by David Gordon
The policeman was almost even with where Sami and Alejandro were hiding. Sami’s heart hammered in her chest as she imagined the policeman pulling his gun on them the moment they were spotted.
Alejandro leaned close to her and whispered, “Find me at the jail.” Then he jumped to his feet, grinning and waving at the policeman. “Hi!”
The policeman jumped and he did go for his gun. But then he recognized Lieutenant Garcia’s son. In less than a second, the policeman’s face twisted into one of complete surprise. Before he could make another move, Alejandro skipped out from behind the couch and over to the officer.
“Scared you, didn’t I,” bragged Alejandro.
The man’s face now burned with anger. “Are you out of your mind? I could have shot you!”
Alejandro shrugged. “Sorry.”
The policeman shouted over his shoulder, “Hey, Frank!! Down here!!” Then he glared at Alejandro. “What are you doing here, Garcia?”
Alejandro shrugged again. “I just wanted to check out the monkey house for myself.”
The second policeman, Frank, came clumping down the stairs and into the living room. When he saw his buddy standing over Alejandro, Frank put his hands on his hips and said, “What in the world?”
“I found out from my dad where it was, so…” He shrugged again, as though the rest of the story was obvious.
The first policeman nodded, grabbed Alejandro roughly by his shirt collar, and started hauling him toward the front door. “Well, we’ll see what your dad has to say about it.”
Sami had wrapped herself into a tight ball behind the couch. She heard everything. She heard them dragging Alejandro out of the house, heard the door slam, heard the deadbolt click back into place, and finally heard them walking off of the porch. The house was utterly silent.
She waited only a few more seconds before she unwound herself and ran to the window. She slid it open and hopped out. After running a few steps, she thought of Alejandro and how he would not approve of leaving the window open. So she dashed back, eased the window closed until she heard the lock click, and then scurried across the brown backyard.
When she got to the far side of Mr. Sombra’s little house she knew she was hidden and would not be seen. She leaned against the wall, panting and trying to catch her breath. It was not that she had run so very hard or far, but that she was scared. She was scared for her and for Alejandro.
She had to get out of there and back to her mother. They had to help Alejandro.
She stared up at the block wall towering over her head. Too high, way too high. Then she remembered the trellis. She ran to it and started to climb. But when she got to the top she discovered that the edge of the roof was hanging out too far for her to be able to grab onto it and pull herself up. When she and Alejandro had climbed down she had been able to hang her legs over the edge of the roof and get her toes onto the trellis. But going back was impossible.
She climbed back down and started looking frantically for some way out. She crept back across the yard and peeked through the gate to the front yard. There was a space beneath the driveway gate, and she could see the feet of the policeman there. She saw Alejandro’s sneakers, too. She could also hear the first policeman talking on his radio. Sami realized that they were not going to leave with Alejandro. They were probably calling to have someone come pick him up.
Sami was not going to get out through the front.
She went back to the little house and the trellis. She looked up at it, trying to think how she could get onto the roof. But there was no way. She became enraged at being stuck there in the backyard, and started taking it out on the trellis. Muttering “Rats! Rats! Rats!” she grabbed the trellis and started shaking it. Dead leaves rained down on her, then there was a popping sound and the trellis was suddenly looser in her hands. She stopped shaking it and looked up. Without meaning to, she had yanked out the nails holding one side of the trellis to the top of the house wall. She immediately went to the other side of the trellis and yanked at it furiously. That side soon popped loose, as well.
The trellis was tall and heavy, and bits of leaves kept falling into Sami’s eyes, but she managed to lean it against the block wall. A moment later she had climbed it and was again scooting down Alejandro’s highway.
“How did I let myself get talked into this?” Mrs. Lightfoot muttered to herself for the second time that day. She moved the car gearshift lever into park, then sat there, staring at her hands on the steering wheel and shaking her head. Sami stuck her head out of the passenger side window so she could look up at the police station building. The windows on the fourth—top—floor were few, and small. The jail cells, thought Sami. A thought that made her shiver.
