Peggy Holloway - Judith McCain 01 - Blood on White Wicker by Peggy Holloway

separate from them and it hurt too much. So I didn’t comment and she soon left my room.
      It was announced in class one day that we were going on a field trip to Audubon Park. I almost laughed out loud. I knew that area so well I knew I would be able to escape. I had been in the home for about a month and it was now July. In fact, that was why we were going, for Fourth of July picnic.
    That night, I lay in bed planning my escape. I knew it would be relatively easy to lose myself from the others and jump on the street car. The problem was trying to take all my clothes. I had money hidden in the lining of some of my clothes and it was quite a bit, almost $7,000 dollars.
    Jesse had taught me how to sew it under the lining so that if we were ever caught, the police just might miss it. I started ripping out all of the lining. When I was finished, it was almost 4:00 a.m. I could see that the bundle of money was going to be too big. I had an oversized purse and I managed to stuff all the larger bills in there. But I still had such a big bundle left. Then just like that, I came up with a plan. It was risky, but I had no choice.
    I stuffed the rest of the money and my purse under everything in my footlocker. One of the biggest punishments was for going into someone else’s footlocker, so I thought it would be fairly safe. Jo Jo was known to take things out of everyone else’s locker. But since she was the one I was going to see, I thought it would be okay. Jo Jo wasn’t one of my roommates, thank God, so I quietly sneaked out of my room and down the hall. I was going to use Jo Jo and I didn’t feel bad about it at all. She was on the bottom bunk, three doors down from mine.
    When I got inside their bedroom, I got down on my hands and knees and crawled over to her bed. Asleep, she looked like an angel and I wondered what her story was. She was facing me and breathing softly. When she opened her eyes and saw me, she filled her lungs to scream. I put my hand over her mouth.
    “How would you like to make a lot of money?” I asked.
    I should have been tired with only two hours sleep, but I was too keyed up. I thought I wouldn’t be able to stand another day in this house if the plan failed. After our showers, while the others were eating, I snuck off to my room and put on as many clothes as I could. I had money stuffed in all the pockets, but most of it was in my purse, which I had taped on the underside of the bus at four thirty that morning. Now I was ready, but I had to wait for Jo Jo to give her the money to lie for me. Just as I was beginning to panic, she came in. I handed her the two hundred dollars.
    “You know what you’re supposed to do don’t you.”
    “Yeah, but I ought to charge more.”
    I stared her down, “I already told you, I only have five hundred altogether,” I lied.
    She left in a huff. I knew I couldn’t trust her, which was why I had told her that someone was going to be waiting in a car for me two blocks down, going toward Metairie. When, in fact, I would be going in the opposite direction to catch the street car. I told her to tell Ms. Casey that I would be going to catch the street car, but knew she would tell them where she thought I was going. So, basically, I knew I could count on her dishonesty, even though I had given her money.
    When I got on the bus, I saw Cindy three rows back and went and sat with her. She looked pleased. She told me about her parents who had tracked her down and called last night.
    “They want me to come home. We’re going into family counseling. I’m so excited about it. I just know I can please them this time,” Cindy said with tears in her eyes.
    I told her I was happy for her, but deep down I was jealous. I would have given anything to be able to have a family, a real family. We drove right by Dave’s house and I got tears in my eyes. That was the closest thing to a real family I had ever had. The wicker furniture had been taken off the front porch, and I