Hard Time Part 3

In Part II, my buddy Don and I have just left a police station in Boston where we were turned away for the night. The big, pale Irish policeman has arranged for us to stay the night at Boston's Penitentiary.

Although the seedy, dangerous looking guys were gone when we left the police station just past midnight, it was still raining and we were tired. Very tired. "So, what do you think of the new plan?", I asked Don as we shuffled along in the rain. "Well I don't know what to think; I've never been in a jail before, not even for a visit. And now it looks like I'm going to stay overnight in a prison! What do you think of the new plan?" he asked.

"I think this is going to be fun. I've never been in jail before either, but that policeman was friendly and helpful. How bad could it be?" I asked. Don was still not convinced. "Why don't we just call your cousin and have her come down here and get us? She must have friends with a car. I bet she'd come down here and get us." "Don", I said. "I'm not going to call my cousin. We're hitchhikers - not guys that call other people to come and save us. We're going to solve this problem ourselves. This is working out just fine, you just wait and see."

It took less than 10 minutes to get to the prison. It was a pretty daunting facility, just as one might imagine an old, stone prison might be. There was a guard house by the big front gate with another big policeman inside. I knocked on the barred window to get the attention of the guard, who slid open a window pane. "And what can I do for you boys?", he asked.

"Well, we just came from the police station over on Nassau Avenue, and he told us to come over here and talk to Bob", I explained in a hopeful voice.

"Are you boys from Minnesota?", he asked with a great, big smile on his face.

"Well, as a matter of fact we are from Minnesota", I said. "We hitchhiked here."

"OK then, come on in. We were all wondering if the story was true or not. You boys want to stay overnight in the prison don't you?" he asked.

"Yes sir, that's what we had in mind. Do you think we can?"

"Well Bob is the night warden, and what he says goes. All I can tell you is that Bob said if you showed up I was supposed to open the gate and let him know you were here. You guys walk across the yard and knock on that big, steel door over there. I'll call Bob", he instructed.

So Don and I opened the heavy, steel gate after the electric lock snapped the deadbolt open and we walked across 'the yard'. There was barbed wire across the top of the tall, stone wall and a guard tower was dimly lit in one corner. We could see the guard through the glass enclosure. "Boy, I don't know about this John", Don said. "This is getting a little spooky". "Don", I replied. "It's a prison, they have to have walls here. Let's just see what this guy Bob says."

We walked up to the steel doors and pushed the button to ring the bell. Almost immediately, the door opened up and a slight, good looking guy said, "Are you boys from Minnesota?"

"Well yes we are sir. I'm John and this is my buddy Don. We hitchhiked here from Minnesota to visit my cousin in Medford", I repeated once again.

"I'm Bob, and am charge here tonight. I heard your story from my buddy Danny over at the Nassau Station. So, you boys want to stay over tonight, is that right?", Bob asked with a kind of a lopsided grin.

"If it's OK with you, we'd sure appreciate it sir. It's been a long trip and we're pretty tired", I said.

"And you don't want to stay in hotel because you say they're too expensive. Is that right?" he asked.

"Yes that's right. You know we only make $2.38 per hour and the hotels are like, $50 a night. It's hard to believe they're so expensive. Anyway, we'd sure appreciate it if we could stay here tonight."

Bob was smiling the whole time, and said to follow him. He had a big, steel ring with what seemed like a hundred keys on it. We went through 3 or 4 locked doors until we reached the top of a broad stairway. Down we went. I think we went down 5 or 6 floors, and at each level there was a big, steel door with bars at eye level so you could see through to the other side. Clank! the doors would resound against their door jams when they closed and locked each time. Don and I were looking at each other and not saying anything. Don was right; it was getting a little too spooky.

When we reached the bottom of the staircase, Bob stopped and turned toward us before he unlocked the last door. "OK you guys, we're going into the cell block now. All the inmates will be sleeping, so let's keep our voices down", he said. "Here we go", Bob said as he unlocked and opened the huge, steel door.

I had never seen cell block before and I was surprised at how stark it all looked. The middle aisle was quite wide, smooth and shiny. On either side were jail cells with all bars from floor to ceiling. There were walls between each cell and each cell had a sink and a toilet without a seat with no water reservoir visible. Some had a single cot and some had 2 cots. My tennis shoes kind of squeaked on the slick floor as we walked along. Bob frowned and looked at my feet. "John, try to be quiet if you can", he whispered.

