Half of Paradise

“What’s it like in there?” Jeffry said.

“It ain’t nice,” Toussaint said.

“I heard a man suffocated in there,” Daddy Claxton said.

“I couldn’t pull no time in the box. I’d go flip closed up in a place that small,” Jeffry said.

“You’d pull it if you had to.”

“Not in this weather. The sun will be like a blowtorch on them sides.”

“Maybe the warden will ship him out to maximum security at Angola,” Claxton said.

“Evans will make sure he does his time in the box. He won’t turn in a report if he thinks the warden would ship him out,” Toussaint said.

“I want to see him get Evans. Benoit’s got a knife hid in his bunk. I’d get it from him and give it to this guy if he’d use it,” Billy Jo said.

“Benoit ain’t got a knife,” Jeffry said.

“Yeah, he does. I seen him go in the latrine late at night and work on it with a whetstone.”

“Leave LeBlanc alone,” Avery said. “If you want Evans cut up, do it yourself.”

“He can do it for me.”

“You give him a knife and he’ll end up being executed.”

“That’s his worry.”

“Don’t give him the knife.”

“I do what I take a notion to. He says he wants to kill Evans. I ain’t making him do it.”

“You talk about getting Evans, but you got to have somebody else do it for you,” Avery said.

“Get off my back, Broussard. I don’t take orders from nobody on this gang.”

“I’m telling you, let LeBlanc alone. He’s got a ten-year sentence, and he’s going to have enough trouble without you getting him into any more.”

“You better mind your business.”

“If you ain’t enough man to do your own cutting, don’t put a crazy man up to it,” Toussaint said.

“You guys break my heart,” Billy Jo said. “That nut ain’t going to last a year in here. Why don’t we let him get Evans while he can?”

“Get him yourself. You been talking about it ever since I come here,” Toussaint said.

“I been waiting for the right time.”

“You say you’re breaking out next week. Get Benoit’s knife and take a piece of Evans with you,” Toussaint said.

“I ain’t taking a chance on fucking up my break.”

“Then don’t put a knife in a crazy man’s hand if you ain’t willing to stick out your own neck.”

“What’s your part in this?” Billy Jo said. “Are you Jesus Christ or something?”

“I don’t like to see you send somebody to the electric chair for what you can’t do yourself,” Toussaint said.