Childhood of the Dead

by Jose Louzeiro

  “It makes no difference. Besides we’d run the risk they might have locked the safe.”

  “Then, let’s go,” Zé Ina’cio said, as if he would like to end the job as soon as possible.”

  VI

  Dito shut the office door and went with Zé Ina’cio down the stairway. There was nothing else they had to say to each other. Any wrong move would be trouble. They walked as lightly as they could, their ears alert to the smallest noises. Dito realized Zé Ina’cio was scared; but he was also scared, though, as usual, he was putting up a good front. He wasn’t going to panic now. He knew, however, that any shift in plan would alarm Zé Ina’cio so much as to render him incapable of action.

  They reached the counter, at the wire cage protecting the cashier. One more step and they would jump inside. Dito was the first one to jump, and he heard the woman’s scream as soon as he landed. The other woman who saw him with gun in hand, tried to rush out, but he held her back. Zé Ina’cio, ran in a different direction, to where three or four men were.

  “One word and you die!”

  Dito had the weapon pointed at the woman’s back.

  “Let’s go to the cash register, beauty.”

  The woman was shaking. The cashier tried one move, but Dito pointed the gun at him and he gave up. He told him to sit down on the floor, with his arms above his head. Then, he gave the bag to the woman.

  “Fill it up with dough!”

  She cried and begged. Dito told her to shut up. She picked up the rolls of bills and began putting them in the bag. Zé Ina’cio was tense.

  “Open that drawer,” Dito ordered.

  The woman obeyed. She turned the key and a strong siren, very loud began to scream. Dito pushed the woman aside, shut the drawer but couldn’t turn off the siren. The noise scared him. The cashier tried to hold him by the legs, he cocked the gun, while the woman threw herself on the floor.

  Dito perceived the plan had gone wrong. The only thing to do was to plan his escape as coldly as possible. He put some rolls of money in his pocket and made a sign to Zé Ina’cio.

  He jumped back over the counter. His friend did the same. They ran through the corridor, but heard the security guards galloping after them, as they reached the fifth floor. Hurriedly he looked for the lockpick in his pocket while damning himself for having asked the woman to look into that drawer. He inserted the lockpick in the lock but was too impatient to try several times until the key worked. Zé Ina’cio tried the same thing, but the lockpick ended up breaking. He tried still to push through the piece left inside the lock but couldn’t make it work.

  Dito picked up what was left of the lockpick and lamented not having asked Pa’dua for a file. It had been a simple mistake and they would pay for it. How could he have forgotten such important thing? Dito’s eyes were very red and his hands began to tremble. He didn’t have the courage to face Zé Ina’cio.

  The siren continued to sound. Louder and louder. The noise was entering his ears and exploding inside his brain as a veritable bomb.

  They would have to go on, climbing the stairs, up to the roof, and from there to the neighboring building. There was no other alternative. Zé Ina’cio went ahead. He ran and crawled, for he knew they were being stalked. One error would be enough; they would die. Dito didn’t have as much energy for the escape as in previous times. The money had been so close to him, so secure, and there had been so many rolls in the bag. Why had he asked the woman to open that drawer? His recriminations wouldn’t stop.

  “Let’s go on up,” Dito said angrily, “we can escape from there.”

  Zé Ina’cio wasn’t sure any more. He was confused. He knew very well what awaited him when the police reached them. After they jumped the wall they were able to reach a terrace. But, to their surprise, they could not go to the other building, because it was much taller than the one they were on. The wall up was smooth and about thirty feet tall. Dito looked to the back of the building where they were and saw the square down below. They had to backtrack. He tried to put some wood planks on the wall they had jumped over, but they couldn’t finish the job, being surprised by voices, the growling of dogs and orders of command. The siren was still ringing. Both he and Zé Ina’cio had their guns in hand, with their eyes transfixed on the cement wall over which they saw the police coming. Zé Ina’cio saw the wooden ladder being brought in. What if they killed the policemen one by one as they climbed the ladder? If they were good shots, they could kill at least eight. What then? Zé Ina’cio had his head filled with such questions. He felt like crying and insulting, even killing Dito. He looked at Dito and saw him also crying. He was sorry. He was sure there was no escape. He was involved in the greatest mess of his life and saw no way out of it. Their best hope would be to be dragged off the building, down the stairs, put in the police van and be taken to the police station. He could remember well the last time he had been in jail.

  Dito, though scared, was more emotionally distant than Zé Ina’cio. He was crying for the things he wouldn’t ever do: punishment for Galego, Xereta, Panther and Overtime; the scars Dr. Mauro, Caramel and Big Purple would never acquire. He lamented not being able to talk to Mother Dolores, and ask her about Manguito, and he probably would never again have news of Pin and Figurinha. He felt as if a black curtain was rolling down around him, separating him from the world. The first policeman showed up and Dito didn’t stop to think. He cocked the gun. The policeman’s hat disappeared down below. They heard voices and new orders. The top of the wooden ladder showed up again and Dito and Zé Ina’cio shot at it.

  Dito imagined that, if they could find a piece of cord, they might attach it to something on the terrace and slide down to the floor below. But he gave up this idea knowing they would be caught by the people in the offices. It was the same thing. He looked around the terrace and didn’t see anything useful, only a can with hardened cement; several others with tar; broken roof tiles and bricks, some wires, scraps of wood. He looked inside his pocket and calculated how many of the bullets they had left. He understood then that his life and Zé Ina’cio’s would depend on six more bullets. After that, the police would come.

