Written across the inside, easily readable through the glass: GIVE UP COME OUT. Jonesy had a brief memory of The Wizard of Oz—SURRENDER DOROTHY written across the sky—and wanted to laugh.
A series of violent bangs, almost as loud as thunderclaps, made him cry out and jump to his feet. His first thought was that Mr. Gray was using one of those SWAT squad door-busters, battering his way in. It wasn’t the door, though.
It was the window, and in some ways that was even worse. Mr. Gray had put industrial gray shutters—steel, they looked like—across his window. Now he wasn’t just imprisoned; he was blind, as well.
Written across the inside, easily readable through the glass: GIVE UP COME OUT. Jonesy had a brief memory of The Wizard of Oz—SURRENDER DOROTHY written across the sky—and wanted to laugh. He couldn’t. Nothing was funny, nothing was ironic. This was horrible.
“No!” he shouted. “Take them down! Take them down, damn you!”
No answer. Jonesy raised his hands, meaning to shatter the glass and beat on the steel shutters beyond, then thought, Are you crazy? That’s what he wants! The minute you break the glass, those shutters disappear and Mr. Gray is in here. And you’re gone, buddy.
