Al Capone Shines My Shoes

Moose and his best friend Jimmy Mattaman, also the son of a guard, have found a secret way of entering a crawlspace under 64 Building by unscrewing the door hinges. Nicknaming the passageway “Chinatown,” the boys use it as a hideaway and as a way of eavesdropping on the building’s adults, who often have conversations in the apartment of the childless Mrs. Caconi.

In the passageway, Moose invites Jimmy to play baseball with him later in the day, since Scout, one of Moose’s friends, will be visiting from the city. Jimmy is not good at baseball and his interests are more science-oriented; he is currently collecting hundreds of flies so he can teach them tricks and hold a “circus.” Jimmy hopes that Scout will like him, despite his lack of skill at baseball.

As the two boys sneak out of the crawlspace, they are almost caught by Darby Trixle, who sees Jimmy and berates him through his bullhorn for loitering in the basement. He reminds Jimmy to report to work at the grocery run by Bea Trixle, Darby’s wife. Moose remains in hiding; he feels he is particularly hated by Darby because of Natalie, whose condition annoys Darby. After Darby and Jimmy leave, Moose climbs the stairs to the apartment of Annie Bomini, a close friend of his who excels at baseball. However, Moose is upset to hear that Annie was given his family’s laundry bag by mistake and found a handwritten note in his shirt pocket with the words, “Your turn.” He recognizes the handwriting as Capone’s and realizes that the gangster now expects Moose to do him a favor in return for getting Natalie into her special school.

Annie demands to know what is going on, and Moose confesses on the condition that she not tell anyone. He adds that Piper Williams, the warden’s daughter, also knows about the favor from Capone. Annie, shocked, says Capone will likely kill Moose if Moose doesn’t do what Capone wants. On the other hand, she says, if Moose does do a favor for Capone and the warden finds out, his father could be fired. Reminding Annie of her promise not to tell, Moose suggests that she forget all about it and join him in a game of baseball—his favorite distraction whenever he is worried.

Moose and Annie play catch on the parade grounds, a large concrete lot on the middle tier of the island. Annie, still upset over their discussion, throws erratically. They are joined by Piper, who is on roller skates, casually breaking one of the island’s rules. Sensing the tension between them, Piper tells them to “kiss and make up,” whereupon Annie teases her back about her own attraction to Moose. Piper tells Moose that she has two convicts working in her house to help out her pregnant mother: Willy One Arm, a former thief, who does the cooking, and Buddy Boy, a con artist, who serves as their houseboy. After Piper leaves, Darby Trixle arrives on the parade grounds with his seven-year-old daughter Janet, both of them carrying bullhorns. Darby tells Moose that Scout arrived on the 10 o’clock ferry, but that he sent him back because his paperwork wasn’t in order, due to a mix-up about the time he was supposed to board. Moose runs down to the dock and discovers that Darby waited 20 minutes to tell him, making sure that he would miss his friend.

Moose takes the next boat to San Francisco and joins up with Scout, who can’t wait to play baseball on Alcatraz. Coming back on the one o’clock ferry, the two boys go straight to Annie’s to ask her to play, but she says she won’t play until Moose tells the warden about the note from Capone. Moose argues that his sister’s schooling is worth the risk of being hurt or killed by Capone, but Annie scoffs at this, claiming that “everybody else” knows that Natalie’s special school won’t make her “normal.” Moose angrily gives up but then finds himself defending Annie’s baseball skills to Scout, who jeers at the thought of her being much good.

As they practice pitching and batting, Scout asks Moose if he can get him a baseball used by a convict. Moose mentions that Piper has two convicts working in her house, and the boys decide to visit her. Mrs. Wiliams greets them warmly and introduces them to Buddy Boy. Buddy Boy’s low, insinuating voice unnerves Moose, but Buddy impresses him by doing a passable impression of Cam Flanagan’s voice; somehow he even knows that Moose’s father calls Natalie “sweet pea.” Piper appears, excited to see Scout again, and the two of them stroll to the kitchen to visit Willy One Arm, who has just baked brownies. Willy shows them a “sleeve trick,” using his shoulder to spin the empty sleeve of his missing arm around like a whirligig. He also shows them Molly, his pet mouse, whom he keeps in his pocket.

As the three kids eat their brownies, Piper tells Moose that Scout is “cute,” clearly trying to make him jealous. As the boys leave the house to play baseball, Moose scolds Scout for being so friendly with Piper. Scout retorts that any girl who shares her house with “murderers and madmen” deserves a little kindness (38).

Moose and Scout head over to the Mattamans’ apartment, where Jimmy and his seven-year-old sister Theresa share a bedroom filled with signs of their respective hobbies, such as Jimmy’s book about flies and Theresa’s newspaper articles about famous outlaws.

