into Mitch and Paul, who went to the festival on their own. Victor never went with them, because he's not comfortable around a sea of humans, especially when there are food displays.

Max left Frida and Angela to go with Mitch and Paul to try their luck at one of the games. Frida then sat down with Angela to give her a piece of candy floss. But as she was doing that, a not so very friendly voice spoke out.

"So! You're giving my daughter sugar, huh?" it said.

Frida looked up to see her ex-boyfriend, Archie Sanders, standing in front of her, alongside Gia Gagliardi, his buxomy brunette fiance.

"Oh. It's you!" Frida said to Archie in disgust, while clutching Angela close to her. "What would you care about my daughter? You were never interested in my child before."

"That was before I discovered what a shitty excuse of a parent you are. And I'm seeing that, first hand, for myself!" snapped Archie rather angrily.

"EXCUSE ME?!!" Frida angrily shouted. "I'm out there raising my daughter, while you're out behaving like the deadbeat you always were! Maybe if you start paying child support, you MIGHT have a say in all this!"

"WHY, so you can go blow my money on stupid shit like booze and shoes?" Archie shot back.

"That may well be for that little concubine standing next to you." Frida snapped, talking about Archie's girl. "But I need to work two jobs just to stay afloat for the both of us."

"Yeah, and you're doing a fucking shit job of being a mother, feeding my daughter THIS SHIT!!!" Archie snapped as he slapped the candyfloss out of Frida's hand. "I'm not going to stand by, while you turn my daughter into a skank like YOU!" he angrily continued, as he grabbed the stuffed rabbit out of Angela's hands and threw it hard into the crowd, which caused Angela to start crying.

Max and Mitch both saw Archie tossing the doll. To which they both responded "Uh-oh!" Max went into the direction of Frida and Archie, while Mitch headed the other way.

"Hey, what the fuck?" Max angrily demanded of Archie. Frida pleaded with Max not to confront Archie, but he was having none of that.

Archie turned to look at Max, and said to him, "Who the fuck are you supposed to be, moptop?"

"I'm Frida's friend and co-worker." answered Max. "And I'm not going to stand by, while you harass and intimidate her and her child, asshole."

"Oh, aren't you precious." Archie sarcastically answered. "Run along, junior, if you know what's good for you." He then turns his back on Max. But Max grabs his arm, which causes Archie to turn back and punch Max in the face, which sends him to the ground.

"MAX!!!" Frida screamed.

"You stop that brat from crying, or I'll give her something to cry about!" Archie threatened Frida and Angela, which got Max angrier.

"Cry first, you bitch!" Max screamed as he went right after Archie again. This time, Archie grabs Max's hand and starts twisting it, which causes Max to be in an awful amount of pain.

"Let him go, you fucking asshole!" Frida screamed at Archie. But Archie just backhanded Frida's face, which sent her down to the ground, and Archie laughing.

Max saw all that, while his hand and wrist were still in Archie's grip. He saw Archie still laughing at Frida after he knocked her down. That moment made Max build up with rage inside him, and as Archie slowly moved his head to deal with Max, Max makes his move by punching Archie right in the face!

But Max's blow did nothing to Archie, who instantly went from laughing maniacally to being rather pissed at Max. After Archie moved his jaw with his hand, to check if it was alright, he grew angry at Max, who said to himself "Ooooo, shitballs!"

Archie then punched Max's face hard, which sent him flying a couple of yards. When he looked up, he saw Archie furiously charging at him, screaming his head off. But before he could do anything, Archie was cut off by Paul, who stepped between him and Max, saying "That's enough from you!"

Archie, not knowing what to make of the sudden situation, asks Paul "And just who are you supposed to be, his boyfriend?"

"Don't be stupid!" Paul shot back. "I already have one."

Archie, not expecting that answer, was quickly surprised by Paul response. He then started laughing and continued.

"Well, well, I didn't think I'd actually have to deal with some FAAA..." Archie tried to throw a sucker punch Paul's way, but Paul cooly blocked Archie's punch with his hand. Both Frida and Max were surprised by this, while Mitch, who went to get Paul and helped Max up off the ground, was smiling, as he knew what was to follow.

