by Ron Gannon
Chapter 11. Payback
Water sprayed from the overhead nozzles inside the state penitentiary shower. Tom and nine men showered. Leon, black, extremely muscular, looked at several of the other men and tilted his head toward the exit. All but Tom, Leon, and two black men left.
“It ain’t right messin’ wit anotha man’s wife, Arnie,” Leon said to a taller black man.
“Yeah, Leon, it just ain’t right.”
Tom glanced at the three black men and started to walk to the exit. Leon stepped in front of him and pushed him backwards. “Not so fast, motha fucka.”
Tom punched Leon in the throat and kicked Arnie in the groin. The third man landed a solid blow to the side of Tom’s head. Outside the shower area two guards stood with their backs to the action, listening to the sounds of men punching, kicking, and bodies slamming against the walls and floor.
Four men sat in a couple of golf carts by a teeing area that overlooked a large water hazard. On the other side of the pond was a large green. Two men and two women, carrying putters, walked onto it. Ray sat behind the wheel of one of the golf carts. Mario sat on the passenger side and puffed on a Pall Mall. Ray turned to him. “A blind golfer challenged me to a golf match. I pick the course, he picks the time. I said, ‘Sure, my course.’ He says, ‘Okay, tomorrow, midnight.”
Mario laughed. "It happened last night. A broken nose and twenty stitches.”
“Now give him a face even his mother would hate.”
Winnie visited Tom in prison. As she sat down across from him, Tom asked, “Did you come here to ease your conscience?”
“No, to warn you. Ray said you’re about to become an ugly man.”
Tom pointed at his bruised face. “Too late.”
“No, that was just to get your attention. Be careful!”
“Why did you do it, Winnie? You're the only reason I'm in here.”
“You know I had to.”
“No, he wouldn’t have killed you."
“He would have had you killed.”
“It’s safer out there. I would have killed his goon and him, if I had to.”
“Sorry, I was worried about your safety.”
“Liar! You were protecting your son. You know it. I know it. Ray framed me to protect Dave. I was set up...to protect your son.
"Dave didn’t do it. Maybe it was your neighbor. That’s why he lied."
"Your husband paid him off. When I get out I’ll find out."
"I better not come here again. If he ever found out, I don’t know what he would do next."
A half-dozen of large deep fryers were filled with boiling oil and chicken. Eight men, dressed in white, worked inside the State Penitentiary kitchen. A short black man placed a silver pan with a long black handle on the stove next to the deep fryers. Tom entered the room and walked up to a tall cook.
“I'm Paine. A guard sent me here.”
The tall man pointed at a bag in front of the stove by a short man’s feet. “Take that bag to the guard.”
Tom strolled over to the bag and bent down to pick it up. Immediately the short man poured boiling oil over the left side of Tom’s face.