Part 19 (1/2)

CHAPTER 63

I returned to rowth off his torso This tie nodule on his sto

”Needle's not a bad conductor,” Doc said, as he lit another uards uards said when he saw Doc's procedure ”What the fuck you doin', Douards hadn't come for Doc They had come for me

”White,” a feo stand in the hall”

”Why?”

”Get out!” she screauards emptied the contents of my locker and spread them out on my bunk The procedure was called a ”shakedown” They exas They uncoupled , tasted my toothpaste, smelled h the pages of azines, and diary notes They found azines and confiscated theuard called out

I stepped into the doorway ”Yes,” I said My heart rate shot up

”You hoardin'!”

”What?”

”You got ten sheets of carbon paper!” she said ”That's hoardin'”

Doc, who had been allowed to stay in the room, blew out his match and interjected, ”He really likes office supplies”

I wrote four to five letters a day, and I ht not retrieve after my release

”Why can't I have ten sheets?” I asked

”You can tattoo yourself!” The feh the carbon paper and into my skin to duplicate the effects of a tattoo needle

I pulled up hed The thought ofmyself seemed ridiculous, even to her Doc lit another match

”I keep duplicates of uard said that if I told her I would use all of the carbon paper within forty-eight hours, I could keep it

”It should last longer than that,” I said

”But if you tell ht hours,” she said, ”I can let you keep it” you will use it in forty-eight hours,” she said, ”I can let you keep it”

One of the other guards, trying to be helpful, said under his breath, ”Just lie”

”I'uards looked at each other for a moment and went back to the shakedown I stepped back into the hallway and leaned against the wall For so et special treatment I expected people to overlook my tendency to bend the rules or cut corners or even kite checks Standing in the hallway, temporarily banished from my prison rooood about telling the truth It was a s at risk but a few sheets of carbon paper But it felt important

CHAPTER 64

On a Sunday afternoon in late January, more than forty-five ina Mr Dinghahahed, and then hacked and coughed some more After about fifteen minutes, Juan, the wheelchair-bound Mexican inhah

”I can't help it,” Dingham answered ”I'm sick”

”Then shut the fuck up!” Juan said He and Dingham knew each other well They were class continued, interrupting the co everyone in the room Juan, who had been cantankerous all week in our classroo and tossed coffee at Mr Dingham, except it landed on the man next to him, John Gray

John Gray stood and walked toward Juan

Fights in television rooms had co television would eventually witness a fight John Gray didn't want to fight a y

John Gray stood before Juan, held out his coffee-stained T-shi+rt and said, ”What the hell did you do that for?!”

John Gray did not get what he expected Juan, still in his wheelchair, thrust his right hand at John Gray's chest It wasn't really a punch or a push or even a slap Later, I heard it described as a jab

Juan turned his wheelchair around and zipped out of the room John Gray put his hands over his sternum and fell to his knees Kirk, an inators, tried to help hiot h John Gray's T-shi+rt When Kirk saw it, he bolted from the room and ran down the hallway An inmate in the TV room yelled, ”Shank!”

Juan rolled down the hallway as fast as he could, expecting to escape from prison by wheelchair Kirk tackled Juan fro him to the floor Juan flopped like a fish on the concrete, waving his hoot near him Kirk eventually wrestled the knife away frouard who had just stepped through a doorway right over Juan

Kirk controlled the situation He tossed the shank out of reach and pinned the paraplegic to the floor until the guards handcuffed him

The shank, a sharpened piece of metal, lay on the concrete floor Drops of blood spotted the hallway The tip of the knife was covered in the brightest red blood I had ever seen

Juan had stabbed John Gray over the sht about how many times I had leaned over Juan to help him with his math, and I wondered if his shank had always been within reach I iined how many times Ella and Harry had passed within one foot of Juan in the hallways

As the guards dragged Juan and Kirk to the hole, I stared at John's blood against the dull colors of the colony floors