Flight: A Novel

Officer Dave confiscates Zits’ guns and takes him to the police station, where a detective—“a big black man with big eye glasses”—interrogates him (147). He tells them that he got the guns from a boy named Justice whom he met in jail a few months ago. The detective, however, doesn’t believe this story and thinks that Zits invented Justice. He pulls out a copy of the bank’s security tape and plays the video. Zits sees himself on the video, walking into the bank and standing “near a huge potted plant” (148). He laughs at how ridiculous he looks standing next to the plant, as though he’s “trying to hide behind it” (148). Officer Dave and the detective laugh, too. Zits knows that this is only funny because he walked into the bank but didn’t do what he intended to do. Every customer, teller, and security guard is still alive. Then again, maybe they’re all laughing to make him see how “unfunny” all of this is (149).

Zits sees himself in the video patting his coat several times. The detective asks what he was doing. Zits says that the was checking to see if he still had his guns. He admits that he was thinking about using them. Then, everyone notices how Zits’ image flickers then briefly disappears. The detective blames it on a glitch in the tape. They see Zits on the video “staring at the little blond boy and his mother,” smiling and waving at them (150). The detective, who Zits has quietly nicknamed “Eyeglasses,” asks who those people were. Zits admits that he didn’t know them but was friendly to them because they seemed so beautiful to him. Detective Eyeglasses “snorts” in response, but Officer Dave smiles. Zits figures that Officer Dave is a parent, too.

The detective asks Zits if he knows where Justice is. Zits says that they lived in a warehouse in SoDo—the industrial district. Zits takes them to the warehouse and “[waits] outside with two rookie cops while Dave and Eyeglasses and a SWAT team” swarm the building (150). No one is there. Eyeglasses emerges and takes Zits up to the room that he shared with Justice where he sees “empty cans, bottles, and plastic containers” (150). There are also “two beds made out of newspaper and cardboard” as well as photos of people with “crosshairs painted over their faces” (150).

The cops take Zits to a holding cell. He figures he’ll be transferred to another halfway house or juvenile hall. Then again, he could go to prison this time. Officer Dave visits, leans against the bars of the jail cell, and warns Zits that he’s going to die. Zits tries to act tough. Inside, he feels fragile, but he keeps up the act, telling Dave that he doesn’t care if he dies. He also refuses to believe that Dave or any cop really cares about him. He sees that Dave, who confesses that he “[cares] too much,” is crying (150).

Officer Dave tells Zits a story about going on a 911 call. A man reported hearing babies crying incessantly. Dave looks up at the ceiling while he speaks, as though the image were playing out above him. He tells Zits about pulling up to “[a] small, dirty house” with garbage strewn on the lawn and “[t]wo broken cars in the driveway” (152). He and his partner knocked on the door, but no one answered. Dave put his ear to the door and told his partner that he heard water running. He stepped off the porch and peered through a front window, where he saw two people lying on the floor. Officer Dave and his partner “[drew] their guns and burst through the front door” (152). They entered and saw two people—a man and a woman—passed out on the floor. Around them were empty beer, wine, and liquor bottles; “crack pipes,” and “the stink of meth” permeated the room (152). Dave’s partner kicked the man to wake him up; Dave walked into another room, following the sound of running water, which flowed into the hallway. The water was cold.

Dave walked toward the bathroom. As he got closer, the water got deeper. His partner joined him at the door. Dave turned the knob, but couldn’t open the door. He pushed hard against it. When it gave way, he saw two toddlers lying on the floor with burn marks on their legs, backs, and stomachs from hot water. Water still flowed from the faucet, but it had become ice cold. Dave knelt down and picked up the babies, “one in each arm” (153). He looked into their eyes, which “[were] open and blue and blind” (153). He knew that the children were dead. He cried in despair, wanting to go back an hour to when he could have saved them.

Now, standing outside of Zits’ cell, Officer Dave cries again. Zits isn’t sure if he’s the one in jail or if Dave is.

Zits is put into counseling for months, until the authorities determine that he’s not dangerous. He figures that he’s probably “unlovable” (154). The state places Zits in yet another foster home—this time with Officer Dave’s brother Robert, who is a firefighter, and Robert’s wife, Mary, a nurse. Zits wonders why Officer Dave sent him to live with his brother, instead of looking after Zits himself. He wonders if Dave avoided that prospect, out of fear of disappointing Zits.

Zits arrives at Robert’s house in the middle of the night, in the company of social workers. They escort him to a “little bedroom” in the house, where he eventually falls asleep in his new bed (156). An alarm clock plays the Blood, Sweat & Tears song “I Love You More Than You Will Ever Know—the song his mother used to sing to him.

Zits walks into the kitchen, where he sees Officer Dave eating a breakfast of oatmeal, fruit, and sausage with his brother and sister-in-law. Both Robert and Mary are in their respective uniforms, prepared for work. Zits notices Mary’s large, high cheekbones and wonders if “she’s a little bit Indian” (156). She greets him and Robert holds out his hand and introduces himself. He and Zits shake hands. Officer Dave looks at Zits, who wonders if Dave is still thinking of those two drowned babies. He offers to take Zits and Robert to a Mariners game after work. Zits is tempted to say whatever, as he usually did in response to his foster parents’ entreaties, but he knows that Dave means it and is just as interested in Zits’ well-being as his new foster parents are.

Robert asks if Zits has ever seen a baseball game in-person; he hasn’t. Robert tells him that they can gorge themselves on lemonade and hotdogs. Mary interjects, refusing to allow Zits to eat junk. She says that she’ll pack him “some fruits and vegetables,” and insists that he drink plenty of water (157). She smiles at him. Her teeth are perfect. She tells him that she would like Zits to permanently stay with them, which takes him by surprise. Dave smiles, too—“goofy and big” (157). Zits senses that Dave is trying to save him, but he thinks that maybe he can save Dave, too.

Dave and Robert leave for work, leaving Mary and Zits alone. Mary announces that after breakfast, she’s going to take Zits “down to the new school to get [him] enrolled” (158). She’ll then go to work for several hours, return, and pick up him. She tells Zits that she’ll meet him outside of his new school at 2:45. He asks her if she’ll really be there. She promises that she will be. Now, Zits says "whatever," prompting Mary to lean in close to assure him that, when she makes a promise, she keeps it (158). She asks if he believes her; he says he does. She tells him to finish his breakfast.

Zits eats then goes to the bathroom to prepare for school. He hears a knock at the door. Mary asks if she can come in. Zits tells her that he’s “decent” and surprises himself with his usage of the word (158). Mary enters, “carrying a bag of stuff,” which turns out to be skincare products (160). She tells Zits that they have to work on clearing his skin. He says that he knows that he’s ugly. She refutes this, calling him “handsome, actually,” but assures him that he’ll “be a lot happier” with proper skincare (160). She shows him how to use each product. With proper usage, she assures him, he’ll be “brand-new” (160).

Zits begins to cry, and Mary hugs him. No one has so warmly hugged him since his mother died. He feels both happy and frightened. He remains aware of the cruelty in the world and how vulnerable children are. He also remains aware of his sense of himself as “a betrayer” (160). However, now he thinks that he’s “been given a chance” (160). He feels like he has “an almost real family” (160). He repeatedly tells Mary that he’s sorry, while she assures him that he’ll be fine. He then tells her that his real name is Michael and asks that she please call him Michael.