Cuffs

I saved up my box tops for months. We mostly got government cereal in big bags, but I convinced Mom to let me buy real cereal every now and then when I made enough from mowing.

I packed the ten tops neatly into an envelope scrawled with my own handwriting. Mom made sure everything was right since it was official business.

A bigger envelope came three weeks later. It was addressed to Mr. Jesse Ketchum, courtesy of Creek Mills Cereals, Inc. Inside I found a clear package containing a pair of grey plastic handcuffs, a set of plastic keys, and three rings of caps. I didn’t have a cap gun, but still saved the caps.

The cuffs were what I really wanted anyway.

I cuffed Jeanie right away and she swooned and said, “Oh, save me, save me” as she put a forearm across her head.

Next I cuffed Mom to the kitchen drawer and she said, “Jeanie, help me! He cuffed me, Jeanie!” But there was a flatness in her voice as she kept an eye on Dad in the living room.

It was risky for us being so loud.

A bottle clanked and I heard him mumble “Damn noise,” so I uncuffed Mom and went to my room before anything could happen.

The next day I wore my cuffs on my belt and Jeanie and I walked to Ronnie’s where we played jail until the sun got low.

When we came home, Dad was under the carport working on a transmission. Jeanine and I usually kept a wide berth. But sometimes when Dad was feeling good he wasn’t all that bad. Like for my birthday when he spent the whole day showing me how to make rabbit snares.

He said, “What y’all doing there? What you got on your pants?”

I said, “I got some handcuffs, Pa.”

He said, “Oh yeah? Let me see if you can work ’em.”

He stuck out his greasy arms.

I carefully clicked one cuff around his wrist and the other around the rusty white pole holding up our carport.

I squealed, “Ha! Now what are you gonna to do? See if you can get out!”

He looked at me then pulled his wrist away from the pole in a snap, and the cuff on the pole slid down to the concrete. He grabbed the cuff on his wrist and backed the gears out with a crunch and dropped it next to the other one. We stared at each other for a minute. Then he turned and walked away.