Jimmy starts to tell Moose and Scout about his experiments with flies, but Scout cuts him off, eager to start the baseball game. Jimmy agrees to play, and Theresa manages to talk Annie into joining them on the field. However, Annie is still angry at Moose for not telling the warden about Capone and insists that he sit the game out. Moose is shocked that Scout does not come to his defense; moreover, Scout offends Jimmy by telling him he throws like a “dead girl.” When it is Scout’s turn to bat, he and Annie focus on each other and ignore Moose, who keeps begging to play. Annie gets two strikes on him, but then Scout, in a rage, hits the ball clear over 64 Building and onto the dock, where the axe-murderer Seven Fingers picks it up and throws it back.

When Moose walks back to the field, Scout asks him if he can have the baseball, since it was thrown by an axe-murderer, making it a “convict baseball.” Moose reluctantly agrees, dismaying Jimmy, who thought he was Moose’s best friend. Scout gratifies Annie by telling her she’s good enough to play on his team in the city.

Monday, August 12th, 1935: Moose’s mother returns from a visit to Natalie at her boarding school, saying Natalie has settled in well. As Moose and his father play darts, Cam advises his son to try to be a little more tolerant of people like Darby Trixle, saying that he himself always looks for the good in others. He adds that, unlike Darby, he believes in treating the convicts with respect, which he thinks will help make them better people. All the same, they can be trusted only so far. He worries about the warden’s policy of using Buddy Boy and Willy One Arm for free labor, which he thinks may be a little naïve.

Thinking about his letter to Al Capone, Moose asks if his father ever did “the wrong thing for the right reason” (52). Cam says that when he first met Moose’s mother, she was dating his cousin Harold, but that did not deter him from wooing her, and he has never regretted it. Moose’s mother, buoyed by her visit with Natalie, enters in a cheerful mood, and she and Cam discuss getting a piano so she can play at home. Moose goes to bed feeling happy. Under his pillow, however, he finds a note, presumably left by Seven Fingers, who has just fixed the plumbing. It says, in Al Capone’s handwriting, “My Mae loves yellow roses. She’ll be on the Sunday 2:00. Then we’re square” (53).

The next morning, Moose wakes up from nightmares of his sister encased in ice. He finds strange, itchy welts all over his body, which his mother says are hives. Still, he marvels at how calm and peaceful the house is without Natalie and the “hubbub” that always surrounds her. He also enjoys being the center of his mother’s attention for once.

All the same, he knows that it is up to him to protect Natalie, which means not telling anyone about his deal with Capone. It disturbs him that Seven Fingers must be a friend of Capone’s, since the axe-murderer is often in his house. Moreover, he knows that handing roses to Capone’s wife on the ferry, in full view of the guards, could lead to his father getting fired. Nevertheless, he has no choice: After what Capone did for Natalie, Moose owes him a favor.

That Thursday, with only three days left before Mae Capone’s arrival on the ferry, Moose’s hives are worse than ever. He still has no idea how he will get the roses, or how he can possibly deliver them to Mae without being seen. He decides to clear his mind by playing baseball with Annie, but when he gets to her apartment, she is not there. Mrs. Bomini invites him in, and Annie later arrives. Once outside with her, he says that he has resolved the Al Capone problem, and asks her to play baseball with him, even getting down on one knee to beg. Annie, amused by his submission, seems agreeable, but then goes back inside and shuts the door, exasperating Moose.

Determined to play baseball with someone, Moose goes to Bea Trixle’s canteen, where Jimmy works. Jimmy seems distant with him, perhaps still angry about the day Scout visited. Jimmy’s sister Theresa is also there, looking after their sibling Baby Rocky. Jimmy softens a little when Moose asks him about his pet flies; he shows Moose how he stores them in an icebox to make them slow enough to “harness” with braided thread. Meanwhile, Piper comes in.

Suddenly, Baby Rocky chokes on something Theresa has given him. Jimmy shouts at Moose to run the baby to Doc Ollie’s. Piper demands to take the baby instead, claiming to be “faster,” but Theresa shoves her against a wall. Moose sprints desperately with Baby Rocky, who has become quiet and still, to Doc Ollie’s office. With his forceps, the doctor probes into the baby’s throat and removes a Lincoln-head penny. Rocky, out of danger, begins to howl.

The crisis over, Moose realizes that he is standing in the cellhouse, home to the country’s most dangerous convicts. As a reward for his heroic actions, his father and Doc Ollie give him a partial tour of the cellhouse, which ends at the cell of Capone himself.

The beefy Capone, his scarred face graced with a charming smile, interrupts his work—shining a pair of Darby Trixle’s shoes—to greet them. With a wink, Capone offers to shine Moose’s and his father’s shoes as well, but Cam coolly declines. Capone asks if there are any plans to give him a “roommate,” saying he prefers his solitude. When Cam says it’s out of his hands, Capone suggests that any man can make things happen if he tries hard enough, citing himself as an example. Cam scoffs that things haven’t worked out too well for him lately. Capone tells Moose he has a job waiting for him when he gets out, and that he looks like the “kinda person who keeps up his end of a deal” (71). Sternly, Cam ends the visit. As his father leads him away, Moose hears the mobster whisper, “Bye, son.”