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“I asked Capone for help to get Natalie into the Esther P. Marinoff School and then she got in and he sent me a note that said Done.” I can’t get the words out fast enough.
“You what?” she snaps, her chin jutting out with the shock of what I’ve just said.
I explain again, slower this time.
“And then what happened? After the note?” A
“Nothing happened after the note.”
“So Natalie went to school today because Capone got her in and you never told anyone and then you get this Your turn note. That’s the truth? You swear it?”
“It’s the truth, except somebody else knows a little. Piper. She knows I sent Capone a letter. When Nat got in, she asked me about it but I told her it was because the Esther P. Marinoff opened a school for older kids. That’s what they told my parents. That’s the reason they think she got in too.”
That’s not the only thing Piper knows that I wish she didn’t. She also knows that my sister made friends with convict #105. Having your sister, who isn’t right in the head, befriend a grown man convicted of a terrible crime isn’t my idea of fun. In fact, I’d rather run buck-naked down California Street than have that happen again. But that’s a whole other story I hope never to tell. Alcatraz 105, aka Onion, got sent to Terminal Island and then released, so he’s not on Alcatraz anymore. I don’t have to worry about him ever again.
“But no one knows about Capone’s notes?”
“Nope.”
“You know what he wants, don’t you?” A
“But how would he even know Natalie left today?” I ask weakly.
She frowns. “Cons know everything that happens on this island, you know that.”
“Yeah, but why didn’t he say what he wanted? If it had been me, I would have asked for double chocolate brownies with no nuts, the sports page, the fu
“He wants to make you sweat,” A
“So nice of you to put it that way,” I growl.
A
“Of course I’m sure,” I snap at her.
Her blue eyes have gone watchful now. “This is serious, Moose.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“So what are you going to do? I mean if anyone found out you did a favor for Capone, your dad would be fired”-she snaps her fingers-“like that.”
“Any more good news for me?”
“And you know what else? If Capone got Natalie into the Esther P. Marinoff, he could get her kicked out too.” She crosses her arms. “You’re cooked either way, Moose.”
“Thanks, A
A
“Look, A
She shakes her head. “Don’t be a fool, Moose. You should have told before. We have to tell now. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.”
“You just said yourself if he got her in, he could get her kicked out.” I’m practically shouting. “It’s Nat’s life we’re talking about. This school is her chance.”
“You’re crazy if you help Al Capone!”
“I’m not helping him.”
She sighs, bites her bottom lip. “I shouldn’t have promised not to say anything.”
“Yeah, but you did promise.”
She bugs her eyes out at me. “I know, okay?”
“Look, this isn’t about you. Can’t you just pretend you didn’t find the note?” I’m pleading with her now.
“I’m not good at pretending.”
“You swore, A
“I know!” A
I feel the stitches on the baseball in my hand, and I think back to last year when we lived in Santa Monica and my gram helped us with Natalie. Things were better back then. It’s too hard here with just my mom, my dad… and me.
“So are we going to play ball?” I whisper.
A
“Yeah,” I say. “It is.”
3. WILLY ONE ARM
Same day-Monday, August 5, 1935
Alcatraz Island is shaped like a wedding cake with three tiers and lots of paths and stairs and switchbacks that lead from one level to the next. The parade grounds where we play baseball is a big, flat parking lot-size cement area in the middle tier of the island. It makes a pretty good field except for the wind. I can’t tell you how irritating it is to hit a good ball and have the wind make it a foul.
A
“I’m not even Catholic,” I tell A
We’re not supposed to race down the switchback, but most of the grown-ups look the other way when it’s the warden’s daughter who’s breaking the rules. No one ever races Piper, because she always wins… either fair and square or the other way. My mom says Piper is twelve going on eighteen and not a good eighteen either.
When Piper stops, she gives us her full movie star smile. “Hi.” She runs her hands through her hair and whispers to A
We throw the ball a few times. Me whipping it hard and A
The count bell rings like it does every hour on the hour to count the cons and make sure none have escaped. No one pays any attention. It’s like the gulls carping and complaining and the deep rumble of the foghorn. These are the sounds of Alcatraz -the ticking of our own island clock, I guess you could say.
“Hey… what’s going on with you two?” Piper asks, looking at me, then A
“Nothing,” A
Piper looks back and forth between us again. “No, really.”
“Nothing is going on,” A
Piper laughs. “A
Piper is right. A
“Well stop it.” Piper shakes her finger at us. “Just, you know, kiss and make up.”
A
“Are you kidding, I wouldn’t kiss Moose if you paid me a hundred dollars, a thousand dollars, a million… ” Piper says as she skates by me.
“Sure you wouldn’t,” A
“I wouldn’t,” Piper insists. “Can you imagine kissing Moose? It would be like kissing a… a… bagpipe.”
“A bagpipe?” I say. “Thanks a lot.”
“Hey Moose, did you know Piper’s got cons working in her house?” A
“Right, A
“Actually, I do.” Piper smiles brightly like her daddy just bought her a new puppy. “Buddy Boy is a confidence man-you know, a con artist-he’s our houseboy, and Willy One Arm is a thief. He’s our cook.”