America the Poor: A Wanderers Tale, Vol Two

Chapter 29: A Failed and Frantic escape

The next week we received another new young patient. An excited boy, longer dark blonde hair, and full of restless energy. Apparently he had not been drugged yet. He was restless in literally every action he took, as I watched him. His disposition was friendly, and enthusiastic, and he made it quite known he did NOT want to be there.

He constantly moved his limbs, and this was his first day. When he crossed his legs, it would bounce up and down nonstop. Or his arms would always be on the move, he couldn't seem to hold still for more than 10 seconds. When he entered the dayroom after his grand tour, I was the first one who talked to him. "Hi, I'm Johnny, you just got here huh?" "Yeah, I came from juvie, was in there for a month, they think there's something wrong with me I guess"

He sat down in a plastic chair a few feet away, and the other boys were either playing cards, or quietly vegetating and staring at both of us. Guess I was becoming the impromptu diplomat for the ward, with my intelligence and awareness, although drugged. When he said he came from juvie, I didn't have a single clue as to what he meant, since after my crime I came straight here to the nut ward. He directly said to me "Im Jeff, what's the deal with this place, and how the Hell do I get outta here?". He was blunt, I gave him that, I respected boldness, and being straight to the damned point.

I was always honest, and that's a form of bluntness I guess. "If you can find a way out, show me, but I haven't anything easy, unless you are a master fighter like Bruce Lee, go beat up all the staff at once, take their keys and go. Until you can do that, I haven't seen another way to really escape, they watch, and they notice, and they are trained".

He smiled at me, and I laughed. He'd learn, as I did. Drugs made for powerful deterrents on personal enthusiasm. This place was damned good at killing the human spirit, it was kinda their specialty. It seems, since he just arrived here, his spirit was still intact, for now. He'd keep his enthusiasm for a while, and he was about to prove it quite soon. The very next day, we had an outdoor day. Strange coincidence, since Jeff was not really drugged up yet, that would come soon, but did not quite yet, their mistake.

Andy, the staff member always in shorts like he was a safari leader, shuffled us all outside as per usual. Steel benches, hoops, and barbed wire fences became our reality for a short while, as well as blue sky and free birds flying far above us.

Many of us might have given a pinky finger to be one of them and escape that place if we could have. Instead we shuffled, spun, some cavorted, and a few sat taking in the view. Nothing unusual or out of the ordinary. Outdoor time was a hopeless time for me, it only reinforced my imprisonment, and the folly of wishing for things that could never actually be. Freedom was a pipe dream for us, nothing more. Jeff didn't feel that way quite yet.

I sat on the bench watching, as I usually did. With my minor privileges, I could generally walk the entire square of the ward with impunity. And the outdoor area was far smaller in actual space than the entire ward, so I felt no particular need to walk in circles when I was there. I generally left that for others. Tim did his circles, following the perimeter by feel, over and over, and we didn't speak since his return. The others shuffled, except the ones Andy was able to sadly conscript into a pitiful game. However, this day would be very different, and far more entertaining to watch.

I sat there, strangely content to observe, and remember. Life is about perspective and opportunity isn't it? So many moments are in front of us, but how many actually have the balls to seize it, as these moments present themselves to us? Not very many, since the risk of failure is usually amazingly high. To seize the moment is to expose yourself ultimately, and take a serious chance, sometimes with your status, and often with your very life. It takes real courage to take the moment, and risk it all, and few young people ever will now.