The Bible Pages
It was Sunday Morning and I began to worry when my friend
Wendall LeRoy Archer had not shown up at E-block. That was
the cell block that I was assigned to while I was being
incarcerated at the Federal Prison At Lompoc, California.
The night before we both had gone to the theater together to
see a movie titled "Born Free".
It was strange to me how a movie about lions could have such
an impact on me. It was amazing to me that a human being
could sit there and identify their situation with that of
three lion cubs.
I don't think that it was the "being free" part that
mattered to me. I had never been "free". All those terrible
years in the orphanage. Never having the right to speak
unless spoken to. Never having the right to get a drink of
water, or use the bathroom without having to ask permission.
The "freedom" part meant very little to me. I guess it was
the having to survive, against all odds, that made me start
tearing up during the movie.
Just as I was about to head out of the cell block I saw
Wendall walk in.
"Damn good movie last night." He said, as me approached me.
"Yea, still a little numb here. Not sure why though." I told
him.
The two of us headed to the library which was about half way
down the quarter mile steel corridor. Hundreds of prisoners
marched past us going here and there. Their voices echoing
off the steel walls as they talked. Off in the distance you
could hear the slamming of cell doors as prisoners were
still being released for yard time.
When we arrived I opened the door for LeRoy to enter the
library. When I walked in behind him I saw that there were
about twenty inmates sitting about the small room. Many were
studding for their GED while others were reading for
pleasure.
"An hour of free time to get one's mind off the present day
situation". I thought to myself, as I looked about the room.
"Whats your pleasure?" Asked Wendall, as he pointed to a far
wall which was full of books.
"Not for me." I told him. "Hell I ain't read a book since
the sixth grade." I continued.
Just about that time the library door opened and Wendall's
eyes opened wide. I turned around and I looked toward the
door. There standing in the doorway were three mexican gang
members. Three, or four men got up from their seats and
moved against the wall waiting to leave the room. One of the
gang members motioned his head and the other two members
moved out of the way clearing the doorway. The four men
walked, rather quickly out the door and began running down
the corridor.
"Is there a bible in here?" Asked the large mexican inmate.
No one said a word.
The three of them walked over to the wall of books and began
dumping them off the shelf and onto the floor. The commotion
stopped when one of the men held up a bible. The leader took
the bible and he sat down at the wooden table near the
doorway. He reached into his shirt pocket and he took out
what appeared to be a pouch of tobacco. He opened the bible
and he tore out a page. He then began rolling the tobacco
into a cigarette using the bible page as a cigarette paper.
Several of the men stood up in shock.
"You got a problem?" Asked the large mexican man, pointing
his finger at each of them.
"That ain't right and you know it." Said one of the men.
The gang member, never taking his eyes off them, reached
over and tore out several more pages from the bible. The
room remained quiet for several minutes without anyone
making a move or a sound.
I looked over at LeRoy and he looked at me. All at once he
slid back his chair and he too stood up. I just sat there
wondering what was about to happen. Then several more of the
men stood up. With my heart beating ninety miles per hour I
also stood up. One of the men at the far back table walked
over to the where the three men were sitting. He reached
down and he picked up the bible, along with the three, or
four pages which had been torn out. He stuck the pages back
into the book. Slowly he walked over to the book shelf and
he placed the bible onto the shelf. Then he returned to his
seat where he sat down and began to read to himself. The
room remained totally silent. Almost everyone in the room
sat there quietly staring at the three men. No one's eyes
moved off them. I watched as the larger man looked at his
two buddies. He gently motioned his head to one side. The
three of them got up from the table and they walked out of
the room.
By the next morning news of the incident had spread
throughout the entire prison. That incident was "the talk of
the town".
I am not sure where the word came down from; but it was put
out in the entire prison population that anyone caught
defacing a bible, or religious pamphlet would suffer the
rath of more than just the guards. That the inamtes would
take whatever action was necessary to stop such a thing from
happening.
I tell these stories because these were the kind of men that
I knew, and that I hung around with, when I was in prison
many years. Men that I was proud to call my friends.
True stories from "The Life and Times of Roger Dean Kiser
trampolineone@earthlink.net
http://www.rogerdeankiser.com