“Do you think they’ll put Alejandro in jail?” she asked her mother.
Mrs. Lightfoot twisted in her seat to face her daughter and said, “Sami.”
She pulled her head in and turned to her mother. “What?”
“What do you think you’re going to do here?” Mrs. Lightfoot asked.
“I don’t know,” said Sami. “Something.”
“But you can’t just walk in—”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do. Alejandro said to find him here.”
“But what—”
“Mom! I don’t—”
“You don’t know. Okay, I got it.” Mrs. Lightfoot leaned over and put her arms around Sami.
After everything Sami had been through that morning, it was very comforting to be in her mother’s arms. She nestled in a little closer so that her mother would know that she wanted her to keep holding her. “I have to do something,” Sami explained. “He saved me back at Brian’s house. He saved Brian from Mr. Sombra. We can’t leave him in there.”
“Well,” said Mrs. Lightfoot, trying to reassure Sami, “I’m sure he’s in there with his father now.”
At the mention of Alejandro’s father, Sami pushed away from her mother and looked at her. Mrs. Lightfoot looked at the fear and anger in Sami’s eyes, and then remembered the bruise on Alejandro’s face.
Mrs. Lightfoot nodded once, jerked the car key out of the ignition and said, “I’m going with you.”
Sami had never been to a police station before. Walking beside her mother, she passed a whole row of identical police cars parked with their gleaming chrome bumpers hanging over the edge of the sidewalk, like a row of kids with braces, chewing on the curb. Their headlights were glaring eyes that followed her as she walked by. While climbing the stone steps, she glanced back at the parking lot. Now she saw the police cars as thick fingers, and all of them were pointing at her, accusing her.
“There you are!” said a deep voice.
Sami’s head snapped around. A policeman was holding the station door open. He was smiling at her mother. “Thank you,” she said, and walked in. Sami hesitated until he smiled down at her. She scurried in after her mother. When she looked back, the big glass door was slowly closing. The policeman was still standing there, rubbing his chin and looking at her through the glass.
Once inside, they had to go through a metal detector. Her mother walked through, but when Sami stepped in, red lights flashed and a buzzer sounded. She froze inside the detector. The officer in charge waved Sami back, saying, “Let’s see what you have.”
“Nothing!” she shouted. “I don’t have anything!”
The officer held up his hands. “Whoa, it’s okay, young lady. You must have something in your pocket that this machine doesn’t like. Why don’t you check?”
Sami looked at her mother, who was now on the other side of the detector. Mrs. Lightfoot nodded, so Sami dug into her pockets. Her left hand came out first. In it was Shareen’s glove. Before she had time to realize what she had done, the officer said, “Let’s see,” and he grabbed the glove.
She stared at the officer, gritted her teeth and tried to keep from trembling. He soon found that the glove had two stuffed fingers. He waved it at her. “This part of your Halloween costume?”
“Yes
!” she said, and snatched it out of his hands. As she stuffed it back into her left pocket, she pulled her iPod and cell phone out of her right pocket.
The officer’s surprise at having the glove grabbed from him was immediately forgotten when he saw the iPod and cell phone. “Yeah, that’s it,” he said. He held out his hand and Sami handed them over. She walked through the detector, and was relieved that it stayed silent. When she got to the other side, the officer returned her iPod and cell phone. “There you go,” he said.
“Thanks,” said Sami, and she and her mother walked across the gleaming floor to an information desk.
The desk officer (who had been carefully watching them because Sami had set off the alarm) said, “Can I help you?”
“We’re looking for Alejandro,” said Sami.
The desk officer looked confused, so Mrs. Lightfoot added, “Garcia. He’s the son of one of your officers.”
The desk officer sat back. He was not sure what was going on and looked uncomfortable. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder and said, “Yeah, he just got here. He’s back there with Lieutenant Garcia.”
