From Here to Eternity_ The Restored Edit - Jones, James [347]
“Aint that right, Jack?” he said anxiously.
“That’s right,” Jack Malloy said, his face still closed.
“Well,” Angelo said, “here it is.” He interrupted himself. “You see I’m right,” he said, “Jack says I’m right; you want to try it later, after me, thats okay, although I wouldnt guarantee it, but I got the right to have the first shot.”
“The truth is,” Jack Malloy said, “nobody else has got the guts to try it.”
“Dont kid yourself,” Angelo snarled.
“I’m not,” Jack Malloy said. “They havent the guts because nobody wants out as bad as you do.”
“Dont you believe it,” Angelo said. “I aint takin no chances.” He turned to Prew. “But you see how it is, dont you, Prew?”
“I see,” Prew said.
“Okay. Well heres the deal. Any man who goes in the Hole and stays there 21 days is automatically sent up to the nutward in the Station Hospital and given a Section 8. I never heard of it happening yet, but thats the rule.”
“I’ve heard of it happening,” Jack Malloy interrupted gently. “It happened twice during my first trip. Thats why I like the plan. The idea is, you see, that any man who gets violent in the Stockade—I mean homicidally violent—is too far gone to salvage. I mean, really off his nut. They put him in the Hole to cool him off, but if he doesnt cool off in 21 days (some say 30 days), then they figure its the McCoy and he’s not acting and they Section 8 him. Thats happened twice I know of, during my first trip. But those two guys were really off their nut. The citizen here,” he nodded at Angelo, “proposes to fool them.”
“Thats it,” Angelo said eagerly. “I’m going to flip my lid out on the rockpile and go for the guard with a hammer, see?”
“Aint he hable to shoot you?” Prew said.
“Yeah, but I got to chance that. Thats the ony really dangerous part to it. What I figure is, if I go for him, instead of away from him, toward the woods, he wont shoot; he’ll ony bean me with his riot gun. I figure to fix it as easy as I can for him to bean me. I aint going to really ever hit him, see? just make him think I am.”
“They’ll work you over pretty good, wont they?” Prew said.
“Sure,” Angelo said earnestly, “but what the hell? They wont be getting any cherry. They cant make it any worse than they have already. All they can do is make it last longer, way I figure. And after so long a time you kind of blank out on them anyway, see?”
“Yeah,” Prew said, “I see.”
“I got everything to gain, and all I got to lose is a little more scalp. And the Black Hole part is the least of my worries. I can do that standin on my head, see? 21 days?” he snapped them away with his fingers.
Prew watched him blow it away like milkweed, and thought about it hollowly; 21 days of it, maybe 30 Malloy said, 21 days of bread and water, 21 days of silence, 21 days of blindness; three weeks maybe a month, in the Black Hole.
“A man couldnt pull that trick of yours for that long, could he?” he asked Jack Malloy, “even if he knew how.”
“I dont know,” Jack Malloy said. “I’ve read where its been done for longer. But I wouldnt want to try it.”
“I can cut it,” Angelo said. “With a butterknife. And I dont need The Malloy’s trick to do it.”
“It’ll mean a DD, wont it?” Prew said.
“I dont know,” Angelo said. “And frankly, I dont give a good goddam. I aint never going to work in Gimbel’s Basement no more anyway. What I need with an Honorable? Besides, Jack says they give blue ones with Sections 8s sometimes.”
“Not if the man comes from the Stockade, do they?” Prew said. “Way I understand, any man Section 8ed out of the Stockade automatically gets a yellow discharge.”
“Not always,” Jack Malloy said gently, his face still closed. “I think it all depends on the circumstances and how much of a convincing act the man can put on for them.”
“Thats not how I heard it,” Prew said.
“Well, its a cinch he aint going to get a white discharge,” Angelo grinned tautly, “so what the hell’s the difference? Yellow or blue? Who wants to be a goddam citizen of this goddam country anyway? I’ll go to Mexico. Dont