MacArthur's Freehold

Chapter 1

Chapter 1 -- HXGGOULLFQKM

Lying on his bunk, Darrell Carter stared at the bottom of his cellmate's bed. Over two thousand days, he thought. More like twenty-five hundred, he knew, as he used to do the calculation, but eventually stopped. There were two leap years in the seven of his imprisonment, so there were two extra days, he remembered

It wasn't important anyway, as the days were almost up. His release date was a week away. Next Thursday, he thought, and wondered what would become of him after that. Forty-eight years old, nearly forty-nine. No job or any prospects for getting one, even if he wanted to. There would be no time between not and old age to earn and save money, no employer pension.

There had been, once. Seventeen years at the Saint Louis police department, retirement looked pretty good. Always a thrifty sort, and not given to wasteful habits even as a young man, he had had a fair amount of money in the bank, much more than the average working man, and the pension plan was generous.

Now it was all gone. The money spent on lawyers, the house repossessed, and the pension forfeited. He was about to be an ex-con without a dime to his name, nowhere to go and no idea what to do. He had attended and largely ignored the counseling sessions about how to reenter society. As he had refused to apply for parole, he had no interest in going to a halfway house in order to get out of the cell a few months early. He was going to do the full seven years, and then...

So he had sat through the reentry sessions and spent most of the time analyzing the demeanor of the other inmates - he had no interest in what was going on. His post-prison plans were set.

The thoughts he had dwelt on since his first day here came back. It was almost time.

He heard the cell door open and looked over to see a guard. His cellmate was already at the visitors center, it could only be for him.

"Come on, you got a visitor" said the guard.

Carter had not had many visitors during his incarceration. His two siblings had never visited, and he had told his parents not to. He did not want any of his family seeing him in prison. He was glad he hadn't married - not just because so many cops' marriages didn't work but - having a wife and going to prison would have been that much worse. A handful of friends had come during the first months, but that soon stopped. He might as well have died.

The guard led him to a visitor booth and he sat down and looked at the man on the other side of the glass, not immediately recognizing him. Then he picked up the phone.

"Hello, Tommy, long time no see."

"Not that long" Tommy grinned. "Just seems that way in here. I've only been out a little over two years."

"That is a long time in here, as you know."

"Yeah" Tommy Lancaster replied, closing his eyes for a few seconds as if remembering. "So how've you been lately. You're just about done."

"Yeah."

"You got any plans?"

"Same as always." Carter replied. "It's just a matter of how and when."

"You really are a hardcase, I guess. You probably could have saved yourself a year, maybe more, if you'd tried for parole."

"Yeah, well, you know me. I'm not begging for anything. When I walk out of here I'm free. And and my life is mine, what's left of it. The world can go to hell."

"Look" said Tommy. "If you don't have anything lined up, I've got a proposition for you. It'll keep a roof over your head and food on the table. If it doesn't work for you you can leave it. What do you say I pick you up when you get out, I'll take you up to my place and give you some time to adjust."

"Sure, why not? Like you said, what else am I going to do?"

"Good. I'll give you a little teaser - prepare to be surprised. See you in a week. I'll be here to pick you up."

Tommy hung up the phone, grinned and made an OK sign, then got up to leave.