Bank Job Read Online Free PDF

the mentally retarded kid.

FIVE
    MARCH 12
    The next day, a windy afternoon in Patterson Hill Park, the three of us gathered around our usual picnic table. Beds of bright daffodils shook their yellow heads madly in—what—sprightly dance? Is that what the poet said? Except the daffs weren’t dancing, they were shaking their heads at us as fast as they could go. “No. No. No.” That should have told me something.
    â€œYou have to do it, Billy,” I said. “You have to go in and hand the bank teller the note. You’re the biggest. You could pass for eighteen, maybe nineteen.”
    â€œThat’s what I figured.” He grinned.
    Billy had convinced me that the only way we’d ever get our hands on such a huge amount of cash was to go along with his robbery scheme.
    I said, “You could get the money, then get out of the bank real fast, and Tom could be waiting…”
    â€œNot me,” Tom shook his head. “No friggin’ way. Forget it. Look, I’ve been thinking.”
    â€œYou got a better idea?” asked Billy.
    â€œYou could say that,” said Tom. “At least it won’t land us in jail for the rest of our lives.”
    I said, “What’s your plan, Tom?”
    â€œThere’s a trust fund set up for me. I’m not allowed to touch it for…well anyway, I could try and get…”
    I felt like hugging him. “Oh, Tom, that’d be so wonderful.” I turned to Billy. “Wouldn’t it, Billy?”
    Billy looked disappointed. “Yeah. Sure it would.”
    Billy waited a few days before asking Tom about the money. We were on our way home from school.
    â€œWell? Did you get it?”
    Tom looked at the cars speeding by in the street. He said nothing for a while. Then without looking at us, he said, “Couldn’t get it. There’s money for university but nothing else. Not till I’m twenty-one.”
    I could tell Billy was trying his best not to look pleased.
    The next Saturday, we spent an hour shooting hoops at Patterson Hill Park. It was windy and cold. We took a break and sat at the picnic table.
    â€œSo what’s it to be, Tom?” asked Billy.
    Tom stretched himself out on one of the wooden seats. “If you’re talking about what I think you’re talking about, the answer’s still no.”
    Billy turned to me, sitting on the other seat. “Looks like it’s just you and me then, Nails.”
    I shrugged.
    Billy came over and sat beside me, with his back to Tom.
    â€œSo it’s back to my plan. I pull the holdup, okay?”
    â€œOkay,” I said, “then I’ll take the handoff. You think it will work, Billy? You really think we can get away with it?”
    Billy smiled. “Trust me. I don’t see how it can fail.”
    Billy filled me with hope. I trusted him. He made anything seem possible. If he said we were going to jump over the moon, I’d believe him. We would get the money for the extra bathroom. None of us would have to leave the Hardy home after all.
    I appealed to Tom. “We need you as part of the team, Tom. If there’s three of us, we’ll be like the Three Musketeers. All for one and one for all.”
    Tom sat up and shook his head. “Friggin’ brainless, I call it.”
    Brainless. There it was again.
    I turned to Billy. “Okay, Billy. It’s just you and me. So I’m standing there with the bag of money. Now what do I do?”
    But Billy wasn’t giving up on Tom. He walked over to the other side of the table and laid a hand on Tom’s shoulder. “I’m thinking it would be safer to have a second handoff, Tom. We really need you, bud.”
    Tom stood, shaking his head. I could see he didn’t like saying no to Billy. He looked up at him. It was hurting Tom to refuse.
    Silence.
    â€œSo I’m standing there with the bag of money. Now what do I do?” I asked Billy