Whitney FI’s Reviews > The Reformatory > Status Update

If Joe Friday were real, he'd be chasing after Robbie right now because the judge said Robbie deserved to be locked up. Even Joe Friday, who never made a mistake, would be on the wrong side of justice in Gracetown. #ACAB

Robert remembered what Mrs. Hamilton said about how the dead can hear all the way to heaven, so he took a deep breath from his belly before he played his high C, the saddest sound of all. Birds flapped from the trees, shamed by its perfection. Robert held that note for an impossibly long time, until Tex was nodding and smiling at him. The memory of his music floated over them long after he laid his trumpet down.

The crows flapped away in a sudden flurry while Robert waited in the growing shadows. At first he barely noticed Henry Jackson standing at the corner of the cedar grove, still in his cap, as if he'd always been there. He wasn't floating like the boy in the infirmary or a giant like the man in the church; he just looked horribly ordinary. Robert heard a low voice singing words he could not hear, a song of the dead.

"We'll get you out of here, I promise," Robert said, finding words somehow, voice gentle like a parent's, hoping there was something he could say or do to quiet Cleo's rage. Gloria could look in anyone's eyes and know almost anything about them, and maybe this was how she felt every day. He stared straight into the heart of Cleo's life story, all of it bad and sad and wrong.

"What am I gonna do?" Robert whispered. He didn't care that he sounded like he was crying. All around them instruments peeped and squealed while boys enjoyed their moment without troubles. Many were practicing scales as if their lives depended on it. "I dunno," Redbone said. Now his voice was an old man's too. "But we'll figure it out." We was a mighty and beautiful word.

"Wasn't no grease fire." Waymon didn't say Klan, but he didn't have to. Sherriff Posey froze, surprised. He wasn't used to answers to his lies. He turned to scan the street, where everyone was posted on their porches or by their windows. Miz Lottie was awake now, listening by her front broken window pane. The sheriff suddenly busied himself with wiping his shoe in the grass. Gloria hoped he'd stepped in dog shit.

He walked behind Robert's chair, leaning over him to place a photo practically under his nose. All of Robert's skin prickled with the warden so close, like a bear was standing behind him. When Warden Haddock rubbed Robert's shoulder, Robert's eyes started at his long, pale, pink fingers instead of the image. The warden wore a gold wedding band. Robert wondered if the warden's wife knew him even a little bit.

I’ll start updating with quotes again once I’ve reached fresh story (past where I was with the audio).

I’ll start updating with quotes again once I reach fresh story (past where I stopped with the audio.

Horrific reminder: The Dozier School for Boys only closed 15 years ago. None of this history is ancient.