The Devil in Silver

Staff members had been approved for cell-phone use. Simple. No more need for a machine on the desk. Especially if it was going to incite a riot. Pepper entertained the idea of pickpocketing one of the staff members, but he knew he could never pull it off. Pepper was as subtle as a sonic boom.

When he reentered the television lounge that evening, the man was just salty. He wore a grimace that would’ve struck fear into the hearts of a well-armed militia. More than a few of the patients went on alert when Pepper entered the lounge. Think of the great white shark roaming the shores of Amity.

Mr. Mack watched Pepper wander the lounge for a full thirty seconds, feeling the agitation flying off him like hot sparks. Finally Mr. Mack said, “Sit your ass down or move on.”

But Pepper felt like a failure right then, not a thug. His grimace was just a sign that the contents had spoiled. Pepper spun toward Mr. Mack but he didn’t argue or even glower. He sat his ass down, across the table from Heatmiser. Heatmiser looked at Pepper quickly, and turned his chair away ninety degrees.

“It’s my half hour,” Mr. Mack announced.

Nearly everyone in the room groaned.

“Like it or not, we got a system,” Mr. Mack said. “And that means it’s my time.”

The remote was passed to him, and Mr. Mack flipped the channels until he reached his favorite station. Pepper wondered if Mr. Mack truly loved this show so much, or just loved forcing everyone else to sit through it.

“Hello, and welcome to News Roll. I’m—”

That’s all they heard because Frank Waverly, right next to Mr. Mack as always, snatched the remote out of his friend’s hand. Frank Waverly pointed the remote at the screen and turned it off. First time that had been done in over five years.

Mr. Mack looked at his friend, too shocked to be cruel. He almost whined when he said, “Well, now what are we supposed to do?”

Frank Waverly tucked the remote in his lap, under the table, and picked at his dinner quietly.

Doris Roberts grinned at Mr. Mack. “It’s actually Frank Waverly’s half hour.”

Mr. Mack’s mouth dropped open like he’d been gutted. “Oh, that’s fine,” Mr. Mack said, now picking at his dinner with a plastic fork. He looked across the table. “That you, Frank? I don’t even recognize you right now.”

Frank Waverly chewed his substandard food and did not look up.

The rest of the room stayed quiet, too. As if they were all getting used to the lack of the television’s sounds and sights. Soon people began speaking with one another. When other patients’ television times arrived, they chose to keep the set off. The conversations continued and many of the people lingered. For so long that when Redhead Kingpin and Still Waters arrived, they had to share one table. The lounge had gone all Old World, where the point of dinner was to talk with people, not just to clear your plate.

It was nice. Only Dorry was left out of the pleasure. No one tried to make conversation with her. They just left her there in her chair at the window.

Even Pepper let himself rest. A momentary reprieve. What else could he do, at this very moment, for anyone? Tomorrow, he would ask any visiting family members for change. They couldn’t get Sue down to Florida, process her deportation order, and shove her on a plane in just one night. No system on earth worked that well.

One of the night nurses entered the lounge. She was accompanied by an orderly. He walked behind her and scanned the room, paying particular attention to Pepper.

The nurse reached the glass door in the television lounge and said, “Smoke break. Everyone who wants one, line up.”

Here and there people pushed back their chairs. For the first time in hours.

Dorry moved, too. As a line formed, Dorry walked to Pepper’s table. She held a white envelope. She’d had it curled in her palm for so long that it had rolled into a tube when she set it down in front of Pepper.

He looked at it but didn’t speak. It had been hours since he’d said those cruel things to her, and guilt finally crept across his scalp like a chill.

Dorry pointed at the envelope.

“When they brought you in, I knew you were here to find your purpose,” she said. “But I can’t force you to be what I hoped you would be. I should’ve learned that from raising my children.”

The line of patients going on smoke break continued to grow. The room, without television, was quiet enough that nearly every patient in the room could hear what Dorry said.

“There is a way out,” she told Pepper. “I’ve seen it.” She tapped the curled envelope with two fingers. “This will show you how to get there.”

The room seemed to get quieter, conversations dying down. The only people making as much noise as ever were the oblivious staff members. The nurse and orderly were flirting with each other.

“You think you’re cute,” the nurse teased.

The orderly laughed quietly. “You think so, too.”

Dorry swept one hand, indicating the patients in the room. “You can take them all, or just save yourself. I leave that choice to you.”