Page 92 of The Corruption of Hollis Brown

I came here to die, Walt started. Like saying that to Hollis meant nothing.

This was his last stop. Sam was supposed to get him all the way to the end, but Sam started breaking down before Walt could do what needed to be done.

When Walt met Hollis, he thought he’d won something.

He had one last chance to do what he loved: To make someone’s life better in the place he was born and the place he would die. To shepherd someone so much like him to a future better than he deserved, then settle into the soil of Rose Town like a bad dream and fade.

In 1931, I was a mess. I . . . stole something I shouldn’t have, and a lot of people died.

Everyone worked at the factory in Rose Town. You had to if you weren’t a grocer or a tailor or whatever else people needed. No one ever had enough money; we didn’t own the land, so we weren’t allowed to farm it. We didn’t have houses the way you do; we had these terrible buildings like apartments, with three to four families on each floor. Children in drawers, packed like sardines. Everyone was always sick, always hungry, whatever. The fruit trees helped, but there were just too many people.

We had two crime families: the Rossis and the Callaghans. They got along better than most; they didn’t feud over territory, and smuggled in low-cost beef and booze. The Callaghans had the police, and the Rossis owned the factory. Of course, they both got a little competitive with entertainment and nightlife. A cat and mouse sort of situation that benefited mostly them and sometimes us.

If you were young and tough, you found other kinds of work. Some people did hard things. Stole, sold parts of themselves, hair, teeth. Me and Toji fought.

You fought?

Yeah. They had betting rings. I was good, but Toji was better. He’s the one who looks like Annie. Maybe a great-great-uncle or great-great-grandpa of hers or something, but they have the same face. Earnest, kind, selfish, and careful. Toji’s ears stuck out just a bit too much, just like Annie’s.

Anyway, we needed cash so we fought. Me more than him.

So, what, you fought and threw a fight? Bet against yourself or something?

No. Who has time to throw fights? If you got too thrown around, you couldn’t get up for work in the morning. Fighting’s technically illegal, so you might even earn a night in jail on top of it. No, Hollis, I didn’t throw a fight, I robbed the Rossi family.

Walt rubbed his palms into their eyes.

Only Toji knew I was going to do it, and he begged me not to. He was scared, but I was determined. I’d been to their main offices; I knew where they kept winnings. I knew the man who handled security would work a double shift and be too tired to be good at his job for one night a month, every month.

I needed cash because I wanted to leave town. No one ever left. You couldn’t because we were paid too little to be able to start over anywhere else. You have no idea how depressing it is to know that hasn’t changed.

Hollis sighed and put a hand over their heart.

I wanted to leave because I wanted to find a new place for my family to live. My pa was getting too old to support us, and they paid women practically nothing back then. If we could move to the city, maybe things would be better and I wouldn’t have to watch them waste away before my eyes.

So. I did it. I got away with it for a while. There was no such thing as security cameras, and detectives were half the men they are today. I got away with two thousand dollars, close to forty grand today, and booked it to Chicago.

I spent a week eating good food and sleeping in nice hotels, lying low, then I called my ma. She begged me to come back and said they were looking for the thief and not being too kind about it. Both families, for whatever reason.

And I was . . . I just.

You were a coward.

I couldn’t go back. They killed men for this, Hollis. They didn’t just throw them in prison and fine them, you died.

I cut off all contact after that call. I left my ma half, took what was left and split that in half and handed it to a banker for Toji, asked them to call him to pick it up after a year. Then I changed my name. Got a regular job at a meatpacking factory and held my breath.

But thing is, Chicago is a town of connections, and somehow they found me out. Rose Town reached its hand across so many borders and gripped the back of my collar.

I woke up one night with a barrel in my face and a serious man at the end of my bed.

Walt swallowed hard.

They drove me back to town through the night and walked me up the street. They weren’t Rossi or Callaghan, but that didn’t matter, Hollis. I was a country boy, and I didn’t understand favors and connections between crime families.

They put me back in that town, handed me right to my maker. Then I was dragged down into hell, to a room where Toji was waiting.

His face was black and blue; he was barely breathing. The way I heard it, he hadn’t said a word. People just knew we stuck together, so he was paying for my crimes.