“Hunger strike?”
“It appears bravery has risen up from them books of yours. I’ll see ya at supper, kid. Eat for the little bean.”
She moved on to the next locked cage. “You eat up today. Every bit, young lady,” she coaxed the woman in the cell close to mine. “The deed’s been done, and I know that temper of yours comes from a lifetime of hurting. But ya must learn to keep it in check or face more misery in here.” The madam’s words were wise and understanding. “I won’t have ya wallowing. Come on, get on up outta that cot and get your dinner.”
Directly, the tray slot banged shut.
I listened to Waldeen’s footsteps fade and the crash gate clang behind her.
***
A voice drifted outside the cell, and I opened the slot and pressed my ear to it.
“They took mine too,” she called out dryly.
“Regina?” I switched to my good ear. She’d been here the whole time, and without saying a word.
“Took ’em. That Georgia prison took my two perfect baby girls with all their nubs. Counted each of ’em after they dropped the babies in that cold hospital bowl. I was transferred here a week after they killed my twins.” She coughed back a sob. “I was well into my sixth month, and they made sure I’d never have another. Left me barren. Do that to a lot of the poorer ones coming in. Especially ones that ain’t got no family around.”
“I… I’m sorry.” But the sympathy was weak-boned. I was about to lose mine because of her.
“I was only seventeen, just out of high school when my man up and robbed a store. Didn’t even know he was going to do it till he got back into the truck. There’d been a scuffle, and he shot the store owner. The law arrested me, too, and said I was in cahoots. But I’d never kilt no one and never dreamed he would!”
I pulled my knees to my chest and rested my head.
“When I read your letters, I went mad. You have yourself a decent man, a good daughter, and a baby growing inside you—andnowmy job. I’m gonna be in here until they wheel me over to Geriatrics. That librarian job was what I needed to get out of myself.”
I struggled between anger and sadness, not saying anything.
Regina coughed, and I had to strain to hear her next words. Then she kicked what sounded like her shoe against the door and moaned. “The position took my mind off the pain—the misery of this hell.” Her voice cracked under the weight of so much loss. “Hope ya get that pardon. I mean it. Too late for me. But I hope you and the baby make it outta here.” She choked back what sounded like another sob.
Regina was gone the next morning.
But I awakened surprised to find someone had checked in on me but didn’t latch the lock. When I heard guards speaking, I scrambled over to eavesdrop.
“Dammit… Driving me clear out of my mind,” Officer Holt said, palming his hand down over his mouth and clean-shaven chin. “Thought maybe I could get her to write down the names of some of their favorite books and have one of the girls she’s been schooling try and read to them. Hell, anything to get ’em back to the quiet the Book Woman always brought. The guards in Geriatrics are complaining too. Even the nurses held a meeting with Warden and insisted she be released back to her duties for everyone’s sake.”
“Are they still hell-bent on keeping up the strike?” the other officer asked.
“Yeah. Another one was sent to the infirmary just this morning. And if Warden doesn’t do something soon to restore order, the newsmen are gonna get hold of it, and there’ll be hell for everyone to pay.”
“You ain’t heard? Newsmen with cameras were camped out all over the grounds of the men’s prison yesterday,” he told Holt.
Holt shook his head. “It was my day off. Did they have another polio death?”
I felt my hands shake and curled them to my side.
“No, but they have more of ’em in wheelchairs, I was told. They’re saying some will be crippled for life…if they make it.” He paused and looked around to make sure they were alone. I ducked my head inside, hoping he hadn’t seen me.Could one of the men be Jackson? Buttermilk?
Cautious, I peeked back out when he began talking again. “They had themselves a helluva fiasco going on.” The guard sidled up closer to Holt. He lowered his voice, but not low enough that I couldn’t hear the concrete walls echo the shocking news that came next.
“One of them young bucks done went and got himself aDear Johnletter. Only this time it was addressed to aDear Janie, and he went berserk.”
Officer Holt rolled his eyes with an eagerness to be done with the gossip. “Well, I need to get back to the wing. If I can just give this to the Book Woman, I’ll—”
But the guard was just as keen to continue. “Lieutenant said the boy was so aggrieved, he got hold of a razor and tried to cut his damn dick off. His dick! Crazy kid. Found him hanging from his top bunk.”
In unison, both guards shifted their stance, smoothed down the fronts of their uniform britches, lingering protective hands over their crotches. “If that ain’t bad enough, next month he would’ve served out.”
