Crowam 281 by Frank Nunez Page B

to escape. I thought the lad was joking. He actually went through with it.”
    “Did he escape?”
    “No. Not quite sure what they did with him, though. As punishment, they tormented us. Random beatings by the guards. Verbal harassment. They picked boys at random, never to be seen again. We called it ‘the purge.’ ”
    “How long did the purge last?” I asked.
    “Several months, I believe. Those were not the best of times here. My desire to escape was escalated by these events, but I had to always consider the risks for myself and those held here. I suppose it has crossed your mind already.”
    “To escape?”
    “Yes.”
    “Damn right.”
    “In that case, then, I’m afraid I can’t tell you.”
    “Why is that?”
    “I have my reasons.”
    “Don’t give me that bullshit.”
    “The only way I can tell you if is you promise that you won’t try to escape yourself or tell anyone about my plan.”
    “You’re being serious.”
    “Deadly.”
    I gave him a look of indifference. He seemed hesitant to want to tell me the plan.
    “Well, quite frankly, the plan is quite simple really. There are ventilation shafts that run throughout Crowam, each one leading to different areas of the building. There is a shaft that leads to the rear side of the building. It’s only a short drop to the bottom. The trick is getting past the perimeter wall. There is a slight opening underneath one part of the slab. Just enough to squeeze through. Joshua noticed the opening during a morning run around the grounds. Very observant chap if you ask me.
    “Joshua told you all this?”
    “Yes, with some slight improvements on my part.
    “Have you ever tried escaping?”
    “I have numerous times, but you see, Mr. Hugo likes to conduct random headcounts. If any boy is missing, as punishment, he picks random boys to get thrown in the cell.”
    “What’ s the cell?”
    “There are holding cells down in the basement. They place you there for hours, sometimes days, with little to no light. It’s almost like some medieval dungeon. Some boys have gone mad down there. You don’t ever want to be placed in the cell, Jake.”
    “That’ why you didn’t try to escape, because you got a conscience?”
    “I couldn’t live with myself if other boys suffered because of my selfishness. That is why you must not fall into temptation. You mustn’t try to escape here. It won’t work.”
    “I appreciate the advice. I really do. But if I get the chance, I’m taking it.”
    “Don’t be a fool. You promised.”
    “I didn’t promise you anything.”
    “Jake, there’ll be hell to pay if you get caught. Don’t be a selfish bastard.”
    “Don’t act like a martyr. You’ve had your chance to escape. If you think I’m going to stick around this freak show, you got another thing coming.”
    “You idiot. Maybe Professor Vanden should have hit you in the head with that bloody paddle of his. Perhaps it would have knocked some sense into you.”
    “I’ll think about it.”
    “You’re not very reassuring.”
    “I said that I’ll think about it.”
    Charles waddled his way to us, drenched in sweat from a soccer game. “What are you talking about?”
    “None of your business,” I replied.
    “My goodness, you don’t have to be rude about it. Did you see me play? I almost scored a goal.”
    “Almost?” Felix replied.
    “Yes, the ball ricocheted off the goal post. But it was a bloody good shot.”
    “In this world, almost doesn’t cut it.” Felix stood up and walked away.
    I went to the side of the courtyard near the fence to be by myself. All I could think about was escaping. Figuring out all the angles. Maybe Felix was just full of it. I had a hard time believing what anyone said to me. People are all talk. Trust was a hard thing to come by these days.
    First you had the war, now this thing called the Cold War. Now, the Russians were the bad guys. It didn’t make a damn bit a sense to me. Just the two biggest kids on the block fighting