Childhood’sEnd
Four stories of death and the city
Cover Story
Carter stands on the corner in front of the U.S. Attorney’s office eating a chili dog. He is concentrating on each bite so that not a drop of hot sauce or mustard will land on his white T-shirt or immaculate sneakers. It is a hot day in July, and he is also wearing white shorts: He gleams. You couldn’t miss him. Especially if you happened to be riding around the block with a gun on your lap, looking for a man who had just spilled his guts to the U.S. Attorney.
“Should you be standing here?” I ask. I have just walked around the corner on my way to court only to find him here. We are plain happy to see each other, we who used to meet every week when he was a child. Now Carter is an adult at 19, and does adult things: grand jury, criminal trials, drugs, and death.
Carter catches the last drip of chili sauce on his tongue and wipes his hands carefully.
“You’re just standing here, Carter, where God or anybody can see you.”
Carter is always slow to catch on. He concentrates on one thing at a time. Right now he is trying to figure out what the U.S. Attorney knows. “They think I did it.”
“Did you?” I ask, not knowing which of the three or four killings that have been in the local news he might be referring to.
“Nah.” He looks offended.
Seeing Carter standing out there on the corner with a chili dog in his hand, I’m thinking, time will be short. No way around that. Death is riding down the middle of the highway, hogging the center line. If Carter doesn’t want a head-on crash, he has to pull over—way over—to the side. ... Continued 
Issue of Apr. 12 - 18, 1996
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