Walter Myers - Lockdown

That night I took a jimmy bar to the alley, found the door, and waited for a while until I was pretty sure that everything was clear. The doctor wasn't American and didn't live in the nabe, so I knew he wouldn't be there.

Three minutes. That's what I had given myself to get in, find the pads, and get out. By the time the alarm went off and the police arrived and looked at the front door, it would be at least five or seven minutes, I figured. Then they might just split because they would think it was a false alarm. It would take them at least five minutes if they checked the back door, and I'd be in the wind.

I said a quick prayer before I went after the door. I popped the door real quick and I was in. Soon as I got the door closed, I looked around and saw that I was in the doctor's back room. I tried his desk and it was open. The first pads I looked at didn't have the numbers Freddy had shown me, but the next three did. I snatched them, put them in my pocket, and was thinking about looking for some more when I thought I heard something out front. I panicked and got up out of there. There had been a few bills on the desk, but I didn't even stop for them. I knew I didn't pick up any drugs and I knew that all I gave to Freddy were the prescription pads.

I was innocent, but it didn't matter if the police said I was guilty. Soon as the jury looked over and saw you sitting at the defendant's table, they figured you must have done something.

Sunday. Mr. Cintron called and said he wasn't coming in after all, but he told Mr. Wilson to let me take my breakfast into the administration office so I could use the phone.

"Hey, Icy, what's up?"

"I'm up, Willis is in bed, Mommy's in bed, and Sheba is up." Icy's speech was clear and precise. "Ask me who Sheba is."

"Okay, who's Sheba?"

"The woman who owns the bodega on the corner gave her to me," Icy said. "She's smoky gray with a small white spot on her chest. She doesn't say meow yet. She just kinda squeaks."

"A kitten. How old is she?"

"The woman said she's six weeks old but I took her to school and my teacher said she's closer to four weeks."

"You have to take good care of her," I said.

"I will. You want to know what I found out about Freddy?"

"Didn't I tell you…" The girl was getting me upset but I didn't want to yell at her. "Icy, didn't I tell you not to be checking out those thugs?"

"Okay, so I won't tell you what I found out," Icy said. "Even though it's kind of interesting."

"You know if I could get to you, I'd have to give you a punch in the nose, right?"

"So what do you plan to do today?" she asked.

"Probably play some ball, watch some television, check out the planes passing by," I said. "I like to watch the planes flying overhead and wondering where they're going. Other than that, I'm just killing time."

"You ought to catch a bird and raise it," Icy said. "I saw a movie-"

"The Birdman of Alcatraz," I said. "We saw that in here about two months ago and everybody was glad they weren't in no Alcatraz. If I do something long term, it won't be raising birds for your cat to kill."

"It's beneath Sheba's dignity to kill birds," Icy said.

"If I get that much time on my hands, maybe I'll write a book about you."

"And we can get Spike Lee to do the movie," Icy said. "And I'll get a real cute baby to play me just born and then I'll play myself when I get older and I'll have Evan Ross play my boyfriend. Then when they have the Oscars, I'll wear an eggshell-white gown covered with white lace."

"Whoa…you got your acceptance speech all figured out yet?" I asked.

"No, but I will by next Sunday," she said. "Can you call me every Sunday?"

"I don't think so," I said. "But I'll try."

"You still don't want to hear about Freddy?"

"What about him?"

"Well, his cousin's best friend is in my best friend's class, and she told her that Freddy got arrested because he sold some dope to a white girl-a rich white girl-and she died."

"Get out of here!"

"They arrested Freddy, his half-brother, his uncle, and some West Indian guy who was just over at their house having lunch," Icy said. "His cousin's best friend said that they can't prove it, but they're arresting everybody they can until they get the right evidence."

"Yeah, yeah, that's interesting. Okay, but don't be asking anybody any more questions," I said. "Can you make me a promise not to do that?"

"Okay."

"Yo, Icy, don't have me sitting up here in this place worried about you, okay?"

"Okay, I won't," she said. "You want to say hello to Sheba?"

"She near the phone?"

There was a moment of silence and then Icy said, "Now."

"Hello, Sheba."

"She heard you," Icy said. "You have to put her into the book. I don't know if I'm taking her to the Oscars, but you can put her in someplace. I don't really know if I want to go into acting first or college first. I probably won't be able to go to college."

"Why not?" I asked.

"I don't know," Icy said. "Not a lot of people from our block go to college."

"You're going," I said. "I'll pay for it."

"You will?"

"What school you want to go to?"

Mr. Wilson looked in and motioned for me to cut the phone.

"Look, I'm going to try to call you next Sunday," I said. "You take care of yourself and remember that promise you made me."

"I love you, Reese," Icy said.

"I love you, too, Icy," I answered. "I love you, too."

"Princeton."

"What?"

"Princeton is the school I want to go to," Icy said.

"You got it," I said. "Princeton."

Mr. Wilson was getting on everybody's case on Monday during inspection. He was making sure all the beds were tight, and if they weren't he just yanked them out and threw the bedding on the floor.

"Whose room is this?"

"That's my room," Play said.

"What's this?"

"My toothbrush broke," Play said. "No shit, it just broke, man."

"I'm writing you up," Mr. Wilson said.

"You can beat that," Leon said. "Unless it got file marks on it."

Play would have a hearing, but there was no way he was going to beat it. If your toothbrush broke, you were supposed to turn it in for a new one right away. Or else they would say you were trying to make a shank.

I didn't know when the detectives from the city were going to come, but I was glad when Mr. Wilson turned me over to Mr. Pugh to go to Evergreen.

Being cuffed in the back of the van was foul, but I felt free at Evergreen. The staff treated me good and I had thought about working in someplace like Evergreen, taking care of senior citizens. Mr. Hooft had talked to me about me being a baker. That was good too. I didn't know anything about baking, but I thought I wouldn't mind giving it a try.

Mr. Pugh had taken me into the lobby and was about to go when the receptionist called him back. She handed him an envelope.

"This is Mr. Anderson's paycheck," she said, looking from me to Mr. Pugh. "We don't know how you handle it."

"He gets paid?" Mr. Pugh asked.

"I get paid?" I asked.

"If you work here, you get paid," the receptionist said. "We get paid once a month."

"Okay, I'll take it to the facility," Mr. Pugh said.

"See how much it is," I said.

"You probably won't get any of this," Mr. Pugh said, shoving the envelope into his jacket pocket. "You owe society-we don't owe you."

I was smiling when I went upstairs. I hadn't even thought of myself as having a job or making money, but I guess I was. When I got to my floor, Simi was pushing a pail of water across the floor. It was a large aluminum pail and had wheels on it.

"You want me to take that?" I asked.

"Oh, you're so big and strong!" she said. She felt the muscle in my arm and rolled her eyes.