Read Online Inside a Silver Box by Walter Mosley - Free Book Online
Authors: Walter Mosley
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that he’s gonna kill all the people in all the world, I’m inclined to believe him and to try and do what he says.
“I mean I wouldn’t mind bein’ Adam an’ Eve and all, but that’s not you and me, not by a long shot.”
Lorraine fought back the rage she was feeling. The killer’s words had purchase in her breast. She didn’t want to understand him, but there was a bond there somewhere. She didn’t need the Hegelian dialectic to know that her path was set out in front of her like the one-way path of that underground tunnel.
“You think the light up ahead is the park?” she said instead of what she was thinking.
“I ain’t got no idea,” Ronnie said, flashing a rare smile. “But I do know that that’s the only way we got to go.”
“I guess some things are pretty simple,” Lorraine said.
“Yes, ma’am,” Ronnie said, dredging up the manners his mother tried to teach him when he was young and half wild.
* * *
A LMOST AN HOUR later Ronnie and Lorraine climbed out of the cave mouth into a beautiful sunlit day in a forest that was deep and green, and seemed to go on forever.
“Where are we?” Ronnie asked for both of them.
“This is the road the Silver Box put us on,” Lorraine replied.
Ronnie nodded and they both walked on the path that led out from the cave and through the great cedar and pine and redwood forest.
The packed dirt of this path was yellow, and the road was much wider, at least a hundred feet across.
They walked for another hour or so without speaking. The sun seemed to shine not only on their heads and shoulders but also through them. The air was crisp and cool but they were warm because they were moving at a good clip.
* * *
“T HERE’S A STREAM over there,” Lorraine said, ending their long silence. “Are you thirsty?”
Down by the flowing water, they found ground berries that were somewhat like strawberries but hardier and with a tougher skin. They ate their fill and drank deeply. After that they leaned against a convenient boulder, allowing the setting sun to shine on them.
Ronnie lifted his right hand and studied it. “You think that there’s really millions of bugs crawlin’ on our skin?” he asked.
“I was your victim,” Lorraine said.
“What?”
“That Silver Box said that we both had been guilty, but I didn’t do anything to you. I was going to school, jogging in the park.… I wanted to help people. I wanted to understand how the world works.”
Ronnie nodded, not looking at his fellow traveler.
“Say something,” Lorraine commanded.
Ronnie turned toward the woman who had poured out of his body and formed on the ground in front of him, the woman he breathed life into. This miracle was something that only a god could perform, but he didn’t feel like God.
“I was up in Attica for two years on a nickel sentence,” he said after a long pause.
“Yes,” she said, “you’re the criminal.”
“That’s true but it ain’t what I’m sayin’. Of all the bad things that can happen to you in the joint, the worst is how borin’ it always is. You cain’t go nowhere and there ain’t nuthin’ to do.”
“What do you expect?” Lorraine asked. “You committed a crime.”
“I know,” Ronnie acceded. “I know. And I had done twelve things wrong for the one they got me for. What I’m tryin’ to say is that there ain’t nuthin’ to do in prison but eat, shit, fuck, fight, and talk. And mostly we talked. A lot we talked about shittin’, eatin’, fightin’, and fuckin,’ but there was other things too.
“We was all guilty and we knew it too. Some was proud. But even if you wasn’t proud, you had to ack like it to keep people from thinkin’ you was a bitch. And if you have to be proud, or ack like you proud, then you talk differently about the people you might’a hurt. You start to believe that just because somebody was your victim and you’re guilty, that still don’t make them innocent.”
“I
“I mean I wouldn’t mind bein’ Adam an’ Eve and all, but that’s not you and me, not by a long shot.”
Lorraine fought back the rage she was feeling. The killer’s words had purchase in her breast. She didn’t want to understand him, but there was a bond there somewhere. She didn’t need the Hegelian dialectic to know that her path was set out in front of her like the one-way path of that underground tunnel.
“You think the light up ahead is the park?” she said instead of what she was thinking.
“I ain’t got no idea,” Ronnie said, flashing a rare smile. “But I do know that that’s the only way we got to go.”
“I guess some things are pretty simple,” Lorraine said.
“Yes, ma’am,” Ronnie said, dredging up the manners his mother tried to teach him when he was young and half wild.
* * *
A LMOST AN HOUR later Ronnie and Lorraine climbed out of the cave mouth into a beautiful sunlit day in a forest that was deep and green, and seemed to go on forever.
“Where are we?” Ronnie asked for both of them.
“This is the road the Silver Box put us on,” Lorraine replied.
Ronnie nodded and they both walked on the path that led out from the cave and through the great cedar and pine and redwood forest.
The packed dirt of this path was yellow, and the road was much wider, at least a hundred feet across.
They walked for another hour or so without speaking. The sun seemed to shine not only on their heads and shoulders but also through them. The air was crisp and cool but they were warm because they were moving at a good clip.
* * *
“T HERE’S A STREAM over there,” Lorraine said, ending their long silence. “Are you thirsty?”
Down by the flowing water, they found ground berries that were somewhat like strawberries but hardier and with a tougher skin. They ate their fill and drank deeply. After that they leaned against a convenient boulder, allowing the setting sun to shine on them.
Ronnie lifted his right hand and studied it. “You think that there’s really millions of bugs crawlin’ on our skin?” he asked.
“I was your victim,” Lorraine said.
“What?”
“That Silver Box said that we both had been guilty, but I didn’t do anything to you. I was going to school, jogging in the park.… I wanted to help people. I wanted to understand how the world works.”
Ronnie nodded, not looking at his fellow traveler.
“Say something,” Lorraine commanded.
Ronnie turned toward the woman who had poured out of his body and formed on the ground in front of him, the woman he breathed life into. This miracle was something that only a god could perform, but he didn’t feel like God.
“I was up in Attica for two years on a nickel sentence,” he said after a long pause.
“Yes,” she said, “you’re the criminal.”
“That’s true but it ain’t what I’m sayin’. Of all the bad things that can happen to you in the joint, the worst is how borin’ it always is. You cain’t go nowhere and there ain’t nuthin’ to do.”
“What do you expect?” Lorraine asked. “You committed a crime.”
“I know,” Ronnie acceded. “I know. And I had done twelve things wrong for the one they got me for. What I’m tryin’ to say is that there ain’t nuthin’ to do in prison but eat, shit, fuck, fight, and talk. And mostly we talked. A lot we talked about shittin’, eatin’, fightin’, and fuckin,’ but there was other things too.
“We was all guilty and we knew it too. Some was proud. But even if you wasn’t proud, you had to ack like it to keep people from thinkin’ you was a bitch. And if you have to be proud, or ack like you proud, then you talk differently about the people you might’a hurt. You start to believe that just because somebody was your victim and you’re guilty, that still don’t make them innocent.”
“I
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