Guys from the surrounding cells stepped out of theirs, all freshly groomed in their matching tan shirts and pants, heading to the visitation room for their weekly visits. They passed by my cell, none bothering to look inside. I wondered if visiting with their loved ones gave them a sense of normalcy. A taste of the outside. A reminder they weren’t actually animals herded from place to place, ordered to eat, sleep, and shut up. They were actual human beings. Something I hadn’t felt like in a very long time. Unlike them, I’d never had a visitor. It wasn’t like I had any family members or friends who missed me. I’d denied my baseball coach’s request to visit. He’d taken a chance on me and I’d lied to him. Lied to him and used him to get what I wanted, just like I’d done to everyone else I’d encountered. I didn’t need a reminder. I was in prison. I was reminded every damn day. After copping a plea which earned me a lighter sentence and threw my father under the bus, I’d done my time alongside thieves and businessmen who’d committed fraud.
