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desk in the hallway. She asked me if I had any trouble and I told her no. She took me to a closet at the end of the hall, opened it, and told me to tie the top of the bag up tight and then put it in the closet.
    “The cleaning staff picks it up at night and puts it out for the waste disposal people,” she said. “So what do you think of Mr. Hooft?”
    “He’s okay, I guess.”
    “He’s nice once you get to know him,” she said. “Come on, I’ll give the two of you a formal introduction.”
    I thought that was cool. I also noticed that Simi knocked on the door even though Mr. Hooft saw us coming.
    “Hello, Pieter,” she said. “I want you to meet Reese. He’s here from the Progress Facility and he’s going to be working ten days a month for us. We think he’s going to do a marvelous job.”
    “What’s the Progress Facility?”
    “It’s a place for young men who have made a mistake,” Simi said. “But I think Reese has learned his lesson and now he’s on the right road. Aren’t you, Reese?”
    “Yes.” My heart sank when I saw Mr. Hooft’s face. He was looking over at me as if he was scared of me.
    He beckoned Simi over and pulled her next to him. I heard him say that he didn’t want me in his room.
    Simi straightened up. “Mr. Hooft, you’ll have towork with whatever staff we have. Reese is a very intelligent boy and he will be working with us. Now you two get acquainted, because he’s going to be assisting you with keeping your room clean, with your personal hygiene, and anything else you need. He’s a very good young man.”
    Simi patted me on the arm and walked out of the door.
    Mr. Hooft looked at me and then looked toward the door as if he might have thought about getting up and running. I saw a cane in the corner of the room, so I knew he wouldn’t be running too fast.
    For a while we were silent, me standing in the middle of the floor and him sitting by the window looking at me. I tried to think of something good to say.
    “Is there anything I can do for you, sir?”
    He got up slowly and I thought he was going to leave the room, but then he went into the little bathroom. I didn’t know if he was going to stay in there, maybe lock himself up or what. There was a stool near the chest, and I went over and sat on it.
    I hadn’t been around a lot of old people before and I didn’t know how to act. There had been a program on television about teenagers robbing oldpeople. Maybe he had seen that and was getting spooked. Simi had told me to stay with him, so I just sat on the stool.
    After a while the door opened and he came out and looked around the room like he was wondering if I was still there. I stood up and he looked me up and down.
    Then he went back to his place on the chair.
    “You murdered somebody?” he asked me.
    “No, sir,” I said. “I didn’t murder anybody.”
    “White or black person?” he asked. He had an accent.
    “Sir, I didn’t murder anybody,” I repeated.
    “You’re in jail now?”
    “Yes.” I didn’t like saying I was in jail. I remembered when I first got to Progress I began thinking about what I would say to people when I got out, what I would call the place.
    “You raped a woman?”
    “No, man. I didn’t rape a woman and I didn’t kill anybody.”
    “So what did you do?”
    “I would rather not say.”
    “Simi!” Mr. Hooft called out. “Simi!”
    “Sir, please give me a chance,” I asked him.
    “What did you do so terrible you can’t even say the words?” he asked. “Simi! Simi!”
    Simi came to the door and looked at me and then at Mr. Hooft.
    “What happened?” she asked.
    “This man, is he a murderer?”
    “No, he is not a murderer, Mr. Hooft.” Simi put her arm around my waist. “He’s a very nice young boy.”
    “If he was a very nice young boy, he wouldn’t be in jail,” Mr. Hooft said.
    “Sometimes, Mr. Hooft, people make mistakes,” Simi said. “And Reese will be working with you.”
    She left again and I saw that