A Meal to Remember
Sticky
Written on Saturday, February 6, 2016
So,
here is the breakdown. As a Teacher's Assistant in the Vocational
Carpentry Shop, I earn a whopping 15¢ per hour. If I am lucky,
my workday will be four hours, or 80 hours every month. I put serious
emphasis on the "if I am lucky" part so, $12/month, gross.
Now,
the prison system has deemed I must forfeit 50% of my pay, plus an additional
5% for administrative fees, to go toward restitution. Therefore,
in a perfect world, my take-home pay for an entire month would be a grand
total of $5.40 ($12 minus 55%).
Officially,
I started my job in mid-October, 2015, allowing my paychecks to accumulate
since then. In late November, I lost one week's pay to our Thanksgiving
holiday and another 14 days for the Christmas/New Years "vacation."
In the last week of January, 2016, I received my quarterly Trust Account
Statement which reported my balance to be ... wait for it ... $18.74.
I have mental visions of Homer Simpson jumping for joy and yelling, "Woo-Hoo!"
Since
I absolutely detest line-standing in my old age, I decided to spend all
my money on a food sale which benefits a girl's softball league in some
nearby town outside this prison. I ordered the food the day following
my balance report. The cost of said nourishment is a local inmate
exploitation rip-off but it is what it is. Beef & pork are expensive
in the Joint. Perhaps this is another form of Karma for past transgressions.
This
morning, I took delivery of my ice cold, fifteen dollar & fifty cent,
8" long, Tri-Tip with three slices of bacon plus avocado & mushroom
sandwich, accompanied by 20 or so french fries. I would imagine all
was hot at some point in time, hours before it ever had my name on the
box. Once I opened the container, the smell of fried bacon was invigorating.
My
cellie and I heated some water & suspended the sandwich in a towel
over the top of boiling water; an effort to reheat it. We were
semi-successful. We should have wrapped it in plastic as the
bread was a bit moist. Trust me, though, it got et!
As
I sit here, the taste of steak, bacon, & avocado still stuck in my
teeth, watching a cooking show on PBS, I think for the millionth time what
my life has become and how much I will appreciate freedom, some day, when
it comes again. Was 3 1/2 months pay worth five bites of lingual
bliss? Who knows? Who cares? At least I didn't have to
wait in some 7-hour canteen line to get it. Besides, it felt good
to share it with my cellie.
I
suppose I am back to square-one saving for my Memorial Day vittles, now.
Maybe they will have one of those Costco rotisserie chickens on that menu.
Those are worth waiting for.
God
Bless All,![10x5 Page Background GIF Image](../../Images/10x5_Page_Background.gif)
Letters to the Editor
Thanks
a lot, Sam — I especially appreciated the article by Sticky [Anybody's
Guess, April issue, page 1] — It is indeed crazy. And your
article about "Last Man Standing" [Cura
Te Ipsum, April issue, page 3] — Your thoughts are right on the
money — and thanks again for email this issue to me. I read it as
soon as it arrived!
By
the way, I used to save the hard copy Frontiersman in a pile by my bedside
— and sometimes didn't read it until a month after I received it.
Now, getting it on my PC, I read it right away. That way I can respond
immediately if I have a comment, and am certain to read it.
—Tom, of Redwood City, California
Greetings Sam:
...
Sam, I have some extra, loose, stamps and am sending them.... I think
there are, finally, some trustworthy cops working my building. I
try to save the "flag" stamps for you.
I
wonder if you could send me another copy of the March 2016 issue?
I ask because of the huge coffee stain on the one I received in the mail.
I'm sure it was spilled from the pig who was reading that issue, before
it was delivered to me. I'm surprised there was not donut spooge
next to the java stain. I send the
May 2016 |
Frontiersman,0c/o
4984 Peach Mountain Drive, Gainesville, Georgia 30507
http://frontiersman.org.uk/ |
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