Sami jerked forward and blurted, “Tell him—”
But her mother put a hand firmly on her shoulder to stop her. Mrs. Lightfoot smiled and said to the desk officer, “Sami is one of Alejandro’s classmates. Would you tell Lieutenant Garcia that we’re here to take Alejandro home?”
The desk officer was still unsure, but he picked up the phone, and punched in a number. While he talked, Sami looked back at the front door. She was relieved to see that the policeman who had held it open was now gone. But then she saw that the officer at the detector was still watching her and her mother. She flashed a big, phony smile and waved to him. He gave her a phony smile back and waved as well.
“It’s okay,” the desk officer announced as he hung up the phone. He pointed to the hallway to his left. “Take the elevator to the second floor. Lieutenant Garcia will meet you there.”
“Thank you,” said Mrs. Lightfoot. She put her hand on Sami’s back and they headed down the hallway.
They came to two sets of elevator doors. Sami pressed the “up” button, which then turned neon green. They watched the numbers above the elevator doors. Both elevators were currently at the fourth floor. For a long moment nothing happened, then finally both of them started down. In her mind, Sami imagined that the elevators were racing, and she was betting that their elevator would be the first one down. But it stopped at the second floor. A moment later the other one dinged and its doors opened. Two arguing policeman came out and walked off down the hall. Sami and her mother hurried into that elevator.
“I can do it,” she told her mother. She pressed the button for the second floor. The doors closed with a sound that reminded Sami of distant thunder, and of the rumble her bowling ball made rolling down the gutter the one time she had tried bowling. It was a slow elevator, so she had time to look at the control panel. There were buttons for three floors, but there were four floors. The fourth floor had a keyhole instead of a button.
They slowed to a stop and dinged. Mrs. Lightfoot put her hand on Sami’s shoulder and gripped it tightly. When the doors opened Sami saw Alejandro standing in front of a long counter. A few officers in uniforms and other people in regular clothes were busily working with their computers or telephones behind the counter. Standing beside Alejandro was a tall policeman, who Sami recognized as Mr. Garcia.
“Hi!” she called out to Alejandro, but her mother’s hand kept her from running out. Instead, her mother led her calmly out of the elevator and over to Lieutenant Garcia and his son. Lieutenant Garcia was tall, with wide, strong shoulders, and big hands. His hair was shaved close to his head, but he had a thick mustache.
“Hi, Alejandro,” repeated Sami, this time pretending to not be so excited.
“Hi,” he answered. At first Sami thought he looked sad or embarrassed. But then she saw that even though his mouth was serious, his eyes were smiling. Sami was starting to know Alejandro well enough to realize that he must be hatching a scheme.
Mrs. Lightfoot extended her hand to Lieutenant Garcia. “I’m Mrs. Lightfoot, Sami’s mother.”
Lieutenant Garcia shook her hand and said, “Glad to meet you. But I’m a little confused about what you’re doing here.”
She smiled and explained, “Well, we thought we would give Alejandro a ride home. If that’s alright with you, of course.”
Lieutenant Garcia looked at her suspiciously and asked, “How did you know he was here?”
Sami’s brain froze. She glanced at Alejandro, who suddenly looked alarmed. He obviously had not anticipated this question, either. Sami thought he looked like his brain was frozen, too.
But Mrs. Lightfoot’s brain was not frozen. She glanced at the boy, then explained to his father, “Alejandro called us from Brian’s house—”
“The alien’s?” Lieutenant Garcia interrupted.
Mrs. Lightfoot took a breath to calm herself and continued. “Yes, the alien’s. When he saw that the police were coming in.”
Lieutenant Garcia’s eyes narrowed as he peered at her. He was not the only person staring at Mrs. Lightfoot; Sami was, too. But she was staring at her mother out of amazement. She had never thought of her mother as being especially smart or clever or a good liar. In fact, Sami realized that she had never really thought very much about her mother at all, about who she was and what she could do. Her mother was just there. Just her mother. Sami felt a little dizzy. First she was having to change what she thought of Alejandro, and now she was seeing that her mother was more than she thought she was, too.
