Free Your Eyes in Stars by M. E. Kerr

the cat, slid through the door with him. My father had a slice of chocolate pie on a plate and a glass of milk.
    “How did you sneak this up here?”
    “Your mother is taking a walk with Seth. She told me you were being punished.”
    He sat down on my bed.
    “What happened at dinner?” he asked.
    “I was a Dummkopf .” Then I told him all about it.
    “You were asking for it, weren’t you?”
    “I guess.”
    “I thought since your friendship with Elisa, you haven’t been teasing your mother. She can never take a joke, you know.”
    “You tease her too. You make fun of her when she makes those malapropisms.”
    “Oh, that’s all in fun.”
    “Seth doesn’t think so. He thinks you’re belittling her.”
    “He’s going through a stage, Jess. He doesn’t like me right now. I went through it with my own father.”
    “And Mother’s cold. I don’t know why you like such a cold woman.”
    “I love her, Jessie.”
    I plugged my ears. My father pulled my hands down gently.
    “You love her too,” he said. “I thought you’d changed since you became friends with Elisa. You’ve grown up. But we don’t lose our old ways overnight. I know that, honey. Old behavior is hard to shed,” he said. “That’s why we have so many recidivists up on The Hill.”
    “Are there more of them there than one-timers like Slater Carr?”
    “There used to be. Nowadays life inside is easier than life outside, so some men do something purposely, to come back to us.”
    “I bet Slater Carr would never come back if he got out.”
    “He’ll never get out,” my father said emphatically. “And I think Mr. Carr is learning to make the best of it.”
    “Once I get out of here,” I said, “I won’t be back.”
    “You think of this house as a prison?”
    “This town is. In my school they don’t even read important books like Les Misérables .”
    “What’s stopping you from checking it out of the library?”
    “Because it’s a hard book. I would never read it unless it was a school assignment.”
    “Oh, honey, you’re just blue tonight because you had a fight with Mother.”
    “I’d like to see something of the world. I’m tired of being a hick! I may not finish high school.”
    “Okay. Will you write home?” A smile tipped his lips.
    “It isn’t funny, Daddy.”
    My father changed the subject. “Seth seems unhappy about a lot of things. Do you think so?”
    “He’s only unhappy about one thing. He’s worried about J. J.’s father because he’s broke and he’s drinking.”
    “Oh, I don’t think Seth need worry,” said Daddy. “I’min Rotary with Horace. He’s a levelheaded fellow. Shall I tell you a secret?”
    “Okay.”
    “You’re not to tell anyone. Not anyone! It could cost me my job.”
    “I promise I won’t spill the beans.”
    “I have Mr. Carr helping Horace out. Mother told me Mrs. Stadler doesn’t like prisoners working here, so Mr. Carr will do his away work at the Joys’.”
    “I wondered where the prisoners were.”
    “I’m not a hero. A lot of us are helping Horace. The Rotary saw that his car was paid up. I know that the Joys can’t afford a gardener anymore, so Mr. Carr is doing his lawn, mowing it, pulling weeds and that sort of thing. Mother’s sending Myra over one day a week as well.”
    “Does Seth know?”
    “If he knows, he hasn’t mentioned it to me. Your brother doesn’t talk to me very much anymore.”
    “He doesn’t talk to me, either. He does all his talking to Mr. Joy, I bet.”
    “Could be, sweetie.”
    When I finished the pie and milk, my father said he had one more surprise for me. He opened the bedroom door, reached down on the hall rug for something, and came back with a poster still rolled up.
    “Baby Face Nelson?” I said.
    “Nope.”
    “Pretty Boy Floyd?”
    “Unt-uh.” He shook his head.
    Then he unrolled the sheet, and I saw:
    ----
    MOST WANTED SLATER “GOLDILOCKS” CARR
    WANTED AS AN ACCOMPLICE IN THE MURDER OF JEFF NAYBOR IN