Acre Under a Green Sky

Luka was already waiting alone in the visitors room when we arrived. He was seated at his usual table; smoking. The dankness of the cavernous room made me shiver. The black stone walls were sweating, and once again, the only light came from the row of windows high up along one wall.

I bolted from my father's side and ran for Luka. Luka rose to his feet and held his hands up over his head. I wrapped my arms around his waist, and said, "We have to talk. Just us."

"Whoa! Whoa, boy!" Luka said, still holding his hands up and away from me. Why wasn't he embracing me back? Then I saw he was shielding me from his lit cigarette. It was a smoker's reflex. Any sudden motion in their direction and the cigarette hand flies out of the way. Luka reached around me and put his cigarette out in the dented ashtray –– then his arms enfolded me hard.

"Now, what are you going on about?" Luka said, but he was watching my father as he approached us. I looked from one to the other and could see my chances dwindling. My father's footfalls were like a dirge in my heart.

"We have to talk," I insisted.

"Right. Right," Luka said.

When at last my father was standing opposite us, he patted his own stomach, and said, "Looking pretty good here!"

"What?" Luka said, "Oh, yeah. Hard, too," and Luka punched himself to illustrate.

Only then did I notice that Luka's pants were deeply pleated at the waist with safety pins to keep them up. Had Luka really lost so much weight? Maybe he was sick? No, he looked fit enough, but clearly the belly was gone; a good three inches of it by the look of his pants.

"Notice anything else?" Luka said, extending both arms as far apart as possible.

"You're a trustee already?"

"As good as!"

"Now, why doesn't that surprise me?"

"You don't have handcuffs on," I said, finally getting it. I turned around and saw there was not a sign of the guard usually stationed at the door leading back to the cells. Luka was as good as free, and why shouldn't he be? It was impossible not to like Luka.

"Any news about the McConnell sister?" Luka said.

"None, I'm afraid. Sit down."

I turned on my father and said, "I was here first. I want to talk to Luka alone."

My father hesitated with a look to Luka.

Luka returned my father's look. Then he grabbed me by both shoulders and said, "Later, okay? I promise before you go, we'll have a little sit-down just the two of us, okay?"

"But I got to you first?"

Luka ignored the logic of my argument and turned back to my father.

"When are they going to let me outta here?" he said.

My father sat across from where Luka was still standing and opened his briefcase. He pulled out his pads and pencils and arranged them on the table; one for Luka and one for him. Then he pulled the ID bracelet from his jacket pocket and laid it daintily on the yellow pad on Luka's side of the table.

"Do you want to try this again?" my father said.

Luka stared down at it for what seemed a very long time before taking his seat. He could not look my father in the eyes. I put my arm around Luka's shoulder and nestled in closer to him.

"Well," my father prompted him.

Luka gave me a look and lowered his head. My father indicated with a jerk of his head that I should get lost. I looked to Luka for confirmation, and he dismissed me with a look. I sulked away and sat two tables away from them.

"How much do you know?" Luka said.

"You lied to me. Do you have any idea what that means? One lie could cost you your life. That's all it takes. But I have to ask myself what other lies you've told. Has it all been a lie?"

"No, I swear!" Luka said, and this time his eyes were direct and true.

"Maybe you're just a brilliant liar."

Luka grabbed the bracelet and held it out to my father in the palm of his hand, "This is bullshit! This has nothing to do with us," and Luka tilted his hand and the bracelet poured out and onto the table like liquid gold.

"One little lie, and you are the greatest liar God ever made. They'll have the jury doubting your name."

"It's bullshit, man. I'm telling you."

"Not to me, it isn't. And certainly not to the State."

"You mean the cops know?" Luka said.

"I told them."

"Holy shit! I thought you were on my side!"

"And who the fuck is on my side?!"

"It was between them –– Gwen and Joe. It was none of my business. I didn't want any part of it," Luka said as he absentmindedly picked up the bracelet and started toying with it. "She loved this thing. It meant a lot to her. God, we tore the house apart looking for it. And no one looked harder than Marilyn, and here she had it stashed in that baton the whole time; that little thief. I nearly shit my pants when you dropped it on me. Thought I'd seen the last of it."

"You knew Joe gave it to her?"

"Sure I did. It didn't mean anything. It was all part of that Bible-thumpin' shit she was into. I went to one of those meetings up on The Hill. Self-righteous bastards all dying for a drink and scared shitless someone's gonna find out they quit. Lying to cover up. It was crazy. It didn't make sense. Gwen telling people she can't drink cause she's on a diet. Christ, she never lied about drinking so why all of a sudden is she lying about quitting? But, oh no, it was some deep, dark secret like they were Commies or something."

"You went to one of those meetings?"

"Yeah, they dragged me up there one night. What the hell! I'll try anything once."

"What did you think?"

"I thought the cover charge was too high."

"You didn't mind Gwen going?"

"It wasn't gonna last. Gwen likes a good time too much. They don't laugh up there. You gotta leave your sense of humor at the door. It's no fun at all. Nothing a good round of drinks couldn't fix. But I guess it's all right for some. But not my Gwenny. She woulda caught on in time."