"Fine! We'll do it the hard way." Paul said, and he quickly threw a punch at Archie's face, which caused Archie to fall to the ground. Archie, insulted that he got punched by a gay man, got up to attack Paul. But Paul managed to duck and block everything Archie threw his way, while landing some well placed blows to Archie. Soon, Archie had a shiner on his left eye while his nose was bleeding profusely. Archie still tried attacking, but Paul kept delivering blows all over Archie's face and body until it looked a mess.

Finally, Archie's fiance Gia stepped in to throw in the towel for him and help him up. After getting up slowly, Archie, humiliated at what just happened to him, looked at Max and said "Fine! I'm outta here. But it's gotta be pretty embarassing for you to be rescued by a faggot!"

"Not nearly as embarassing as you getting beaten up by one, mon ami!" Paul shot back at Archie, which only caused him to growl at Paul.

Then, Archie turned to Frida, who's clutching her scared daughter tightly. He points his finger at her, and yells, "And YOU!!! Don't think this is all over between the two of us! Things change for a reason! You just keep that in mind." And he and Gia both walk away.

Paul goes to Max to see if he's alright, but Max quickly went over to Frida to see if she and Angela were fine. But what he saw from her upset him, as Frida was crying hard while hugging Angela.

"Frida?" Max asks her.

Frida, struggling through the tears, says "Please Max...let me be with my daughter." Max said nothing as he stepped aside. All he could think about was Archie Sanders and the shit he tried to pull, which made Max angrier. But Paul told Max he wasn't physically ready to take him on, and gave him a card for a dojo he operates on Barclay Avenue.

Max decides now is as good as any time for some martial arts training, and agrees to join Paul.

***

Monday morning at Danforth, and all is well. After a week at each others throats, and a weekend of both losing the BBQ competition, Gail and Abigail are back to being besties again.

Frida's getting ready for her first class, when Max, still wearing his cap and denim jacket, and his business napsack still on his back, enters her classroom.

Frida rushes to Max with concern. "Oh Max, are you all right? You're not hurt or anything, are you?" she asks him.

"Only my pride hurts, Frida. But I've been used to that all my life." Max answers Frida, and continues, "How are you and Angela holding up?"

"I'm fine." Frida answers. "But Angela was still quite upset after seeing her father this weekend. She's terrified of Archie. And she's still very emotional over losing her stuffed doll."

Max had just removed his napsack and plopped it on a desk in front of Frida. She was still talking when Max opened it up to grab something inside.

"Well then, maybe this'll cheer things up for her!" Max said as he put on the desk what he pulled out. It was a duplicate of the stuffed rabbit Angela carries with her.

Frida was gobsmacked. "You...you found her doll?" she excitedly asked Max as she picked up the doll.

"Mmmmm, if by 'found,' you mean 'bought a similar doll at some store,' then yeah I did!" Max answered.

Frida was stunned. "Wha...You bought this for Angela?"

"Oh yeah." Max said "It wasn't too difficult to find a similar doll like that. Of course it has that brand new look to it. But just tell Angela it went to a spa on the weekend in order to look its best for her. She's young, she'll believe it!"

Frida remained stunned. She was having difficulty speaking. As Frida still had the doll in her hands, stretched out from her, all she kept saying to Max was, "No. Please don't Max...No, please don't."

Max was confused by Frida's sudden behavior. "What?" Max asked her. "Whaddya mean by 'Please no?' You don't want the doll? I don't see why not, it's a gift for Angela. And it looks just the same as her old one. AND because the store I bought it from has a no return policy, so even if I WANTED to return it, I'd be SOL, soooo..."

Frida did nothing, but stand there, holding the doll across her outstretched arms and continue saying "No. Please don't Max...No, please don't." Max was getting a little annoyed by Frida's continuing responses to him.

"WHAAAAT?!!" Max frustratingly said. After a quick *sigh*, Max calmly answered "Look...I'm not taking the doll back, and that's final." He then started zipping up his napsack to put back on when he continued. "Now you can do what you want with it, I don't care. Give it to Angela, keep it in the classroom...use it for target practice. Don't matter to me none. Bottom line: the doll...is yours." After finally putting his napsack on, Max turned to leave Frida's classroom.

After Max had finally left, Frida pulled the doll close to her, held it tightly, and continued talking.

"No, please don't Max....................Please don't make me fall for you!"

Up next: Barclay Davis; Happy And Willing To Help Out A Friend