ABOVE THE INFLUENCE
11:15 A.M
"Hey! We're… Ziggy?" I stop in the doorway. Ziggy's backside is covered in whip marks. Not shallow ones, but deep ones. Lines of purple and blue.
"I'm ok. Just stop looking at me." He backs into a desk next to the door.
"Hey little man." Jackson speaks in a raspy voice. "Who did that to you?" No answer. "Who did that to you?"
"His old man." Lester moves away from the little group that formed in the corner. "See that's why he fell so hard when Armstrong wanted to send him home." He looks Jackson hard in the eye. "See what you did? Do you? DO YOU?"
"I'm just doing my job." Jackson takes a quick look down at his feet, then back up at Lester.
"Your job?" Lester questions.
"How could I have known that?" He gestures toward Ziggy.
"When did you ask? The first day? The first ten minutes you made up in your mind who we all were in that gymnasium." Lester backs away toward another desk behind him. RING! We all turn toward the telephone.
"Someone going to answer that?" I ask, pulling the T.V. behind me, as I enter the room. Lester hesitates before snatching it up. I make my way over to Lynn.
"What happened?" She looks at me then groans.
"Rodney and Rivers had a free for all. We tried pulling them apart, and they ripped Ziggy's shirt, thus revealing his scars." I only nod.
"WHAT WE WANT? WHAT WE WANT? Call later when I feel like answering you." Lester slams the phone down with a clash.
"Who was that?" Stephanie lays a hand on Lester's shoulder. He shrugs her off.
"Audrey McDonald. Department of Negotiations. She was asking us what we want."
"Well that's good." We all turn to her, some of us rolling our eyes.
"Um." Everyone turns their focus from her to me. "I leaned out the window of the media room, and there was a news truck."
"So." Rodney snickers at me.
"People are saying we're gang members on crack." Now it was my turn to kick something with my big toe. "I found a T.V."
"Plug it in." Rivers walks over to it, snatching the cord from my hand. Getting down on his hands and knees he searches for an outlet. Finding one, he starts pushing the cord in. "It's not going in. I'll have to fix the outlet." We gawk at him with question.
"You know how to do that?" Rodney pulls his hat over his eyes as he sits down on a chair.
"Yeah." Rivers sets to work, taking out a credit card, and undoing the screw. RING! The telephone rings again. This time Lester doesn't hesitate.
"Audrey?" On the other line, I can her mumbling. "Yeah this is Lester… who else is in here you have to figure out." He turns toward us. "What do you guys want?"
"Five Pizza's from Pizza Hut would be nice. I'm a little hungry." Ziggy finally speaks after a few minutes.
"Life insurance." Lynn sits down at a table and plays with a lighter.
"Martini. Shaken. Not stirred." Rivers commands as he fixes the outlet.
"Lester give the phone to me." Stephanie whispers behind him. "Lester." I look up at his face. He begins to sweat. I can tell he doesn't know what to do.
"Audrey y'know what ya can get me?" He shouts over everybody's voices. "My dad." With that he hangs up the phone. I glimpse at him with a sorry. Only a handful of people know that Lester's dad was killed by the NYP three months ago.