“Are you saying that you no longer believe the things you said about the government? That if you had it to do over again you’d serve your country?”

“Yes.”

“You aren’t just saying that to get paroled, are you?”

“Of course not.”

“All right, Ellington, that’s all!”

“You made it, didn’t you?” Hardknocks asked after the hearing.

“Yeah.”

“What I tell you. What date did they give you?”

“September twenty-seventh.”

“That’s not too bad.”

“Hardknocks, how much more time do you have before you go up to the board?”

“I don’t have to go to the board. I already have my release date.”

“What is it?”

“Continue to expiration.”

“How long is that?”

“Six years.”

“You never told me what you were in for.”

“Don’t worry about it. It was a while before anybody told me, either. I never mention it because I don’t like spreading rumors. Plus cats in here are just as bad as the parole board. They figure if you paying the price, you must a played the game.”

“I’ll write you.”

“No you won’t. And I don’t want you to either. I been doin my bit off you. But I got to cut you loose, cause the closer you get to your release date the more you’ll be thinking about the outside. With all the time I got, I don’t need to be hangin around nobody that’s gettin short. So I won’t be hangin out with you too much from now on. Just promise me when you get out you’ll do what you wanna do your own way and not worry about what people think. Cause once you make up your mind, you your own majority.”

I LEFT THE SCHOOL GROUNDS, crossed the street, and walked in the direction of Rocky’s Bar. I hadn’t gone far when I approached someone I knew. It was Alice Turner. She was still the same butterscotch beauty to the bone. And that healthy mouth of hers was turning me on already: lips that were thick strips of flesh stretched like an arched bow across her face. Growing up, I never thought seriously about getting next to her. She was just too fine and I didn’t believe I had enough on the ball. And since all the cats with the heaviest reps were hitting on her all the time, I knew I didn’t stand a chance. What surprised me was the way dudes who were supposed to be hip messed over her.

Girls never dug her either. They always thought she had her ass on her shoulders. Alice took the harassment in stride, but this only made her tormentors sharpen their signifying jabs. A group of girls once ganged up on her after school. I stood in the crowd and watched them taunt her. Alice stood silently with her neatly braided hair, pleated skirt, knee socks, penny loafers, and her books hugged tightly against her chest.

“I don’t wanna fight,” she said.

“You think you too good to fight, eh?”