Dollar Bill by Joy Read Free Book Online Page B

prison for a crime that she had committed, then she had to speak up now.
    Tommy removed her ball cap, balled it up, and stuffed it into the pocket of her oversized White Sox jacket. She and Dollar stared down one another like cowboys at a high noon shootout. In this case, though, no matter who let off the first round and no matter who was left standing, there would be no victor.
    Tommy took a deep breath and spoke, “No, Your Honor. There’s no problem.”
    Tommy quickly walked down the aisle way to the exit door. The door closed slowly on its hinges until she could feel it hit her back. As Tommy stood there while her eyes welled with tears, she heard Dollar’s voice speak the words, “Guilty, Your Honor.” Dollar confirmed, “I plead guilty.”
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    â€œYo, Dollar Bill,” Ed, the coolest CO in the joint, shouted to Dollar. “She’s back, man. What to do?”
    â€œYou know what to do,” Dollar replied as he kept his face buried into this novel being passed around the joint titled Gangsta by this kid named K’wan. “I’m refusing the visit.”
    It had been five years since Dollar was sentenced to prison. It had been five years of his mother making attempts to visit him. Every month, Auntie Charlene, against her better judgment, drove her to Ohio, where Dollar was doing his bid, in hopes that Dollar would change his mind and join her in the visiting room. Dollar wouldn’t pour salt into her wound by allowing his mother to ever see him caged.
    Dollar had written his mother a ten-page letter apologizing and explaining why he couldn’t bear to see her. Dollar wrote to his mother that if anyone asked about her eldest boy that she was to say he was dead. The same message was passed along to his brother. Life in prison, he might as well be dead.
    Klein stopped trying to visit Dollar in jail a long time ago. He knew Dollar better than anybody did. When Dollar had made up his mind, there was no changing it.
    Dollar wanted his mother and brother to continue life without the worry of him. He assured them that he could take care of himself and that they were to forget that he ever existed. There was nothing they could do for him while he was behind bars, so they need not waste time.
    Although not having his big brother around hurt, Klein didn’t sacrifice his education, something he had worked so hard toward. He continued schooling; as a matter of fact, he graduated high school a year early. Klein missed the hell out of Dollar, but now he was all their mother had. He had to be strong and move on, just like when their father left them.
    Being sentenced to prison forever, forever ever, forever ever, was hard for Dollar too. He couldn’t conceive trying to go on, especially knowing the hurt that he was causing his loved ones. The day the gate that separated him from freedom closed behind him was the day he considered both his mother and brother dead. That was easiest for him.
    For some people locked up, it was their loved ones on the outside who kept them going, but not Dollar. He programmed himself to erase them from every seed of his soul. He had even gone as far as returning every single letter that anyone, including his mother and brother, had written him. Dollar waited for the month his mother would obey his wishes and cease her attempts to visit him.
    Dollar hadn’t communicated with his mother in years. Years, decades, or even centuries, though, could not have dissolved the deep-seated love and bond Dollar had with his mother.
    â€œSo, you plan on living the rest of your life not seeing your mama?” Ed asked.
    â€œThis ain’t living, man,” Dollar replied with his back against the cell bars as his eyes scrolled the lines of Gangsta.
    â€œI guess you got me on that one,” Ed said, walking away, allowing Dollar to continue reading his book.
    Just like every other cat who gets jail time, Dollar spent his days pushing