Parker 01 - The Mark by Jason Pinter Read Free Book Online

might get points for good behavior. So I auditioned for a Kentucky Williams’s play called The Glass Menagerie. ”
    “Tennessee Williams,” I corrected.
    “What’s that?”
    “Nothing. Go on.”
    “So I audition for the part of the ‘Gentleman Caller.’ A week later the director, this big cholo named Willie who’s in for double homicide, tells me I got the part. The gentleman’s real name is Jim O’Connor, but the audience don’t really know him by that. So we’re rehearsing three hours a day, really busting our asses. At first things are kinda jokey, you know, ’cause we have guys playing the part of girls. So in the play, I’m supposed to go out with this girl, Laura—played by my buddy Ralph Francisco. Even go so far as to kiss Ralph on the cheek. Laura’s a cripple who’s been waiting her whole life for something good to happen, and spends her whole time polishing these little glass animals. So she finds out my character’s engaged, and it just kills her. Soon as I walked off stage opening night, I busted out crying. We did four shows. The first three were for the general population, but the last one we did it in front of five hundred people from the outside. I’m talking wives, parents, children. It was the best night of my life.”
    Luis’s voice was soft, but the emotion was unmistakable. He dabbed at his eyes, took another sip of water, then continued.
    “Anyway, this play, it’s about what you want and what you can’t have. Made me think about why I was inside in the first place. I always wanted something I couldn’t have, and then when I thought I had it, turns out it was nothing but bullshit. That’s my most vivid memory, Mr. Henry.”
    For a half hour, Luis poured his heart out to me. He laughed, cried, but never asked me to turn the tape off. I learned how he met Christine at a Harlem poetry reading after his release. How she was knitting clothing for a child they hadn’t yet conceived. That he worked as a security guard and pulled in $23,000 a year, before taxes. I learned that he was the happiest man in the world because he was supporting the woman he loved under a roof he paid for.
    When he mentioned the apartment, a small chime went off in my head. Christine didn’t work. The apartment, I estimated, based on my own home’s pitiful dimensions, was a solid thousand square feet, at least. Not bad for a guy barely above the poverty line.
    At six-thirty, Luis stood up and clicked off the tape recorder.
    “And now I need to get ready for my appointment.” I stood up as well. He took my hand and ground more meta-carpals into powder.
    “Thanks, Luis, it’s been a pleasure.”
    “All mine, Mr. Henry. So, Henry wants to write newspaper stories. Well, I wish you all the best of luck.”
    As I left I watched Luis close the door, his eyes disappearing as the bolt latched home. Right before it closed I saw that fear again. And saw there was more to this man than even Jack O’Donnell knew.

     
    Sitting in the back of a Greek diner, shoveling souvlaki into my mouth, I listened to the tape of Luis’s interview. Tomorrow I’d transcribe it for Wallace and Jack, highlighting the best parts. This was my chance to prove I could hunt with the big boys. Jack O’Donnell, a living legend of the newsroom, would review my work for his story. There was some great stuff on the tape. But the more I listened, I couldn’t help but listen to the trembling in Luis’s voice. Something was eating at him while we talked.
    The more Luis spoke in that quivering tone, I knew he was holding back. He’d lied about the doctor’s appointment—hell, I’d done the same thing to get out of work before—but Luis was dressed to the hilt, like he was preparing for a wedding or a funeral. And I didn’t buy for a second that he could afford that apartment on $23,000 a year. There was more to this man than what I’d caught on tape.
    I needed to know more, to pry out of Luis Guzman what caused the fear behind that