Chapter 19
Milla
Milla,
Baby, I am so sorry this happened. There is so much I need to tell you that I didn’t have a chance to. I know you probably hate me right now. But I want you to know that I love you, and we are going to get through this. I’m going to put some bread on your books this week. It should hold you down for a minute. I hope you can forgive me, baby. I love you so much.
I know you don’t know yet, but I just got sentenced to life for a drug conspiracy. Don’t worry, I’m a man. I can handle it. Just hold your head up and know that I truly love you.
Love
King-G
I read the letter over and over again. I didn’t know what to think about all of this. This couldn’t be possible. A life sentence? For drugs? A conspiracy at that! My heart fluttered at the thought of KG telling me how much he loves me. But the reality of the situation is foul. I wish I could call the post office and take my mail back. I just went off on him complaining about getting a twelve-piece for him. But now that time seemed like nothing compared to what he got. I didn’t understand how such a sentence was even legal. No murder. No bodily harm. No rape. Just a drug conspiracy. This just wasn’t right.
A tear fell from my eye. Followed by another one. Then a whole team of them claimed territory on my face. My life will never be the same. I couldn’t even provide for myself right now. Just a few months ago, I was making more money than the average person ever dreamed of, and now, every dime I ever made was being scrutinized and criticized like I was some brazen criminal. To make matters worse, I didn’t even know his money was “supposedly” drug money. And even if it had been, my bank, my employer, was down with it. They were money hungry and used me to make a way for it to happen. Yet, I was the only one in trouble. The whole thing just didn’t sit right with me.
I saw the chick Eshe walking in my direction, so I slid the letter under my pillow and wiped my eyes.
“You all right?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m good. Just life, you know. Knowing that I am going to be doing all this time ain’t easy.”
“Tell me about it. I know the feeling. I got over ten years. And I’m still facing more time because I have a case still pending. The system ain’t right. It’s unfair.”
“You’re preaching to the choir, girl.” The unit door popped, interrupting our conversation. Everybody looked up to see who was coming in. It was the chick Sun-Solé. How did she get out of the hole so fast? She spotted Eshe and me sitting on my bunk and walked straight to us, still wearing orange.
“How did you get out?” I asked.
“Technicalities. I threatened to sue them for putting me and the bitch on the same unit. We have a separtees, and the prison carelessly ignored it. So, technically, it wasn’t my fault. They’re at fault. They let me out of there real quick once they realized that I knew what I was talking about. My husband is locked up, so I know the game.”
“That’s good. But try not to fight anybody else,” I added.
“Right!” Eshe agreed. She waved us off, as if there was no guarantee that wouldn’t happen again if the right bitch came along.
“So let me tell you what happened while I was there. You know the girl Jackie Gaines, the one who’s pregnant?”
“Yeah?” I said.
“Is she back? Have y’all seen her?”
“Back from where?”
“The ambulance came and got her last night. She fell out while she was cleaning the SHU.”
“Damn, I hope she’s okay. Her and the baby.”
“I know, right? Well, Lieutenant Longwood rode in the ambulance with her.”
“I think he likes her,” Eshe said.
“Think? I know he does. You should see the way he looks at her,” Sun-Solé said. “But anyway, the warden is the cool one. He’s the one that personally let me out of the hole and apologized for the mishap. He said he doesn’t know how his staff overlooked the separation requirement for me and Judge Doom. He said the fight wouldn’t go on my record. Only because he’s cute I let it go.” The three of us laughed. Our girl talk was interrupted by the unit officer coming on the floor.
“Sun-Solé, get two other inmates and go down to visitation.”
“But it’s not visitation hours.”
“No shit. The warden wants you to clean it up.”
“Come with me, Queens.”
“Nah, I don’t do the cleanup thing,” Eshe said, turning up her nose.
“Me either. Especially not after no strangers, like I’m somebody’s maid.”
“Y’all are trippin’! Do I look like Molly myself? This is just a way for us to get off the unit and get a few extra things. Let’s be smart,” Sun-Solé said. She had a point, I guess.
“All right. Fuck it. But only if it’s only us three.”
“Cool.”
