Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 18:31:23 -0700 (PDT)
From: LZ
Subject: Never Say Never, Nothing Is Forever Chapter 16

     `About what?' I asked Lester when he announced that my
biological father wanted to see me.

     `How the fuck should I know?'

     `Tell him I'm busy.'

     `You're outta your fucking mind if you think I gonna
tell something like that to Ray Hoolihan. I give you the
message. You tell him yer busy.' He went down the block
toward Tenth.

     At the corner, Mike Leary, one of my stepfather's
hoodlum friends, pulled me aside. He told Cholito to beat
it, that I had to go with him.

     `What's he want?' I demanded.

     `Hey, boy. Your father wants to see you now. That's all
you gotta know. Now I gotta drag your ass to Forty-Sixth or
you coming like a kid's supposed when his old man calls
him.'

     Leary was reputed to be one of Hoolihan's enforcers, a
multiple murderer. He would have dragged me by my hair with
no worry about what others thought. I went peacefully.

     Lester was walking out as we went in. Hoolihan was
agitated when I arrived. `What the fuck's wrong with you,
Junior?' 'Why didn't you come when Lester told you?' He was
slouched across a sofa with a beer in his hand. There were
two other men in the room, one I'd never seen before. He
wasn't Irish. I guessed Italian.

     I was not intimidated. `I know what you want an' I
ain't gonna do that no more, any more.' Mr. Martinson had
taught me about double negatives. Ray Hoolihan didn't like
it either way.

     `You're gonna do what the fuck I tell you, boy!' He
took a deep breath and calmed down.  `You're gonna do one
more `cause this one's gonna set you up for life. Eleven
years old and set up for life, like getting adopted by Daddy
Warbucks. He laughed and looked at the others for approval
of his little joke. They obliged, even the Italian.

     `This job's been waiting over a year for somebody who
can do what you do easy. The man here,' he nodded toward the
Italian, `didn't like the idea of a kid but I told him how
special you was, how smart an' how straight you was. You get
five hundred dollars when it's done and I invest your share
with a legitimate company until you're twenty-one. I figure
it'll be worth half a million or more by then. So you're
gonna do this `cause it's right for you and your mother. We
understand each other?'

     Half a million dollars was a number too high for me to
comprehend. I saw it as the kind of money Bill must have
had. The five hundred dollars was another matter. I could
buy some serious stuff. No smelly cocks to suck or bullshit
stories to listen to. Greed took hold of me. Greed and the
realization that refusing this would likely cut off the
monthly money my mother was receiving.

     `First, tell me what I gotta do.'

     `That's the attitude! Think positive. It's ain't easy
but it ain't real complicated neither. You already know how
to open a safe and that's the hardest part. In a couple
hours, we go into a building just a few blocks from here. We
put you in a janitor's closet where you wait until after
nine when the cleaning people finish. You're gonna have a
flashlight and a watch that glows in the dark. You can't use
the flashlight until ain't nobody on the floor. You'll hear
`em go on the elevator. Then you climb into a air duct usin'
a rope set up we invented. Then you go about seventy five
feet straight, turn left and go seven feet. You pop open the
register,.'

     `What's a register?'

     `A square thing that covers the duct where it comes out
of the ceiling.'

     `What's a duct?'

     `Jesus, kid, don't you know nothin'? It's like a long
sheet metal tube, `bout wide as your shoulders and this
high.' He held his hand to indicate about ten inches. `Now
just listen. At the end of the duct it goes down to this
register that's on hinges. Under the duct, there's nothing
but the floor. You drop this rope and climb down it. Then
you clean up any dust and dirt got on anything when you got
outta the duct. Then you go to the safe. You got the
combination. You write down the number at the top of the
dial `cause you gotta put it back there. You open up the bag
for the gems you gonna take outta the safe. You open the
safe, quick take out all the black cloth bags inside and put
them into your bag. Close the safe and put the dial back
where it was. You tie up your bag and hustle back up the
rope into the duct. You close the register and listen. If
there ain't nobody coming on the elevator, you go back up
the duct stopping every few feet to listen. The safe's got a
alarm and the cops'll probably come. We figure ten, eleven
minutes and they're on your floor. When you hear the
elevator, you stop until everybody leaves then wait half a
hour more before you go back to the closet. You take off the
dirty clothes and wash up in the sink they got there. It's
big enough you can stand right in it and wash real good. In
the morning at nine thirty, you walk out with the gems on
your back. We gonna give you everything you need, even extra
clothes and food so don't worry.