Lieutenant Garcia swiveled his narrowed eyes sideways to look down at his son.
Alejandro shrugged and said, “I knew I was going to get caught. Why stay in this crummy place all day waiting for you to take me home?” He stared at his father until the man finally looked back at Mrs. Lightfoot.
“Look,” he said, “he shouldn’t have called you. There’s no one…” He pinched his lips together, then started again. “His mother isn’t home.” (That was the moment that Sami realized that Alejandro had no mother at home.) “No way I’m going to let him stay there by himself. Besides, he and I still have some things to, uh—” Sami watched him lift his heavy arms to stick his thumbs behind his big, black belt. Then she saw him sneer. It was the same sneer she had seen on Alejandro’s face many times before. “—to work out,” Lieutenant Garcia said. “So I think I’ll just keep him here.”
While this was going on, Sami noticed that Alejandro was tilting his head and making big eyes at her mother, trying to get her attention. Mrs. Lightfoot glanced sideways at him. Alejandro made little motions with his hand, like he was brushing crumbs from a table.
Mrs. Lightfoot understood immediately. “You know, I’ve never been here before,” she said, raising her arms and smiling. She sidled sideways a little so that Lieutenant Garcia had to turn a bit away from Alejandro and Sami to continue facing her. “What goes on in this office?” she asked him.
“This is where complaints get filed, or missing persons, or most of the public business,” he explained.
Melanie moved further around him to lean against the counter. Now Lieutenant Garcia had his back to Alejandro and Sami.
“Interesting,” said Melanie. “So, is this where you work?”
“No,” he said with some pride. “Incarceration. I work up on the fourth floor, where we have the cells.”
Melanie’s eyes grew incredibly wide, and she moved closer to Lieutenant Garcia and touched his arm. “Really? So you’re in charge of the jail?”
“Well, not in charge exactly. Sometimes I am. I’m one of the officers in charge. Actually,” Lieutenant Garcia continued, looking a proud, “well, really, I’m usually in charge.”
Mrs. Lightfoot opened her eyes extra wide and said, “Really?”
The other elevator dinged and its doors opened. An officer got off. Lieutenant Garcia paid it no mind. Sami’s eyes were glued to her surp
rising mother. Alejandro touched Sami’s arm to get her attention. He motioned to her to follow him.
Mrs. Lightfoot kept her eyes fixed on those of Lieutenant Garcia. “You must have some amazing stories to tell,” she said with deep interest.
“Oh yeah!” he agreed, and stood up even straighter.
“Really?” said Mrs. Lightfoot again. She leaned on her elbow on the counter, as if getting ready for a longer stay. “For example.”
“Well, let’s see…”
Sami and Alejandro quietly slipped into the elevator. The last thing Sami saw as the doors closed was her mother covering her mouth and laughing at something Lieutenant Garcia had said.
“Where are we going?” Sami asked Alejandro.
“Fourth floor,” he said.
“But there’s no button for the fourth floor. We need a key.”
Alejandro answered her by pulling a set of keys out of his pocket and grinning.
“Where did you get those?” Sami wanted to know.
“My dad. Who else?” He found the key, stuck it in the slot for the fourth floor, and gave it a twist. The elevator started to rise.
“Alejandro, he’s going to kill you!”
“I don’t care,” he said quietly. And Sami could tell that he really did not care.
“What are we going to do up there?”
“Bust Brian’s parents out of here,” he answered matter-of-factly.
Sami’s hand shot up and slapped down on the emergency stop button. The elevator scraped to a halt. “How?!” she said fiercely.
Alejandro thought for a moment then shrugged. “I don’t know yet.”
Sami’s fierce face softened into a smile. She took her hand off of the emergency stop button and the elevator resumed humming upward. Standing now beside Alejandro, she said, “I’m sorry I called you a jerk.”
“That’s okay,” said Alejandro. “I am a jerk.”
