CHAPTER 2

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CAGED LIKE AN ANIMAL

     "BBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR" was this loud intrusive noise that has just jarred me awake? As I would quickly learn it is my new morning alarm curtesy of the detention center. I also learned that if you don't get up; and in my case come to your cell door for roll call, the corrections officer takes it very personal. This is also the time they serve what they pass off as breakfast. I could concoct a better continental breakfast out of the trash cans at a cheap motel on the side of the interstate. I would come to realize mornings are the only times that I really dreaded. After the abrasive morning routine I would sit in the lotus position and meditate. It was my time to escape my surrounding and keep me sane. Im not the most patient person so I could only handle meditating for so long. After my morning meditation session, I would start my work out to work out the stiffness from being trapped in a small eight by twelve foot cell. With such a small space I kept my routine to doing regular push-ups, crunches, tricep dips, squats, and wall sits. After my morning work out there wasn't much to do so I decided to see what I could see from the tiny window in my cell door. Standing on my tippy toes I could just barely see through out into the open area that all the cells open out to. Peering through this minuscule pane of shatter proof glass and seeing people was like having my own personal tv station broadcasting for just me.
    
     My first trip out of my cell came before lunch. I had fifteen minutes of free time to come out of my cell and make phone calls, find new books to read, or just socialize with any of my fellow residents at this luxurious establishment known as a correctional facility. My first order of business was to call my friend Sandra and check in with her. She was my best friend and the only person I trusted to help get me out of this predicament I have found myself in. I used my money on my new "prison account" to buy a phone card. Checking in Sandra, she let me know she has alerted my mom of my whereabouts, and from there we devised a game plan while I was here waiting for my release. Sandra would be my middle man on the outside for relaying my messages. After my conversation with Sandra I found the library to acquire a couple books to read during my free time when I wasn't meditating or working out. Now when I say I found the "library" what I mean is I found a short dilapidated three shelve book stand. The paperback books consisted of some decent titles by Grisham and other New York best sellers. The paperbacks themselves however had seen better days. Some of the covers to the books look to have been shredded by what I can only assume to have been one angry raccoon. Couple of the books I picked up I could tell right away were missing pages. I would like to think that the pages are being used to send out secret messages that you have to know the code to decipher. Something like the fifth word of every other line that starts with a capital letter. I don't know something crazy like that, in reality though someone was probably just being a giant ass clown and did it out of malice. I picked two books that seemed to be complete including the book cover and went back to my cell.

     Lunch time came and the pocket sized opening in my cell door slid open and in came my lunch. The plastic gray tray contained a meat item that was a complete mystery to me. It also had some mashed potatoes that looked like they came for a frozen dinner that may have been over a year old and freezer burnt. I was lucky enough to score a fresh apple and a slice of white bread. Oh I can't forget the little jug of orange drink that they sent with my lunch. The orange drink was one of those barrel looking containers that you find at the dollar store and they come in packs of twenty-four and they are for your kids school lunches. Speaking of school lunches, my lunch tray looked a lot like that of a school tray in high school. Only the food was some sort of a culinary abortion. Needless to say the only thing I ate from my tray was the apple and slice of bread. I did drink the orange drink, It did not taste like cool-aid or juice, but more like a frozen fun pop that was left out in the summer heat to melt. That ity-bity door slid open again and the voice from the other side asked for my tray. By my best guess lunch lasted about all of twenty to thirty minutes. With that I was left to my own devices for the rest of the afternoon. I did my work out routine again only this time I followed it up by reading.

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