The Puppet Master

CHAPTER 5

He slid his key into the metal inner door of the apartment building. If he knew then what he knew now, he wouldn't have bothered to go back for this stupid degree after getting out of jail. He'd thought it would be more meaningful than just getting a GED while he was in the slammer. But this piece of paper hadn't made a bit of difference. No one wanted to talk to him. No colleges had been standing in line. It didn't matter that he'd scored perfect on his SATs in seventh grade and how, from the time he'd been four feet tall, the gifted teachers in the public schools drooled all over him. They called him a prodigy, a genius. He had a photographic memory. He was getting letters from MIT and Johns Hopkins when he was still in middle school. Now, he couldn't even get a job as a techie at a local computer store.

He couldn't make a decent living to support his wife and baby that was on the way.

Jay took a breather on the third floor landing. He didn't know how Padma handled these steps every day. She worked four hours a day at a deli around the corner. When they'd first moved in, she was doing eight hours a day. But she couldn't spend so much time on her feet. In fact, the doctor at the free clinic they'd gone to last week together told her that she should stop working entirely until after the baby was born. She hadn't gained enough weight, and there were times when Jay thought the little bundle in Padma's stomach weighed almost as much as the rest of her. Even so, Padma wasn't hearing what she was being told.

As he stood there, that flash of heat washed through him, just as it did every time he thought too much about their situation. They had a baby coming. How in God's name were they going to pay for it all?

Jay switched the box from one arm to the other and started up toward the fourth floor landing. Odd jobs. Keep working. Keep scratching for every penny.

The computer under his arm belonged to one of the guys he worked with. He'd been having trouble with the thing, so Jay had offered to fix it up for fifty bucks. There were other jobs he'd done at work for free, but it was time to start charging. People he worked with knew he was good at this stuff.

Even though this was the first paying job, Jay hoped that maybe the word going around would get him other jobs like this. He had to make more money. There was so much that he wanted to do...no, needed to do...for Padma.

Just last night, the two of them had gone shopping for a crib for their baby. So they went to the Goodwill store. The only problem was that they didn't have any cribs available...that they should check back again next week. Padma hadn't complained, but he could look at her and see right into her soul. She was sad, disappointed.

As he plodded up the last remaining steps, he wondered for the thousandth time whether he was staying on the right side of the fence for nothing. For every guy in the pen, he knew there were a hundred on the outside...making it.

Jay had made one mistake in high school. Other kids made them all the time. But he was much smarter than other kids. So, of course, his crime had been that much more serious. The punishment more devastating. Well, he'd paid. He was still paying.

In spite of it all, he didn't want to be Padma's one mistake, even though her parents were certain he was.

At the top of the steps, he stopped and looked at the number on that pale green door to their apartment. Just thinking of her on the other side sent a burst of energy through him. That was all he needed. She was all he needed.

Still, as he fished in his pocket for the key, he wished he was carrying a bouquet of flowers or a box of chocolate instead of a busted computer.

At that moment the door opened. Padma, phone cradled against one ear, motioned excitedly to him to come in.