every Friday afternoon. The brunette made the bank run. Flouncing along, walking the way girls walk, one hand swinging with her rhythm, the other patting the bag at her hip. Taking her time, enjoying the sunshine and the stares.
We'd checked the traffic patterns, the escape routes. Had a garage all rented about a half mile away. One quick swoop and we'd make our own withdrawal. Hole up, listening to the sirens. Nighttime, we'd go down the back stairs, separate at the bus station.
Saturday, Whitey would be in Boston. I'd be in Chicago.
The brunette had on an egg-yolk-yellow dress that stopped at mid-thigh.
'Beautiful, huh?' Whitey whispered. He didn't mean the girl.
The radio said something about Attica. I turned it up. Riot at the prison, guards taken hostage, the whole joint out of control. State troopers had the place surrounded.
Whitey had done time before I was born. He cupped a cigarette, hiding the flame out of habit. Spoke softly out of the side of his mouth.
'They gonna kill all those niggers.'
'How d'you know it's blacks?' I asked him.
'When the Man comes down on them, they'll
Blood-bought wisdom from an old man I'd never see again. We took the omen, aborted the snatch.
You stay in the sun long enough, you get a tan. I know why Ted Bundy went
The Prof schooled me too. In prison and out. We're in the lobby of a fancy hotel. I'm dressed in a nice suit. The Prof is applying the final touches to my high-gloss shoes.
'Watch close, youngblood.' Nodding at an average man. All in gray. Dull, anonymous. The uniformed bellman reached for the gray man's suitcase. The gray man snatched it away, keeping it in his left hand while he signed the register with his right.
A few minutes later the bellman came over to us, whispered something to the Prof. Cash flashed an exchange. A few blocks away, the little man ran it down.
'Man don't want to pay, what's it say?'
'That he's cheap.'
'The bellhop walked him to the room. Opened the door for him, okay? Didn't carry the bag. And the man still throws him a dime, right on time. Take another look, read the book.'
'I don't get it.'
'The man ain't cheap, he's into somethin' deep. That bag's full of swag, son.'
I read books too. Especially when I was inside. A plant's growth is controlled by the size of its pot. A goldfish won't grow to full size in an aquarium. But we lock children in cages and call it reform school.
I know some things. You don't turn off your headlights when dawn breaks, everyone will know you've been out driving that night.
56
I slept until past noon. Pansy trailed after me as I got dressed, begging with her eyes.
'You want to go see your boyfriend?' I asked her. 'Barko?'
She made a little noise. I thought we'd established a new level of human-dog communication until she started drooling while I was eating breakfast. I scooped a couple of pints of honey-vanilla ice cream into her bowl. Watched her slop it all over the walls and floor in a frenzy. Then she curled up and went to sleep.
57
I found Storm in her office at the hospital. She saw me coming, said something into the telephone, hung up.
'We have ten days,' I told her. 'And then?'
'Then he comes in.'
'You think that's enough time?'
'I don't know— it's not up to me. I did what you asked.'
'Not all of it.' Lily, walking through the back door, her face sweaty, hair mussed, like she'd been exercising.
I lit a smoke. Lily was so worked up she forgot to frown at me. 'Keeping him hidden won't do any good, Burke. Nothing will change in ten days.'
'What do you want, Lily. Spell it out.'
'He could go someplace else. Far away. Disappear.'
'Until he does it again.'
'No! Until he gets better.'
'You know what that would take…?'