The Administrator Read Online Free Page A

just as the other two cops flanked him and grabbed his arms.
    The mush-mouth Juvie Counselor crammed his pudgy frame into a corner with his arms across his head. He peeked around an elbow while the officers got the rat settled back into the interrogation chair, then in a trembling voice he said, “Wa ... watch it there, you guys. Don’t hurt the kid. He has rights, you know.” Still in his safe corner he squeaked, “You all right, Kid?”
    “Hell, no. I ain’t all right. Get me out of here. That’s your job ain’t it? To protect us poor kids? Make them take these cuffs off. They’re hurting my wrists.”
    The Juvie Counselor looked at me. I hadn’t moved from my position by the door. Shelly and the other two cops were doing just fine. They didn’t need me.
    “Maybe they should take the cuffs off,” said the lardo from the corner.
    I looked at his pellet eyes in his doughboy’s face. Sweat was beading on his forehead. “Why?” I asked.
    “Be ... because they’re hurting him.”
    “You gonna stay in the room if they do? The kid might decide he doesn’t like you either. You want to take that chance?”
    Pudge-face sweated some more, finally he looked down at the floor and shook his head.
    “I thought so. Just a kid, right?”
    Pudge studied the floor some more.
    I looked over at the rat. “Law says we have to notify your family that you’re here. Who do you want us to call?”
    “Nobody. Ain’t got no family. Did have a brother, but he’s dead too. Gang got him while he was diggin’ in the dumpster. Got a good price for his body though. He was in real good shape before the gang got hold of him.” He pinned me with malevolent eyes. “I ain’t done nothin’ wrong. Law says you can sell the bodies. That way the government don’t have to pay for no poor folk’s funerals. Law says.”
    I stared back at him with my best ‘you are scum’ look.
    He flinched, ducked his head, then looked up at Shelly’s chest. “Hell! It don’t matter anyway. The judge will just send me to Boy’s Detention for a few months. He can’t do any more. I’m just a kid. I don’t know what I’m doin’. It’s the law. Couple of months, and I’ll be back home. Shit, I can have all the Happydaze I want while I’m in detention. And a bed too. And three squares.” His insolent eyes traveled down Shelly’s body, then back up to her round face. “Hey, cop,” he laughed. “Why are you lookin’ at me that way? Your face is all red. You look like you just ate a bug, like you’re gonna puke.”
    Shelly glanced at me. Her face was flushed with anger, or disgust, or maybe both. Then she looked back at the rat. “Get him out of here,” she barked at the two witness cops.
    “Ha. Ha. It’s ‘cause you know I’m right. Judge won’t give me more than a few months.”
    The two witness cops each grabbed an arm and herded him to the door. As they passed the doughboy still cowering in the corner, the rat grinned. “Bet you’d bring a good price. All that blubber. Enough skin transplants for a whale.”
    The counselor paled even more than his normal sheet white and darn near swallowed his own tongue.  
    Ratface laughed, and shouted at the cops holding his arms, “Hey, don’t push! You don’t have to be so hard on me. Okay, okay I’m goin’. Take these damn cuffs off me. After all, I’m just a poor orphan kid.”
    I looked at Shelly. “You handled that pretty well.”
    “Thanks.”
    “Want some coffee?”
    “Sure. I’ll buy.”
    “Suits me.”
    The coffee shop’s stained, checkered table cloth smelled faintly of vinegar and bleach. I was so used to it, I didn’t even notice, but Shelly wrinkled her nose. “What is that smell?”
    “Table cloth. You’ll get used to it.” I sipped my pseudo coffee, coughed and added more sugar. It didn’t help the burnt paper taste of it.
    Shelly laughed and asked, “Why do you drink that imitation crap? And how do you afford real tobacco on a cop’s salary?”
    I pulled