Page Eight
THE SUMMER DAILY
Thursday, June 21, 1973
AN INMATE'S THOUGHTS
Two days in the Washtenaw jail
(Continued from Page 3°
pound so you wish that you'd gotten some
aspirin from the matron.
But it's too late now, so you keep your
eyes shut letting your thoughts flow with
everyone's words. . . . Wondering if any-
one is worried about you, and to the
last time you made love.
Your head relaxes a little and you listen
to the sounds of the jail-the keys jingling
mostly-you always think they're coming
but they're only walking by. But then you
realize that someone is coming because
the jingling is- getting louder and it's
right outside your door. And there's voices
too. The key turns and a woman is led
in by the matron.
She throws her sheets down on the last
cot by the door and the matron says "one
more arrest tonight and I'll be going to
- Livingston again."
Rebecca tells you that Livingston is
where they take you when they get an
overflow.
There's already six women in our cell
block with cells and beds for four.
The turnkey is about to leave and you
ask her for some aspirin, and if any-
one's been down to bail you out yet. She
says she hasn't seen anyone but if you
want to write a note they'll get it when
they come. Then she leaves.
The new woman starts poking around
the cells and the place becomes alive
again.
"Hey Justine, what's you doin' here?"
she screams and jumps on Justine's mat.
Justine opens her eyes and looks at the
woman- "Why, I'm Louise-you remem-
ber me-why, them white bastards they
picked me up from my own front porch
for drunk and disorderly-sitting on my
own porch minding my own business and
they say I was disturbing the peace.
"Just wait till I get out of here-I'll
get those fuckers-they'll pay-ole Louise
is gonna shoot them full of holes."
Justine turns over and covers her head
with the sheet.
Louise moves on down the line of cells
calling into each one, "Hey you, who are
you?"
When she gets to yours, she looks in at
your body hunched in tight between the
sheets and says, "Hi, honey, I'm Louise,
what are you here for-why you look so
scared?" You tell her your name and
that you're not scared, just tired. But
she's already moved on to the next cell
where she's found another old friend.
"Hey, Mattie, how long it's been since
I last saw you? Four years? Six years?
Why you locked up in there all by your-
self? They done that to me last time I
was here-just because I refused to be
fingerprinted-imagine pulling me right
off my own porch for drunk and dis-
orderly. I told the bastard, yes, I had
been drinking, he could smell it on my
reath-but then that bastard pulled me
into that car without even locking my
house.
"Have you seen my new house, Mattie?
on Cherry St. If anything's gone from
my house when I get back I swear I'll
sue this city, I swear I will."
The matron has returned with the as-
pirins. Louise jumps up and says, "My
head is splitting, give me some of those
aspirins, will you?" The matron gives
her three then comes over to where you're
lying and asks how many you want.
"Two," you say, but you wait until she
leaves to get out of bed and take them.
There's no use in showing your body
any more than you have to; the others
have covered themselves when the turnkey
arrives.
The aspirins help you relax and you
turn your face to the wall, away from
Louise's voice.
She's telling the matron that her house
is unlocked and the matron tells her
that there's someone downstairs that will
lock it if Louise will go down and talk to
them.
Louise leaves and you settle back down.
Sleep finally comes.
w wrrw ri iii i s i i
JACOBSON'S OPEN THURSDAY AND FRIDAY UNTIL 9:00 P.M.
f Y Miss J's look-again look
in sportswear coordinates
solid navy cotton pinwale
corduroy and polyester/
cotton seersucker plaid
r in red/navy/gold.. .
hitting it off for smart
sportdressing in sizes 5-13.
A. Elasticized tie waist short
jacket, $21 Button-front skirt, $15
r% B. Long sleeve blazer, $25 Front-zip
cuffed pants, $17 Antron nylon long
sleeve turtleneck top in navy,
red, gold, sizes S-M-L, $11
C. Tunnel-tie-waisted
shirt jacket, $29
Natural waist pants
with pockets, $21
Please park in the adjoining Maynard Street Auto Ramp.
Jacobson's will gladly validate your parking ticket,
I