Untitled
Untitled
By Keir Graff
Time Out Chicago, October 9, 2008
Quentin Jones had never set out to be an art thief. He had been just your garden-variety thief, a B&E man, no good with locks but with a knack for finding open windows or guessing where homeowners hid their keys. His mother never missed an opportunity to remind him of the perks afforded a branch bank manager—that was his younger brother Ike’s job—but burglary had been a reliable occupation, helping him buy groceries and split the rent with his steady girlfriend, Juanessa.
Reliable, that is, until he was caught with a Treasure Island shopping bag containing an ex-cop’s coin collection. Quentin had been caught before, of course, and viewed the three-to-six-month stays in Cook County Jail as an unfortunate cost of doing business. But the ex-cop’s coin collection had—undoubtedly it was purely coincidental—meant prison time: 33 months at the East Moline Correctional Center.
When Quentin got out, he was surprised to learn that Juanessa had married Ike and borne him two sons, Ike Jr. and Juan. No longer would she hitch her wagon to a “guaranteed recidivist sneak thief,” she told Quentin. She was going straight.
Hearing the news on Ike’s stoop, Quentin felt a powerful urge to push past Juanessa and enter Ike’s “hobby room,” where he would play Godzilla to Ike’s painstakingly acquired collection of pewter figurines.
He fought down the urge. In the joint, he had learned that sometimes, all a man had was his pride.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Nessa,” he said. “Whilst incarcerated I came to the selfsame conclusion, the fact of which I could have informed you, had you had the courtesy to pay me a visit whilst I was incarcerated.”
He thought he detected a glimmer of uncertainty in her eyes.
“It pains me that I will be undertaking my own course of self-improvement without your cherished companionship,” he continued, “but that I must do. Please give my brother my kindest regards.”
And with that, Quentin turned on his heel and walked across the street to his mom’s house.