Twenty Years' Hard Labor - Part II

Gary awoke on the cold, steel bunk. To the right of the cell, he could hear the noise of the security door being opened. It was still dark, but his eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he could see a dim shape approaching his cell, accompanied by the noise of a metal cart. The light of his cell abruptly snapped on, blinding him.

"Prisoner to the front of the cell!" shouted the guard.

Sleepily, Gary swung out of the bunk and shuffled to the front of the prison cell. Yesterday, he had been transferred to the state penitentiary. He hadn't heard from his lawyer in three days and assumed the worst.

"What's happening now?" he asked.

"Turn around so I can cuff you." said the guard. As he did so and the cuffs were fastened on his wrists, the guard said, "This gentleman here will be escorting you to the infirmary where you can be outfitted to begin serving your sentence."

Gary looked over his shoulder and saw that the guard was accompanied by an orderly with a hospital gurney. He turned around and saw that the gurney cart came equipped with restraints for his arms and ankles. A sudden wave of fear washed over him as he realized where he was going and how little time he had left as a living, thinking human being.

"Hey, that won't be necessary. I'll come quietly. I can walk - you can even put the leg shackles on me!" he pleaded.

The guard shoved the cell door open and put Gary in a restraining hold. "I assure you," said the orderly, as he stuck a needle into Gary's arm, "the cart is absolutely necessary, and you won't be walking."

The world swam around Gary's head. In his panic, he tried to fight out of the guard's grip, but he could feel his muscles going slack. Everything grayed out.

UNC Blows out Boston College

45-24 (BC's last 7 was a end of game gift). This was a satisfying victory, with UNC claiming 3 more interceptions (leads the country), and Hakeem Nicks scoring 4 touchdowns.


PS: Next installment of "Twenty Years' Hard Labor" tomorrow.

Twenty Years Hard Labor - Part I

I've been reading an anthology of horror stories - all about zombies.

So I'm inspired to try to write my own "living dead" story, and I've decided to write it on this blog. Hope y'all enjoy it.


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“Twenty years of hard labor. Bailiff, escort him out of the courtroom.”

Gary sat in stunned silence. He looked over at his lawyer and received a sorrowful look for his trouble.

“Look, Gary, we can appeal. I’ll file it right away. We can probably get you out on bail while you wait for it to be heard. We will beat this thing, OK?”

Gary nodded, his mind whirling. Don was supposed to be the best, but from the first moment Gary had stepped in the courtroom two weeks ago, nothing had gone as the lawyer had told him it would. He felt the world crashing down around him now, and his legs were so shaky he needed help from Don and the bailiff in order to stand up and walk around the defendant’s table.

“You going to be okay, Gary?” the lawyer asked.

“No. I’m going to have the life sucked out of me - even though I’m innocent. Of course I’m not going to be okay!” Gary said sharply.

“I’ll come to see you tomorrow morning so we can sign the appeal papers,” said Don. “I’ll have you out on bond before they can chip you, okay?”

“Sure, whatever.” Gary replied. He turned his back on the lawyer and looked at the bailiff. “Let’s go.”

The bailiff clamped one cuff around Gary’s wrist, put his arms behind his back, and fastened the other cuff. Gary could feel the chill of the cold metal and realized that in a couple of days, coldness might be the only thing he would be able to feel. He shivered. Together, he and the bailiff walked slowly to the holding cell that would be his home for the next 24 hours.

“Twenty years as a zombie…” said the bailiff. “hope you enjoy it. The girl you killed wasn’t much older than twenty.”

“I…didn’t….kill….anybody, you moron,” growled Gary. “I was going to marry that girl, in case you weren’t paying attention at the trial. I am the last guy who would want to hurt her!” Now his thoughts turned to Mary Ann and the night he came home and found her lying on the kitchen floor of their apartment, broken and bloody.

“So you’re innocent, just like everybody else, huh?” snorted the bailiff. “If I had a dime for every ‘innocent man’ we send to the graveyard shift, I’d be rich.”

They reached the cell, and the bailiff closed the door. Gary turned around so he could unfasten the cuffs through the bars. “See ya around, zombie!” taunted the bailiff, spinning the cuffs on his finger as he walked away.

Triple-Birthday Party

We had a birthday party for my Mom, my grandfather Carlton, and his friend Anne today at our house. Bernie did most of the work, but I contributed a mess of grilled chicken wings using the famous family rib rub and secret sauce, and some mini-barbeque sandwiches. Bernie made some Gyro-ish rollups using tzatziki sauce, chopped olives, and feta cheese, and she also made her Parmesan cheese puffs and some molasses cookies, and we served some store-bought mini-quiches and fried wontons. My sister brought some homemade mac & cheese and her patented devilled eggs.

We got an ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins. Mango Sophistication, no less. It was awesome, but I had to cut it with the electric knife, it was so hard.

We kept the nephews entertained with the Wii and some toys and a gingerbread halloween house.

Add in a big Panthers victory, and it was a pretty good day.

PS: I'm going to be selling my "Rib Rub & All-purpose BBQ Spice" at Bernie's craft fair next month.

Dim Sum

We went to the Dragon Garden for Dim Sum this morning. Got there right as they opened up and took the first table. Bernie and I resolved last night that we would limit ourselves to just one fried item - all the rest would be steamed.

Oh...God...the...best...Dim Sum...EVER!!!
(note: pictures are not of the actual food we ate)





Shumai, Chicken Gyoza, Pork Potstickers, Short Ribs, Tofu-skin dumplings, Taro puffs. Yum!

Nothing to See Here

Sorry folks, not much to talk about this week. I promise that I'll post something as soon as I get over this writer's block.

VP Debate - Palin vs. Biden

BOOOOOOOOOOOORRRINGGGGGGG!!!!

I really wanted there to be some entertainment value from this debate. There was none.

The good news is that Palin held her own and did a lot to dissipate the hate-filled disparagements of her intelligence that have gone on all week.

I can't wait to hear what the fact-checkers are going to come up with from Biden's statements. I don't think he has McCain's voting record memorized like he pretended.

Incredible Charlotte Factoid

I was reading the local news website and ran across this statement:

According to CMPD, 80 percent of all crime in Charlotte can be linked to just 400 criminals who repeatedly walk out of the county jail and go back to committing crimes.

Wow. I knew that the courts were slack here in Charlotte, but that statistic is just amazing.

Maybe we should do what some cities do with homeless people - buy them a one-way ticket to some other city across the country.