"Funny!"

"What?"

"I was just thinking –– not drinking seems to have done you a lot of good."

"Hey! Never felt better in my life! But don't get me wrong; jail is jail. Whether it's here or up there on The Hill. I fall asleep at night dreaming about the party we're gonna have at the Royal when this thing is over. And Gwen will be with me again. Her stool right next to mine like old times, remember?"

Luka's eyes were brimming with tears, and his voice choked with emotion. He fondled the bracelet, and said, "She was a good kid!"

"Joe says she was going to dump you."

"Yeah, I know. That's the thing about these people –– if you're not singing their song, you're outta the choir. They're like that, you know. As long as there's one person out there having a good time, they're just not right with God or something. But I guess you know all about that from Nora."

"Nora?"

"You didn't know? Oh, sure. Gwen started in on her, too. In fact, it was that day at the picnic. Gwen starts preachin' the gospel to Nora. Now, I got to tell you, that did piss me off. I mean, preachin' to Nora right in the middle of a party!"

"Nora knew about all this?!"

"Oh no, I'm sorry, no. Not about Joe and the church business. Gwen just said maybe Nora was drinking too much, and did she ever think she might want to quit –– stuff like that. Gwen used to say, 'You know, you don't have to drink,' –– like it was some big news or something."

My father started gathering his things and stuffing them into his briefcase. He was pissed about something. I was afraid for Luka, so I rushed over to stand by him.

"So when do I get outta here?" Luka said.

"You don't," my father said, rising to his feet, "The trial goes on as scheduled. The word has come down from Harrisburg. Bradley's got to try this case now. Get it over with. No delays. No dropping the charges till later. So, unless the real killer walks into the Waterstop Police Station and confesses, we go on in two weeks."

"But he killed that McConnell woman! What about that?"

"That is a gift from God."

My father was shocked by his own words.

"So what's wrong? What have I done?"

"Nothing. It's nothing. I have to go. That's all."

I grabbed at Luka's shirt.

"It's my turn now," I said, but nobody was listening.

"Look, I'm sorry Gwen did like she did with Nora. It was wrong, like I said, and I told her so."

"Forget it," my father said.

"Well then, what is it? You all of a sudden got a bug up your ass. What's wrong?"

Luka was on his feet, too, and I was tugging at his shirt the whole time; saying, "It's my turn now. It's my turn now."

My father grabbed my hand away from Luka's shirt and pulled me toward him. I yanked my hand out of his grasp and shouted, "No! I'm going to live with Luka! You might as well know it."

Almost simultaneously, Luka was saying, "It was none of my business, Josh. What those two did up there on The Hill was none of my business."

I'm not sure my father heard either one of us. He was reaching for my hand, but I kept pulling away from him. He was getting more and more angry.

"I'm not going to live with you anymore," I shouted, "I'm going to live with Luka."

He heard that.

"What are you talking about?" he said with that tooth-ache-grimace on his face.

"As soon as Luka get's out, I'm moving into his house. And he wants me to. Ask him if he doesn't?"

"Good God!" my father said finally getting hold of my wrist, "You're talking nonsense!"

He was pulling and pulling at me. I grabbed Luka's pant leg with my free hand and held on for dear life.

"I am not. I am not. You hit my mother!"

My father released his grip, and I fell to the floor. He turned his back on us and walked a good six paces away before stopping with his head bowed. Luka pulled me up from the floor and cradled me in his arms. That got me crying.

"What the fuck is this?!" Luka said.

"He hit my mother."

"Okay, okay. I'm sure he didn't mean to."

"I'm going to live with you. I'll take care of you. You're going to need me over there."

"Well, that's a swell idea. Do you cook?"

"We'll eat at the Royal."

"Sounds good to me, but you'll have to get a job."

"I'll work with you. You can teach me."

"Jesus! You got it all worked out."

"So, it's okay? I can move in with you?"

"Sure, I guess so. What about Danny and Baby Ruth? Are they coming, too?"

"Just me."

"And you won't miss them?"

"They're right across the street, for Christ's sake!"

"Yeah, you're right. Practically living with us now."

"So we're all set, right?"

"What about your Mom and Dad? This'll break their hearts."

"They don't care."

"You know that's not true. They won't give you up without a fight. Your Mom would tear my house down to get at you. And I'm not about to take her on. And you know your Dad would have the cops after me. You wanna see me back in jail?"

"'Course not."

"If someone took my kids away..."

I could feel Luka stiffen like every muscle in his body turned to stone. Then he started gulping air. He was swallowing air. Finally, he took a deep breath and said, "You couldn't hurt them like this if they didn't love you. That's the idea, right? To make them pay? You're acting like a little baby?

"I am not!"

"You don't know how lucky you are. Now, you go and apologize to your father."

"No."

"Now, go on. Get going."

"I will not!"

"Then I can't have anymore to do with you," Luka said, and he pushed me away.

I felt my throat freeze like a choke. I looked at my father's back. I could feel Luka's eyes on me. I began walking.

"That's right," Luka said softly.

I walked straight past my father and out the door.