Just about that time, from one of the cells we had passed, an inmate woke up and put most of his face through the bars and peered over to us. "Well now what the hell is going on? Who are those guys with the backpacks?" the inmate asked in a sleepy, gravelly voice. Bob said back, "this is none of your business. Just go back to sleep." Too late; one at a time, every guy in the cell block woke up, and each in their own 'interesting' way, asked who Don and I were, what was in our backpacks and whose cell we were going to sleep in. The din grew louder and louder until Bob took out his wooden baton and slammed it against the bars of one of the cells and made an unveiled threat to everyone, including that if they were looking for trouble, they had come to the right place. "SO, SHUT UP", Bob yelled. Things quieted down right away.

About two thirds the way down the cell block, Bob stopped and said, "OK John, one of you guys can stay in this cell." I looked inside the open cell, then at Don who wasn't looking very happy, then back at Bob. "Do you think Don and I can stay in the same cell officer?" I asked. "This whole thing is kind of weird and I think we'd feel more comfortable if we could stay in the same cell."

Bob looked back at me and said, "Listen John, I don't know you guys, and I'm not going to let both of you stay in the same cell down here. If you want to stay, you have to stay in different cells. So, which one of you guys wants to stay in this cell?" I looked at Don who did not volunteer to say anything, so I said I'd take that first cell.

"OK then John, drop your backpack on the floor away from the cell door and take off your belt and put it the floor by your pack", Bob instructed.

"Well geez, there's stuff in my pack I'm going to need tonight, and why do I have to take off my belt?" I asked.

"If you need something out of your pack, take it out now so I can see it before you bring it into the cell" Bob said. I thought about it for a second; all I really needed was my toothbrush, but as I looked at the stark sink without a towel or anything, I told Bob I didn't need anything out of my pack after all.

I was standing in the middle of this cell block, on the shinny floor with Bob and Don looking at me, along with all the inmates who were peering through their barred cells. Looking around at my situation, I thought how weird this whole thing was. "OK officer, I get the part about my pack, but my belt holds up my pants. Why do you want me to leave my belt out here?" I asked. He looked at me and smiled, "John, we don't want you to hang yourself in one of our cells", Bob replied. I was in shock. "What are you talking about? Do you think I came here all the way from Minnesota to hang myself in a Boston Prison? That's the craziest thing I've ever heard of!" I exclaimed.

"John", Bob started out. "If you want to stay in this prison tonight, you just have to leave your belt out here. That's the rules; we have to go by the rules. That's it."

I looked at Don who shrugged his shoulders. "OK", I said as I slipped my belt out from my favorite, rain soaked jeans. I changed my mind about not needing anything out of my pack and I took out a dry t-shirt and pair of shorts and walked through the open door of the prison cell. The next thing took me by surprise; Bob slammed the jail cell door closed and I heard the lock snap shut. "Officer, do you need to lock the door. I'm not going to try and escape!" I exclaimed.

Bob looked kind of surprised. "John, this is a prison. I can't leave you boys down here without locking the doors. Think about it." I hadn't really thought the whole thing through, but I immediately knew he was correct; Don and I were going to be locked in our cells. "So when are you going to let us out of here?" I asked. Bob replied, "We wake up the inmates at 6:00 in the morning. I'm going to wake you boys up at 5:30 because I need you completely out of here by the time we start our day. OK?" Well, of course it was OK; what could I say?

"So where are you gonna put Don", I asked. As he and Bob walked past my cell he looked back over his shoulder and said, "Right here in cell B142, just 4 cells down the line", Bob replied. I heard him tell Don to leave his pack and belt in the aisle along with his belt, and then I heard the cell door slam shut. Bob walked past my cell on his way out and he called out, "See you boys in a couple of hours. Sleep tight!", and he was gone through the locked, isolation door.

After he left, I called out to Don, "Are you OK Don?" He replied that he was all set, and he just wanted to go to sleep. "I'll see you in the morning then Don. Good night." I was hoping he wouldn't be mad at me for getting us into such a strange predicament.

I sat down on my bunk, pulled out a cigarette, lit it and settled back to think about the strange way this was all working out, you know, being in prison and all. Just about that time, the inmate one cell to the right of directly across the aisle called out to me. "Boy, gimme one of those cigarettes", he ordered in a surprisingly demanding manner.

I looked out through the bars of my prison cell to see what this impolite person looked like, and what I saw made me sit up and pay attention right away. This guy had the body of Mr. Clean and the face of Attila the Hun. He had a big scar across his crooked nose and he didn't look happy at all.

Next week, in the final chapter of Hard Time, find out how it went with Attila, how we got out of prison and finally how it went with me and the cutest little red haired girl you'd ever want to meet.