Part 21 (2/2)
The note that Doc left me when he was transferred
CHAPTER 73
Five days after the Mardi Gras parade, on Ash Wednesday, I knelt at the altar of the Catholic church I hadn't decided what to give up for Lent And I wondered about the six or seven leprosy patients to my left What would a man or woman who had lost so much forfeit for the Lenten season?
After the service, I caught Ella in the hallway
”What are you giving up for Lent?” I asked
”Hopscotch,” she said Ella gave me a smile ”You?” she asked
”Freedom,” I told her
But I didn't really knohat to sacrifice Most of my temptations were already beyond my reach: wine, money, cars, clothes, houses, boats, vacations, and fine cuisine
When I returned to my room, Doc's bed was stripped His locker was eone The marshals had transferred Doc, and I hadn't had a chance to say good-bye
The room felt empty I would s, our ti I felt alone, and oddly sentiain
That night, just before the ten o'clock count, I found a note Doc had left under e was scribbled on a brown paper towel It said: Neil Good luck and hang in on all the personal stuff Don't believe believe everybody everybody
Doc
CHAPTER 74
”If you're not careful,” Ji his three-wheeled bike down the hallway, ”we're gonna outnuht The in the last feeeks, over 300 inmates had been transferred or released In my unit, Dutchtown, empty beds outnuuards announced that three of the seven inuards were so disinterested they didn't even bother to nments They told the inmates in the three mothballed units to find an empty bed, anywhere
In prison, a roommate can make your daily life tolerable oras many clothes and personal effects as possible, dashed to find a roo not much different from the 1800s when men raced to stake claim to land in the territories of the West Dan Duchaine, out of breath, ran into my room and tossed an armload of clothes on the bed for St Amant,” he said ”I claiather as left in his old room I was flattered that he wanted to be iven just about anything to rooood replacement for Doc Same temperament Same smarts And the conversation would certainly be rich
During Lent, I established a routine I spent s in the education department Six or seven of my students had already passed the GED test, and I was ood This was just the sort of thing I wanted to do when I was released-help people, put s walking the track Askingif I could re if I could repayanother financial failure And asking hoould provide for Neil and Maggie while ht of all I had taken for granted I'd had the support of parents and family and employees and bankers and investors and friends So many people wanted me to succeed So many people would have helped me had I asked So randparents, Neil and Martha, ere young and talented and could have done so ranted I had thrown the about how I could change, I thought about the friends I'd rateful to know the tooverly sentimental Especially when it came to Ella I was acutely aware that ould soon be separated And I was afraid I'd never find another friend like her
On a Saturday , I stood in the breezeway entrance and watched Ella crank her wheelchair toward the patient side Even after fifty years she had not perfected a synchronized crank Standing behind her, I saw her waver She would veer off a bit to the right and then adjust with a longer crank to the left She constantly adjusted her course And as long as she paid attention, she would never hit the corridor wall Ella veered and corrected, veered and corrected, a thousand ti to live a quiet Lenten season, the leprosy patients and the PHS staff were planning a fall celebration-Carville's one hundredth anniversary-co the arrival of the first seven patients in 1894
The plans had almost been finalized For the patients, the event served a dual purpose-a centennial observance, as well as a celebration of the exodus of the inmates James Carville, Bill Clinton's adviser, was scheduled to oods to the colony Other events included an open house, special exhibits, a golf tournament, the premiere of Exiles in Our Own Country Exiles in Our Own Country (aof a nitaries, the publication of a centennial history book, and speeches by patients and activists from around the world Ji depicting the landing in 1894 And Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards had agreed to endorse an official State of Louisiana resolution recognizing the one hundredth anniversary event (aof a nitaries, the publication of a centennial history book, and speeches by patients and activists from around the world Ji depicting the landing in 1894 And Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards had agreed to endorse an official State of Louisiana resolution recognizing the one hundredth anniversary event
I wanted to attend the centennial celebration My growing devotion to Carville-its history and the leprosy patients- But I kneouldn't be invited The Public Health Services, after its skirmish with the Bureau of Prisons, considered the prison and the inmates a blemish on its history But I felt proud to live in a room that offered a century of safety for leprosy patients I was honored to take Communion in the same sanctuary where society's outcasts asked God to console their suffering I felt privileged to live and work and play in a place that few had ever seen And I was grateful I had been iin to rebuild ht day in April, Dan Duchaine yelled out, ”Set excited often, but this set him off With the proceeds from the pork chops and newspapers and ht a hooker for the patients' spring dance
”Do you think he paid her in quarters?” I asked
”Just iine the conversation at the brothel,” Duchaine said, irls, it's leper day”
S, and the prospect of freedoht romance to the colony An investment banker froirlfriend Another inh personal ads Father Reynolds perfor in the Catholic church between an inmate named Wes and his fiancee, a free wo unli for the dance The wo their dresses The men pulled out their best clothes and filled their flasks hiskey
In the early days of the colony,quarters were separate Men and wo was an offense punishable by tied when Dr Denny arrived in 1921 He came from Culion, a leper colony in the Philippines, and assumed the role of director of the national leprosariuation froation of the sexes was doubly cruel Patients still weren't allowed to marry, but Denny dismantled the fence that kept the sexes apart The year he arrived, the patients held their first dance
”Be my date?” Ella asked the afternoon before the dance Ella smiled She knew inmates weren't allowed at social events
”Wish I could,” I said
Ella said she couldn't talk long She had inning of Matlock Matlock
I told her I couldn't wait to hear about the dance
After dinner, Dan and I returned to our roouard stuck his head in the doorway
”White! Duchaine!” he yelled ”Report to the patient ballroom” Dan and I were instructed to help set up tables and chairs and unload equipment for the dance I understood why they selected me; I ork cadre, but Dan, who had suffered a stroke, was in khaki A medical inmate But he didn't seem to care
Around 7:00 PM PM, the patients rolled into the decorated ballroom Smeltzer arrived with his date A woman in her late forties with enhanced breasts that caused a slight curve in her back, like they were too heavy for her frame, she did look like a prostitute She wore a low-cut red dress with tiny straps that disappeared into her shoulders Smeltzer escorted her to a table without the benefit of his walker