The Get Over by Walter Dean Myers Page B

If they score, we drop a dime in return for some slack.”
    â€œIf they do cop, we can make some money when they try to get the dope,” Slice said. “We get our hands on the money, we got to cop some of it.”
    â€œOr all of it,” Bobo said.
    â€œIf they get a big enough taste, we can just cop the whole thing, run over to Newark for a while, and snitch from there,” Little Willie said. “Let them fools go down and look for the money from behind bars.”
    â€œSo what we going to do now?” Slice asked.
    â€œLet the fools play it out and wait until they bring us the paper,” Little Willie said. “Then we got to be ready!”
    My heart was beating a mile a minute. I thought somebody sitting on the stoop would have heard it. It was like the music was rising and my heartbeat was setting the rhythm. Cool.
    The music rises as we switch to a LONG SHOT. The sound of a heartbeat raises the tension. We see LITTLE WILLIE, BOBO, and SLICE get up from the stoop and walk casually down the street. Then we see STEVE HARMON stretch out his legs and try to look as if he is not scared out of his mind. CLOSE-UP of HARMON. His eyes are wide as he knows he has just heard a major crime being planned.
    CUT TO: STEVE HARMON at home. He is sitting at the dinner table. At the far end of the table, his FATHER is looking at the newspaper and shaking his head.
    FATHER
    Another basketball player caught with a gun! At the airport, too. What’s wrong with these fools? They got all the options in the world and absolutely no common sense.
    CUT TO: A montage of scenes as STEVE HARMON reviews his options.
    There is the scene in which ARNOLD and JT approach the armored car. They pull open the gate and a SWAT TEAM comes out and captures them.
    Or SCENE 2:
    ARNOLD and JT are giving the money to BOBO, who looks around to see if anybody is watching. Then he winks at ARNOLD and hustles down the street.
    We see BOBO stopping to make a phone call to the POLICE.
    CUT TO: A BASKETBALL PLAYER reaching for his bag at the airport. He is startled as the SECURITY GUARD grabs him.
    CUT TO: ARNOLD and JT in Burger King. They are on line when suddenly there are plainclothes cops everywhere. We see ARNOLD and JT with surprised looks on their faces.
    CUT TO: A CLERK.
    CLERK
    If you wanted your burgers to go, you should have said something!
    CUT TO: CLOSE-UPs of ARNOLD and JT. They are confused, wondering about their options.
    But now I had options, too. Little Willie and Bobo were thinking about double-crossing Arnold and JT. The only thing they were worried about was how they were going to do it.
    It didn’t bother me that Arnold and JT were going to get in trouble. Well, it did bother me some, but I didn’t know what I should do about it. I could call the police and tell them that there was going to be a holdup. But suppose they were just shooting off their mouths and didn’t really plan to do anything? Guys did that all the time.
    And if I did call the police, would I have to give my name? Would they ask me who else had heard the plan? Then what would I say?
    If I didn’t call the police and the robbery went off, then it didn’t matter what happened to Arnold and JT, because they had already committed a crime. And if Bobo and Slice and Little Willie ripped them off, it would be what they deserved. Of course, if Arnold and JT did have guns, things could get hairy in a heartbeat.
    FADE-IN: WILLIE, BOBO, and SLICE are sitting on my stoop.
    WILLIE (with alarm in his voice)
    Uh-oh! Here comes trouble!
    Camera PANS LEFT and we see ARNOLD and JT with machine guns running parallel to the building. They stop and begin firing as kids and older people scramble for cover.
    I remembered an ad that said you could report crimes without giving your name. But suppose the police traced the call? I told myself not to think about it. There wasn’t anything I could do, really, because I didn’t know what was going to