Caught Stealing - Charlie Huston [54]
He met Ed and Paris at the youth camp in Montana.
—We hit it off, me and Ed and Paris, cuz we were all, like, into comic books, like, the X-Men and Fantastic Four and the Avengers and shit. We got to go into town every now and then on, like, weekends and I was good at boosting stuff, so I’d, like, boost all these comics and share ’em with Ed and Paris. That shit, those comic books, they’re just more fun when you can talk to someone about ’em, so me and Ed and Paris, like, talked comics. We were all due to go home about the same time and we figured to hook up, cuz I was, like, planning a move to the city. But, like, one of the counselor guys, he took a shine to Ed and tried to, like, get over with him, like, tried to rape him and all and Ed and Paris cut his throat, so they ended up getting shipped out to do real time.
I hit five hundred thousand dollars and stop counting for a minute. The pile of uncounted money is still huge.
—Anyways, I went home, but, like, I kept sending comics to them cuz I felt sorry for ’em in the juvie facility when all they fucking did was kill a fucking, like, child-molesting raper. We were, what, like twelve or thirteen when it all went down and they didn’t come back for a while until they were eighteen and by then they had gotten all into the weights and had studied and gotten their high school diplomas. But they were really grateful I had, like, stayed in touch and sent them the comics and shit. Their mom had written them off after they sliced the counselor guy, so they didn’t really have, like, a home anymore and I had a flop in Spanish Harlem. So they came and stayed with me.
At first I tried to count all the bills, but now I just rifle each pack to make sure they’re all hundreds, assume it’s a full ten grand and stack them up. I put another one on the stack and I take a break and chew a piece of Big Red while Russ talks and stacks the smaller bills.
—By that time, I was already boosting stuff pretty much left and right. Mmm. I was, like, into a little B and E, but mostly it was real harmless stuff. But Ed and Paris, they had, like, they had, like, got a higher education doing that hard juvie time. They were, like, right into the strong-arm stuff: mugging, a little muscle for the loan sharks, carjacking, some hijacking, like, liquor and cigs and stuff. Then they moved into armed robbery. Mmm.
Little pauses start creeping into Russ’s story. From time to time, his eyes fuzz out for a moment then he shakes his head, gives a little “mmm,” and gets back on track. He’s still stacking bills, but he’s starting to have trouble keeping them in the right piles. I move over and begin straightening things out. He nods a little thanks and I point at the wall. He leans back and continues his story.
—So they get picked up again, this time it’s a pretty heavy beef. They pistol-whipped the security guard at this, like, ATM place. Mmm. Uh, then they were so convicted, but get this: They’re getting transferred out of town from Rikers to upstate and, like, the van they’re in, this is in winter, it slides on a patch of ice and flips. Now, the deputies. Mmm. The deputies, they were, like, required by law to put seat belts on the prisoners, but they didn’t wear their own. So the van flips, the deputies go flying, both DOA, and Ed and Paris, they unbuckle and walk away with bruises.
I’ve got the bills restacked properly now and I stop for a second and stare at them. I think about car accidents and seat belts and, in my mind, Rich flies past me and through the windshield. I start counting again.
—So this, like, Good Samaritan stops to check out the wreck and Ed and Paris, they clock the dude, take his keys and cash and they’re rollin’ back to the city, still in chains and coveralls. They show up at my place and we get them all squared away. They jack another car and blow town. Mmm. We’re all still basically kids at this point. It’s, like, ’89 or