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Authors: Peter Kocan
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Will.”
And then the deep music, like an organ, of the finish:
“The thundering line of battle stands,
And in the air death moans and sings,
But Day shall clasp him with strong hands,
And Night shall fold him in soft wings.”
You look round when the screw taps you on the shoulder and see that the verandah is empty. Everyone’s gone in for breakfast. The screw looks oddly at you, but for once you don’t care whether he reports you for acting strangely. Life is wonderful and you can face anything!
4
You’re not the new man any more. Two others have come since you got here. One of them is Dick Steele, a short, tough “crim” who is doing six years for trying to blast another “crim” with gelignite. He’s got a slow, cold way of looking at you sometimes, as though he’s full of a deep rage and is thinking of the best way to cripple you. But some of the time Dick Steele is very entertaining and tells vivid little stories of the underworld:
“… Jigger Mottram done this big bust, see, and got nine fur coats. Lovely stuff. He takes ’em to Quinn, who’s his usual fence, and Quinn says he’ll give him eight ’undred for ’em. Jigger won’t cop it. He reckons they’re worth two thousand. So they start arguin’ and Quinn tells Jigger ter piss orf or he’ll hand ’im up ter the jacks, see. Doesn’t say it straight out, just sorta hints about it. Well, Jigger won’t wear a nark, so he decides to knock Quinn orf, see, and goes back the next night full o’ grog and walks in the door and lets both barrels go at Quinn. Quinn rolls down behind the sofa and comes up with a pistol and lets go at Jigger while he’s reloadin’, see …”
Dick Steele gathers a little circle of hangers-on around him. Dave Lamming is one of them. Dave has recovered from the shock treatment now but is very timid and nervous and spends a lot of time cleaning windows. He’s frightened of Dick Steele and the fear makes him do whatever he’s told. Dick Steele seems to get his only pleasure from a series of deadly feuds with certain other men. He hates Mario in particular and does everything possible to niggle the Sicilian, then drifts away leaving Dave to face the onslaught. But Dick Steele isn’t a coward. Already he’s had several fights with men bigger than himself and has won them. Only once have you felt the full force of his hatred. Dick is rostered to watch television on the same night as you. Last week you got up and changed the channel, unaware that Dick was engrossed in the programme. He didn’t protest, but just started quietly cursing you with terrible oaths. You quickly changed the channel back. Dick Steele seems able to get any kind of illicit goods. When no screws are looking, he’ll pull out a bottle of wine and pass it around, insisting that everyone take a swig. This is probably meant to implicate us all, so that nobody will rat on him. He is said to have a knife, and we believe it.
The other new man is Sam Lister, a good looking and intelligent man of about thirty. He’s here for one unsuccessful attempt at arson, the only crime he’s ever committed. He was disturbed in his mind when he did it, but is quite normal now. Soon after he came here you got a foolish idea that he had something against you. The idea preyed on you for a long time, until one day you went up to him, trembling and shaky-voiced, and offered to settle it with fists. Sam was very understanding and sat and talked quietly to you, convincing you that you’d been under a misapprehension. Now you have interesting talks with him about the meaning of life and things like that. Sam Lister is the only one you can talk to about your interest in poetry. Sam talks a lot about something called TA, a method of understanding your own inner feelings and how to keep them in balance. He says that every person really has three personalities inside them. The Child, the Adult and the Parent, and that when we feel helpless and afraid it’s because we are
And then the deep music, like an organ, of the finish:
“The thundering line of battle stands,
And in the air death moans and sings,
But Day shall clasp him with strong hands,
And Night shall fold him in soft wings.”
You look round when the screw taps you on the shoulder and see that the verandah is empty. Everyone’s gone in for breakfast. The screw looks oddly at you, but for once you don’t care whether he reports you for acting strangely. Life is wonderful and you can face anything!
4
You’re not the new man any more. Two others have come since you got here. One of them is Dick Steele, a short, tough “crim” who is doing six years for trying to blast another “crim” with gelignite. He’s got a slow, cold way of looking at you sometimes, as though he’s full of a deep rage and is thinking of the best way to cripple you. But some of the time Dick Steele is very entertaining and tells vivid little stories of the underworld:
“… Jigger Mottram done this big bust, see, and got nine fur coats. Lovely stuff. He takes ’em to Quinn, who’s his usual fence, and Quinn says he’ll give him eight ’undred for ’em. Jigger won’t cop it. He reckons they’re worth two thousand. So they start arguin’ and Quinn tells Jigger ter piss orf or he’ll hand ’im up ter the jacks, see. Doesn’t say it straight out, just sorta hints about it. Well, Jigger won’t wear a nark, so he decides to knock Quinn orf, see, and goes back the next night full o’ grog and walks in the door and lets both barrels go at Quinn. Quinn rolls down behind the sofa and comes up with a pistol and lets go at Jigger while he’s reloadin’, see …”
Dick Steele gathers a little circle of hangers-on around him. Dave Lamming is one of them. Dave has recovered from the shock treatment now but is very timid and nervous and spends a lot of time cleaning windows. He’s frightened of Dick Steele and the fear makes him do whatever he’s told. Dick Steele seems to get his only pleasure from a series of deadly feuds with certain other men. He hates Mario in particular and does everything possible to niggle the Sicilian, then drifts away leaving Dave to face the onslaught. But Dick Steele isn’t a coward. Already he’s had several fights with men bigger than himself and has won them. Only once have you felt the full force of his hatred. Dick is rostered to watch television on the same night as you. Last week you got up and changed the channel, unaware that Dick was engrossed in the programme. He didn’t protest, but just started quietly cursing you with terrible oaths. You quickly changed the channel back. Dick Steele seems able to get any kind of illicit goods. When no screws are looking, he’ll pull out a bottle of wine and pass it around, insisting that everyone take a swig. This is probably meant to implicate us all, so that nobody will rat on him. He is said to have a knife, and we believe it.
The other new man is Sam Lister, a good looking and intelligent man of about thirty. He’s here for one unsuccessful attempt at arson, the only crime he’s ever committed. He was disturbed in his mind when he did it, but is quite normal now. Soon after he came here you got a foolish idea that he had something against you. The idea preyed on you for a long time, until one day you went up to him, trembling and shaky-voiced, and offered to settle it with fists. Sam was very understanding and sat and talked quietly to you, convincing you that you’d been under a misapprehension. Now you have interesting talks with him about the meaning of life and things like that. Sam Lister is the only one you can talk to about your interest in poetry. Sam talks a lot about something called TA, a method of understanding your own inner feelings and how to keep them in balance. He says that every person really has three personalities inside them. The Child, the Adult and the Parent, and that when we feel helpless and afraid it’s because we are
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