A Long Road to Redemption

Chapter 34

Today was a special day. It was Jillian's birthday, and Sidney wanted to make it memorable. The day's routine was the same as any other, but once the day's work was done, she planned to have a few ladies over for a get-together to celebrate as much as they could before lights out. After dinner that night, a handful of inmates came by, wishing her a happy birthday and bringing small gifts.

Jillian seemed surprised by all the festivities. "Did you set this up, Sidney?" she asked after all had left. Her face radiated happiness a little too much for Sidney. Jillian was acting weird, and Sidney wanted to know why.

"Are you okay? You're acting strange," Sidney asked Jillian.

"Look, I didn't want everyone else seeing this, but I got us something to help celebrate. Well, okay, it wasn't to celebrate originally. It was for me to have a little pity party on my birthday."

"Jillian, you don't have a bag of weed, do you? If they find you with it..."

"Sidney, no, I don't have weed. Gosh, I'm surprised you even know what that is."

"Hey, give me some credit here. I'm not that sheltered," Sidney said defensively.

"Okay, fine, just keep your voice down," Jillian looked around to see if any guards were near. "I had Susie make this for me." Jillian pulled out a twenty-ounce soda bottle filled with something besides soda. "This is for us."

"Jillian, that's hooch," Sidney said, surprised that Jillian would take such a risk. "You can't have that. If someone sees you, they'll throw you in the hole."

"Well, they will if you keep talking so loud," Jillian said, trying to calm Sidney down. "Calm down, Sidney. Look, it's fine. We'll drink a tiny bit and toss the rest if that makes you feel better."

"We? Jillian, this could get us in trouble," Sidney said, trying to keep her voice down.

"Sidney, we're in prison. How much worse can it get?"

"Of course, it can get worse. Get rid of that," Sidney told her.

"No way you know how much this costs? Didn't you ever sneak drinks in high school?" Jillian asked.

"What do you think?"

"Tell me you had some fun in college, at least?" Jillian asked her.

"I drank a few times," Sidney said defensively, "When I wasn't the designated driver. Which was like almost every time."

"And you ended up here? Yeah, I can see that. Said no one ever," Jillian said sarcastically.

"Gee, thanks. So are you going to drink that or what?" Sidney said.

"No, we are going to drink it. Right?" Jillian said.

Sidney stared at Jillian with a disapproving look. "Fine, okay, but just a little."

"Hey, trust me, a little is all you will need," Jillian told her.

Jillian opened the bottle and sniffed the opening. "Oh man, that's strong." She took a drink and almost wretched. "Oh god, that's awful. Here have some." Jillian passed the bottle to Sidney. She took the bottle and studied it suspiciously.

"You sure about this?" Sidney asked her. She didn't want to drink the elixir, but Jillian looked at her with a come-on Sidney look. With hesitation, Sidney took a long draft out of the bottle. The taste and burn of the liquid nearly made her spew it out on the floor. Somehow, she managed to keep it down, which made her cough uncontrollably. "Oh man, that's wretched," she managed to utter between the coughs.

"Here, let me have it, and I'll pour it out," Jillian told her as she reached for the bottle.

"Pour it out, ladies?" came a voice from outside the cell, "Why, I wouldn't hear of it. Pass it over here, why don't you?" Jillian and Sidney were surprised by the sudden appearance of Officer McConnell, a tall, well-built woman of color. She was known as a no-nonsense but fair correctional officer. The inmates respected her and knew that she wanted to do her job and do it right, but that meant if you broke the rules, there would be consequences. They were both about to find that out. "Alright, let's go. Outside the cell."

Both Sidney and Jillian walked out of their cell. Jillian handed her the nearly empty bottle, and Officer McConnell sat it on the floor. "Contraband ladies? I expected better of both of you," she said to them. Sidney felt like she was 16 and had gotten home after curfew. "Alright, both of you turn around. Hands behind your backs." Both did as they were told, and McConnell cuffed them.

Sidney was more embarrassed than anything, but a part of her really wanted to hurt Jillian at that moment. "I told you to pour that out," she whispered as they walked down the cellblock. For her part, Jillian tried not to make eye contact with her. Sidney could not see her face well, but she could tell she was turning red with embarrassment. Sidney knew she couldn't stay mad at her for long, but she was not happy with her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered back. "I'll take the blame, Sidney, I promise."

"Quiet, both of you," Officer McConnell said.

She led them to the officer in charge for the night, which happened to be Sergeant Ferguson. McConnell ordered them to sit on a small bench outside of his office. They sat there several minutes before he came out. "Ok, both of you inside." They walked in, and he told McConnell to remove the cuffs. "So, what's this about, McConnell?" She related the story to him as he turned his gaze back and forth to the three women in his office. When she finished, he sat momentarily, wondering what he would say.

"So what are we going to do about this, ladies?" he asked them.

"Sir, it was my fault," Jillian answered, "Sidney tried to talk me out of drinking the hooch. I take full blame. It's my birthday, and I wanted to celebrate."

"Oh, you take responsibility, do you?" he asked, "So I'm just supposed to ignore the fact that Lewis here participated too? Is that the way you see it, Lewis?"

"No sir," Sidney answered, "I accept responsibility too."

"I should put you both in seg for a week. That what you two want?" Ferguson said. "You've both been model prisoners, and you do this? Just what got into you?"

Neither of them said a word. They were both ashamed of what they did or for getting caught. Sidney hated trouble. Most of her life was spent avoiding trouble, and now it seemed to find her at the worst times. In high school, she was only sent to the principal's office one time, and that was being late for class too many times. This felt worse because Ferguson was not a principal, and this was not high school.

"Since this is your first time, I'll go easy on you. This time. Mostly because I don't want to fill out the paperwork this late at night, so your yard privileges are suspended for two weeks, and you'll have early lockdown for two weeks. So, after dinner, you both get locked in for the night. Got it?"

"Yes sir," they both said in a low voice.

"Great. Goodbye. McConnell return them to their cell and make sure it's noted in the guard report that they are to be on a two-week lockdown."

After they were locked in, the two sat silently for several minutes. Jillian finally broke the silence. "Ok, you're mad at me. I deserve that. I just wanted to mark the occasion for once." Sidney sat there, not saying anything. Sidney felt her anger going away, but it wasn't gone yet. "Are we okay?"

"I'm so mad at you right now, but yes, we are okay."

"Look, I owe you, okay? I'll do some of your chores around here."

"Some of them?"

"Fine, all of them. Sidney, I'm sorry. Are we okay?"

"Yes, girl, we are okay. We better be if we are locked in here for two weeks, right?"

"Yeah. Hope you like cards," Jillian said.

"Lucky for you, I do. Still mad at you, but I'll get over it," Sidney said. "Was kind of fun while it lasted." With that, Sidney laid back and closed her eyes. Jillian did the same and soon, were both asleep.