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.Keep you apprised what the world like.”Willie says he thinks he’ll steer clear of the bus station for a while; maybe go back down there the day Hell freezes over.“Won’t be any safer then,” Lacey says.“This jus’ ain’t a place for no Montana cowboy kid to run to.Don’t you see that yet?”“I can…see…that…with…one eye…swollen shut,” Willie says, “but…I’m here.” He glances up; Lacey looks real different than he did last night.He’s decked out in a silk shirt open to the chest and skin-tight pants, with jewelry on almost every finger and a big gold chain around his neck.Willie looks back to the car.“Got money for you ticket outta here right in my pocket,” Lacey says.“Best offer you gonna get in this town.”“Know…about…any jobs?” Willie asks.“…Anything.Cleaning…buses.Fast…food.”“Bus jobs all union shit,” Lacey says.“An’ you got to have a work permit even at McDonald’s.”“How about…I…work…for you?”“Doin’ what?”Willie smiles and says he could work three days a week just keeping Lacey’s car clean.He could fix up his house and yard; generally keep things up.It would only cost Lacey room and board, and as soon as something came up, Willie would move.Lacey starts to say no, but stops.“Might add some class to my act if I got me a servant boy,” he says.“Get you a little white jacket and a bow tie…”Willie says he’ll beg off on the jacket and bow tie, but he’ll work real hard and stay out of the way.He can’t believe it’s this easy; that Lacey is actually considering it.Lacey sits on the couch, seeming to think, then says, “I been thinkin’ ’bout this; I know you was gonna ask.You know I ain’t jus’ a bus driver.Bus driver jus’ be my cover.I deals in human relations.Management.You stay here, you got to keep you eyes an’ ears an’ mouth shut.Can you comprehend that?”Management, Willie thinks.Pretty funny.So he is a pimp.But Willie’s not about to get into a morals argument at this point.Something changed in him after last night, after he survived what he was sure was his last second on earth, and from now on Willie Weaver’s going to take whatever he has to take to survive.“I…don’t know…about…my eyes…and…ears,” he says, “but…by…the time…I…ever…get…anything said…to anybody…they…forget…what I’m…talking about.”“One thing,” Lacey says.“You stayin’ ’cause of a reason you don’t know, and I ain’t gonna be explainin’ it to you, so don’t go askin’.Can you comprehend that? Also, you goin’ to school.Don’t wanna be wonerin’ what you up to all day long.Got to keep outta my hair.”Willie will agree to anything, and he nods okay.CHAPTER 13Lacey’s car pulls up in front of the old school building and he flips the automatic gearshift into PARK.Willie stares out the tinted window at the building.A huge, colorful sign above the entrance announces the school’s name: OMLC High School.The rest of the building, with its steep roofs and pillared overhangs, looks like a medieval mansion about to be pulled flat by gravity.“What if…it…falls down…on…me?” he asks with a smile.“Get under you desk or some shit,” Lacey says back, without smiling.“Listen, this school don’t look like much, but I know some kids come out here with some tools, Chief.So don’t you go judgin’ by the paint job.You go in there an’ check it out.” Lacey calls him Chief now because of the mention of Crazy Horse on Willie’s cane.“Only…foolin’,” Willie says.He’s learning when to give Lacey a hard time and when to stay clear of him.It’s been a week now and Willie has worked hard for him.Lacey keeps his “management” business away from home, so there’s been nothing to deal with there, and Willie spends most of his time cleaning and making minor repairs he learned to make working around his own house with Big Will in better days.He’s smart enough not to get in Lacey’s way; smart enough to know Lacey has a real mean streak and the best thing to do is stay as far away from it as possible.He still hasn’t figured how Lacey came to let him stay and he doesn’t know how long it will last; he doesn’t ask.It’s the middle of the day and on the exterior the school appears deserted, but he walks through the entrance, hearing the familiar sounds of “business as usual.” He’s here for a pre-entry interview with the school’s director, a guy named André Porter, who Lacey claims owes him many favors.Willie hands André the required “résumé” he’s been working on the past few days, detailing what he wants from OMLC and what he believes he has to offer it in return for admittance.André is a tall, rangy black man, built like a racehorse, with long, graceful hands and an easy, reassuring manner that immediately puts Willie at ease.There is no trace of Lacey’s street dialect; this man sounds to Willie as if he were educated in Britain, though he has no English accent.“You did a good job with this,” he says, smiling, as he lays the paper on the table beside him.Willie nods.“Thanks.” He did do a good job, and was absolutely straight about the reasons he left home; crystal clear in his final statement that he was not going back to Montana; if he weren’t accepted into OMLC, he would enroll in public school.“Did Mr.Casteel tell you anything about our school?” André asks, leaning back in his swivel chair, fingers interlaced behind his head.“Only…that…it’s…a good one.”“Well, it’s a good one, but it’s a different one,” André says.“Basically we’re here for kids who aren’t making it in the public schools, for whatever reason.That means we’ve got kids with learning disabilities, kids with attitude problems, kids with drug and alcohol problems, and kids whose parents just want them to have more attention than they can get in a class of thirty-five students where at least fifteen are armed and dangerous.” He smiles.“You armed or dangerous?”Willie puts his arms out, palms up, and looks down at himself with a self-effacing shrug.“Guess not,” André says.“Now, about tuition.”Willie looks up in embarrassed silence and swallows.He thought Lacey had worked this part out.Damn it! Lacey knows he doesn’t have any money.“My best guess would be,” André goes on, “that Mr.Casteel told you I owe him big and my letting you in school here would be an infinitesimal beginning toward repayment.May have even told you he’s my cousin.”“Something…like that.” Willie guesses Lacey has referred other students here.André shakes his head in amusement.“Mr.Casteel has what we in the educational community refer to as ‘scrambled brains
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