     `I know it's a lot to remember but we got it all writ
down an' you got your little flashlight to read it. Ain't no
hurry `cept when you open the safe but even then you got ten
minutes to close the door and get back into the duct. So you
can take your time and be sure you do it right. The other
alarms are on the doors and windows but you don't gotta go
near them.'

     `I can't be in the dark that long.'

     `Shit, boy. You ain't gonna be the dark all that long.
Mosta the time you're gonna be in that big closet. It's got
a big ass window over the door gonna be lit up by the lights
in the hall until the people go down on the elevator. Then
you got your little flashlight an' all them batteries.
Anyhow, you ain't s'posed to be afraid a nuthin'.  Nobody
makes the kinda money you gonna make tonight without havin'
to do somethin'.

     `Tonight?'

     "Yeh, tonight. Youse staying with us from now until
tomorrow when it's all done. You got a hour to learn and
practice, then we go. I already went personal to the bar and
told your mother you're with me and my family `til tomorrow.
She said okay. I got nice clothes from your house you gotta
change into now. You change back into your school clothes to
go through the duct. Then you change back again after
washing off. So let's get practicin'.'

     Greed battled with worry about being in the dark and
getting caught. It was very complicated. Even with
everything written down I could make some mistake that would
get me caught. This was big time crime. Kids doing this kind
of crime did big time. I laughed at myself over the rhymes.
Kids doing this kind of crime did big time. I was getting
good as John.

     They had a section of the type of duct I'd have to get
through over the room I had to enter. It had a similar
square register. It was easy to open but more difficult to
close. I had to pull it up straight and not too hard for it
to snap closed properly. My instructor did it two times
slowly, explaining what to do step by step. Once I
understood how it worked, it wasn't really all that hard.

     I learned how to climb the rope that had loops for my
feet. A two foot long piece of pipe was tied to one end. The
pipe was to be placed over openings to anchor the rope when
I was climbing up or down. I was given Pepsi from the
refrigerator.

     I remembered my date with Bill and Cholito the
following morning at nine. 'I gotta use a telephone.'

     'No you don't,' answered the Italian. I stared at him
angrily. 'No, you don't,' he repeated. He scared me far more
than my biological father ever had. I didn't ask again and
thought about what to tell Bill and Cholito. Then I thought
about escape, just running away from these people. Screw the
money Hoolihan gave my mother every month. I could go back
to hustling some, maybe even teach Cholito how. But, five
hundred dollars was a lot of money. In the end, I found it
easier to stay.

    In reality, I accepted having to do the burglary for
three reasons: fear of what they'd do to me if I tried to
back out including no more monthly payments to my mother,
the thought of that five hundred dollars, and a returning
romantic pride at being considered capable and trustworthy
enough to be called on to do the job, to be considered even
in a small way a Westie. Anyway, this was to be my last
crime. Five hundred dollars plus the two hundred or more I
had in my stashes and what Bill gave me would take care of
me for a long time. Money promised ten years hence meant
very little to me. Twenty-one was a long way off for an
eleven year old.

