Dirt Road Home Read online

Daddy looked bad when I saw him on Thursday. His eyes were red and I don’t think he’d showered in a few days.

  “You didn’t start up again, did you?”

  He shook his head. I held out my hand to him and he grabbed it limply. “They ain’t gettin’ away with this crap,” I said.

  We sat across from each other. “What happened?” he asked me. “I thought it was all clean.”

  “They lied to Mr. Wellington. I didn’t do any of it. This place is illegal as hell.”

  “What are you talkin’ about, son?”

  “I’m talkin’ about the people that run this place do whatever they want and tell people on the outside a whole ’nother story.”

  “Mr. Wellington said they’ve got you written up for knife fightin’.”

  “That’s a damn lie too.”

  “He doesn’t know what he can do.”

  “I know. But I’ll tell you one thing, I ain’t sittin’ back and lettin’ this happen, Daddy. I’m through playin’ by the rules. I ain’t never done a bit of good in my life, but I’m about to start.”

  “You ain’t doin’ nothin’. If there’s some ass-kickin’ that needs to be done, I’ll do it.”

  “They ain’t gonna let me out of here before I’m eighteen.”

  “You need to watch your temper.”

  “Screw my temper. Get Mr. Wellington to come see me. I need to talk to him. I need to tell him what I know.”

  Daddy started to say something, but stopped himself. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll see if I can get him over here.”

  “And don’t you start drinkin’ again. Whatever they said, I been keepin’ my side of our deal. For now, at least.”

  Daddy nodded. I clenched my jaw and breathed heavy out of my nose and tried to calm myself.

  “Don’t tell Carla about all this.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Maybe you can go ahead and get Moon’s address for me.”

  “I can do that. You said you wanted to give him a little more time to adjust to his new family.”

  “Yeah, I know. He’d probably try and come bust me out or somethin’. Forget it.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah, forget it. He’d know by my letters I was in trouble. He don’t need that right now.”

  “Well, I’ll work on it anyway and you’ll have it when you’re ready. I’m sure he’d like to hear from you.”

  I put my hand through my hair and looked around and took a deep breath.

  “You know,” he continued, “I told you things picked up at the clay pit. Got that new construction project up the road. We’re tryin’ to hire another driver, but they want me to work overtime until we get somebody. I might not be able to come by as much until we do.”

  “That’s fine. You need to keep your job and stay straight. I’ll be all right.”

  “Well, you know I’m thinkin’ about you every day.”

  “I know.”

  I was surprised to hear I had a visitor Saturday morning. When I entered the visiting room I saw Mr. Wellington waiting for me at a side table. Off to my left I saw Paco sitting and talking quietly with a small, neatly dressed man. The man had Paco’s round face.

  Mr. Wellington didn’t have his briefcase with him that morning.

  “That was pretty fast,” I said, sitting across from him.

  He smiled politely, but I could see the disappointment in his eyes. “Your father said you wanted to see me.”

  I looked around the room. A guard stood against the far door, biting his fingernails and studying his hand. “There anyplace we can talk in private?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure that would help. I don’t know what else I can do for you, Hal. I’m sorry.”

  I leaned in close to him. “They lied to you, Mr. Wellington. I know it’s hard to believe comin’ from a guy like me, but they flat out made it all up.”

  “All of it?”

  “All of it. You gotta believe me.”

  “It doesn’t matter what I believe, Hal. I’ve seen the conduct report. That’s the evidence.”

  “It’s all a lie.”

  “Can you prove it?”

  “I don’t know how. How would I do it?”

  He shook his head.

  “This place is so corrupt you wouldn’t believe it. They got boys that need to be in the hospital and they won’t let ’em go.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, I know a guy that got stabbed in here. They just wrapped him up and stuck him in solitary until he got better.”

  “Why would they do that?”

  “I don’t know. This whole place is screwed up.”

  “The state would investigate if there was an unusually high rate of injury.”

  “But not if they cover it all up and don’t report it.”

  “Hal.”

  “What?”

  “You’re going to have to start accepting your situation.”

  “Don’t start that, Mr. Wellington. You got to listen to me. I got nobody else. You gotta help me figure this out.”

  “I’m out of options, Hal.”

  “Tell me what you need. I’ll get it.”

  “Listen, I’m going to shoot straight with you. It’s going to be at least a year before the judge is going to reconsider your case.”

  “A year!”

  “Yes. You need to focus on that. You need to stay clean.”

  “How many times have I gotta say it! I am clean!”

  Mr. Wellington stared at me, unmoved. I took a deep breath and looked around the room. Paco was watching me. I turned back to Mr. Wellington. “Sorry,” I said.

  “It’s okay. I understand.”

  “Well, just don’t give up on me. I don’t know what I’m gonna do, but I’m gonna do somethin’. I’m mad as hell about all this.”

  “I won’t give up on you, Hal. But don’t make your situation any worse than it already is.”

  Neither of us spoke for a moment. Finally I stood. “Thanks for comin’,” I said.

