Part 21 (1/2)
Not to be left out, I draftedies, product plans, and financial projections Three plans called for azine launches: Southern CEO Southern CEO, for the business decision azine for prisoners; and a yet-to-be-titled e-bound students I also wrote a plan for a boat rental business at Walloon Lake, as well as a prospectus for leading se a new business was exciting, but I was also apprehensive I had no seedon investors opened the door to financial loss for others-a risk I would never take again
As I reviewed the plans, I was interrupted by a guard My father had come to visit
Dad had recently moved to Alexandria, Louisiana, to take a position as a federal ade, so a trip to Carville was just over two hours He greeted h Gross Tete, today,” he said with a grin Dad loved the nas
Dad had visited whenever he could, and I felt lucky that he came so often He always introduced himself to my inmate friends He was friendly to the other families He didn't lecture me; he didn't preach to me or scold me or warn me about future actions; he just wanted to be with his son Even in a prison visiting room
His relationshi+p with his father, our namesake, Neil White Sr, was different His dad was a drinker, too His nicknarew up on the Mississippi coast could tell you, the Old Dog was the life of the party And he didn't randmother Martha, he never needed to work He had a sharp mind and was offered a job in the White & White law firrandmother's interest income was more than 50,000 per year In lieu of work, he drank He turned his wit into a wicked tool to e The Old Dog didn't intend to hurt anyone He would probably say he simply didn't want to be inconvenienced But when you , convenience and solitude are hard to come by His frustration, coupled with too e was shrouded in humor, but it was most costly to the people who loved him-his wife and his children
Butit on to the next generation He bore the full weight of it himself He didn't lash out He neverand loyal and sweet There was not a , I considered hiht he stayed in bed too much I chalked it up to someone who just couldn't cut it I wanted to do the opposite I wanted to acy, be the kind of lory to the family name
Back then, I didn't understand And until recently, I had been too absorbed inhe was
As a sober man for the past fifteen years, et sober One person at a time He did it quietly Anonymously And for the last year he had spentto a remote colony in South Louisiana to sit by his son in a prison visiting room
The men I had admired so much, the men ere so different fro with me now
My father put his arm around me He wanted me to knoas loved And for the first time, I realized I wanted to be more like him
CHAPTER 71
The prison population dwindled US marshal buses and vans arrived daily to transfer in afternoon, as I returned from the education department, I saw Link He was escorted by two USshackles
When I reached Link, I asked the oodbye They told nature smile
I held out my hand, but his hands were bound by the chain around his waist
”I never got your address,” I said
He looked at onna be friends on the outside?”
”Sure,” I said ”We're friends now”
”You don't know shi+t, do you?” One of the marshals snorted, but I didn't care Link had helped make prison tolerable forto be friends any he couldn't explain to rabbed his ar and Discharge I stood in the o inside, and Link leaned his head back as far as he could and let out a big laugh The h the door I expected to hear hi or white or stupid I was, but he didn't I heard the door lock behind them And the prison was quiet
A Carville patient Mardi Gras parade, ca 1950s
CHAPTER 72
In preparation for the annual patient Mardi Gras parade, the leprosy patients and staff built floats out of wheelchairs and bicycles and carts The parade route was short, but the patients took it seriously They even reen coins featured the patient recreation hall on one side An arraced the back side of the doubloon
Armadillos, it was discovered in 1971, were the only other creature to naturally contract leprosy In some parts of Texas and Louisiana up to 20 percent of wild armadillos are infected with the disease Soreatest reservoir of M leprae M leprae, andthe animals
Since the bacteria had never been replicated in a test tube, the armadillo accelerated the discovery of new treatuinea pigs; that role was passed along to the nine-banded armadillo The patients adopted the animal as their informal mascot
For this year's parade, the patients had built a special float-the ”thing” Smeltzer had mentioned earlier-specifically for the Bureau of Prisons Chase and Lonnie, the ino anywhere on the patient side, anytie toraved in the faux marble were the letters ”RIP, BOP”
The warden had heard about the Mardi Gras float and he was livid After losing the battle for Carville, the float was like rubbing salt in a wound
The warden wrote a letter to Dr Jacobson, the Public Health Service officer in charge of the leprosy patients, de that the float be removed from the parade But what the warden didn't understand, Dr Jacobson did Mardi Gras was a playful, festive time And he refused to interfere with the patients' plans
On the day of the celebration, hundreds of inmates lined up at the corridor to watch the patients parade, but we couldn't see very well since the parade wouldn't proceed down the breezeway The patients couldn't throw us any beads or doubloons because the ere covered with screens, but we could hear the band leading the procession And the patients could hear us cheering for thelimpse of the tops of wheelchair floats As they rolled by, I tried to identify my friends But most of them wore masks
As the floats moved toward the recreation hall, the patients waved to the inmates We were their only audience The warden watched frolasson the second floor of the prison side He stood with his arms crossed, his two lieutenants at his side
When the float with the tonal, and more than a hundred in on Bourbon Street A roar that sounded like a riot echoed through the inmate courtyard
The warden had been beaten by an unlikely convergence of leprosy patients, nuns, convicts, and the istry It was time to celebrate