     At four thirty, dressed in my best clothes, I was
dropped off with one of Hoolihan's men a block from our
target. We entered an old building and took the elevator to
the seventh floor. Twenty feet from the elevators, after
checking that no one saw me, I walked calmly into the
janitor's closet and went to the back where I was to hide
inside a large canvas laundry basket under what appeared to
be some kind of sheets but were really the painters' drop
cloths. One set of gloves went on immediately. I wore the
radium dial watch and in my pockets carried a small
flashlight, three spare sets of batteries, my instructions
and the combination to the safe. They were not to be used
until the halls went dark and then not until I was sure
everyone had left on the elevators or stairs. About fifteen
minutes later, a suitcase was pushed inside the door. I put
it in the rear of the room. It contained my school clothes,
the two ropes, the pipe, two sets of gloves, a bunch of
rags, a cloth bag with a string tie, food and a spare
flashlight. I checked out the register to the duct I would
enter later. I looked exactly like the one I had practiced
on.

     Now came the hard part: waiting for at least four
hours. It turned out to be five. The cleaning ladies came
into the room more times than I could count to clean out
mops and gossip. They had plenty of nasty things to say
about the Jewish owners of the offices on that floor. It
passed the time listening. Finally, at nearly nine o'clock,
they left some of their things in the closet and took the
rest in a cart to the elevator, turned off the hall lights
and left

     I immediately pushed my way out from under the heavy
fabric and turned on the flashlight. Hunger was my first
concern so I ate a ham and cheese sandwich and drank half a
bottle of the Seven Up I'd requested. Hunger sated, I got to
work. First, I changed into my school clothes. With the
flashlight between my teeth, I removed the pipes, rope,
rags, gloves and cloth bag from the suitcase and put in my
good clothes. The two pieces of pipe had to be screwed
together and slipped through a loop the rope. The loop had
to be tightened. The rope had eight inch loops tied into it
every foot so it could be climbed like a ladder. The laundry
basket with the suitcase on top of the drop cloths and a
heavy oval shaped bucket upside down on top of the suitcase
got me high enough to open the register. I pushed the pipe
into the main duct above and tested the rope. It would
easily hold me. That done, I put the bucket, suitcases and
basket back in their places.

    The rags and the second pair of gloves went into my
shirt, the written instructions and safe combination into my
back pants pocket. The cloth bag went inside my shirt. I
climbed the rope to the pipe and pulled myself up into the
main duct hitting my head on the sheet metal.

     `Fuck! Fuck!' I muttered but regained my hold and
pulled myself in.

    The register had to be pulled closed so I slid backward
until my arm came free and I could reach down to pull it up.
The next part was far more unpleasant than I'd imagined.
Thick dust was everywhere. I pushed the looped rope and pipe
ahead of me, dislodging great amounts of the stuff, which I
was forced to breathe in or suffocate. I tried going slower.
It helped.

    The third left opening was mine. I pushed the looped
rope inside the narrower duct and put the pipe across the
opening to act as an anchor for the rope. It was necessary
to slide the pipe back away from the opening to get my butt
and head inside. The branch section was so low I had to turn
my head sideways to avoid scooping up dirt in my nose. My
ass scraped against the top of the duct all the way. Moving
was very slow as I had to virtually wiggle my way forward
while pulling on the side walls with my hands.

     It took as long to move those final seven feet as the
entire seventy-five foot length of the main duct. Finally, I
reached the drop to the room with the safe. The looped rope
fell ahead of me into the hole. I reached down and popped
open the register. The next step was tricky and required
pure muscle power. I had to go head first, hand over hand
down the rope until my rear cleared the opening in the
ceiling. I then slowly flipped over and slid down into the
room feet first. Pure circus.

    Enough light came through the windows that I wouldn't
need the flashlight except to open the safe.

     As instructed, I pulled the rags from inside my shirt
and cleaned up all the dust and debris that had fallen into
the room from the duct. There was far less than I had
expected but dust fell off me every step I took. The safe
stood tall a few feet away against an inside wall. I took
the cloth bag out of the knapsack. My watch read nine fifty-
five. Once I opened the safe, I had nine minutes to clean up
the dust falling off me and get back into the duct with the
register closed. I was sure dust would still be falling off
when I went up the rope. I needed to get rid of it.

