THE MAN EYES ME from behind his desk, “James Foley, I’m releasing you a bit ahead of schedule. We’re having something of a budgetary problem here and I have to release some of the boys that we have in custody. You weren’t my choice for early release, but you have now graduated from high school, via the GED tests. Thus, the powers that be have decided that you should be released from Juvenile Prison. If I had my way, I would instead transfer you to a federal penitentiary. However, the choice is not mine.” The man pauses.
“I served my time here, after I was falsely convicted. The main reason that I was falsely convicted was the testimony of my own sister. Her worthless boyfriend attacked me and I only defended myself. Even after my sister recanted her testimony, you still kept me locked up, even though you knew that I was innocent. What you want is no concern of mine, now or ever.”
The man glares at me. He then says, “The man that you killed has friends. Those friends will be waiting for you out there.”
“The punky boy who attacked me died because his head hit a sidewalk. He attacked a six foot tall, two hundred pound boy. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m now all grown up. I’m six feet, six inches tall and I weigh about two hundred and fifty very muscular pounds. If the punky boys are waiting for me, I can deal with that. If they come looking for trouble, have them look right in my face.”
The man sighs and asks, “With your record, do you think that anyone in this town will hire you?”
“Strangely enough, I have a job offer. The man who wants to hire me supposedly also employs the punky boys who want to cause me trouble. The man wants to hire me because the guy who used to maintain what passed for order in the man’s place of business got his ass kicked by a customer. I’m gonna take the job. I suspect that a few little boys gonna try to kick my ass. However, I’m gonna be a kicker, not a kickee.”
