The Devil in Silver

Josephine pushed her chair back so she could stand as well. Feeling edgy because of what Loochie had said to Scotch Tape. Her move left the staff phone unguarded on the desk. Boldly, Coffee grabbed the receiver.

“Coffee!” Josephine shouted.

Pepper shouted now, too. Repeating himself. “How did you go online, Coffee?”

Coffee looked back at Pepper. “The mind was the first computer!”

A line that silenced everyone for a moment.

Finally Pepper said, “Well, what the fuck does that mean?”

“The mind is technology beyond anything human beings have invented so far,” Coffee said. “Without all those meds in my bloodstream, I could access the Internet with my will. From anywhere. I only had to shut my eyes and concentrate. I have full use of my mind’s power now. You see?”

And this is the moment when Pepper thought of Dorry’s sweater, inside out; of Coffee discarding his binder; even Loochie’s fingers slipping under her red scarf. Each person slightly different from the healthier picture presented only two days ago. Maybe these folks were on psychiatric medications because they actually needed them. Why hadn’t Pepper seriously considered that before now?

Two words slipped out of his mouth. Pepper said, “Oh, shit.…”

But it was too late for turning back.

Scotch Tape grabbed Coffee’s wrist. He looked like he’d tear Coffee’s hand off just to get the receiver back.

Dorry shouted, “Wait! Wait! We can talk this out!”

“Talking is done,” Scotch Tape growled.

Loochie said, “You got that right.”

Then she punched Scotch Tape square in the throat.

Scotch Tape went down easier than Josephine. The guy straight-up collapsed after Loochie yapped him.

That isn’t meant to clown Scotch Tape, or make him seem weak. Really. One punch from Loochie Gardner could topple small governments. The man simply found himself overmatched. As Pepper had been when he made the mistake of giving Loochie’s mother (and brother) the bum rush.

By comparison, Josephine was much luckier than Scotch Tape; she only faced Pepper and Coffee and Dorry.

In light of what happened to Scotch Tape, Josephine didn’t hesitate. She scrambled. Over the nurses’ station. Climbing on the low desk and vaulting right over the higher counter. She fled. But when she landed on the other side she slipped and nearly fell. Pepper and Coffee caught her. To them, this looked like gallantry, but from Josephine’s perspective, two wild men had just grabbed her arms.

And then Josephine just freaked.

She hollered, yes, but that was actually the least of it. Her arms went stiff and her hands balled into fists and her legs dropped out from under her so fast that Coffee and Pepper nearly went to the floor themselves. It was like her lower half fainted.

Meanwhile her mouth continued to wail.

Boy, did it.

Pepper became annoyed instantly. Maybe she thought they were going to rob her? Rape her? She acted like they were going to cut open her belly and feast on her organs. All this after he’d just borrowed a copy of Van Gogh’s letters! Funny to say it, but Pepper’s feelings were really hurt just then.

But here’s the thing: Pepper had it wrong. Josephine wasn’t thinking about them when she snapped. Not really. She didn’t scream just out of fear for herself in that moment. It was also a deeper terror. When Loochie punched the orderly, Josephine felt a raw, cold shock, of course. But when the two men grabbed her, she felt the fear.

Because she thought of her mother. Lorraine Washburn.

Who lived with Josephine, the only child, in a two-family house out in Rego Park. Her mother hadn’t been able to take good care of herself anymore and moved in with Josephine in 2009. And Josephine had welcomed her mother. Because, even though she was young, Josephine had spent the last few years cultivating little more than her own loneliness. Then here came her mother, Lorraine, a woman who’d been quite independent herself once, but couldn’t manage it any longer. And Josephine received the woman as the wick welcomes the match. Josephine appreciated her mother’s company, now that she was becoming a woman and no longer a girl. So when Pepper and Coffee grabbed Josephine, she screamed, and struggled, from a place beyond self-preservation. Josephine saw Lorraine waking up tomorrow morning to find her daughter hadn’t returned home. Josephine saw Lorraine mystified by this sudden change in their soothing routine; saw her mother retreating to the living-room couch out of fear; sitting there, unable to imagine who else she might rely on. Unable to recall even a cousin’s phone number. Paralyzed and puzzled. So scared she might not even eat, as was her way. Starving from fright. Dying on the second floor of the two-family house after days of confusion and despair. (The first floor reserved for the home owners, Mr. and Mrs. Martinez-Black.) Josephine was going to leave her mother to that? A woman who’d raised her so decently? No. No. No.