Dignity's Worth

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

"He's coming," I told Mary as soon as the call was over, "why don't you get some rest? Here, lie down on the sofa."

"No." she replied, "I don't feel like sleeping. Hey, is that deer still out there?"

I opened the door to the backyard and saw that he was.

"Yeah. You wanna hang out with it?"

"I would love that."

I arranged a couple chairs outside and led her there. And then she sat there with the deer to keep her company while I waited inside the house for Sal to come.

About ten minutes later there was a knock on the door. I opened it and let Sal in. I then called Mary from the backyard. And the deer trailed along with her, for no apparent reason.

Sal looked at the animal in suspicion as soon as it came in.

"Don't worry," Mary laughed, "it doesn't understand English."

She's been surprisingly cheered up by now. It was as if nothing had happened.

"So what's the emergency?" asked Sal.

She had to explain the matter in short to him over the next five minutes, and by the time she was done both him and I had the exact same question in mind.

"Who's the guy?" I asked.

"I think his name's Martin." she answered, and a chill ran down our spines.

"Martin-" I stuttered, "Martin Giovanni?"

"Yeah. That's the one."

Sal and I exchanged glances.

"Goddamn it Alex," said he, "goddamn it. I ain't getting into this shit now. You can do whatever you want, but man I ain't getting involved."

"Sal, are you fucking crazy? This guy, this son of a bitch attacked Mary. He tried to put a bloody needle in her arm!"

"I know, but what're we gonna do, huh? Fucking kill him? We can't even go near the guy Alex, hurting him is something beyond our imaginations."

"Listen to me..."

"No you listen to me! You know nothing about the shit that goes on in school man. They do whatever they want to, and I mean no disrespect Mary, but this isn't the first time I've heard of an incident like this."

There was silence.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"What do you think I mean? He gets a new girl every month! Mary, you know what was in those syringes?"

She shook her head.

"It was heroin. You were goddamned right that it was a drug, but what you didn't know was that it was heroin. That's the worst of the lot, man. They've done this before. Three or four other girls I think. That's how they always do it. Approach a girl real quietly when no one's watching and jam the needle in her arm. And by the time they're done with her she's labelled either an addict or a slut. The Misty Crown fiasco? That was him, Alex. That was Martin. He was the one who got her hooked on the drugs."

Misty Crown was a girl who'd been expelled from our school for possession of narcotics, but only a small amount was ever found in her locker. She was expelled nonetheless, and everybody thought that was the end of it. But I guess it wasn't.

"Don't you see man?" he asked me now, "Don't you see what we're thinking of messing with here? Anything wrong happens to Martin, it goes to the High End. And those people ain't gonna think twice before doing away with your life."