Читать книгу The Pink House - Trish MacEnulty - Страница 18

Sunday June 18

Alice Jaybird sat in the dayroom, playing checkers when Sonya walked in. It was a Sunday afternoon and Sonya had just finished her shift in the kitchen. She caught Panther watching her through the glass before C.O. Barbie came out and gave Panther some housekeeping chores. C.O. Barbie couldn’t stand to see anyone not doing anything.

“Hey, friend,” Alice called to her. “Come over and play checkers with us.”

Sonya was taken aback. Growing up she had never had friends. She wasn’t allowed. The only person she was allowed to play with or confide in was her cousin, Maria.

“Don’t speak to anyone who isn’t family,” she was warned.

That left her mother, Dina, who often treated Sonya as if she were a toy, a doll to dress up and discard, or her father—a cold man whose fingers were glued to his money clip—or Ziggy, her brother, a pig-eyed boy who grew into a mean-hearted man. Or her cousin, Maria. Maria was okay as far as relatives go, but she didn’t understand Sonya, her longings, her secret thoughts and feelings. She would dismiss her with a shake of her head and say, “Sonya, you don’t make no sense.” As a teenager she had so often wished she had friends like the other girls did, friends for sleepovers and talking about boys.

She sat down beside Alice.

“Do you want me to get you a coke?” she asked Alice.

Alice gave her a strange look and said, “No way. You’re my friend, not my slave,” as if Alice knew that Sonya didn’t know much about friendship and Alice would have to teach her. Sonya smiled, leaned on her hand and watched the game.

After dinner there was a half hour free time when inmates were allowed to go hang around the recreation center or sit by the ball field. Sonya tagged along with Alice and Lucille. Lucille got called in to play a game of ping pong with Daffy and a couple of other women so Sonya and Alice sat down on a bench.

“This heat feels like someone stuffing rags down my throat,” Sonya said.

Alice shrugged and said, “I don’t mind it too much. We didn’t have air conditioning when I was growing up, but somehow sitting on the cool dirt under a chickee we managed to stay cool. We Indians are like that.”

“Well, we Polish have our tricks, too. We load ourselves into an SUV and drive to Montreal. That’s how we deal with it,” Sonya said.

“That’s not a bad way,” Indian said with that friendly laugh that made Sonya feel warm and relaxed. “So what do you think about the drama class?”

“It’s okay,” Sonya said. “I like those women—Lolly and Doc. Lolly is real nice, and that Doc sure is pretty, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, she is. You know, I get the feeling I’ve seen her before. And not just in some pizza commercial. It’s like I know her from somewhere.”

“You never knew anyone like that, Indian. How long you been locked up?”

“Twelve years, four months and 13 days,” Alice answered.

“Long time,” Sonya said. “Anyway, I really like the acting. I mean I’ve always been good at it, I guess, but never thought I could do something with it besides use it to steal from people.”

“You miss that life?” Alice asked.

“I miss my baby, Tomas,” Sonya said. “I miss him like I’d miss air if somebody sent me to the moon.”

“I never got to have a baby,” Alice said, sadly. “Hope I get out in time.”

Sonya looked at Alice as if seeing her for the first time. Her face had soft, rounded features. She had thick eyelashes and eyes that seemed as if they could see something far away, as if they could look past the fences and the razor wire and over the miles to a place that was wild and green.

**