The elevator dinged, stopped, and the doors slid open. They stepped out into the hallway. In front of them was an officer sitting at a counter. He looked up at them from behind the bulletproof plexi-glass. When neither Alejandro’s father nor anyone else came out of the elevator with the children, the officer leaned to the side, trying to see who was still in the elevator. But the doors closed. Surprised, he barked at the children, “What are you doing up here?”
Alejandro—followed closely by Sami—walked right up to the window and explained. “My dad sent us up. He told us to wait for him in his office.”
The officer scowled at the boy, then scowled at Sami.
“She’s my friend from school,” said Alejandro.
The officer tilted his head to one side and said, “Okay, go on.” As they turned to head down the hallway, Sami glanced back and saw the officer pull a gossip magazine out from under the desk.
She followed Alejandro past several doors. Some were open, some were closed. At the far end of the hall she saw a large pair of double doors made of steel. The huge hinges holding up the doors showed how heavy they must be. There were small windows in the doors with wire covering them. This must be where they keep the prisoners, thought Sami. It made her angry to think of Shareen and Alexi trapped behind those cold and heavy doors. As she got closer she could see that that instead of a place for a key, the right-hand door had a keypad, like on a telephone.
Two doors from the end of the hall, Alejandro turned into an open office. It was a small, windowless room with a grey metal desk and swivel chair, two metal chairs for visitors, and a filing cabinet. On the desk were a computer screen and keyboard, a telephone, stacks of papers, and half of a cup of cold coffee. Tacked and taped to the pale green walls were all kinds of charts and forms, a calendar, a flyer for a police barbeque (that had already happened two months before), and two posters for the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team. There were no family pictures. The fluorescent lights in the ceiling buzzed like enormous houseflies. Sitting on the front of the desk was a nameplate that read, “Lt. Garcia.”
As soon as they got inside, Alejandro turned around and stopped Sami. “I don’t know how long your mom can keep my dad down there,” he whispered to her. (My mother is doing that! thought Sami.) “You stand here and watch the hall, like you’re just hanging out.”
“Okay,” she said.
She leaned against the doorframe, pretending to look bored. Glancing back into the office, she saw Alejandro hurry around to the far side of the desk and plop down in his father’s chair. She checked the hall. It was quiet. She looked back at Alejandro in time to see him tilt up the computer screen as far as it would go. He bent down to look at the bottom edge and said, “Got it.” He reached for a pad of paper and a pen. A door slammed somewhere down the hallway.
Sami peeked around the corner of the doorframe. An officer was walking away from her, heading toward the elevators. She watched him as he waited, then finally disappeared behind the elevator doors.
“All clear?” Alejandro said in her ear.
Sami jumped and whipped around. “Don’t do that!” she hissed. Alejandro grinned at her. “Yes,” she said, “All clear.”
Just as they stepped out of the room, loud laughter echoed down the hall. Sami immediately shoved Alejandro back and ducked inside as well. Again she peeked around the corner and saw an officer kidding around with someone down in front of the elevators. All she could see of the other person was his shadow on the shiny floor. Sami assumed that it must be the officer behind the plexi-glass.
“What is it?” said Alejandro as he tried to lean forward to see. But Sami elbowed him back. “Ow!” he cried.
Alejandro’s cry was loud enough that the laughing officer in the hallway stopped laughing and turned to look their way. Sami pulled in her head.
They listened to his sharp footsteps echoing in the hall as he came towards them.
A moment later he was standing in the doorway, peering down at them. What he saw was Alejandro and Sami sitting quietly on the visitors chairs.
“You okay?” asked the officer.
“Yeah,” said Alejandro, rubbing his arm. He pointed at Sami. “She just hit me, is all.”
The officer looked at Sami, who made a “Sorrrry” face and shrugged. The officer nodded and said, “Well, I’ll go see what’s keeping your father.” He pointed at Sami. “You behave, now!”
They sat there, listening to his footsteps going away, then he said something to the other officer and they laughed, then the elevator dinged, they laughed again… then it was quiet.
Alejandro sprang to his feet. “Now!”
Chapter 17
“Where’s the key?”