Part 19 (2/2)
CHAPTER 65
The prison alaruards rushed us all to our rooms When the siren was finally turned off, I heard the sound of the ambulance helicopter that would take John Gray to a hospital in Baton Rouge
Overnight, Carville becah-security prison Our freedom of moveuards were hired They wore black T-shi+rts with the letters SWAT printed on the back
The FBI was called in to investigate They interviewed everyone who had been in the roo A few of the white witnesses told the agents exactly what happened If Juan were to be convicted, it would be by the testimony of the white inmates
We were allowed to leave our roouards They cleared the hallway of leprosy patients before they let us pass Carville now posed a problem for the Bureau of Prisons There was no way to secure the facility Two doorways dividing the colony could be locked, but it was impossible to seal the breezeway and the corridors If an inmate wanted access to the leprosy patients, it would be no problem In the cafeteria, I nodded to Ricky and Chatto, my Mexican handball buddies, to let them knoas still their friend, but they just looked away A few Mexican inmates stared into the eyes of those who had ”ratted” and ht of lockdown, Link slipped out of his room to check on me and offer advice
”You shoulda kept your job in the kitchen,” Link said, ”'cause you can fuck so water” Link described how he once saw flesh melt off the skin of an inmate at another jail when his enemy had crept up behind him with a pot of water just off the stove
”Socks is another thing,” he said Link described in detail the da three or four padlocks inside a tube sock He de the sock to build upvelocity on the outer periainst Goliath The impact would break ribs or fracture a skull
”Thanks, Link,” I said ”I'll keep that in mind”
”Now, if you don't wanna kill the motherfucker,” he said, ”just put bars of soap in the sock It'll just bruise him and shi+t”
Link's advice, coupled with the fact that our roo He wasn't the only in plans A devout Catholic fro Communion at the Catholic church-stole rat poison froainst any inmate who threatened him Another man stole a baseball bat fro to use his rooht off intruders
On the fifth day of lockdoe heard the news
The Baton Rouge Advocate Baton Rouge Advocate reported that John Gray, fifty-eight, had died of astabbed by another inmate A prison spokeswoman was quoted: ”Gray received a superficial abdo to do with his heart attack” She added that no other information could be released until the FBI coht, had died of astabbed by another inmate A prison spokeswoman was quoted: ”Gray received a superficial abdo to do with his heart attack” She added that no other information could be released until the FBI completed its probe
The one And every inmate in Carville knew exactly what caused his death
Lockdoas frustrating No walking No library The leprosy patients, understandably, were nervous, too We were never to pass a patient unescorted again Guards were put at every corner of the inmate courtyard, and they increased the frequency of shakedowns and strip searches One guard kept watch at the breezeway to make sure no inmates had any contact with the leprosy patients
”I seen you talkin' to the old lady,” he said to ht in their eyes I had not seen before, as if this were their first opportunity to act like real law enforce around in their SWAT shi+rts, they enjoyed the dra, as ere escorted to the cafeteria for breakfast, I heard a guard yell, ”Against the wall!” Sixty of us parted like the waters of the Red Sea and stood with our backs to the walls It was Ella One guard walked in front of her, another behind As she rolled slowly through us, Ella made eye contact with each inmate and smiled When she reached the end of the line, where I was standing, I expected her to nod or wink or give ot the sahs from Carville to her home in New Orleans
CHAPTER 66
In the h had been approved I would be released for five days It could not have co, behind the door uard
”You understand the rules?” he asked I told him I had read the papers, but he reviewed theh, I was not to break any laws, leave New Orleans, use drugs or alcohol, go inside a bar, take prescriptionpoppy seeds (apparently, it could cause a positive result on drug tests)
I signed uard escorted me to the end of the hallway He opened the door and said, ”Be back by 8:00 PM PM Friday” And I walked out
I still didn't understand the logic behind a furlough Why would my captors, in the middle of my prison sentence, simply say, ”Go home for a while”? But I was sure happy about it
Moie On the drive to New Orleans, Neil and Maggie took turns sitting on as to do during our ti the two of you want to do,” I said, ”is great with me”
