Sam and Colby: The Penitentiary

35

"Hey, sugar. Pass me that package, would you?" a man asked, walking over. I looked up at him. "Come on, kitten. I don't have all day."

                "Then get it yourself," I huffed. The man stared at me, anger sparking in his eyes.

                "Damn, Atkins," Ray said. I didn't appreciate him calling me out in front of the pissed off man standing right behind me, but immediately understood why he'd done it.

                "Oh. You're, uh... right," the man said. "My bad." He turned and walked away without so much as a second glance at the package.

                "They'll all know come yard time. Who you are, I mean. We're in cell block B, so everyone in there already knows. We get mixed with block A during everything except actual cell time," Ray explained.

                "Oh. Uh, thanks," I said. He looked up at me and grinned.

                "Of course," he said. "Until then, though, be careful. I'm guessing you're not a big-time fighter or anything."

                I'd done some kickboxing before, but that was years ago. I had no idea how to fight someone, especially not in a prison manner.

                "Right," I said.

                "Atkins!" Waco yelled, strolling into the room.

                "Yes, sir?" I asked, turning to face him.

                "You're off mail room. Come with me," he said. I gave a glance to the guys and gave them a small smile before turning to follow Waco out of the room. We silently walked out of the room, through the laundry, and up the stairs.

                "Can I ask where—,"

                "No speaking unless spoken to," Waco said sternly. I loudly swallowed when he said that, causing him to sigh. "Kitchen. The male prisoners are clearly becoming aware that there's a woman here now. Lord knows how that even happened. Not important, though. You're a newfound...toy for them. A distraction. And it puts your safety at risk. You'll be working with Rae in the kitchen," he said, his voice a little nicer this time. Wow. Some good old classic sexism.

I nodded in response and we made our way up to the cafeteria with no more talking.

                "In the back. Through the double doors," Waco said, nodding toward the set of shiny silver doors.

                "Yes sir. Thank you," I squeaked, quickly scurrying off to them. I walked through to see a short, plump woman with long silver hair. She was really old, but the wrinkles around her smile lines were the deepest. She was nice.

                "Hi, pumpkin. You here to help?" she asked. I quickly nodded. "Oh, honey. No need to be scared in here. This will be our little safe space, okay? I can't imagine what you're going through. The only girl in here."

                "Do... do you know why that happened?" I asked.

                "I'm afraid I don't. My best guess is because of the severity of the crime. State of Tennessee doesn't have any maximum security prisons for women. It was probably easier and cheaper to shove you in here than ship you off to another state," she explained.

                "Oh. Well, my name is Vanessa Atkins. My friends call me Nessa, guards call me Atkins, other prisoners call me Mom," I said.

                "I'm Mrs. Rae. You can call me Mandi, though. What would you like me to call you?" she asked.

                "I don't mind. Whichever," I said.