“Hey. Hey'
“Huh?” I said I said in a sleep
haze
“It's lunch.” W.M said from my cell
door.
“Thanks.”
I decided to sleep through morning rec
since it was the weekend but I didn't plan on sleeping through lunch.
I wasn't sure if W.M's kindness was out of obligation or not.
Yesterday, he went on one of his rants and I happened to be in his
path.
“I'm still here past my max date. Why
am I still here?” He went on and on but I was willing to listen
because he's nice. “I can't get in contact with nobody.” He
paused. “Nobody.” He repeated. I see where this was going. Was it
obvious I had an excess of commissary funds? I guess most people
don't get the 37 dollar radio their first week of being on the block.
“Do you need a stamped envelope?” I
asked
“Oh yeah if you could that'd be
awesome.”
“sure”
I went and retrieved 2 envelopes for
him”Here's 2 just in case.”
“Thanks so much man.” He ran off to
his cell.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
It's football Sunday, so staying in my
cell gave me an excuse to stay away from Mikai for a day. I get
Mikai needs a friend, but why me when he talks to so many other
people. Mikai has realized that he can get what he needs out of me:
“Can you proof read this letter to my
lawyer? Can I get a soup? Can I get some paper? I forgot to order
paper. Can you order some for me?
“Sure. Yes. Yes. Sorry, I'm at my
limit.”
It's a bit annoying. He walked up to me
and whispered after dinner.
“I started writing my book.” He
said
“Oh yeah?” I said laughing.
“Yeah and I want you to read it.”
Oh god! He's serious. That's what I get
for telling him I write.
“Yeah, it's called 'Guilty Until
Proven Innocent.” I tired hard not to laugh.
“ I'm telling you this out here
because you know they listen to us through the speakers,” He said.
“Oh god. I don't think I've ever met
someone so paranoid.
“Mikai, there's no one listening.
It's an intercom system used for emergencies. I doubt the 2 C.Os in
the bubble periodically listen to every cell; that would interfere
with their Bejeweled playing.” I said reminding him of the laid back
attitude of many C.Os. He just rolled his eyes.
I was in my cell listening to NPR and
writing when Mikai knocked on my door. He came in and sat down.
“I'm done 2 pages. You wanna read
it,” he asked. I couldn't say no. He seemed so passionate. I really
didn't feel like readin this. I read through it. Now I know I'm not
the best writer when it comes to grammar and spelling, but god damn
it was so hard to read this. Almost everything was misspelled. Not a
single sentence was complete; they were all in fragments. From what I
read, Mikai was contacted on his wedding anniversary by a detective
and accused of touching his niece. He was then later arrested and interrogated and told he couldn't be around his kids.
“It's good,” I lied.
“Good.” He said. He got up and left
only to return 30 minutes later. “I've got more. Do you want to
read it or should I?”
“You read it,” I told him. He read
it like one of my sixth graders might read. College my ass. He
finished. In this “chapter,” he recounted the first few days we
were in a cell in much less detail than I did.
“It feels so good to write this,”
he said.
“Writing will do that. Especially in
here,” I told him.
“Yeah. Thanks for the positivity.
It's really helping.” He said as he left.
