ways. You break the rules a third time, well, that’s when we put you in the Choke Hole, and that ain’t a place you wanna go, believe me now, son. That is not a place you wanna go visit.”
Cordell paused and squinted at Michael.
“You hearin’ me, son?”
Michael nodded. “Yes, sir, I am.”
“You got nothin’ to say for yourself?”
“No, sir, I have nothing to say.”
Cordell smiled. “Polite, I’ll give you that. Respectful. I’m just sayin’ that I don’t want to have to bash your head in with a stone, you see? Figuratively speakin’, o’ course. But from what I can see, it appears we’re gonna have very little trouble gettin’ you settled in here, son.”
“No trouble at all, sir.”
“Well, okay. So I done read your paperwork, I understand you had some difficulties, but seein’ as how there ain’t no one to look after you, you get us. You ain’t no thief as far as I can see. You ain’t never been in trouble with the law, right?”
“No, sir.”
“Well, let me warn you about some of these here boys. Some of them are all teeth and claws, and those you gotta watch out for. They feel threatened by change, threatened by newcomers, threatened by things only they can see, as far as I can tell. And then some of them are just noise and nothin’ else, and you don’t gotta be afraid of them. They bark, but they don’t got no teeth to bite with. Then there’s the quiet ones, and they’s the most dangerous of all. We have ourselves a couple of really crazy ones, but we keep them out of the main circulation of events, and that makes life a lot easier for everyone.”
Cordell rose from his creaking chair and walked around the desk.
“I hope you ain’t gonna be a troublesome one, son, because I just got enough on my hands without all of that. It don’t never get you nowhere ’cept the Choke Hole, or Chokey, as they see fit to call it now, and—like I said afore—that’s a place you don’t wanna go once, let alone twice. I understand you ain’t here because of some bad thing you did, but still, if you figure that our own lives are our responsibility, then you ended up here ’cause of yourself and no one else, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
Cordell smiled, and for a moment his awkward leather face took on an almost avuncular warmth. He extended his hand, and Michael took it—warily at first—and then when he realized that Cordell was doing nothing but shaking his hand, Michael returned that gesture with a firm response.
“Good handshake says a lot about a man,” Cordell said. “And you done looked me in the eye while I was talkin’ to you. You ain’t no regular delinquent, son. I can see that plain as day. Don’t let them see your weaknesses. If you let them get a foothold, they climb all over you and kick you to pieces before sundown.”
Michael Travis felt his hand being released, and then Cordell gripped his shoulder, wished him a final “Good luck, son,” and then he was escorted out of Cordell’s office and down the hallway.
The custodian who walked with him stopped at a locked door. “My name is Officer Hibbert,” he said. “Through here we have something called the cubes. They are little rooms, cells if you like, and they ain’t got nothin’ in them but four white walls, a bed, a chair, a locker for your clothes, and a towel. You gonna be in here for two weeks. This is just the way it is. You get your food through a mailbox in the door, and you come out for an hour’s walk around the yard between ten and eleven in the morning. If you have some difficulty or problem while in your cube, then you knock on the door three times. You then wait fifteen minutes. If there is no response, then you can knock on the door again. You wait until you are attended to. Any violation of that routine or any violation of any other regulation means a full day in Chokey. A full day is twenty-four hours. You will receive a copy of the facility regulations tomorrow, and you’d be
Cordell paused and squinted at Michael.
“You hearin’ me, son?”
Michael nodded. “Yes, sir, I am.”
“You got nothin’ to say for yourself?”
“No, sir, I have nothing to say.”
Cordell smiled. “Polite, I’ll give you that. Respectful. I’m just sayin’ that I don’t want to have to bash your head in with a stone, you see? Figuratively speakin’, o’ course. But from what I can see, it appears we’re gonna have very little trouble gettin’ you settled in here, son.”
“No trouble at all, sir.”
“Well, okay. So I done read your paperwork, I understand you had some difficulties, but seein’ as how there ain’t no one to look after you, you get us. You ain’t no thief as far as I can see. You ain’t never been in trouble with the law, right?”
“No, sir.”
“Well, let me warn you about some of these here boys. Some of them are all teeth and claws, and those you gotta watch out for. They feel threatened by change, threatened by newcomers, threatened by things only they can see, as far as I can tell. And then some of them are just noise and nothin’ else, and you don’t gotta be afraid of them. They bark, but they don’t got no teeth to bite with. Then there’s the quiet ones, and they’s the most dangerous of all. We have ourselves a couple of really crazy ones, but we keep them out of the main circulation of events, and that makes life a lot easier for everyone.”
Cordell rose from his creaking chair and walked around the desk.
“I hope you ain’t gonna be a troublesome one, son, because I just got enough on my hands without all of that. It don’t never get you nowhere ’cept the Choke Hole, or Chokey, as they see fit to call it now, and—like I said afore—that’s a place you don’t wanna go once, let alone twice. I understand you ain’t here because of some bad thing you did, but still, if you figure that our own lives are our responsibility, then you ended up here ’cause of yourself and no one else, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
Cordell smiled, and for a moment his awkward leather face took on an almost avuncular warmth. He extended his hand, and Michael took it—warily at first—and then when he realized that Cordell was doing nothing but shaking his hand, Michael returned that gesture with a firm response.
“Good handshake says a lot about a man,” Cordell said. “And you done looked me in the eye while I was talkin’ to you. You ain’t no regular delinquent, son. I can see that plain as day. Don’t let them see your weaknesses. If you let them get a foothold, they climb all over you and kick you to pieces before sundown.”
Michael Travis felt his hand being released, and then Cordell gripped his shoulder, wished him a final “Good luck, son,” and then he was escorted out of Cordell’s office and down the hallway.
The custodian who walked with him stopped at a locked door. “My name is Officer Hibbert,” he said. “Through here we have something called the cubes. They are little rooms, cells if you like, and they ain’t got nothin’ in them but four white walls, a bed, a chair, a locker for your clothes, and a towel. You gonna be in here for two weeks. This is just the way it is. You get your food through a mailbox in the door, and you come out for an hour’s walk around the yard between ten and eleven in the morning. If you have some difficulty or problem while in your cube, then you knock on the door three times. You then wait fifteen minutes. If there is no response, then you can knock on the door again. You wait until you are attended to. Any violation of that routine or any violation of any other regulation means a full day in Chokey. A full day is twenty-four hours. You will receive a copy of the facility regulations tomorrow, and you’d be
Similar Books