  VII

  There was a moment of silence. Dito knew they were preparing some kind of surprise. Zé Ina’cio continued to cry. They didn’t talk to each other. They heard the dog barking. Zé Ina’cio was the first one to shoot. The animal turned away, jumped back then advanced. Dito hit him on the back, but that didn’t stop the police from jumping over the wall. The policeman ahead of the group was tall and had a mustache. When Dito faced him, he remembered Dr. Mauro.

  “Let’s go. Put the gun down, and you can escape.”

  Dito didn’t know whether he should obey. He looked sideways and saw that Zé Ina’cio had been bitten several times, though the dog he killed was down in front of him. The policeman advanced, crawling as if he were ready to jump when Dito pulled the trigger. Other policemen were following him, and still others were coming down the wall. Dito knew it would be impossible to continue to shoot. It wouldn’t work. Zé Ina’cio didn’t resist the pressure, nor the mustachioed man’s orders.

  “Let’s go, man. Do as your friend is doing.”

  Dito had no way to resist and threw his gun on the ground. Meanwhile, one of the policemen picked up an iron bar and laid the first blow on Zé Ina’cio.

  “Let’s go, you son of a bitch. Let’s see if you know how to fly!”

  The man with a mustache held Dito by his hair, and the policeman behind him used his knee to kick Dito in the stomach. Dito felt a violent pain but didn’t faint. He could still see what they were doing to Zé Ina’cio. A man whacked him with the iron bar and pushed him towards the street. One of the blows was on the head, and Zé Ina’cio held his own head with both hands, while blood covered it. Dito was trying hard to escape from the arms of those holding him down. But he couldn’t move. They laughed at his efforts, while one of the dogs went on smelling the dead dog.

  “Just stay calm, and soon it will be you
r turn!” The policemen told Dito.

  Zé Ina’cio was jumping around and had already reached the edge of the roof. The beating continued. He got up on the parapet and still looked downward. Dito knew they were on a twelve-story building and that on the back there was no half story, otherwise they would have risked the jump. Down there there was only the street, the square and parked cars. Zé Ina’cio was still jumping about on the parapet while the policeman laughed and hit him with the iron bar. The first few times, Zé Ina’cio was able to escape by jumping, but soon one of the blows caught him in the shins, he lost his balance, and with a scream he fell. Dito kept on hearing that shout for the entire time the body went down. The policemen leaned over the parapet to see the fall. Dito heard the scream and remembered his friend’s doubts about this job.”It’ll work, man. We’ll be rich!”

  The policeman with a mustache pushed Dito. The dog made a move to snatch him, while another policeman held the animal back. A third one cocked his gun.

  “Let’s go. To the same place where your little friend left the planet!”

  Dito didn’t want to go. The guy with the iron bar stood close by.

  “You don’t have a choice, darling. You’ve screwed around too much.”

  The iron bar hit him on the back. The pain made him quake. He avoided the next blow by jumping aside, fell down, stood up and was smashed in the chest. He saw his own blood pour out.

  “Let’s go to the parapet, or you’ll end up torn up by the dogs.”

  Dito couldn’t choose, he received another blow on his chin. It had just grazed his chin, but enough to hurt him badly. The policeman was turning the bar around, while all the others backed away leaving a space in the middle. Dito tried to run over to the wall, but he wasn’t able to do it. He ended up being forced back to the parapet.

  “Get up there, or I finish with you right here!”

  He remembered the useless fight Zé Ina’cio had kept up and now he was going through the same thing. He never imagined he would end that way. He looked at the guy with a mustache and remembered Dr. Mauro: his laughter and the laughter of Caramel and Big Purple. The tears were running down his face and he felt a great knot in his throat.

  “You’ve already given us too much trouble! Let’s go to the starting point.”

  The iron bar hit him several more times, on his thighs, arms and legs. He was covered in blood.

  “If you don’t get up on the parapet, we’ll let the dogs loose!”

  Dito couldn’t resist any more. Any slash of the iron bar now hit him easily. He had no reflexes left and he knew he was losing his strength. And when he noticed, he was almost on top of the parapet. One strong smash on his hand and he climbed it. He jump a bit as Zé Ina’cio had done and, like him, he lost his balance and fell.

  He didn’t see any more the face of the man with a mustache, nor the dog running to reach him, he didn’t remember Beth. He only heard Zé Ina’cio’s scream and his objections to the plan. In a twist in space he saw Mother Dolores putting flowers over Smokey’s coffin.

  Instantly the square was filled with curious people. Drivers had come out of their cars to see up close the supermarket thieves. Young girls in school uniforms were silent. An old woman came close to Zé Ina’cio’s body and put a flower over his body. Dito had his face turned to the place were the sun was going down. A man in a raincoat took notes, while his companion gave an interview.

  “He preferred to jump instead of going to jail!”

  The man in a raincoat shook his head in disappointment. The money Dito had placed in his pocket now littered his bloody clothes and at each breath of a light breeze it threatened to fly up like useless papers caught in a whirlwind.

  END