Dirt Road Home by Watt Key Read Free Book Online Page B

the rec room. I saw that the bed below me was made up with new sheets and stocked with the usual supplies. I guessed this was for the new boy.
    I heard someone coming and looked up to see Paco. The floorwalker cocked his eyes our way and shifted slightly. Paco strolled up to my bed and stopped. He began feeling the new sheets below me between his thumb and forefinger. Then he spoke quietly without looking at me.
    “Now, there is only one way to avoid this,” Paco said, as if he’d been thinking long and hard about my situation.
    “Is this some kind of game to you?” I said.
    He didn’t answer my question. “I think you must become the leader yourself,” he said. “You see, the leader does not have to fight. He lets others do his fighting for him.”
    “You had to fight at some point.”
    He nodded. “Yes,” he said. “But just once.”
    “You want me to fight you?”
    He chuckled. “No. That would be bad advice.”
    “You want me to fight Jack?”
    “You see, I am a bulldog. Jack is a terrier. A bulldog rules through strength. A terrier rules with fear. They yap and bark and leap in your face. I would bet on strength any day.”
    “I guess Mr. Fraley gives everybody the same speech.”
    “He is just on the other side of a truth.”
    “That would be fun for you to watch, wouldn’t it? Why don’t you just kick Jack’s ass your own self?”
    “Because I don’t have to.”
    “You’ve got me wrong, Paco.”
    He looked at me. “Tell me why it is that a person would not accept the help of others in here.”
    “Because I’d owe you. And I’ve seen what the payback is. And I promised somebody I wouldn’t get in trouble here.”
    “You must really have a debt to this person.”
    “I do. It’s my daddy.”
    “Ah, so you have some hope. You think you will be rescued?”
    “He’s doin’ his part. I’m doin’ mine.”
    “Yes, but can you do your part with the guards against you? They will write what they want in their notepads.”
    “How do you know they’re against me?”
    “They are against all of us.”
    “I don’t see how fightin’ Jack’s gonna solve anything. I think I’ll take my chances on the fence.”
    Paco nodded and stepped away from the bunk. He let his fingers slip from the sheet. “There is a new boy here today. Have you seen him?”
    I nodded.
    “As long as you stand in no-man’s-land, the new boy will fight you. Each new boy. From my side, from Jack’s side. One after the other. That’s the way it is.”
    “Except for Caboose.”
    “That’s right. Except for Caboose.”
    He was silent for a moment. Finally he said, “I imagine Jack will make you another offer before the end of the week.”
     
    Fifteen minutes after Paco left, the new boy came into the room. He came up to our bunk and held out his hand. “I’m Chase,” he said.
    “Don’t waste your time, Chase. We’d both be makin’ it harder on ourselves.”
    He drew his hand back and looked confused.
    “You see Mr. Fraley?”
    He nodded.
    “You have any idea what he was talkin’ about?”
    Chase shook his head.
    “Well, you will soon enough. And I’m gonna help you out some since you’re just standin’ there. You’re gonna have a decision to make in the next couple of days. You better go Hell Hounds.”
    “Why?”
    “Choose Hound. That’s all you need to know.”
    “What’s Hound?”
    “Paco’s boys are Hounds.”
    “What about you?”
    “You’ll find out about me.”
    He studied me curiously.
    “You remember how to get to the rec room?”
    He nodded.
    “Go on. They’re waitin’ for you out there.”
    “Okay,” he said suspiciously. “I’ll see you around.”
    “Yeah, you will,” I said.

13
    Chase sat across from me during supper. “They asked me,” he said.
    I kept chewing and didn’t look at him.
    “Both sides,” he said.
    I swallowed. “Don’t let it go to your head.”
    “They say you have to claim.”
    “Yeah, they do.”
    He looked at Caboose. Caboose studied his