The three of us went down to the visitation room. It was empty and quiet. The officer locked us in and told us we had to be done in two hours. “So what are we supposed to be doing?” I asked, putting my hands on my hips.
“Shit, I don’t know. Where do they keep the cleaning supplies?” Eshe inquired.
“Maybe in here,” Sun-Solé suggested, pointing to a nondescript door at the other side of the visiting room. She cracked it open and quickly closed it. “Shit, that’s the door leading to the mailroom. I can’t believe they left this unlocked,” she whispered.
“Can you see the front door from there, ’cause I’m tempted to walk right up outta here,” I said. We covered our mouths, laughing.
“Oh shit! I hear somebody in there!” Sun-Solé said and she closed it partially.
“Who was it?”
“I don’t know; sounds like Lieutenant Longwood. And he’s talking in a hushed tone,” Sun-Solé said.
“Girl, we need to mind our business. I’m not trying to have no problems with these people. Let’s just sweep and mop these floors and get the hell out of here.”
“I kind of want to know who’s up in there too. Looks kind of shady to me,” Eshe added. I rolled my eyes. These chicks were crazy.
“I’ma go up in there,” Sun-Solé said.
“Bitch, is you crazy?” I asked. She had me talking all the way ghetto by now. “You not about to go up in there. Hell, no!”
“I can crawl,” Sun-Solé said.
“Well, if you go, I’m coming too. I wanna see,” Eshe added.
“I know y’all are joking right now.”
“Look, me and Eshe will go. Milla, you be the lookout!”
“Oh my God! I’m not playing with—” Before I could finish my sentence, they were gone, crawling around the mailroom. What the fuck! My heart was racing. They had more balls than me. I looked at the clock. Three minutes passed, and they still weren’t back yet. Then the unimaginable happened. The guard came back to check on us.
“Everything all right in here?” she said as she turned on the lights.
“Yes, everything is fine.”
“Where are those other two?”
“Ummm, the warden came and got them a few minutes ago.”
“What? I hate this job. How the hell are we supposed to keep up with y’all when they never tell us what’s going on? Okay, whatever. I’m headed up to his office to see what work detail he has them doing. I’ll be back to check on you again.” She stepped out.
I ran over to the mailroom door and cracked it. “Get y’all asses back in here!” I yelled in a stern whisper. They came crawling back into the visiting room. By the stone look on their faces, I knew something had gone down.
“Listen, the guard came to check on us. I told her you all went with the warden. What the hell is going to happen when she sees the warden, and he doesn’t remember taking you out?”
“Calm down, girl. Let me tell you what’s happening up in there.”
“What?”
“Prego, that girl Jackie Gaines—her and Lieutenant Longwood are in there fucking. They got music on and everything. We saw it!”
“Get the fuck outta here!”
“I swear. There is a little space in the corner, and there is an inmate mattress on the floor.”
“You lying!” I said, handing each of them a mop.
“Nah, I saw it too,” Eshe affirmed.
“So let me get this right. This muthafucka got one of the mattresses from the housing unit down on the floor in the mailroom fucking an inmate?”
Suddenly the door opened from the mailroom. His pants weren’t even fixed. “What the hell y’all doing up in here?”
“What does it look like? Cleaning!” Sun-Solé said.
“There you go with that smart-ass mouth. Who authorized you all to be down here at this hour?”
“The warden!”
Just then, the officer was back.
“I thought you two went with the warden? Where were you?”
“We were waiting in the back of visitation, but nobody ever came back for us. We’ve been in here,” Eshe said.
“Sorry, I misspoke earlier. I thought they went out, but they were waiting to be taken to the next area to clean. I guess he changed his mind. Or maybe it was the lieutenant,” she said, looking at Longwood. He didn’t say a word. He couldn’t. “Look, I’m new. I’m sorry. I may have misspoken.” The officer waved Eshe off in frustration before she continued.
“Well, hurry up in here so I can get you ladies back up to your unit before count time.” Then the officer left again. I looked at Eshe, who cleaned up our situation with ease. She was definitely a jewel. Quick on her feet. The three of us now had information that could be used to our advantage, if necessary. I planned to sit on it and wait until it would be beneficial to us. This is what happens when you put a bunch of clever women in a cage together.