“Great. Had a few decent-sized bounties arrive this week.” I looked at Nails as I spoke, returning his grin in spades. I wasn’t going to be intimidated by this arsehole, regardless of who he thought he was.
“Keep me posted. And say hi to your dad for me,” Frank finished, turning his attention to Hal who was standing a few yards across from us. I watched as they walked away, feeling the burn of revenge in the pit of my stomach.
11.
The unit ramp cost a lot of people some hard-earned privileges. Most had been found with an assortment of porn, drugs and weapons. Shivs were the most common, some actual knives, but most home-made designs that looked fucken horrific.
One shiv I saw was made from a ping-pong bat; razor blades inserted along the outer edges. Another had been fashioned from a piece of metal torn from one of the washing machines. It was almost a foot long and could have taken someone’s head off.
But one of the odd discoveries that quickly gained attention were photos found in one crook’s personal belongings. It was Razzie, the photos not his to begin with. They had in fact belonged to Frank. Razzie was Frank’s cleaner, the kid cleaning the cell on a daily basis. He would change the bedding, clean the toilet and mop Frank’s floor.
The photos he’d stolen from Frank’s cell were of a certain female officer. Despite her face never appearing in any of them, the tattoos on both her wrists and arms betrayed her. There were also tattoos on both breasts and a very distinctive tramp stamp above her butt crack.
As luck would have it, he was discharged the following day, his lawyer getting him out ahead of schedule. It was probably a life-saving outcome for him, Frank no doubt looking to fix him up for stealing from him. As it turned out, the kid evaded him.
12.
Officer Jackie Friendly was fired that very day. There’s a rumour that she offered to blow Dhurrin if he forgot the whole thing but I don’t know how true that is. I don’t doubt the rumour, remembering how keen she sucked my own dick without invitation.
Although the lockdown continued until lunchtime, once the 12 o’clock muster finished, the unit was unlocked and the day continued as normal, with me heading off to work.
I never saw her again, her things already cleaned out by the time I reached my job later that day. Although she had been my first sexual experience in the prison, I didn’t consider her a great loss.
Chapter 3
1.
“They’ve been acting all weird the past few days,” Jack said as we sat in his cell, sorting through piles of books. The screws had given Jack a direct order to reduce the number he had in his cell. A directive had been handed down from the front that limited cells to just 10 books. Jack owned about 40 just in his cell alone. There were more held in his property tubs, housed somewhere inside the jail.
“Who?” I asked, picking up a worn copy of Christine and holding it up for him. He considered for a moment, then shook his head. I added it to the growing pile headed for the front door, to be picked up by his mother.
“Frank and Nails. They’ve even asked us to leave the cell a few times now. Think they’re up to something?” he asked, shaking his head at a copy of the Tommyknockers.
“Like what?” I asked, unsure of what he was getting at.
“Not sure. But I don’t like all this secrecy. We’re supposed to be a family.”
I hadn’t been to Frank’s cell for quite some time at that point, especially during meetings. I was like the silent partner in the Cruds’ framework, performing my duties away from the public eye, behind the scenes. I held up one of his alternative endings to The Stand and he nodded enthusiastically.
“How’s the writing coming along?” I asked. There hadn’t been a new release from Jack in several weeks and I wondered whether he’d run out of things to write about. To my surprise, he reached under his bunk and pulled out a bag, reached in and came out with a large notepad, thicker than any I’d seen in the past.
“You mean this kind of writing?” I grinned and tried to reach for it. Jack pulled it back a little, holding it from my reach. “Ah-ah, not yet. Need to finish it first.”
“Holy shit, man. How many pages? That looks fat as,” I said, leaning forward to try and grab it. He pushed me back a little, returning the book back to the bag.
“Why do you fags always have to be touching each other whenever I come and see yas,” a voice suddenly spoke from the cell door. I looked back over my shoulder and saw Hal sticking his head through the gap. I picked up a jumper and threw it at him, watching as he ducked, then walked in.
Hal fist-bumped with each of us and sat on the bed, Jack and I cross-legged on the floor. To my surprise, Hal began to mirror Jack’s concerns about Frank.
“Anyone know why Frank and that dickhead have been so secretive lately?” he asked. Jack and I exchanged a brief glance which Hal instantly picked up. “What? You guys know something?”
“No,” I said. “But Jack asked the same thing like 2 minutes ago.” Hal looked at Jack who was nodding.
“They’re up to something and I don’t like it,” Hal offered and both Jack and I chuckled briefly. “What?” Hal asked.
“Just how long were you standing outside listening to us?” Jack asked. Now Hal picked up a jumper, throwing it at Jack’s head. It hit him square
