“That’s another warden of a prison. He’s got a transfer to take you to his prison. They are going to riot and you’re going to escape on the way there.”
I wasn’t sure how that was possible but…why the hell not?
Three
One day you’re young, and the next day you’re wondering if you’ll ever find a pillow that doesn’t make your neck hurt again.
—Gentry’s secret thoughts
Gentry
Six months later
It was possible.
And it’d gone off without a hitch.
Now I was in Bear Pass, Montana, training as a deputy for Jesper County Sheriff’s Department.
I stared at the walls of my new house.
It was better than anything I’d ever seen before.
When I was little, and my entire life was ahead of me, I used to watch Fresh Prince of Bel-Air late at night, and I’d see their house and I’d think…one day I’m going to have that.
But that life had never come for me.
When I was eighteen, I’d joined the military because it was either that or keep living in a trailer house for the rest of my life.
And, seriously, nothing against the life that my family was able to provide for me, but it wasn’t enough.
Van, my big brother, and I had grown up knowing that when we were old enough to work, we were going to have to do it.
My dad worked shift work from eleven to seven every night. My mom worked during the day as a school lunch lady, and then when we were old enough to take care of ourselves, she took a night job that paid better, but also meant that she was gone more often than she was home.
Van and I practically raised ourselves from the time that I was eight and he was eleven.
With no one home to regulate what I watched at night, or when I went to bed, I did what I wanted.
And I saw that house on the Fresh Prince show and knew that I wanted that someday.
Hence why I followed in my brother’s footsteps and joined the Army.
Van went in as a grunt, realized he wanted more, and moved to the warrant officer route.
Meanwhile, I liked being a grunt.
I liked even more when I graduated Ranger school and became what I’d always wanted to be.
Though, throughout it all, that still didn’t help me buy the house I wanted.
The United States Government might be mighty, but they paid like shit.
Though, until Dean was born, I hadn’t cared all that much about the house.
But then I’d gotten a woman pregnant while on leave one day seven years ago.
Then I cared about not having the house.
