The Reckless Oath We Made - Bryn Greenwood Page 0,150
baby!” I said.
“If you’re not a baby, you know it’s not nice to hit people.”
“I’m sorry.” I was sort of. She gave me the tissue, so I wiped my own nose. Then I cried some more, because I was scared to go to prison. Grandy and Grammy never took me to visit Daddy, because it was a bad environment. We only talked to Daddy on the phone.
“You know, sometimes good people do stupid things and go to prison,” Aunt Zee said. “Not everybody in prison is bad.”
“Like who?”
I thought she would say Mommy, and I would know she was a liar, but she said, “Sir Gentry.”
“Sir Gentry is in prison?” I didn’t know knights could go to prison, but it made me sad, because I liked him.
“Yeah, that’s why Leon is our dog, because Sir Gentry is in prison. But he’s still a really good person.”
“Did he do something bad?”
“Yes and no. He broke the law, but he was trying to do something good. It just didn’t turn out right.”
That scared me, because what if sometime I tried to do something good, but it didn’t turn out right, and I had to go to prison?
That first time, we didn’t go see Mommy. Instead we drove home, took Leon for a long walk, and ate pizza.
I thought maybe we wouldn’t have to go again, but my next Saturday with Aunt Zee, we went to Topeka again. I yelled at her, and even though I didn’t want to cry, I did. She gave me like ten tissues out of her purse, because I snotted a bunch.
“Did you get it all cried out?” Aunt Zee said, when we got to Mommy’s prison.
“I don’t wanna go.”
She was quiet for a long time, and I hoped she would start the car like last time, but she put the car keys in her purse.
“Ten minutes,” she said. “We’ll go in and sit with your mom for ten minutes. You don’t have to talk to her or anything else, but I want you to spend ten minutes. After that, we can go to the rain forest, okay?”
“What rain forest?” I said. Because there aren’t any rain forests in Kansas. Those are only in South America.
“The Topeka Zoo has a rain forest. The website says they have toucans and snakes and giant bats. If you’ll go see your mom for ten minutes, we can spend the rest of the day at the zoo.”
“Okay.”
She said ten minutes, but we walked through all the chain-link fences, and down sidewalks and hallways. There were policemen and police ladies, and Aunt Zee had to give them paperwork, and we walked through a big machine that scanned us, and then we waited in a hallway for a long time. None of that counted for our ten minutes.
Finally, one of the police ladies said, “Visitors for LaReigne Trego-Gill,” and that meant we could go into a room that looked like the cafeteria at school. Aunt Zee took my hand and we walked across the room to a table, where there was a lady in a gray sweatshirt with short brown hair. She was crying and Aunt Zee hugged her, but I didn’t know why until the lady said, “Marcus, baby. I’m so glad to see you.” It was Mommy, but she looked different. Not just because her hair wasn’t blond, but because her face looked fatter.
“Come give me a hug,” she said, but I hid behind Aunt Zee.
At the other tables, there were more ladies in gray sweatshirts talking to people. There were other kids, too, and I wondered why their moms were in prison.
“Just give him a minute,” Aunt Zee said. After she sat down, I stood next to her so she would put her arm around me.
“How’s school?” Mommy said.
“Okay.”
“Just okay?”
I nodded.
“Mom says you got a dog, Zee.”
“His name is Leon,” I said.
“What kind of dog is he?”
“Big and ugly.”
“He’s a pit bull,” Aunt Zee said and rolled her eyes at me.
“But you always say he’s big and ugly.”
“Yeah, but that’s not what kind of dog he is. That’s how he is.”
“I don’t care if he’s big and ugly. He’s a good dog.”
“Yes, he is,” Aunt Zee said.
“He’s part my dog, too. And part Sir Gentry’s dog.”
Mommy glared at Aunt Zee. Then she said, “Did you bring some money for the vending machines?”
“Do you want something?” Aunt Zee said.
“I thought Marcus might want a pop.”
“Can I, Aunt Zee?”
“Sure.” She got out her change purse and dumped a bunch of coins on the