Love Letters From the Grave(17)
The guard pushed him forward. ‘Doesn’t do to stare in prison, boy.’
The eyes behind the rails dimmed immediately as the black man dropped his gaze down to the floor.
Charlie swallowed. ‘I never saw a colored man before,’ he said softly.
‘Ain’t never robbed a bank before, neither, right? It sure is a time of new experiences for you, boy. Just don’t have any more on my watch, okay?’
The guard was opening the door to his cell with his enormous chain of keys. He waited for Charlie to walk past him and clanged the door closed behind him.
Charlie hesitated, then turned around.
‘Sir?’
The guard’s face re-appeared in the small aperture that opened, Charlie thought, like his mother’s cuckoo clock.
‘I just want to say that I didn’t rob the bank, sir,’ said Charlie. ‘But I know it looks like I did, and I’m going to make sure I spend every day remembering that fact and trying to make amends for it. I won’t make any trouble, not on your watch nor anyone else’s.’
The guard raised one eyebrow. ‘Is that so? Well, in that case, we’ll get along fine.’
‘I hope so, sir.’ Charlie sucked in a breath, before blurting out: ‘Also, I would very much like to know the name of my neighbor so that I can introduce myself.’
‘His name is Two Four Eight,’ said the guard.
‘I … I would like to know his actual name, sir, if I may?’
‘I’m not entirely sure I know it,’ said the guard, scratching his head, ‘or that you should either. Folks keep themselves to themselves in here, boy.’
But suddenly a deep voice rang out from the small cell beside him. ‘Amos,’ said the young man. ‘My name is Amos. And your name is Boy, right?’
Charlie laughed. ‘No, sir. My name is Charlie. It’s a pleasure to meet with you, Amos.’
Still shaking his head, the guard closed the cuckoo-clock door. ‘No more talking, d’ye hear?’ he called from the other side of the metal. ‘You’re not in here to cosy up and make friends.’
But Charlie thought that it was possible he was here to do precisely that. Learn, and help, and make some friends. It would be an unusual life, for sure.
But at least it would be a life.
After a few weeks in which he did manage to get to know Amos at least a little (he’d been caught stealing groceries from a township about seventy miles away, where the Depression had really taken a hold), Charlie was moved to a permanent two-man cell, which was already occupied by another lifer. Justin was twenty years his senior and had already been in prison for more than ten years. He had been told by one of the counselors that Justin was a model prisoner, exceptionally active, and the kind of man whom all the other prisoners looked up to and respected.
Charlie liked Justin right away, and asked his advice and recommendations on everything he did. Over the many years to come, their relationship was to become one of father and son, which was just as well, given that his own father had disowned him. In fact, in the thirteen years between Charlie’s initial incarceration and his father's death, his father never once visited him and he had absolutely no communication with his father, either directly nor indirectly.
He had been in prison for approximately one year when he experienced a dramatic reminder of how lucky he was in not having been executed for his crime. Hepworth, who had been injured in the robbery, died in the hospital. Had he survived, of course, he would have been executed. According to many of Charlie's fellow prisoners, the gang leader had "cheated" the electric chair.
Charlie had very few visitors during his first few years at the penitentiary, but he tried not to let it bother him very much. Instead, he kept busy. There was so much for him to do there. He was taking high school courses, trade school courses, spending time in the library and in the prison's recreational facilities, and spending a lot of time talking to Justin on a myriad of subjects when he was back in his cell, or to Amos when he was in the prison’s libraries. He also worked in the woodworking, metal and print shops, for employment as well as for trade school instruction. Not only was he keeping very busy, but he was also learning a lot and even enjoying himself.
Although he was allowed visitors every weekend, he seldom had more than a visitor a month. His most frequent visitors during those early years were his oldest brother, William, and one of his paternal aunts, Edna. His mother finally visited him during the third year, and then came occasionally after that - mostly on holidays. He found out that her visits were less frequent than she wanted them to be, because of his father. His father never got over the hurt, outrage, and embarrassment of the humiliation his crime had caused the family. To keep the peace, his mother had to be very careful not to antagonize her husband.
He was very understanding and accepting of his father's attitude, and never pressured his mother to visit him. Nevertheless, he especially enjoyed her visits, and always became nostalgic about her unconditional love and guidance, and the wonderful aromas of fresh-baked breads and biscuits which had always permeated their home. She began to come more frequently after her husband died, but by then she became severely invalided and was unable to travel without assistance.
His life trickled on. By the time he was twenty years old, Charlie had taken every high school level and trade school course which were available to him, and even though Amos was older, he’d persuaded him to do the same alongside him.