pool man is the best job of all. It’s privileged. The pool man can go down to work whenever he wants during the day and without any screws to watch him. The pool man works the chlorinating equipment too, and if he doesn’t do it right he could gas everyone, so you don’t get to be pool man unless Arthur and Electric Ned are very sure about you.
Bob Fleet is after Ray Hoad too. He calls Ray his “wife”.
“Oh Ray, my wife, let me have you!” he calls out.
“You can root my boot on your birthday!” Ray Hoad yells back.
You’ve got the brickwork finished. It’s been three weeks and it looks good. Arthur is pleased. They start heaping grass and rotten vegetables and other stuff into the hole to let it turn into compost. Then one of the supervisors from Administration comes around and notices how the new brickwork joins the main wall up to about four feet and he’s worried that it might provide a foothold for anyone trying to scale the wall and escape. Arthur doesn’t think it will, because there’s still sixteen feet of sheer wall above.
The supervisor isn’t convinced, and says that part of the new brickwork must be knocked down.
You’ve been moved from the corner table in the dining room, away from the messy eaters and the disturbed men. You’re now at the best table, with Bill Greene, Ray Hoad, Zurka and a couple more. It’s much nicer; you can talk while you’re eating, and you can ask for the salt to be passed and someone will pass it. Grumps is there too. He doesn’t talk much, except to swear and groan softly under his breath, but it’s good having him at your table because he never eats his lunchtime dessert and always lets one of the others have it. You’re right across the table from Grumps, so he usually pushes it across to you.
The men are put at different tables according to how well they are, and according to what the screws call their “level of socialisation”. Being at this table means that the screws are satisfied with you and you can feel relaxed because hardly anyone at this table ever gets shock or very heavy medication. But if something happens and you get shifted back to one of the other tables, you know you’re in trouble.
You’re at the table one morning at breakfast time, waiting for the meal to be passed through the servery and brought to you. You notice that there’s a tiny bit of dried food on your spoon from the last man who used it. You aren’t bothered by it much, but you’re trying to scrape the fragment off with your fingernail.
“What are you doing?” comes a friendly voice over your shoulder. It’s a big, blond screw called Smiler.
You show him the spoon with the dried fragment on it.
“I was just trying to scrape this stuff off,” you say.
He takes the spoon and examines it. “It wasn’t washed properly,” he says. Then he says in the same friendly voice: “Why don’t you go and ask for a clean one?”
Maybe your mind isn’t very alert today, or maybe you’re too relaxed by being at the best table.
“Right,” you say, and you go over to the servery and call to one of the pantry workers.
“Hey Freddie, would you give me a clean spoon, please?”
Suddenly there’s a dead silence and everyone is watching you. You realise Smiler has set you up like a pigeon. You can hardly believe your own stupidity. Arthur is inside the servery. He takes the spoon and examines it very slowly and carefully, holding it up to light as though it’s a holy relic or something. Then he hands the spoon back.
“You’re getting very fastidious, aren’t you?” Arthur says in a voice that makes your veins run cold.
You take the spoon and go back to your seat and have your meal, though you can hardly eat for worrying about what will happen. You see Smiler grinning. It went so perfectly.
At dinner time you go into the dining room with the other men and you’re about to sit at your normal place when Smiler says: “You’ve been shifted, Tarbutt.” He
Bob Fleet is after Ray Hoad too. He calls Ray his “wife”.
“Oh Ray, my wife, let me have you!” he calls out.
“You can root my boot on your birthday!” Ray Hoad yells back.
You’ve got the brickwork finished. It’s been three weeks and it looks good. Arthur is pleased. They start heaping grass and rotten vegetables and other stuff into the hole to let it turn into compost. Then one of the supervisors from Administration comes around and notices how the new brickwork joins the main wall up to about four feet and he’s worried that it might provide a foothold for anyone trying to scale the wall and escape. Arthur doesn’t think it will, because there’s still sixteen feet of sheer wall above.
The supervisor isn’t convinced, and says that part of the new brickwork must be knocked down.
You’ve been moved from the corner table in the dining room, away from the messy eaters and the disturbed men. You’re now at the best table, with Bill Greene, Ray Hoad, Zurka and a couple more. It’s much nicer; you can talk while you’re eating, and you can ask for the salt to be passed and someone will pass it. Grumps is there too. He doesn’t talk much, except to swear and groan softly under his breath, but it’s good having him at your table because he never eats his lunchtime dessert and always lets one of the others have it. You’re right across the table from Grumps, so he usually pushes it across to you.
The men are put at different tables according to how well they are, and according to what the screws call their “level of socialisation”. Being at this table means that the screws are satisfied with you and you can feel relaxed because hardly anyone at this table ever gets shock or very heavy medication. But if something happens and you get shifted back to one of the other tables, you know you’re in trouble.
You’re at the table one morning at breakfast time, waiting for the meal to be passed through the servery and brought to you. You notice that there’s a tiny bit of dried food on your spoon from the last man who used it. You aren’t bothered by it much, but you’re trying to scrape the fragment off with your fingernail.
“What are you doing?” comes a friendly voice over your shoulder. It’s a big, blond screw called Smiler.
You show him the spoon with the dried fragment on it.
“I was just trying to scrape this stuff off,” you say.
He takes the spoon and examines it. “It wasn’t washed properly,” he says. Then he says in the same friendly voice: “Why don’t you go and ask for a clean one?”
Maybe your mind isn’t very alert today, or maybe you’re too relaxed by being at the best table.
“Right,” you say, and you go over to the servery and call to one of the pantry workers.
“Hey Freddie, would you give me a clean spoon, please?”
Suddenly there’s a dead silence and everyone is watching you. You realise Smiler has set you up like a pigeon. You can hardly believe your own stupidity. Arthur is inside the servery. He takes the spoon and examines it very slowly and carefully, holding it up to light as though it’s a holy relic or something. Then he hands the spoon back.
“You’re getting very fastidious, aren’t you?” Arthur says in a voice that makes your veins run cold.
You take the spoon and go back to your seat and have your meal, though you can hardly eat for worrying about what will happen. You see Smiler grinning. It went so perfectly.
At dinner time you go into the dining room with the other men and you’re about to sit at your normal place when Smiler says: “You’ve been shifted, Tarbutt.” He
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