Boy's Cinema (1939-40)

Every Tuesday a chair as he came in, and opened his mouth to say something. Then he saw that the head guard intended to stay. "Go on—talit!" the head guard said harshly. " If you've got any ideas about getting him out of here, I'd like to hear them." Tommy ignored him. He just said quietly: "Hallo, Eddie!" " Hallo. Tommy!" Eddie responded hesi- tantly. "I just came along to tell you that everything's all right at home. Mom's not feeling too good, but she'll be okay after a bit." He paused, looking doubtfully at the head guard, then went on: "I got myself a job at a gas station, but that feXow I did a job for said I was to go on working for him." Tommy Knew what he meant. There wasn't much Eddie could say with the head guard present, so he had to be careful. "You stick to that job at the gas station." Tommy said firmly. "Mom's got to be cared for, and until I'm twenty-one, .you're all she's got. You know why Fm here. I don't mind so long as you're doing .vour stuff. But if you don't—well, there's going to be a heap of trouble." Eddie nodded. He wasn't looking any too happy. "I'll do my best," he answered. "But it isn't going to be easy. You see, there are some things I've got to do. The boys are going to make things bad for me if I don't." Eddie took a step forward. There was a table between him and Eddie, but the head guard reckoned that wasn't enough. He grabbed Tommy by the shoulder. "No you don't!" he snapped. 'You stay right where you are." Tommy did not seem to hear him. He pointed a quivering finger at his brother. "Listen, Eddie," he said. "You keep out of that pool room. If I find that you've been there, I'll get out of this place and lam you. even if you are bigger than I am. Get it?" Eddie nodded miserably. "I get it," he said. "And I'll fix things. Don't worry." The head guard waited, hoping to hear more. But there was nothing else the boys wanted to say to each other. In the end. the head guard rasped: "You'll get out of this place! It's easy to say, but not quite so easy to do. You'll find that out before you've been here much longer. Come on!" He led Tommy away. Tommy was feel- ing troubled. He wondered if Eddie would keep his woi'd. THE NEWCOMER TWO months later found Tommy and Knuckles and Joey working in the kitchen garden. Tommy had a hoe, which he was using on a row of lettuces. " Boy, are they coming on!" he said. " I planted these babies the second day I was here. Remember?" Knuckles nodded moodily. "Yeah, I remember. You're raising quite a family, ain't you? Them plants certainly aren't getting any younger, and nor are we." "Meaning what?" Tommy asked. "Meaning just this," Knuckles answered. "That we've all been here a whole heap longer than I thought we would be." Joey's eyes glistened. "Gosh, wouldn't the other side of that wall look good to me right at this moment?" he murmured. Tommy shook his head firmly. " You two will land yourselves into a jam one of these days," he said. "Why don't you settle down and make the best of things? ' He indicated the kitchen garden with a wave of his hoe. "I guess I'm getting a kind of fatherly interest in this stuff." The sight of the head guard walking to- wards them sent them back to their work. When the head guard came up, they BOY'S CINEMA 16 ''Listen, Eddie, looked as though they had been working like niggers for hours. "You guy": talk too much," the head guard snapped. "If I catch you at it again, I'll bounce the whole bunch of you into the superintendent's office. You, O'Meara!" "Yes, sir?" said Tom-my. "Dr. Owens wants to talk to you in his surgery. Get moving!" "Yes, sir," Tommy answered, and hurried away. He knocked on the doctor's door and went in. Dr. Owens was sitting at his writing table making out some reports. He put down his pen as Tommy entered. "Did you want to see me, doc?" Tommy asked. "You bet," Dr. Owens replied cordially. "How's the farmer coming along?" "Great, thanks, doc." "You look it. Try the scales." Tommy climbed on to them, and watched the pointer swing round the dial. "Boy!" he exclaimed. "One hundred and twenty-eight nounds. That's four pounds better than the last time. I guess working out there sort of builds you up." "It sure does." Doc Owens got up and put a hand on Tommy's shoulder. "That's why I sent for you. I wanted to have a talk with you about things in general." He took out a pipe and started filling it. "You know. Tommy, you've been making things grow out there, and in the mean- time you've been growing yourself. I'rn wondering if you've made up your mind yet what you're going to be when you get out of here." He lit the pipe, the match flaring as he puffed. "Maybe you like farming, eh?" Tommy shook his head. "Oh. ho. doc," he answered. "I reckon I could always make a living driving a track or something." Doc Owens regarded him thoughtfully. "Do you want to be a truck driver all your life?" he asked. "Why not?" Tommy looked surprised. "What's the mattei with driving a truck?" "Nothing," Doc Owens admitted. "It's a decent job. But sometimes it takes us quite a while to make up our minds what we want to be." Tommy laughed shortly. "I guess it won't take me long to make up my mind," he said. "I'll just have to take whatever comes along. My mom hasn't got the money to help me much." Doc Owens smoked for a while in silence. Then he said slowly: "You remember Freddie, the boy who was my assistant here up to a week ago?" "I remember," Tommy answered. "Well, he's been released now. And he's gone away quite determined to come back here and take my job away from me." Tommy's eyes opened wide. "You mean he's going to be a doctor?" he said. "That's right." "But his folks are broke, too." "That doesn't matter much. Tommy. What does matter is that a boy shall have the will and determination to do some- thing with himself. If he's got that, there are always ways and means of doing some- thing for hirn." Tommy did some.quick thinking. He knew what Doc Owens was getting at. "You mean you think I could be a doctor, too?" he said. "Why not?" Doc Owens smiled. "You know. Tommy, I like you. I think you've got the right stuff, in you. So I'm going to tell you something. I, too. was born on the wrong side of the tracks. I even spent two years in a reform school like this when I was a kid." "You did? And you grew up to be a doctor?" "That's right." There was another short silence, then Doc Owens went on : "I've got to find someone to take Freddie's pla^e." "Yes, doc?" said Tommy eagerly. "Some boy that isn't just looking for a soft job." October 2Sth, 1939.