Mom's place in the French Quarter was built in the 1800s The second-story aparts A ss overlooked Toulouse Street The s ran fro And when the botto The back of the aparte wooden spiral staircase that led to the ground floor, where there was a slate courtyard with a s my last few months of freedom, I had lived in the apartment above Mom's Linda and the kids had lived there after I reported to prison, so Neil and Maggie felt right at hohborhood was familiar territory for theer of Le Marquis, a worew up in New Jersey but donned a French accent for the tourists' sake, asked where I had been I told her I had ie at ie ordered a fruit tart, Neil got three donuts, and I ordered a croissant, although the poppy seed
At Jackson Square, we tossed pennies into the fountain Neil and I threw a Nerf football in a sated park We met my father there, who had co in New Orleans, introduced me to her fiance, Sal I didn't even ask her what excuse she'd given Sal about where I'd been
Once everyone arrived, we toured the massive Catholic cathedral We watched street performers walk on stilts and ride tall unicycles and perforie to assist hiic trick A tall, thin contortionist had Little Neil squeeze into a tiny, transparent box Then the man placed his six-foot frame inside It was ie of the park's iron fence, where they sell paintings and charge 40 for a quick portrait There were palm readers and fortune-tellers and voodoo ladies A tarot card reader tried to solicit business froe my future, old man,” one yelled out The tarot man yelled back, ”No, but I can help you prepare for it”
At the end of the day, we all gathered around the granite base of the statue of Andrew Jackson on horseback and asked a passerby to take our picture My first day of freedoht, after Maggie and Neil fell asleep, I told Mo for a walk I roamed the French Quarter I passed discos and zydeco bands I looked through theof M S Rau Antiques, a store so exclusive and expensive it could pass for a hteenth-century France, fancy diamonds that cost half a ned by European royalty for easy access to lobes that cost ned by insane nineteenth-century scientists
I continued down Royal Street and stopped at Hurwitz Mintz, a furniture store where Linda and I had spent 7,000 on two leather chairs and a leather couch Before Carville, I'd had my eye on an expensive round conference table
At the far end of Royal, I passed Mr B's Bistro Mr B's had been one of my favorite restaurants The staff had treated me like I was special because I published New Orleans New Orleans s, I would spendclients or friends to dinner Now, I had less than 100 to low I stood on the sidewalk and looked inside I didn't worry about being noticed by anyone I knew The people inside Mr B's didn't bother watching the people outside s, I would spendclients or friends to dinner Now, I had less than 100 to low I stood on the sidewalk and looked inside I didn't worry about being noticed by anyone I knew The people inside Mr B's didn't bother watching the people outside
I rounded the block and passed a couple of seedy strip joints I wanted to step inside Just to take a look I felt like I ht better relate to the patrons of the Artist Cafe strip club than any of h rules And I figured the bouncers wouldn't letan overpriced drink
I walked back toward the heart of the French Quarter and thought about the patients at Carville Sohs, too, but only if a family member would accept responsibility Before the 1950s, no more than ten patients could be away from the colony at a time And many patients had been forsaken by their faine what itlocked away for so long Betty Martin, the New Orleans socialite who contracted leprosy at age nineteen, took a furlough She came back to New Orleans to visit her mother and father in their Uptown home, located just a few blocks from where Linda and I had lived When Betty came back to New Orleans, she never left her parents' home Friends and family, the feho knew the truth, came to visit her She stayed inside; she didn't want anyone to see the woman as non by the alias Betty Martin
I understood her fear, why she shrunk away frole with the saht out before Carville
As I meandered the French Quarter, I made a mental note to remember to climb the levee at Carville before I reported back froie waiting in Mootten to stop and see what direction the river flowed
Before I went horocery at the corner of Royal and St Peter The store was tiny, aisles so narrow the store provided specially designed, ht Hot Pockets and applesauce and SpaghettiOs and macaroni and cheese I stood in line behind a transvestite with a neck brace In her heels, she was at least three inches taller than I, and she had a five o'clock shadow She had two items in her basket: aspirin and cat food
”Headache and the cat's hungry, huh?” I said The man/woman looked at me, surprised, I think, that I spoke
”Yeah,” she said in a deep voice, ”life's grand”