Chapter 6

    Chapter 6

            We had been planning to leave for days. The three of us had every detail planned out so that we would not make any mistakes. Nobody would know that we had left until we were out of city limits. Katie did the math, we would barley have enough money to get to California and back. Red said that if we did find the loot we could get back to South Carolina in a plane. We had to hitchhike part of the way, and then take a bus for the last bit of the trip going through Arizona.

            None of us wanted to lug a big suitcase across the country, except Katie. Of course she wanted to bring a month’s supply of clothing, but she settled for one outfit, which was jeans a t-shirt a pair of sneakers, and socks. Which was exactly what Red and I were bringing. Another thing we couldn’t bring were suitcases, anything to not attract attention. We each had a satchel to carry our stuff in. he would bring the necessities for a trip like this. Such as flashlights, money, matches, food, the map. Red also insisted that we bring a small wad of rope. I wasn’t willing to lug anymore in my pack, so he did. I also took my switchblade and Swiss army knife with me. We all had a jacket that would be warm while we were in the colder states. I did get the feeling that we were missing something, but I couldn’t a finger on it. If it had been a regular vacation with mom and dad, all Scott and I would have to do is bring clothing and comic books while our parents would do the rest.

            The night we were planning to leave would be Friday night. Ms.Jones does her best to make us come in extra early on Friday. No one knows why, and no one has plans, and no one cares. So when she locks the front and side door she stays away from the kitchen door that leads into the alley. She does this because Mr.Tyler stays in the kitchen and sleeps in the adjoining room. He locks the door instead of her. The only time we see Mr.Tyler is when he serves his slop and when one of “us orphans”-as he calls us-are sick.

            The only way you can get out through the kitchen door is by distracting him. So Katie would pretend to be sick. He’d be watching her while Red and I would sneak out. Then Katie would run into the alley and gag, Mr.Tyler despises it when people get sick in his kitchen. So he sends you out into the alley for as long as you need, and most of the time forgets about them.

            We would have to wait until Warden comes by all the rooms to check and make sure we were all in our rooms and asleep. This is usually around 10 or 11 o’clock.

            I took a deep breath that night as I lay in my bed with the lights out. The full moon shown bright into our bedroom illuminating on the metal bedposts and anything else metal or glass. I might have enjoyed it if I hadn’t been so nervous, or wearing regular clothing and shoes underneath a wool blanket.

            I looked at Red, I could see the moonlight bouncing off his deep brown eyes.

“R-Red?”

“Mmmm?”

“Is it just me, or do you think we should drop the treasure hunt and not go?”

He closed his eyes, “If your only family member was nowhere to be found…wouldn’t you go after them?”

“Well-“

“For all we know you brother could be laying in a ditch somewhere dying” he told me sharply. I wasn’t mad at him, he missed his sister and his mom and dad.

“You nervous?”

He closed his eyes, “yeah”

I took a deep breath, ”Me too”

            Looking out at the grey moon and bright shining starts, I thought that everyone in the world would be seeing the same stars. Scott, I thought, where ever you are, stay safe.

            It was hard not to fall asleep in a bed when it was so cold outside, and dark in the room. I was tired, and just let my mind wander to whatever subject that came to me. At one point I did fall asleep. It was great to relax in my dreamland when my mind was off guard and listened to any thought. It seemed as if seconds later Red gently nudged my shoulder and said, “Come on, get up”

            I sprang to life, sitting up under the blanket and carefully got out of my warmed bed without trying to make a sound. I stuffed my pillow under the blanket and tried to make it look as though a person was under the sheet. I looked up and saw that Red had done the same. When I had finished, I grabbed the satchel on the chair and hung it over my shoulder and neck. Just as we left we heard a light tapping on the door. Then, as it opened my heart skipped a beat, then I realized that it was only Katie.

“Here” she handed a piece of paper to me.

“What’s it say?” I asked her.

“It just says that we’ll be back, so warden don’t sell our stuff”

Cocking my head I replied, ”Sounds smart enough”

“Let’s go” Red said

            I heard shuffling of people moving but before I left the room I took the picture of Scott and I from the dresser and stuffed it into my bag.

            I shut the door, fearing that the click from the doorknob would wake everybody up. I looked down the hallway barley seeing the glint of a flashlight. I half ran half tip-toed to the top of the stairs. We quietly walked down the stairs and towards the kitchen.

            Standing outside the kitchen door we stopped and waited a few seconds. Katie started to whimper, she grabbed her stomach and began to sweat. Before she went inside the room she smiled and winked at us. Katie went inside, before she could do anything she held the door open wide enough for us to walk in.

“Come on” Katie told us sounding fairly annoyed. Confused we stepped into the kitchen to find Mr.Tyler sprawled out on the counter, next to him was a plastic container labeled Pip’s Sleeping Pills.

“Give me my bag” Katie told Red. He handed it to her and she snatched it up.

            Then Katie and I started to walk towards the door but Red held back fingering the sleeping pills. ”As long as we’re here”

“Yeah I see what you mean” Katie said, they looked to the walk-in cabinets.

“Listen you guys, we don’t have any room for that kind of stuff” I said trying to reason with them.

“Come on Brady we could stretch out our money more” Katie told me

“We should go. I feel creepy in here.” The dim lights flickered on and off and I watched a cockroach scuttle across the floor. I looked longingly towards the back door.

            Red found a reusable shopping bag and stepped to the cabinet. There was no use stopping him now. He reached over his head and pulled down a small box marked candy bars. He stuffed it into the bag, along with cookies and crackers and nuts. He also put in a water thermos and a few other things. When he stepped out he stuffed the sleeping pills into his pocket.

“Why do you need those” I questioned

“He isn’t going to use them”

            Katie opened the door and stepped out into the dark alley along with Red. Before leaving I turned out the light and locked the door. The street lamps to our left ended at an open field. To the right was a dead end with a few garbage cans. We ran into the open field with such a rush of freedom and adrenalin that it warmed the nipping cold at our noses. It was a shame to have to slow down at the fence to hop over, I could have run in that open field for a lot longer.

“You still want to go Brady?” Red said before we hopped the fence

I took a deep breath and looked both ways, I wasn’t getting anywhere while I was living in the orphanage, but down the street where so many possibilities. I nodded.

“Okay, let’s go” he said quietly

            We hopped the fence and ran, not sure if anyone had seen us. We all started to get tired and slowed down to a quick walk. Once we were about 20 blocks away we stuck out our thumbs at every passing car not caring if we had to sit in a trunk, we had to get to the city limits before the next morning.

            Most of the cars drove by without giving us a second glance. Some of them gave us dirty glances, and a few even yelled out that we shouldn’t be getting a ride from complete strangers.

            Finally after what seemed like an hour a man in a station wagon pulled over. He stuck out his head and said, ”You kids need a ride?”

“Sure do mister. Where are you heading?” Katie asked

“I’ll take you kids as far as the border line”

Katie looked at Red and I, we each gave a slight nod. She looked back at the man, “Sure”

            He opened the hind door and we got into the car.