  I went out onto the play yard and crossed to the fence. If the other boys were watching me, I didn’t notice. I sat and faced the field, studying the pine trees that Paco wanted to touch. I breathed deep through my nose, trying to pull in the turpentine smell. I just got dirt and asphalt and the sweat of Hellenweiler. Then all of the anger in me was smothered away by a blanket of gloom.

  “He’s right,” I mumbled to myself. “I can’t prove anything. Who am I to beat the system?”

  I lay back on the ground and let my mind go blank. The sound of crows came across the field.

  “They can say whatever they want. They can make me into whatever they want.”

  The basketballs bounced behind me and the boys yelled. Was this how it would be for four more years? Me alone in no-man’s-land. Maybe I should take Preston up on the offer of leading the Ministers. Maybe I should walk over to Paco and give him the nod and get initiated. And I saw myself standing among the Hounds, facing Tattoo. He would want to fight me. He would bloody me up and send me to the infirmary. Then I would go to solitary and return days later no different than all the others. A documented violent youth. A piece of trash. The conduct report full, the medical records . . .

  Then it came to me. The medical records! I sat up and jerked a look over at Paco. He was watching his boys at their basketball game. “Medical records, Paco,” I mumbled aloud. “It’s the damn medical records. That’s the dirt!”

  I kept watching him, but he wouldn’t look at me. I faced the fence again and felt my lungs swell with hope.

  I wanted desperately to talk to Paco about my new idea, but he was off-limits, surrounded by Hounds. There was only one other person that could help me do anything about it. Fortunately he walked onto the play yard that afternoon.

  29

  Caboose made for his corner of the fence and took his old position. I stood up and started toward him.

  “I’m comin’ over,” I said. “Like it or not.”

  He did
n’t move.

  I covered the distance and leaned against the fence next to him and scanned the play yard. The basketballs stopped bouncing on both courts. The Ministers watched. Preston’s eyes grew wide and Leroy’s mouth hung open. I looked at the Hounds. Paco grinned at me and shook his head. “You see me now, don’t you?” I mumbled.

  Caboose kept his head low, and no one but me could have seen his mouth moving. “You’re lucky you didn’t know me before,” he said under his breath. “You might not be so sure about this.”

  “Don’t gimme that. I know your game.”

  “We’re not talkin’ here.”

  “Where then? I got an idea and I need your help.”

  Caboose didn’t answer me.

  “You don’t meet me and I’ll follow you around like I’m your best friend until you do.”

  He scraped the dust with his shoe. “I’ll go to the bunk room after supper,” he said. “I’ll listen to you. But I don’t want you to get it in your head that we’re any kind of team. I got my own plans. I do things my own way.”

  “Fine. Just hear me out.”

  “I told you what I’d do. Now go back down there where you were. This is my corner.”

  I sat a few chairs down from Caboose during supper. Afterward I went ahead of him to the bunk room while all the other boys went to the rec room. I waited on my bed until he entered and creaked down on his mattress. The floorwalker stepped into the doorway, watched us for a moment, then stepped out.

  “Jack told me he had dirt on the guards,” I said. “What if we had our own dirt?”

  “Jack’s got people on the outside. We can’t do anything from in here.”

  “But what if the dirt is already in here?”

  Caboose cocked his eyes at me.

  “It’s got to be the medical records, Caboose. That’s got to be what Jack’s talkin’ about. I’ll bet if we could get the medical records we’d have our own dirt.”

  Caboose looked away again. “Say you could get them. Who would you give ’em to?”

  “My lawyer.”

  “And what makes you think there’s anything in there you can use? If you’re right and Jack’s dad used ’em before, then Mr. Fraley’s not gonna let it happen again.”

  “I don’t know. But it’s worth a try.”

  “Not for me. I don’t need dirt.”

  “Yeah? What’s gonna happen if you get in trouble with the law after you leave this place? They’re gonna pull up your records from Hellenweiler and lock you away for good. You know they’re gonna be on you like a cowbird.”

  “Maybe.”

  “I need you, Caboose. You know how to get around this place. Maybe there’s a way into the infirmary through the basement.”

  He didn’t answer me.

  “There is, isn’t there? You went out some back way. And you have a key to get down there. You didn’t use the one the Ministers had.”

  No reply.

  “Come on, Caboose. What about the infirmary? Can I get in there from the boiler room?”

  “Yes. But if you get caught, you might as well move into solitary.”

  “I gotta try. I can’t stand here and do nothin’.”

  “Yes you can.”

  “I ain’t givin’ up.”

  “Who says anything about givin’ up? You just need to be smart. Make them think you gave up.”

  “So you got a plan?”

  “Yeah, I got one,” he said. “I’m gonna do my time and walk out that front gate and go straight to a phone book and look up the home address of every guard in this place and kill ’em one by one.”

  I was about to respond, but my mouth just hung open and the words wouldn’t come.

  “Kill ’em all for what they did,” he said.

  “What the hell, Caboose?”

  “You can piddle with those medical documents all you want. I don’t need any of it.”

  “Man, they’re gonna give you the death sentence.”

  “They already did that when they killed my brother.”

