I Am the Cheese

by Robert Cormier

“I can’t say who or what, Adam. For your own protection. Anyway, the Mafia is only a handy word for people to use. There are a lot of words to describe the same thing. As far as time is concerned, the evidence I gave has been used and reused. But there’s a catch. No one knows whether I divulged all the information, everything I knew. That’s another reason for all this surveillance. And maybe it’s the real reason for Grey’s trips here. He keeps probing for more information and I tell him there isn’t any more, that I’ve held nothing back. And he just looks at me. That look gives me the chills. Sometimes, I think I’m an annoyance to him, an embarrassment. Sometimes, when he visits, we sit there like enemies. Or as if we’re playing a crazy game that neither of us believes in anymore but the game has to go on …

“Well, shall we pack?” he said, turning to Adam’s mother. She smiled, wanly. “I’ve already packed. I always keep the suitcases ready.”