Al Capone Does My Shirts

Same day—Saturday January 6, 1935

When Moose and his mother arrive home, Moose is still trying to reassure himself that sending Natalie to the Esther P. Marinoff School was the right thing for her.

On their door is a note from the Warden, who wants to meet Moose.

Cam and Moose plan to play catch, but Moose doesn’t want to go into Natalie’s room to get his glove. When his dad goes in, Moose notices that Natalie left her special purple blanket behind and gets angry with his mother for forgetting it. Moose is worried that Natalie will not be able to sleep without it. Moose has “been mad at everyone except Natalie” (31)—he knows that getting mad at Natalie is “the one thing that will never be forgiven” (32) and so he tries never to get angry with her.

While tossing a ball around, Moose talks with his father about the Warden and his troublemaker daughter Piper, worried about making sure that the Warden knows about Natalie. Moose challenges his dad about Natalie’s screaming outburst when they left her at the school, wanting to “know for certain this is going to work out” (33). Cam responds: “Nobody knows how things will turn out, that’s why they go ahead and play the game, Moose. You give it your all and sometimes amazing things happen, but it’s hardly ever what you expect” (34). When Cam tells Moose to put on a clean shirt, Moose learns that the convicts do their laundry, not his mother.

Same day—Saturday, January 6, 1935

Moose arrives at the Warden’s mansion and notes that there are no trees or grass—because this is Alcatraz, there “nothing but cement clear up to this door” (35). Once inside, Moose notes the family’s primness: “this is not the kind of house where you can burp freely and run around in your bare feet” (36).

Moose sits down with the Warden, and Piper joins them. Warden Williams tells Moose, “I don’t know what you did in Santa Monica, Mr. Flanagan, but children on Alcatraz follow the rules. Exactly. Precisely. Without exception” (37). He lists the many successful and unsuccessful escape attempts on Alcatraz, warning Moose that the criminals held in the prison “are men who have been tried and convicted of the most heinous crimes imaginable—terrible men with nothing but time on their hands” (37).

The first rule Moose must follow is that there is absolutely no contact with the convicts. After outlining further rules, the Warden asks Moose to help Piper carry her school things since they will be attending the same school in San Francisco. Moose feels uncomfortable because while Piper is acting sweet around her father, Moose knows she is the “girl next door to Al Capone” (41). However, he agrees to help.

Moose remembers a summer when he was younger. A psychiatrist thought Natalie would improve if the family paid her more attention, so Helen sent Moose to live with his grandmother. His grandmother correctly realized this would never work, since “it’s going to make Nat sicker just having Moose gone” (24).