“What’s wrong?” Manny asked a couple of nights later when he found Jakie slumped dejectedly in a chair in the study room.
“Things ain’t no fun any more now that Mr. Wyndham’s gone.”
Manny cocked an eyebrow as he sat down next to the boy. “Fun how?”
“You know, getting to go out and lift stuff for him. It was—" Jakie shrugged, “fun.”
“And illegal,” Manny pointed out.
“So? You stole stuff for him; the other guys did other things. What’s the difference?”
“There isn’t any difference. He had us doing things we shouldn’t have. Okay, if he’d left us where he found us, yeah we’d have been doing it anyway, but that doesn’t make it right.”
Jakie rolled his eyes. “So now suddenly you’re a preacher, telling me I done wrong and I should be glad it’s over now?”
“If you want to look at it that way, yes. But you’re a smart kid, your grades show that, plus you’re street smart on top of that. There should be something else you can find to do that’s fun and legal.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
Manny sighed. Then he had an idea. “I know you well enough to know you like to draw.”
“But I ain’t too good at it. Things always come out like, what’s that word for making people look like comics?”
“Caricatures. And that’s not a bad thing really if we channel it.”
“We what?”
“Jakie, you’re going to learn to wield a spray paint can.”
“Hey, cool, but ain’t that illegal too?”
“On a subway car, or a building, yeah. But not here. We start with your bedroom, assuming your roommate doesn’t have a cow.”
Jakie grinned. “He won’t or I take steps.”
“Jakie,” Manny growled. “He has to agree because he agrees, got that.”
“Yeah, yeah, okay. So I talk to him and then you show me how?”
“Talk to him, yes. Then you sit down and come up with some sketches that you both like. After that, then I show you the ropes.”
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