Sam and Colby: The Penitentiary

32

"Ah, there she is. Welcome to your first day on the yard, Beauty," Big said as Blaze led us out to the big yard in the back.

"No, no. It's Mom now," Blaze chuckled.

"Hah! I like it. Sounds good," said Big.

"This is Webber, Golbach, and Brock," I said, pointing at each of them. "And this is Big, Rock, Red, and Shag."

"Nice to meet you boys," Rock said.

"You too," said Sam.

"Here's the mail," Blaze said, pulling out the fat stack of envelopes he'd stuffed into his clothes. He passed them out among the guys, everyone but Rock getting something. We all opened up what we'd gotten.

Me and the trap guys all got our court verification letters.

"Drug felony, 58 years," Jake sighed.

"Class B felony, 46," said Colby.

"Class C, 33," Sam read.

"Ness? What about you?" Colby asked.

"Class A. Seventy-two years, no parole," I read quietly.

"Hey, don't worry, baby," Colby said softly. "We're not going to be here for that long and you know it."

"Hey, what's the letter on the back of your letters?" Jake asked.

"What?" asked Sam.

"Mine says A," Jake said.

"Well shit, mine says in," said Sam.

"This one is life," said Colby.

"Mine says the," I said. "What the fuck does that mean?"

"Oh, Mom. Found your friend," said Red.

"Scherer? Where is he?" I asked.

"Over at the basketball court. Come on, let's go over. We've got a game to play anyway. Bet two packs that we can take on any other team someone tries to piece together," said Red. The nine of us made our way across the yard, getting a lot of looks but no trouble.

"Hey, Scherer," barked Red. "Here's your little friend group."

We all looked across the court to see Corey sitting on some bleachers with his blue socked-feet swinging back and forth. He was laughing loudly, the noise echoing through the air.

"Almost. I'll finish showing you guys later," Corey said, patting one of two guys on the back before jogging over to us.

"Someone's having a good time," Colby said.

"TikTok dances, brother. A wonderful way to pass the time," Corey said.

"God damn," laughed Jake.

"The fuck is TikTok?" asked Big.

"Name of a dance studio his parents own," I quickly said.

"Oh. Nice," said Big. "Alright, the boys and I got a game to play. Have fun in the yard. No one's going to fuck with you. If they try, we'll be there in a heartbeat. You too, Scherer. We're the Center. All of us." He pounded his chest twice, which the Center copied. Me and the trap guys did it back.

Big and his guys ran over to the court and met up with another group of five, then began their basketball game.

"So? Let's hear it," Sam said.

"Three accounts of luxury motor vehicle theft. I got my mail while I was working in the laundry. I'm in for 39 years since it's a class C felony. I'm not worried, though. Back of my letter said 'day'. I'm assuming that means we'll be out of here by tomorrow," Corey reasoned.

"Day?" asked Sam.

"In the... day... a.. a day in the life," I said, piecing together all of our letters.

"The fuck does that mean?" asked Jake.

"I think it means that we've got to experience this shit for a day, brother," Sam said.

"Corey, look. It's 1977. I'm some big hotshot criminal. We're all in the big gang here that runs the place. We're safe for now, but we need to blend in as much as possible," I explained.

"Hey, isn't this the year that dude escaped?" asked Jake.

"Oh my god. James Earl Ray," I said.

"Oh shit, isn't Ray that guy from the mail room earlier?" asked Sam.

"Dude's my cellmate," said Corey.

"You're fucking with us," Colby said.

"No, deadass. He's a decent guy, just incredibly racist. He shot MLK, after all," said Corey.

"If he's still here...," I trailed off.

"And it's still 1977...," Sam continued.

"Then he's about to leave and he's bringing six other people with him," said Colby.

"And we're going to be five of those six," I said.

"How the fuck are we going to manage that?" asked Corey.

"Blaze said it himself. I'm at the top. I don't want to take advantage of that, but I won't hesitate to," I said.

"What, just subtly pull yourself up in the ranks until even Big lets you take over?" Sam asked.

"If that's what it takes. We need to make Ray too scared to say no to taking us with him," I said.

"Well then who's going to be the sixth?" asked Colby.

"Blaze is," I replied.

"Blaze? Why not Big?" asked Jake.

"Because. Blaze knows where to get resources," I said.

"Those guys who escaped all got caught though, didn't they?" Sam pointed out.

"Yes. Except we know where, how, and why they got caught," I said. "Ray probably has some big complex plan on where to go once he's out. We can pretend we're going along with it, but it'll be six against one when we're out. We can bail on him and stay away from where he was caught."

"That's actually a pretty sound plan. I think they'll want to find him more than any of us. You might have pulled off something impressive, but Ray did something that pissed off a significant portion of the world. All you did was launder money," Sam said.

"But didn't they die since the entire area around here is completely inhabitable?" Colby asked.

"That's why we need Blaze," I said. "Dude knows how to sneak stuff in. We can stockpile for a while. If he can get stuff in, I'm guessing he can find a way to stash stuff on the outside."

"Great, but that means we have to be friends with the most racist dude of all time," Jake said.

"Hey, we don't have to mention race once. And if he's a dick, we can threaten him. Simple as that. You saw the way he reacted when Blaze did nothing but tell the man my last name. These people all think I'm a genius," I said.

"Uh, you are," said Sam.

"Good.Then I won't have to pretend," I said.