Trash Read Free

money?’
    ‘Bits and pieces. Nothing valuable, but—’
    ‘What kind of crime?’ I said. ‘How’s it gonna help you solve a crime? Is it a murder?’
    The policeman smiled at me some more. He looked at Gardo too. ‘I don’t even think it will,’ he said. ‘But we got to give it our best shot.’ He was looking at me hard again, and Gardo’s arm was right round me. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’
    Then the policemen climbed back into their car and drove on, and we made sure we stood right up close to show we weren’t afraid, and we made sure we ran with the car and waved. Now, Behala’s full of little neighbourhoods just like ours. The shacks we live in grow up out of the trash piles, bamboo and string, piled upwards – it’s like little villages in amongst the hills. We watched the car, rocking over the ruts and holes, the lights going up and down. If they wanted to talk to everyone, they’d have to make the same speech ten times.
    Later on, my auntie came close and said, ‘Why are you telling lies, Raphael Fernández?’
    ‘I found a wallet,’ I said. ‘I gave you what I found – why did you say that to them?’
    She came close and she spoke quietly. ‘You found the bag, didn’t you? You tell me now.’
    ‘No,’ I said. ‘I found money.’
    ‘Why did you say a shoe? Why did you not tell the truth?’
    I shrugged, and tried to be sly. ‘Ma, I thought they might want the wallet back,’ I said.
    ‘Money in a wallet? Where’s the wallet now?’
    ‘I’m going to get it! I just didn’t want to speak up in front of everyone, everyone looking right at me, and—’
    ‘You found the wallet in a bag? You can’t lie to me.’
    ‘No!’ I said. ‘No.’
    She looked at me hard again, and shook her head. ‘You gonna get us into a lot of trouble, I think. Whose wallet was it? People always have a name, and if you—’
    ‘I just took the money,’ I said. ‘I’ll throw the damn thing away right now.’
    ‘You give it to the police.’
    ‘Why? It’s not what they’re looking for, Ma. I didn’t find a bag.’
    ‘Oh, boy,’ she said. ‘Raphael. What I’m thinking is, if they’re throwing money around to get that something back, you don’t want to be caught messing about with it. I am serious, Raphael. If you found anything like the thing they’re wanting, you need to give it up – first thing in the morning, when they’re back.’
    Gardo ate with us. He often did, just as I often ate with him and his uncle. I spent the night at his, just as he spent the night at ours – I’d wake up forgetting which place I was in and who was under the blanket with me. Anyway,just as we finished, the police car came back, big and black, and drove right out of the gates.
    We watched it go.
    I couldn’t believe Auntie had said what she said. I knew she’d had problems with the police before, on account of my father, and I guess she had some feeling, even then, that things were going to get complicated. I think she wanted to stop it all there, all at once – but I still say she was wrong. It was one of the things that made leaving easier.
    I went up to my house, Gardo following. We live high, compared to many. Two rooms built out of truck pallets, with plastic and canvas holding it fast, and it’s stacked over three families below. You go up three stepladders to get to it. First, the bit where Auntie and my half-sister sleep, and beyond that’s another little box, about the size of a sheet. That’s where me and my cousins go, and Gardo too when he’s with us. My cousins were in there now, snoring away, and all around was the noise of neighbours’ chatter and laughter, and radios, and someone calling.
    I moved one of the cousins along, and we got close in to the side, where I store my things. It’s a crate that beer came in, and it’s up on one side. I’ve got a spare pair of shorts, another two T-shirts and a pair of slippers. I’ve also got my little spread of treasures, like all the boys do.