the damn glass. Nina really wanted to nail Jonny’s ass for killing that narc agent--which in her opinion started the entire nightmare--but it was hard to do that without nailing her own. No, she’d bide her time. He was another one that she owed. Jonny, Ryan, the judge and of course that social worker slut and her husband. Yeah, one day she’d get them all.
“Fisher.”
Her name jerked her attention back. The guard, Rod, held a package up. All of the packages were sniffed and x-rayed before the inmates got them to make certain nothing was in them. That was all well and good, but once the package was past the checkpoint was when you could get the goods.
A book. Hot damn. She hurried through the melee of bodies.
“Fisher’s got a boyfriend on the outside,” someone said.
“Wonder what the idiot sent the bitch.”
Nina ignored the comments of the other inmates and walked on. Just as she grabbed the book, she caught the slight wink Rod gave her. Thank God! She was starting to wonder. She looked at the title and tried not to laugh out loud. Living With Addiction: Making a Life from the Hollows. Yeah, right.
Nina hurried over to a window set high and narrow in the wall. No bars, but that didn’t matter, couldn’t get out if she wanted to. The light outside was a dull gray color tinged with a murky green. Thunder occasionally disturbed the sultry air. Maybe a freaking tornado would come and blow the damn building away.
Prison life sucked. It sucked big. Who in their right fucking mind got up at three-thirty in the morning, every morning? Inmates, that’s who. Breakfast at four, and work started at six. They had three hours a day for “personal” time. Basically, the hour for recreational activity, weights, walk around, exercise, and the two hours for classes. Nina was enrolled in Substance Abuse Education and Spiritual Growth. Both were a complete joke. Just about every damn person in her
38
Sub class was either stoned or jonesing when they got there. Everyone knew how to score a hit, to get a bump, regardless of whatever rules and regulations there were. Money and other things were available. This was a woman’s prison, so if there wasn’t money, other ‘favors’ could be given. And Nina was currently working on that. Rod would be her ticket out of here. She was sure of it, but she’d have to be careful. It was frowned upon for the guards to fraternize with their female inmates. ‘Course most of the guards and workers here were female, but a good many of them were males. Thank, God.
Again she looked out the window. Why in the hell was it called Valleyview? Was there a single damn valley in sight? Not that she could remember from her trip here, or from what she could see once she’d gotten inside.
There wasn’t much about the trip from Austin to here that she did remember, save for the blinding rage she’d felt. But she’d quickly learned to hide that after she’d gotten here. It had only taken a few ‘cell times’ for her to live for the recreation hour. The weights gave her focus on something other than her shitty luck and whose fault that was. The classes were earned through good behavior. Cell time restricted all an inmate’s time to the cell. You even had to eat in the damn thing.
Course it could have been worse, she could have gotten solitary that time after she’d gotten in the fight, but thank God she didn’t. God and Rod. Yeah.
Nina laughed at that little rhyme.
Later that night as she lay alone in her small cell. The walls were so close she could have touched them both at the same time if she’d so desired, which she did not. Nina held the book under her pillow waiting for lights out.
After the noises died down, and turned into those of nightly prison life, Nina got the book out. Someone, probably a newbie, cried out in their sleep, or maybe they weren’t sleeping after all.
The spine ripped away, and she could feel the small plastic bag in her hand. As quietly as possible,
“Fisher.”
Her name jerked her attention back. The guard, Rod, held a package up. All of the packages were sniffed and x-rayed before the inmates got them to make certain nothing was in them. That was all well and good, but once the package was past the checkpoint was when you could get the goods.
A book. Hot damn. She hurried through the melee of bodies.
“Fisher’s got a boyfriend on the outside,” someone said.
“Wonder what the idiot sent the bitch.”
Nina ignored the comments of the other inmates and walked on. Just as she grabbed the book, she caught the slight wink Rod gave her. Thank God! She was starting to wonder. She looked at the title and tried not to laugh out loud. Living With Addiction: Making a Life from the Hollows. Yeah, right.
Nina hurried over to a window set high and narrow in the wall. No bars, but that didn’t matter, couldn’t get out if she wanted to. The light outside was a dull gray color tinged with a murky green. Thunder occasionally disturbed the sultry air. Maybe a freaking tornado would come and blow the damn building away.
Prison life sucked. It sucked big. Who in their right fucking mind got up at three-thirty in the morning, every morning? Inmates, that’s who. Breakfast at four, and work started at six. They had three hours a day for “personal” time. Basically, the hour for recreational activity, weights, walk around, exercise, and the two hours for classes. Nina was enrolled in Substance Abuse Education and Spiritual Growth. Both were a complete joke. Just about every damn person in her
38
Sub class was either stoned or jonesing when they got there. Everyone knew how to score a hit, to get a bump, regardless of whatever rules and regulations there were. Money and other things were available. This was a woman’s prison, so if there wasn’t money, other ‘favors’ could be given. And Nina was currently working on that. Rod would be her ticket out of here. She was sure of it, but she’d have to be careful. It was frowned upon for the guards to fraternize with their female inmates. ‘Course most of the guards and workers here were female, but a good many of them were males. Thank, God.
Again she looked out the window. Why in the hell was it called Valleyview? Was there a single damn valley in sight? Not that she could remember from her trip here, or from what she could see once she’d gotten inside.
There wasn’t much about the trip from Austin to here that she did remember, save for the blinding rage she’d felt. But she’d quickly learned to hide that after she’d gotten here. It had only taken a few ‘cell times’ for her to live for the recreation hour. The weights gave her focus on something other than her shitty luck and whose fault that was. The classes were earned through good behavior. Cell time restricted all an inmate’s time to the cell. You even had to eat in the damn thing.
Course it could have been worse, she could have gotten solitary that time after she’d gotten in the fight, but thank God she didn’t. God and Rod. Yeah.
Nina laughed at that little rhyme.
Later that night as she lay alone in her small cell. The walls were so close she could have touched them both at the same time if she’d so desired, which she did not. Nina held the book under her pillow waiting for lights out.
After the noises died down, and turned into those of nightly prison life, Nina got the book out. Someone, probably a newbie, cried out in their sleep, or maybe they weren’t sleeping after all.
The spine ripped away, and she could feel the small plastic bag in her hand. As quietly as possible,
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