The Zero Game

“From that… from the speech you gave. With the pages…” She bumps back into the edge of the conference table and looks up at me. “You were… you were really good. That bit about making the right enemies… I thought about that for a week.”

She’s trying to sweet-talk. My guard’s already up.

“And then when you…” She cuts herself off, staring at her feet.

“What?” I ask.

“That thing you did with the Lorax…”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Nu-uh… c’mon – you put that pin on Congressman Enemark. That was… that was the coolest thing ever.”

Like I said, my guard’s up. But as I spot the wide-eyed smile on her face, I’m already starting to second-guess. At first glance, she’s slightly imposing, and it’s not just from the dark navy suit that adds another year or two to her age. Her height alone… almost five feet eleven… she’s taller than me. But the longer she stands there, the more I see the rest of the picture. Back against the table, she slumps her shoulders and lowers her neck. It’s the same trick Matthew used to use to make himself look shorter.

“He never found out, did he?” she asks, suddenly hesitant. “About the Lorax, I mean?”

She’s trying not to push, but excitement’s getting the best of her. At first, I assumed it was all an act. Now I’m not so sure. I narrow my eyes, studying even closer. The frayed stitching on her suit… the worn creases in her white shirt… She’s definitely not from money, and the way she’s fidgeting and trying to hide a loose button, it’s still an issue for her. It’s hard enough to fit in when you’re seventeen; it’s even worse when everyone around you is at least a decade or two older. Still, her mocha brown eyes have a real age to them. I’m guessing early independence from the lack of cash – either that or she’s getting the Oscar for best actress. Only way to find out which is to get her talking. “Who told you about the Lorax?” I ask.

She shyly turns away at the question. “You can’t tell him I told you, okay? Please promise…” She’s truly embarrassed.

“You have my word,” I add, pretending to play along.

“It was LaRue… from the bathroom.”

“The shoeshine guy?”

“You promised you wouldn’t say anything. It’s just… we saw him in the elevator… He was laughing, and Nikki and I asked what’s so funny and he said it, but no one’s supposed to know. He swore us to secrecy…” The words tumble from her mouth like she’s confessing a junior high school crush. There’s a hint of panic behind each syllable, though. She takes trust seriously.

“You’re not mad, are you?” she asks.

“Why would I be mad?” I reply, hoping to keep her talking.

“No… no reason…” She cuts herself off, and her wide-eyed smile returns. “But can I just say… putting that Lorax on him… that’s easily, without exaggeration, the greatest prank of all time! And Enemark’s the perfect Member to do it to – not just for the prank part, but just the principle of it,” she adds, her voice picking up steam. She’s all gush and idealism. There’s no slowing her down. “My granddad… he was one of the last Pullman Porters, and he used to tell us if we didn’t pick the right fights-”

“Do you have any idea how much trouble you’re in?” I blurt.

She finally hits the brakes. “Wha?”

I forgot what it was like to be seventeen. Zero to sixty, and sixty to zero, all in one breath.

“You know what I’m talking about,” I say.

Her mouth gapes open. “Wait,” she stutters as she starts fingering the ID around her neck. “Is this about the Senate pens Chloe stole? I told her not to touch ’em, but she kept saying if they were in the cup-”

“Lose anything lately?” I ask, pulling her blue nametag from my pocket and holding it out between us.

She’s definitely surprised. “How’d you get that?”

“How’d you lose it?”

“I have… I have no idea… it disappeared last week – they just ordered me a new one.” Whether she’s lying or serious, she’s not stupid. If she’s really in trouble, she wants to know how much. “Why? Where’d you find it?”

I bluff hard. “Toolie Williams gave it to me,” I say, referring to the young black kid who drove his car into Matthew.

“Who?”

I have to clench my jaw to keep myself calm. I reach once more into my pocket and pull out a folded-up picture of Toolie from this morning’s Metro section. He’s got big ears and a surprisingly kind grin. I almost tear the picture in half as I struggle to unfold it.

“Ever seen him before?” I ask, handing her the photo.

She shakes her head. “I don’t think so…”

“You sure about that? He’s not a boyfriend? Or some kid you know from-”

“Why? Who is he?”

There’re forty-three muscular movements that the human face is capable of making. I have friends, Senators, and Congressmen lie directly to me every day. Pull the bottom lip in, raise the upper eyelids, lower the chin. By now, I know all the tricks. But for the life of me, as I stare up at this tall black girl with the tight-cropped Afro, I can’t find a single muscle twitch that shows me anything but seventeen-year-old innocence.