Today was the day!

  Billy spent his sed sleepless night, even though he was supposed to be uhreat; he slept perfectly. He rolled a couple of times in bed and fell deeply asleep. His thoughts were never so rooted in deep, hidden nervousness. Tomorrow the problem would be resolved, and another day would pass, marking a culminating ge in both his life and his budding musical career. The end of one journey or the beginning of a neter in his life.

  Billy watched the early m dawn. It was chilly, and the humidity hi mist, though it wouldn't be called cold. It was one of those ms when the mere premonition seemed to freeze his bones, even though the sunrise was already possible. The prospect of a new life felt like going baonths, four long months trapped until he got used to a life that would ge.

  The long moments trapped in a musi of vast lengths, covered in some pces with egg cartons and some extra paper deposits, some boxes with uniforms, bags of papers, and damaged instruments shared the luxury of being repaired as a pastime of Master Spencer, whanized songs like a unique behavior.

  Some kids dozed off at dawn; early ms weren't healthy for children who whispered obsities behind their bs or spat hurtful ents as a funure. Perhaps the ironiality of children is foolishness, yet it is naive, pletely ingenuous, and not malicious.

  A crazy idea, the sun began to rise from the east, only the bck shadow was ahat it was already dawning, a shout, more like a bubbling police roar, which subdued some children the moment they heard the roar, followed by a cold shower that didn't sider the drowsy state. After a while, even the cold couldn't break through the sleep, but it did guide the children.

  -Carson, Agudelo, and Jones, you'll have breakfast and then hop on the bus to Arizona. I beg you, you pests, to stop b, - said the security guard.

  Billy listetentively, watg as the shout sprayed saliva in small droplets, an unpleasant way to bathe with the saliva of a poli who didn't validate children's education, though effective for the punks who taihe corres; each dog was given a boo chew, a harder, stronger bone.

  -How sophisticated, - said Aaron Jones, a boy who looked like a bit of a loose on, eager to be a big-time offender.

  To everyone's surprise, Billy was on the list. The boy, who was just in the middle, was now part of the 5% of the most dangerous criminals on the West Coast. There, only the scum of the scum went. He walked with his blue-rank suit and a rge jumpsuit; now he would supposedly wear a deep green as clothes. Even st time, Speried to prevent the transfer by failing miserably in the bureaucratic paperwork, and in ary to the dining hall, oatmeal with white bread.

  or sat o him, not g much about the ging world around him. In unremarkable ways, or's madness was imprinted in his sinister behavior; his apathetic behavior bordered oreme of carelessness.

  -You're moving to Arizona, - Billy asked.

  or nodded vigorously.

  The story told of how he used a fork as a on to mark the faces of two children with the io hurt, harm, and break a person doing childish things. In his mind, he was getting used to freedom, aremism, a different color where morality and decy are abstracted.

  He finished his pe, and he was still hungry, with a certain twist of wanting something more, but the kit was closed. The trip to the bus was meager, not like high-level victs, just kids on a school trip to a different foster home.

  The journey didn't take as long as expected, but they still arrived te to pay attention to lunch; they were lined up. They were checked from side to side, making sure none of them had sharp objects or traband items.

  They were taken to what resembled most a prison model: small two-bunk rooms, separated to avoid risk. And cramped with old io the surprising sight, Billy's roommate was a skinny young man with poorly dotoos, some looked like they were done by amateurs, without the deep plexity of a tattoo. ing iernoon, his roommate had a red eye and a first gnce a scared appearance, due to the trembling.

  -What a horror. You sleep down, buddy; the door locks with a guard bolt, but it's good to be cautious; you lock the door with the bolt. Be careful with troubles and don't get in my way, - said Joseph Marshall.

  -Of course, just stop messing around and don't be a wimp, - said Billy, lying down otom bunk, not g much about appearances, setting aside empathy, and enclosing himself in a shell of repression.

  -In short, - said Joseph.

  As Billy made his bed, nothing was impressive: a sheet, a b, and a pillow. As he made the bed, he wondered what the important steps would be. To step aside, go with the flow, or simply overe.

  Everyone had their pros and s.

  He practiced his singing softly while expl the rustic, much older and abandoned building, different and strange.

  -How novel, don't you think? - said or from afar, sitting in a deep position, with his body forward and hands csped.

  -e on, wipe off that idiotic look; I o introduce you to my brother. It's good that you met him first, - said or.

  -You have a brother? - asked Billy.

  -I do, and it's likely you won't like him much; he's a damn idiot who'll leave us alone if we leave him be. The first step, is when they ask you to join a band, tell them to go to hell and mind their own business. Do two things: accept or reject. You're too wishy-washy; if you're wishy-washy, they'll eat you alive. You have to rub people the wrong way and the right way. If you want to be liked by everyone, you're screwed. You're a criminal, and it's better to be an idiot. So stop smiling like a fool, - said or.

  -Thanks for being so ho, - said Billy, somewhat offended. Everyone just knows how to criticize him, and they don't stop critig his way of being or his way of doing things. It's trary to a way of doing things.

  -Stop being a kid, - said or, hitting Billy on the shoulder.

  -I'll take the advice, for now, I want to calm down; besides, I'm hungry, - said Billy.

  -It's over there, - said or.

  -I want to hate you, - said Billy.

  -Look, my brother is dangerous. We're part of his gang, but we'll be the musis who make them money, as long as we survive. I don't mind throwing away a few thousand, but we have debts to pay. They do the dirty work, and we just go along with it, - said or.

  -Rex now, brother... nothing will happen to us. We'll be civilized, - said Billy.

  Billy's ironic thoughts were clear and stant; people had redeeming qualities, and the kids they ied with were people who just needed guidance. or only saw the one who seemed like the music star, which wasn't very logical, and all the musical talent didn't imply on sense.

  -Just follow me, - said or.

  -Sure, sure, I'd love to follow where your family is, - said Billy.

  -They're not my family, - said or.

  They tio a se of older boys; the correal facility ranged from ages 15 to 18, with a clear division into two buildings: fes 17 to 18, Building B, and ages 15 to 16, Building A, necessary division.

  or's brother is James, a guy with dangerous behavior, violent tendencies, and many tricks, which don't always turn out to be right when it es to civilization, a thought inated by Billy's age, the sed life. His knowledge makes him mistaken in gauging the problems that as an ordinary citizen, he doesn't face.

  They arrived at the park in a rge circle; Billy's brother was in the middle of a rge group of whites, all looking tough to Billy's eyes, but Billy.

  -Brother? - asked James.

  -Yeah, it's me, - replied to or.

  -What the hell, Dad said you were iwin Towers, - said James.

  -I was, but now I'm here, - said or.

  -Now I get it! What are you doing here? - asked James, Billy mao see the tattoos protruding from uhe sleeve.

  -Just greeting the family, - said or.

  -Stay, kid; a friend of James is a friend of mine. I'm Karl; this is Crow; your brothers, James, Troy, and Finnigan. The S-45, - said Karl, with greasy bck hair almost reag his shoulders.

  -I'm or, and I came to greet James; we'll talk ter, - said or.

  -Wait, -said Karl.

  James only shot him a furious look, between words left unspoken and silent attitudes; some gang members just watched the two boys. Billy knew Karl's attitude perfectly, a maniputor.

  -What's up, - said or, not very courteously.

  -Nothing, get lost, - said James.

  ...