Page 54 of The River Is Waiting

I catch up with Manny just before we reach the chow hall. “What was that about?” he asks. I tell him I’m not in the mood to play Twenty Questionsso he can blab it all over the place. He puts on his hurt face. “Did it occur to you that I might have asked because I was worried about you?” he says. I don’t answer him. I’m not pissed at Manny. I’m pissed at myself for not just letting it go. In trying to defend Emily, I handed Piccardy an opportunity to mock herandme. By challenging that idiot’s authority, I might have just stepped in it.

Inside the chow hall, I go through the line. Get a sad little chicken leg that’s more bone than meat, plus rice, canned peas, white bread, and cake. I sit between Angel and Lobo. Slouch over the table and shovel it in without really tasting it.

“What did Piccardy want back there?” Angel asks.

“He wanted to suck your dick.”

“No, seriously, brah. Him and his sidekick keep talking to each other over there and looking at you.”

“Not your problem,” I tell him.

“Hope it’s not yours either, but if I was you, I’d stay out of their way.”

“Hey, Ledbetter?” Lobo says. “You gonna eat your cake?”

Back in B Block, I’m walking past the control desk when Lieutenant Cavagnero calls my name. “I want to talk to you about something, but I’ve got to finish this paperwork first. I’ll call you up in a few.”

“Got it,” I tell him. Is this going to be about my exchange with Piccardy?

The squawk box clicks on maybe fifteen minutes later. “Come on up, Ledbetter,” Cavagnero says. He pops the door and I walk up the corridor. Oh shit. Piccardy’s standing at the desk, too. What is this about to be? A trial? A slap on the wrist? But I’m wrong; it’s just Piccardy showing Cavagnero what an asshole he is.

“Average body fat for a guy my age is fourteen to sixteen percent, okay? And you know what mine is?Sixpercent. That’s elite-athlete range. The calipers don’t lie. You don’t get a number like that from eating pizza.”

“Well, good for you, Piccardy,” the lieutenant says, like he doesn’t careone way or the other. He takes another bite of the pepperoni slice he’s been working on and nods to me. “Okay, Piccardy, I’ve got to talk to Ledbetter here. Why don’t you take your dinner break?”

Realizing that I’ve been standing behind him, Piccardy sneers and tells Cavagnero that he’s had to put me on notice. “The trouble with Ledbetter here is that he thinks it’s an equal playing field between custody officers and convicted felons.” And with that, he walks away.

“What’s that about?” Cavagnero asks me. “No, on second thought, don’t tell me. I’m off shift in another twenty minutes and I want to coast out of here without any complications, so change of subject. You know I supervise the grounds crew, right?” I nod. “Haven’t you been looking for a job?” I tell him I’m on the waiting list for a library job but there haven’t been any openings. “Well, with Boudreaux leaving, I’ll have an open slot. We’ve got the big fall cleanup coming up and I don’t want to be short-staffed. The others on the crew are good guys. I can see you fitting in. You interested?”

I think of Dr. Patel’s advice: move your body. “Yeah, definitely. Thanks.”

“You bet. We’ll start you on Monday then. After breakfast, meet us at the barn behind the medical unit. I’ll get you put on the list so they don’t give you a hard time at the walk gate.”

“Cool. I’ll be there. Thanks again.”

“Oh, and one more thing. Have you run into that young kid who’s here? Solomon Clapp?” I roll my eyes and tell him I have. “He’s been taking a lot of bullying down on tier two, so they’re moving him.”

“To this tier?”

“Yeah. Boudreaux’s getting released tomorrow, so I thought maybe we could give Clapp his bed.”

“Bunk in with Daugherty then?”

“Uh-huh. Do you think that would work?”

“I don’t know Daugherty that well. He’s a little shifty, but I don’t think he’s the bullying type. So yeah, that would probably be okay.” Better the kid becomes Daugherty’s headache than mine, which is where I thought Cavagnero might be heading.

“Okay, we’ll give it a try then. Oh, and one more thing.”

Uh-oh, another one more thing. Brace yourself, Corby.

“The kid’s really struggling. Probably never should have been placed here.”

“That’s a ‘definite,’ not a ‘probably,’?” I say. “If you ask me.”

“So what I thought was, I’d put him on the grounds crew, too. Keep him busy, get him outside, have him use up some of that negative energy he’s got. And I figured you could keep an eye on him for me when, you know, I’m not always in the immediate vicinity. Not counting you and him, I got six other guys I’ve gotta keep an eye on, and when they’re spread out over a ten-acre property, I can’t be everywhere at once. So I’m going to pair you and the kid up.”

I tell him no disrespect but I think that’s a bad idea. Explain that the only contact I had with Juvie was when we were waiting to go into the visiting room. “He looked like he might have been cutting himself and when I asked him about it, he told me to mind my fucking business. Then, during his visit with his mom, he went off on her something fierce. Got so out of control that they had to drag him out of there kicking and screaming.”

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