Page 28 (1/2)

I put the portrait back at the bottom of the box

I searched for clothes that would fit oons had repossessedbut silk paja anywhere The only footwear options in Frankie’s closet were a too-small pair of cleats and soift, maybe

I wasn’t that desperate

I paced across the cold Saltillo tile floor

Sleep was out of the question

I tried the bars on the s, just out of principle They were fast

The guard Virgil outside my door was still there all three tilass of water The third time, he locked the door from the outside

I threw Frankie’s letter jacket over the surveillance camera, just to be petulant, and crashed on what used to be his bed

I looked up at the exposed oak bea

Outside, partysofter The bedside clock glared 11:52

I wondered if Zorro felt like this, trapped in the alcalde’s hacienda I wished I had a black mask and a sword

Mostly, I wished I had Maia Lee If I pretended hard, I could iht side of the bed I listened for her breathing--that deep sigh she ht about her expression at the party I have to tell you soht about that a lot

She hadMaia Maia had told e that she was not willing to share details I knew Maia’s uncle had raised her after her father got sent away to a Communist reeducation camp Her parents, Maia assured me, were not an emotional issue for her She had never known her mom, never been close to her dad

Which did not explain why she was thinking about her mother now

I closed raphs from Frankie’s closet bothered raduation night, still in their electric blue AHHS graduation robes, drinking tequila in the Skyride at Brackenridge Park I knew the location because I’d taken the picture It was the last time I’d seen Frankie White alive

For reasons that would only ers, we’d bribed the Skyride operator a hundred dollars of Frankie’s money to let us take an after-hours trip above the park

The Skyride was in its last years of operation The cables were loose Theoil The Skycar itself, a canary yellow box just big enough for three people and a tequila bottle, had a rusted floor and creaky seats and a door that didn’t quite close The operator stopped the ride for us at the top, a hundred feet in the air, so we could sway in the night wind and savor the possibility of plunging to our deaths on graduation night When you’re eighteen, such things sound like great fun

We talked about the future

I was going to Texas A&M to ood laugh over that

Ralph was disdainful of college He was going to go into business and make millions In truth, he’d already been in business for years, "finding hts students If anted a new Walkman, or a watch, or a James Avery charm bracelet, we knew to talk to Ralph first His locker had better prices than the mall

"What about you, Frankie?" Ralph asked "Dad get you into Harvard?"

Immediately, Frankie’s mood turned sour

I doubt Ralph paid any attention to GPAs or college admissions, but I’d heard the rumors I knew that despite Guy White’s sizable bank account and lofty expectations for his son, Frankie had gotten in nowhere With his grades and his terrible discipline record, he’d graduated only by the slirue, derisively known as San Pedro High, had an unfair reputation as the bottoe minds, only one step up fro "SAC? What the hell for? You don’t need to work"

Frankie took another swig of tequila He shifted his weight and the Skycar bobbed back and forth precariously "Punishment"

His face was scary in the dark--pale and brutal, his hair deathly white

"Man," Ralph sympathized, "if I had your dad--"

"You’d durowled "Yeah, that’d be nice And you’d still have your

The night wind smelled of fish spawn and lantana frohts glowed on McAllister Freeway A line of traffic was still snaking its way down Hildebrand froraduation cereood students who’d stayed for the reception with their families, unlike us

Guy White had been at that party, no doubt, giving the other parents strained s around for his errant son, probably conte what punishment he would have to inflict on Frankie when he came home

"I want to kill him," Frankie mumbled "I wish to hell--"

"Hey, man" Ralph punched him in the shoulder "Don’t worry about it Tres and ht?"

Ralph looked at me He knew damn well I was out of the picture I couldn’t wait to leave town Even if I’d been staying, Frankie White was the last person I’d want to help

But the way Ralph talked, you could al sound so reasonable He described his business plans, said Frankie could help him out

Ralph would open so their proble their ? How uitar that was supposed to take a kid to LA?

"Pawning is life, vatos," he said with a grin "You want to understand soive up"

Sometimes he would even save his customers’ lives Front them a little cash, keep the loan sharks away Even if it was only for a few days, Ralph could do soood while he made a profit What could be better than that?

I’m pretty sure Frankie heard very little of what Ralph said, but the tone of Ralph’s voice see in our rusty Skycar, Ralph and I conteagain, carrying us down through a hundred feet of darkness toward the end of the ride

THE CLOCK ON FRANKIE’S BED STAND blinked ht

Fro I wasn’t sure at first, but then recognized the beat "La Baot out of bed The knocking was co from behind a Guateet it out of my way, then ran my hand over the wall Plaster and sheetrock I tapped until I found a spot without a stud

I went back to Frankie’s closet and got his baseball bat