parish prison | parish prison
Feb.27.2011
Riding the elevator and standing next Deputy Walpole, Pearl was convinced she was going wherever Martha ended up. At least they gave her the chance to pack up her things. She left some things behind for Angela, rolled up the paper bag, clutching it both hands as she exited the quad door one last...
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Feb.27.2011
Paired guards herded the stragglers toward the door. Betty put the cards into the box and took them, following closely behind Pearl. They did not have far to go, just across the hall past the door to the cafeteria into another larger quad.
Echoes bounced off the walls as the women, freed from the...
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Feb.26.2011
Everyone passing Martha’s cell the next morning glanced inside as they moved silently up to breakfast, one glance at the cell and the rest of their attention on the quad at the four guards standing in a line in front of the guard station. Their presence was a warning and a promise no one missed....
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Feb.25.2011
“Guards! Guards! I left something up on the table. Guards! Guards!”
Pearl tip-toed to the window and peered out through the bars. Martha was banging on the cell door and yelling.
“Guards! I need my stuff.”
The night shift supervisor’s voice crackled over the intercom. “If you don’t want to spend...
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Feb.24.2011
Rumors on the outside seldom turn out to be true, although a germ of truth may lie at the center, like playing telephone where what started out as simple becomes almost indistinguishable from the original message. Inside was different.
What had filtered down about Angela was that she had been...
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Feb.23.2011
Angela stared at the note, shaking her head. A wail from deep inside forced its way up and out as she crumpled to the floor. “My babies. My babies. He took my babies.”
“Miss Angela, please get off the floor.”
Groceries lay scattered on the kitchen floor. A can of corn rolled to a stop under the...
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Feb.23.2011
Even through the fog of fatigue and stress, Pearl had heard enough of Angela’s story to be intrigued; however, the confrontation with Joy was worrying. It seemed that Joy was shut down for now, but there was no way to know for certain. Joy was tenacious or she would not have lasted long; snitches...
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Feb.21.2011
In the morning, Pearl’s temples throbbed dully from sleeping with her head under the covers. She woke at the bell, washed her face, brushed her teeth and went out the door into the relatively clearer air to wait for roll call. The shuffling behind her stopped and a minute later the toilet flushed....
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Feb.20.2011
Sarah waited patiently in line for her turn in the sun. As Pearl passed Sarah, she took the hand she offered and nodded. The line moved past Pearl and out the door. A grateful smile flashed briefly in Sarah’s calm, impassive face just before she fastened her eyes on the back of the woman’s head in...
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Feb.19.2011
So much of what came out in Darla’s story was from gossip; the rest came from Darla’s mumblings. It was as if she were listing her grievances, stuck on the hours before she was arrested, telling them over again, a litany of gripes, her fingers working as though running prayer beads through her...
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