IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! REVIEW PLEASE! I'm not lying.

"Dally, can I ask you something?" Johnny asked curiosity clear in his voice.

"Matters what that something is, Johnnycake," Dally finished with a half smile.

"The story of your first time in jail."

"Well you ask me questions and I'll answer them," Dally said leaning back onto the grassy lot.

Johnny pondered his thoughts for a minute before finally asking, "Why were you in jail?"

"Minor robbery."

"What made you rob?"

"Two friends, both of 'em older than me. Tony and Jason were hungry and on patrol so they sent me in to do the dirty work."

"How much older?"

"I was ten, Tony was fifteen, and Jason was fourteen."

"Did they end up in jail?" Johnny was now perched on the edge of the rock he decided to sit on intently absorbing every word that came out of Dally's mouth.

"Yes, the cashier called the cops on us. I got thrown in and they did too."

"What were you trying to take?"

"Just a little beef jerky. We were so hungry. It was January and freezing in the streets. Snow lined everything and footprints were covered in just minutes."

"How long were you all locked up for?"

"I got a week since it was my first felony. Tony and Jason got a year since they were already on patrol. You're not supposed to rob during patrol," Dally said with a far away look in his eyes.

"What were you thinking the whole time?"

Dally chuckled a bit then answered the question, "I was mesmerized as I walked into the store, I tried to remember every little detail of that night. I still can picture the look on that guy's face when I started taking stuff and heading to the door."

"What did you think in jail?"

"I wanted out in the beginning. After a day I made a friend who was in there for murdering his pop. I was scared, but refused to show it."

"Murder? I'm never gonna kill someone."

"Murder. He never got out either. He was sixty-eight when I first met him. He told me not to ever go to jail again. He mentored me while I was there."

"A murderer mentored you?"

"He showed me around and gave me the lay of the land. He helped me get more food at lunch and dinner, told me who I was to avoid, and the crazies. Without him I would have gotten beaten to a pulp. I was only ten, Johnny. I wasn't my same badass self then."

Johnny asked still laughing from Dally's comment, "Did you know anyone there?"

"There were Tony and Jason, then a few other guys I knew. Gin and Tonic, they were twins that always got arrested for public intoxication," Dally chuckled at this remembering the twins sloppily walking into Tony's house and puking on his floor, then passing out.

"What was the cell like?"

"Cold, impersonal. A few people carved their names and dates into the walls, but it didn't do anything for the décor. It's not just a block, it screams out the stories of other inmates, but it was haunting."

"Do you hate jail now?"

"I thought I didn't ever want to go back, but it doesn't kill me. I don't care it hardened me and removes emotions. Johnny, I'd rather go to jail than you."

"Dally, you do have feelings and emotions," Johnny said smiling. Dally flashed one in return and held his hand up for a high-five. Johnny happily jumped off the big rock in the lot and slammed his hand against the fifteen-year-old Dally's saying, "Dally I wanna be like you."

"No you don't Johnny, you're thirteen. You have a life ahead of you."