The Devil in Silver

Pepper moved around to the spot in the ceiling that had leaked into his room. Here the floor trembled from his weight. He knelt and felt the residue of rainwater. He traced it back to one of the boarded-up windows. A piece of the board had rotted through. He thrust two fingers through the hole and felt a night breeze on his skin. It felt cool and comfortable outside. “Let’s go,” Pepper said.

Loochie was still in the hallway. “I’m waiting on you,” she whispered.

They followed the hallway all the way to the oval room. This corresponded with the first floor, too. Right below their feet sat the nurses’ station. The staff members logging files onto the computer. Talking with one another. Checking email on their phones. Living normally. Up here, in place of a nurses’ station, they found only a chair on the second floor. One office chair, very old, three wheels instead of four. It tipped forward slightly, forlorn in the dim light.

When Pepper and Loochie trod across this room, they hardly lifted their feet. They moved like cross-country skiers to quiet their footfalls as they passed over the staff’s heads.

They reached the hallway above Northwest 1. They walked even slower, more quietly just because they were so close.

And finally they found the air duct.

It was exactly where Dorry had drawn it on her map. It corresponded to the place right above the secure ward door.

The grill over the air duct had been lost long ago. The hole, that crawl space, sat open. The faint light from the hallway illuminated the mouth of the duct. It wasn’t even that high up. Pepper would give Loochie a boost, but with a little effort she could’ve pulled herself up.

“Okay,” Loochie said, looking at the air duct. “This is it, right? We’re really here?”

Pepper took out the map as if he didn’t know. He triple-checked. He shook the sheet of paper. “No question.”

Loochie pulled her wig down so it was tighter on her scalp. She knelt and retied the laces of her baby-blue Nikes. When she rose again, Pepper said, “Why didn’t Dorry leave?”

He wasn’t really speaking to Loochie, just out loud. But she answered him anyway. “She probably couldn’t climb up by herself.”

“Did you see her scale that fence?” Pepper asked.

“I don’t know why she didn’t,” Loochie told him. “But I know we can.”

Loochie patted her face, opened and closed her fists. Getting her courage up. The air duct looked relatively big to her. It might be a little tight around Pepper, but she’d have a little more room to breathe.

Why didn’t Dorry leave? Pepper couldn’t let the question rest.

“Gimme a boost,” Loochie said.

Why didn’t she?

He knew why.

“I’ve got something I want you to do for me,” Pepper said quietly.

Loochie was already at the air duct. Reaching up, she grazed the opening with her fingertips. She turned around. “What are you waiting for?”

Pepper reached into his pants. He pulled out a single glossy magazine page. It was crumpled up. He handed it to her.

“Open it,” he said.

He didn’t know what she would find any more than she did.

She scanned the headline. “The penguins of Antarctica,” she read.

Pepper shook his head. “That’s a little ambitious.”

He reached into his pocket again. Pulled out another page.

“Borneo’s best beaches,” she said after scanning.

“Well, fuck,” Pepper muttered.

He pulled a handful of magazine sheets out of one pocket. He held them up to his face so he could read each one. He snapped through them until finally he found one that seemed right.

Loochie held the paper close. “Van Gogh’s Amsterdam.”

“That’s the one,” Pepper said.

She dropped her hand. “What is this?”

“I got interested in this guy,” Pepper said. “He’s a painter. But they only had black-and-white versions of his stuff in the book I read. This article says they have a whole museum devoted to his stuff. I want you to go there. See his paintings. For me.”

And what he didn’t say, but could’ve added: and for Sue.

Loochie crumpled the article in her fist.

“See it for yourself, Pepper.”

He nodded, but didn’t respond to what she’d said. “You’ll have to apply for a passport first,” Pepper instructed. “You can do that at the post office. Then you buy a plane ticket. Then you go.”

Loochie almost laughed. “Okay, fine, let’s play this game. You know a passport costs money, right? And the plane ticket? You think they’ll let me fly free if I ask nicely?”

Now Pepper went into his back pocket. He took out his wallet and removed a blue card. “This is my ATM card,” he said. “Go to any branch. You can’t take out more than a thousand a day. But take it out. It’s yours.” He told her the code.

She looked down at the ATM card. Why was her face feeling so warm?

“Should be four thousand dollars left,” Pepper said. “But take it all out before the end of the month or else Time Warner and a few other assholes are going to take their cut. I’d be happier if you had it.”