It was getting cold as the three of them sat in the small tent. Mom had been given the tent and two sleeping bags at the church. Not having a real source of heat is what made it seem colder. Chuck sitting to the side of the tent, was thinking about the business some of the fellows was planning for tonight. He pulled on a second pair of pants and another shirt to stave off the cold. The weather man said the temperature should drop.
“The guys said it should give each of us about $500.00 a piece for the night. It’s suppose to be a real easy score. Nobody would get hurt. I think one of the guards is in on the deal.” Chuck said to himself as he got ready to leave. “I hope Mom doesn’t find out about my part of the deal. She would get so mad. She might even refuse to take the money. Mom is funny that way. She won’t take any money that isn’t legal. Always talking about how God is blessing us and those blessings will be enough for us.”
Looking over at his 14 yr old sister he could see she looked uncomfortable. He wondered why Mom gave Her all the best of the food and clothes. She had just gotten a new used dress for school, She had fewer things to worry about. Chuck was trying to be the man of the house. It was his job to take care of his mother and sister. They depended on him to help make things workout.
Mom was drifting off to sleep Now was the time to slip out of the tent. Jason and the guys were waiting in the park Othey had made plans to knock over a acash truck during one of it’s pickups. Eight guys would confuse the driver and his helper as they pickup the cash from grocery store on madison and Elmdwood. When he got to spot in the park, they were gone.
“ Where the hell were those guys? The pickup doesn’t happen unntil 8:30 tonight. Did they jump the gun? They can’t toss me out the picture. We need the money for food for this weekend. Mom hasn’t eaten since Friday. I think Tracy is bound to do something she can’t take back, if I don’t find someway to make times better.” Chuck said to himself as he started for Madison Street.
Chuck walked around in the dark for about 10 minutes Then he headed for the mini mall on Madison. Bright lights were flashing as he came to the corner of Austin and Madison. Something was going down on Central. Those fools had tried to get along without his help. Now they were in deep trouble.
Karen left after she noticed Chuck slipping out of the tent. She tried to follow him thru the park. She lost him as he took a short cut thru the De Priest school yard to the second tennis court. She lost him as he ran acrosss the there street at austin. She saw him duck into the park, but couldn’t find him when she got there.
Karen decided to continue to the playground where she had planned to meet the girls near the abandoned school across Central at Madison. Karen knew about a party that was going on tonight on Washington near Laramie. She was sitting in the school yard about to light a joint for the first time, she hesitated.
Annie said,”Got to get your her head right,girl This will help with the jitters, Karen. the party. Come on Karen, let’s get ready to party.”
“ I want to be high when we get to the party.”Sharla shouted.
Penny whispered”I promised Kevin that Karen would be ready to put out when we get her to the party.”
Suddenly Tara shouted, “Put that away! The police are coming with their lights flashing. I think something has happened cross the street.”
Someone said “Let’s go see what happened. All the girls moved away from the abandoned school building where they had been gathering.
Another one said, “Looks like someone got hurt.”
Hey, Penny isn’t that Kevin laying on the ground. I think he got shot!” said Sherlee, who had rushed to the fence to look at the police cars as they arrived.
Karen knew it was time tao get rid of the dope in her hand. She tried to hand it to one of the girls.
“Here take this thing. I’m not going to get pulled in because I didn’t think to put it down.” Karen said to Penny.
Penny couldn’t stand to see good stuff like that go to waste so she took it from Karen. Now Karen reallized how close she had come to being serious trouble. Just being here could put her in the spotlight.
Chuck just made it to the other side of the street in front of the chicken shack. Standing there he saw his sister standing with a group of girls. “How had she gotten there before him?” he wondered.
“Hey, Karen, do you know what happened? Chuck asked.
“I heard they tried to take down the driver of the armored car. The guy on the ground was wrestling with the guard who was carrying a bag of money. His partner was arguing with two other guys at the door of the truck. l So the guard at the door on the truck tried to get his gun out to make them step away from the truck. The guard carrying the bag tripped and fell. His gun went off as he struggled with the boy on the ground. These six guys almost got away with $10,000.00. A third guard was in another car and called the police when he noticed the boys drifting around the mini-mall parking lot. Karen told him what she had heard the police saying over the radio. TO BE CONTINUED…..