CHAPTER
10
After a while, a small white officer with a pinched face came inside and pulled a chair to the middle of the room. He took a store-bought ham and Swiss cheese sandwich out of a paper bag and started to unwrap it. Our eyes were glued to that sandwich like he was taking the clothes off a beautiful woman.
“For all of you losers who can’t read, my name is Mister or Officer Carter,” he said, pointing to the nameplate beneath his badge.
He took a big bite out of the sandwich. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of bills. Carter wiped the corners of his mouth with the cash and said, “I guess you guys haven’t seen any dead presidents lately.”
“Can I just touch one?” somebody asked.
“Sure, kid, it’s probably what got you here,” he answered.
“Mr. Carter, why are you torturing us like this?” asked the kid fingering the bills.
“Because you’re inmates, sweetheart. And as long as you keep praying to this green god, you’ll be coming back to jail and I can support my family. I just feel sorry for your mothers, that’s all,” answered Carter.
A teacher with little glasses hanging off the tip of his crooked nose came in and walked right past us to his locker. It was like we were all invisible or maybe he was some kind of robot.
“Mr. Murray,” said Carter, still waving his bundle around. “Teach these guys about supply and demand in your class, will ya?”
“I teach history, not economics,” he said. “But if you boys don’t walk a straight line in my room, I’ll put you out in the hall with Carter and you can hold up the wall all day.”
“That’s right. Fuck up in school and your asses are mine,” warned Carter.
On his way back out, Mr. Murray stopped at the door. His four eyes settled on a kid in the corner and he grinned wide.
“Didn’t this one get placed in a class last week?” he asked, pointing him out.
Carter grabbed the kid by his ear and twisted hard.
“Back to class, asswipe,” snarled Carter.
He took his sandwich in one hand and dragged the kid out of the room with the other, kicking him in the behind as they went.
Then Murray looked at us with a fucked-up smile and said,“You boys never learn, do you?”