  “That’s crazy. You gotta stop thinkin’ like that.”

  “You done?”

  “No. What if I can get those medical records and there’s really somethin’ to it all? What if we can get Mr. Fraley in trouble—maybe get him put in jail—would that be good enough?”

  “No.”

  “You killin’ everybody doesn’t get all the lies off our records. You thought about that? We’ll be screwed.”

  He didn’t respond.

  “You’re just kiddin’ me, aren’t you?” I said.

  “I don’t have the key. It’s Paco’s.”

  “Man, you and Paco have somethin’ goin’ on, don’t you? I swear there’s somethin’ between you two.”

  Caboose didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Finally he said, “I can get the key for you, but that’s it. You do what you have to do, I’ll do what I have to do.”

  “I’ll get it myself. I’ve got my own weird thing goin’ on with Paco. And I know you’re not serious about all this killin’.”

  Caboose got out of his bed and began walking away.

  “Thanks,” I said after him.

  He didn’t answer.

  30

  During supper the next evening, I watched Paco across the room. When I finally caught his eye, I moved my chin slightly in the direction of the confessional. He studied me for a second and looked away.

  I waited in the confessional until Paco entered, then I shut the door and put my foot against it.

  “How was your stay in solitary?” he said.

  “Like a nice vacation.”

  Paco chuckled. “Good for you.”

  “Was that your dad I saw you with in the visiting room?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I thought he’d be bigger.”

  “I take after my mother.”

  “How often does he come see you?”

  “Once a month. It used to be more. He has to drive several hours from Huntsville. But I don’t think this meeting is about my father.”

  “You’re right. I saw your other friend Caboose while I was on vacation.”

  “And he spoke to you?”

  “Yeah, he did. You talk to him too, don’t you? And you sent him down to the basement, didn’t you?”

  “It was a contest, my friend. He lost.”

  “What kind of contest?”

  Paco smiled. “You’ll have to ask him.”

  “Whatever, Paco. What is it between you two?”

  “We’re concerned about our future. I get out right after him. We’ve discussed business opportunities.”

  “Yeah, what are you gonna do about him wantin’ to kill every guard in this place? You gonna get caught up in that?”

  Paco shrugged. “I told you Mr. Fraley walks a thin line. He crossed it a year ago and does not even know it.”

  “You guys are just gonna go back to jail for the rest of your lives?”

  “What else do we know?”

  “Man, what’s wrong with you? Is this one of your head games again?”

  “And surely this meeting is not a lecture.”

  “I called you here to talk about another way. You and Caboose may be leavin’ this place soon, but the rest of us gotta figure somethin’ else out.”

  “Caboose is going to take care of all that for you.”

  “What good’s that gonna do? That still leaves our conduct records that they’ve messed with.”

  Paco didn’t respond.

  “Listen, Paco, there’s somethin’ you haven’t figured out. Sure they’re messin’ with the conduct reports. But they’re messin’ with the medical records too. And I think that’s the dirt Jack has. My lawyer says if Hellenweiler reports too many injuries the state’ll investigate. Then they’d blow this place wide open.”

  Paco backed against the sink and pushed himself up until he was sitting. “Go on,” he said.

  “Jack told me it didn’t matter how bad he hurt me, no one would
know. Which is the truth, right?”

  “Mostly. Yes.”

  “So it all makes sense. Mr. Fraley doesn’t want us to get out of here. The only way he can be sure of that is to keep us bad on paper—let the fights happen. But then he has to cover up as many injuries as he can.”

  Paco studied me without replying.

  “Don’t you get it?”

  “Of course I get it. But how do you prove it?”

  “I can’t prove the conduct—that’s just their word against ours. But I’ll tell you how you prove the medical records. When I was in the infirmary the nurse wrote her report and I looked at it. It was all the truth—the whole damn truth on four carbon copies. Then she gave it to Mr. Pratt. It has to change sometime after that. After administration gets it.”

  “She gave him all four copies?”

  “The whole thing. It had a possible concussion on there too. You’d think they’d have to report that.”

  “So you would have to get a record of what she wrote before it changes?”

  “Right. I need your key to the basement. And I need you to show me how to get into the infirmary. That’s where it all starts.”

  “But you would have to wait until someone was hurt.”

  “Yes. I need to get in right after.”

  “So we need an initiation?”

  “Yeah.”

  Paco raised his eyebrows. “What does Caboose think about this?”

  “He doesn’t want anything to do with it.”

  “Of course not.”

  “What do you think about it?” I asked.

  “I think it’s a long shot . . . I’ll consider it.”

  “What do you have to lose?”

  Paco rubbed his thick hand over the top of his head. After a moment he said, “I only have a few months left here, Hal. Let’s say you get caught. My boys will know I gave you the key.”

  I wanted to say something, but didn’t. Paco watched me and I got the feeling that he read my thoughts anyway.

  “But I will consider it,” he said.

  For several days I watched Paco, waiting for some sign that he wanted to meet. But he seemed to be making an effort to avoid me. Finally toward the end of the week he made his decision. He glanced at me across the mess hall and twitched his chin toward the door.