Don’t get involved.
That was the rule.
Mack stopped in front of the old woman.
“You new?”
The woman looked confused.
“I’m sorry?”
Mack leaned closer.
“I said, are you new?”
The old woman nodded.
“Yes.”
“What’d they give you?”
The woman tightened her grip on her bag.
“Nothing.”
Mack smiled.
“Everybody gets something.”
“I only have my personal things.”
“Then give us your personal things.”
The old woman’s eyes moved toward the guards.
None of them were looking.
She shook her head.
“Please. These are all I have.”
Mack’s smile disappeared.
“You didn’t understand me.”
“I did.”
“Then you understood the question.”
“I can’t give you these.”
The yard became quieter.
I could feel people watching without turning their heads.
Mack reached for the bag.
The old woman held on.
For a second, neither moved.
Then Mack yanked it away.
The contents spilled across the concrete.
The photographs landed face-up.
The old woman gasped and dropped to her knees.
“Please.”
Dina laughed.
“Look at her.”
Coleen picked up the metal box.
“What’s in this?”
“Please give that back.”
That was the first time I saw something change in the old woman’s face.
It wasn’t fear anymore.
It was desperation.
Coleen tossed the box to Mack.
Mack shook it.
Something inside rattled.
“Oh, now I’m interested.”
“Give it back,” the old woman whispered.
Mack opened her mouth to answer.
Then she kicked one of the photographs across the yard.
It slid almost to my feet.
I looked down.
There was a younger version of the old woman standing beside a man in a military uniform.
They were smiling.
But there was something written on the back.
I couldn’t read it from where I sat.
I picked it up.
For one second, I thought about walking it back to her.
Then I remembered the rule.
Don’t become interesting.
I put the photograph on the ground.
Mack saw me.
“So you saw it?”
I didn’t answer.
She laughed.
“Smart girl.”
Then she turned back to the old woman.
“Get up.”
The old woman struggled to stand.
Mack shoved her.
She fell hard onto her knees.
A few women gasped.
Nobody moved.
The old woman tried again.
Mack shoved her a second time.
“Maybe they sent you to the wrong place,” she said. “You belong in a nursing home.”