     Hoolihan had told me that the doors and windows had
alarms. There was another way. With a trashcan along side, I
lay out the rags on the floor and jumped up and down over
them, brushing myself all over to remove any loose debris.
It made a mess but mostly on the rags. I took some crumpled
papers out and emptied the dirt from the rags into the trash
can. After wiping my sneakers off, I cleaned up the floor
and again shook the dust into the trash can. I looked around
for any sign of my presence. There was none, I replaced the
papers in the trashcan and put it back where I'd found it.

     I checked the number at the top of the safe's dial,
seventy-two. The five turn, four number combination opened
it easily. There were six black bags all with what looked
more like pebbles to me that diamonds. I took all the bags
out and closed the door turning the dial back to seventy-
two. The gem bags went into the cloth bag. I pulled the cord
tight and knotted it to the end of the rope. I wiped the
floor once more as I returned to the rope then stuffed the
rags into my shirt. My feet and hands went into the loops.
As close to the opening as possible, I gripped the rope
again like a circus artist, tucked and turned myself over
until my feet were under the opening. I stretched my legs
into the duct and pulled myself backward and upward. My body
was too close to the branch side of the duct and I my legs
jammed. I released my lower hand and pushed away,
lengthening my angle of entry. It took all my strength to
pull myself inside. The ropes with the gems had to come
inside the duct so I could reach down and close the
register. I was sweating again, heavily. Worry that it might
fall off my face and drip on the floor below motivated me to
wrestle myself back into the tight duct. I stopped for a
moment to rest and listen for the elevators. There wasn't a
sound beyond my breathing.

    I began wiggling and pushing back toward the main duct,
towing the rope with bag full of gems. Halfway up the narrow
branch duct, I thought I heard something and stopped. Again,
there was silence. I started to wriggle then heard the
clanking of the elevator machinery. My feet were in the main
duct. A few feet more and my head would be free. I pushed
hard while listening for the elevator sound to stop. My head
came free just as the doors opened. I lay absolutely still,
breathing with my mouth wide open in an attempt to decrease
the sound. Voices and footsteps filled the corridor. At
least two persons ran away from where I was while others
walked rapidly in my direction. I heard keys then the sound
of a lock being opened. Lights went on that reflected up
into the branch.

    `Safes closed,' a male voice said.

    `What number's the dial on?' asked another.

    Momentary silence. `Seventy, uh, seventy-two.'

    `How long `til the lab's here.'

    `Ten, fifteen minutes.'

    `All right, let's get outta here and check the area.'

    There was little talking until the elevator brought up
more people, twice. They murmured among themselves but
mostly said little. I listened for the word duct or register
but didn't hear it. There was a continuous opening and
closing of doors and plenty of footsteps. Several times I
used my flashlight to check the time. They didn't start to
leave for two hours and forty minutes. The lights didn't go
off until twenty minutes later.

    The last voices I heard said, `I hate false alarms. I
coulda been at the precinct getting my paperwork done and
catching some Z's.'

    `And now we got this to write up.'

    The elevator doors opened, footsteps entered, the doors
closed, the elevator whined. Now, I had to wait for half an
hour to make sure no one was still below or came back up. My
watch read one oh five. I couldn't move until one thirty
five. I tried to relax and think about what Cholito and I
could do with five hundred dollars during the summer. The
beach was a sure thing, the beach at Coney Island. Then
there was Hershey Pennsylvania that Bill mentioned. And lots
of great sex!

     When the time was up, I strained my ears for anything
that might have indicated human presence below. There was
nothing. I started backward toward the janitor's closet,
dragging the rope and gems. After seven or eight minutes, I
felt my feet fall into the opening above the closet. I
raised up so I could drop my legs into the down duct. My
feet touched the register. A slight nudge opened it. I put
the pipe over the lower duct and dropped the rope though,
diamonds and all. I looked forward to rinsing my mouth of
the dust I'd breathed in. I felt the fresh air as I climbed
down into the closet. The light went on. A man's voice said,
`It's a kid, a fuckened kid!'

     Three policemen, guns drawn and pointed at me stood on
three sides.