Jim - Four

Jim

 

            A few hours after our run in with the west block boys, Hersch tracked me down and told me we had better think about eating together, since none of us actually knew what the plan was. And I’m not going to lie, as much I had thought I disliked my roommates, it felt pretty damn good walking into the dining hall together. I think we were all getting tired of being loners, and even Erich and Hersch were laughing at the surprised faces of just about everyone in the room.

            We grabbed our food and sat down together at the end of a table that was quickly abandoned by the other inhabitants. “All right,” Erich said, immediately commanding our attention, “what are we going to do about this?”

            “Don’t know,” answered Gabe. “Does anyone actually know where Knight’s room is?”

            “Third floor,” Hersch replied quickly. “All the professors live up there. His is probably the biggest one.”

            We all gave him a confused look, still perplexed as to how he knew so much about the school. But it was obvious that, as long as he being helpful, no one was going to run the risk of insulting him.

            “Great!” I grinned and slapped him on the back.

“Yeah, spot-on,” Gabe said, “Now where do you suppose he keeps the booze?”

            I answered first this time. “Those fuckers wouldn’t want us to take it if it was an easy steal. It’s probably locked up somewhere.”

“Maybe a cabinet,” offered Gabe.

“Nah, too obvious,” Hersch pointed out. “Everyone’s got it in a cabinet.”

“Not m            y old man,” Erich mumbled bitterly, “he took to hiding his once he figured out I was the one taking it, kept it at the bottom of some nasty old chest. If Knight’s guarding his stash carefully, it’ll be somewhere like that.”

Hersch took a bite of his sandwich. “Has anyone actually thought to figure out what we’ll actually do with this stuff when we get it?”

“If we get it,” Gabe corrected him, with a mouth full of bread, as he pointed at Hersch with his fork.

Erich smacked him on the back of the head and Gabe gagged on his food. “Where’s your pride, kamerad?” he said almost playfully, giving Gabe a thump on the back to compensate for the choking. “We’re going to get this done.”

“Or die trying,” I added with a smile.

“Hey, speak for yourself,” Hersch interjected. “There’s no way in hell I’m dying here.”

“Guys, how about we take it one ridiculous task at a time, huh?” Erich broke in with a mischievous smile. “We can work on keeping the Jew alive later.”

“Last I checked, you were the only one thinking of killing any of us,” Gabe said daringly, once he regained the ability to breathe.

Erich turned sharply to look at Gabe, who, for once, didn’t cringe away, but looked at him with one dark eyebrow raised skeptically. No one seemed more surprised by this than Erich, who suddenly seemed to shrink at this new lack of fear. “Yeah, I guess I shouldn’t have gotten into it.”

“Gotten into it?” snarled Hersch, who suddenly looked ready to leap across the table at him. “Maybe you shouldn’t have started it!”

We all started forward out of our chairs, Erich and Hersch to leap at each other, Gabe and I to pull them apart, nearly knocking over our chairs. I grabbed a hold of Hersch’s arm and Gabe awkwardly, if effectively, threw his arm across Erich’s chest to restrain him. We pushed them back into their chairs and I noticed more than a few pairs of eyes that had come to rest on us.

Hersch and Erich glared at us as we shoved them back into their seats, as if we had been the ones to start the whole thing. “S**t, guys,” I hissed once we had all had a second to calm down. “Can’t we just sit here for five minutes without going for the throat?”

“Jim’s right,” Gabe said, more forceful than I had ever seen him. “Come on, we’re never going to get through the term if it’s going to be like this.” He looked Erich meaningfully in the eye, “We can work that out later, but right now we have to be together on this. Now, would you just back off?”

For once it seemed that Erich calmed down before Hersch did. “It’s not to say I won’t kick your a*s again this term,” growled Erich, “but tonight I want that stash, and if I have to work with you b******s to get it, then I’ll try not to kill you.”

We all cowered silently for a minute, afraid of what Hersch would have to say to that. He sat there like a livid, glowering rock. “I want your word,” he snarled, “I need to know you’re not going to turn on any of us tonight.”

After a long, tense second, Erich stretched his muscled tree trunk of an arm over the table, still glaring at all of us. He and Hersch shook hands harshly.

“Can I get in on this?” Gabe asked.

 He sounded so innocent, so bizarrely trusting that, despite the circumstances, I started to laugh. For a second I thought they were all going to kill me, but then Hersch cracked a smile, one of his first that I could remember. I could see Erich was trying to continue looking fearsome, but he couldn’t fight the grin as he slapped the table and said, “Sure thing, kamerad!” He shook Gabe’s hand so fiercely the poor guy almost toppled out of his chair.

“Brilliant,” said Gabe, clambering back up the table. “Now, really, what’s the plan?”

Reviews

[Dakota]

One brick at a time the biggest walls are falling. I like how Erich has taken to calling Gabe comrade but no one else. If he called everyone that it wouldn't signal any sort of deepening relationship at all, just that he couldn't remember names or something along those lines LOL.

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[Coyote Poetry]

A strong chapter. I like how the walls of separation are falling down. Nothing like danger and a good purpose to bond a friendship. I like the way the argument ending the plan was being made. A excellent chapter.
Coyote