Thirty
____________
A Weekend to
Remember
Current Svalbard Super Y-MAX Perimeter Temperature: 4 Celsius / 39
Fahrenheit
Warden Sundar Khan approached
Renie and Cornell as they cleaned the prison’s kitchen area and addressed them,
“Final Hope is a project--”
Overly excited Renie blurted
out, “I know about that… oops, sorry for interrupting, Warden.”
“As I was saying,” Warden Khan
continued, “Final Hope is a project designed to be a crime deterrent for
youthful offenders back in the USA. We will be testing a similar pilot
program here beginning this coming weekend at 8 a.m. if you two would like to
be part of this endeavor….”
“Yes,” Renie replied without
hesitation.
“Sounds good,” Cornell agreed.
“This version will be a little
different than back in the states, the youths brought in will spend an entire
week here, actually nine days total. The sessions will be on both
Saturdays and Sundays before and after the week in between. Two staff members,
not including the dog handlers with the dogs, you two, a couple of the
teens incarcerated here, and some family or guardians of the teens coming in
will participate.”
“Sounds exciting,” commented
Renie.
“We also have an investigative
journalist coming who plans to write an article about the project. I’m sure you
two have heard of Poppy Fields from Berkeley? She is with the Bay Area
Daily Enterprise News and their TV-54 news broadcast network.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Renie replied, “I’ve
heard about her.”
Cornell, however, had not,
“Sorry, I ain’t heard of her, ma’am.”
“She’s the reporter that broke
that case on that political serial killer guy way back when,” Renie whispered
to Cornell. “She specializes in serial killer stuff.”
“Sorry, I was probably
preoccupied with somethin’ the opposite of a good choice at the time.”
Warden Khan continued, “Miss
Fields may or may not be accompanied by one or more individuals, she desires a
non-reporter’s public perspective on our deterrent program for the piece
she will be writing.”
“The more the merrier, I guess,”
commented Renie.
“Just so you two are aware,” the
warden added, “only Miss Fields will participate verbally during the sessions.
Her guest or guests will be only observing, so please do not address them
during the group discussion periods. After the sessions are completed and you
are away from the incoming teens and the teens from this prison,
conversing with them is fine. I feel it is essential to a rehabilitative
program’s participants to have and maintain contact with the outside
world. People need hope and friends once they are released from custodial
care.”
For the rest of the week Renie
flew emotionally higher than a narkoman just out of a dime sentence in prison.
Cornell, however, chilled out and remained his usual self. Saturday
morning’s television broadcast from the Cyrene Youth Center started the two
youths’ day off with more kick than a blast from a double-barreled
sawed-off shotgun; Clifford James’ message centered on the type of individuals
chosen as friends.
“Remember,” Clifford had stated,
“hangin’ with people doin’ drugs and other crimes opens the door for you to
stumble. Choose who you keep close to yourselves and always have in the
back of your mind Proverbs 13:20, ‘He that walketh with wise men shall be wise:
but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.’ See you all next week."
“That’s the type of stuff we
need be talkin’ ‘bout with these teens comin’ for Final Hope today,” Clifford
addressed Renie as the two compared
their notes from the Cyrene
broadcast.
“This message today was
fortuitous,” Renie replied.
“Fortu… what?”
“Fortuitous. It means bein’
lucky just at the right time, like finding—"
“I don’t think no luck was in
it,” Cornell responded sternly, “I think God gave us a poke, if ya know what
I’m sayin’”
“Yes, yes, I agree. It was just
a saying.”
“Oh, ok.”
The boys ate breakfast while
watching the clock tick by slowly waiting for 8 a.m. to draw near.
“All those folks we be seein’
today came in last night, I think,” Cornell speculated. “They musta stayed down
in K-1 or K-2.”
“Probably,” Renie replied. “I
bet in both wings, criminals in one and all the other folks in the other.”
“Now I be getting’ excited, you
been rubbin’ off on me, buddy.”
“That’s good.”
They both laughed.
“I really want to be like the
folks from Cyrene to these teens comin’ in for Final Hope,” Renie commented. “I
want to help them bear their cross just like Simon of Cyrene did for
Jesus.”
“Just like Cyrene Ministries
does for us,” Cornell agreed.
The boys’ intercom buzzed and a
message invited them to meet some of the sponsors and guests attending the
Final Hope sessions inside the staff lounge. Renie and Cornell swiftly
replied that they were on their way.
Every eye focused on Renie and
Cornell as the two hastily entered the staff lounge. Both honor inmate workers
felt like piranhas in a fishbowl.
“These are our two workers I
have been telling you all about,” Warden Khan announced.
“Hello everyone,” greeted Renie
as Cornell waved his hand to the group.
A petite redhead and an Asian
woman approached the boys. The redhead greeted the two, “So, you are the
infamous Renwick Stone and Cornell
Purdue. My name is Poppy Fields
and this is my coworker and dear friend, Akiko Takahashi. We’re here to do a
news piece on your program. Glad to meet you both.”
“The pleasure be ours,” Cornell
responded with his deep as the sea voice.
Miss Takahashi stared at the
muscles of the young man standing before her and said, “I bet you could help a
lady open a lot of tight-lidded jars with those strong hands.”
Poppy could see the boys’
bewilderment at Akiko’s remark and said, “Don’t mind my friend, she just likes
to make people feel nervous.”
“Especially such handsome,
strong young men as these two are,” Akiko smiled, reaching out her hand for the
customary official handshake.
Renie questioned the reporter,
“You’re not related to an inmate here, are you?”
“You mean Tetsuya Takahashi, no,
not at all. Takahashi is a name like Smith is back in the USA… we’re a dime a
dozen.”
A group of six youths, three
males, and three females, sat around a table on the far side of the room. Renie
surmised that these were the teens sentenced to participate in Final Hope
in lieu of confinement in an institution.
“That’s them,” Poppy commented,
“and that’s their prospective sponsors to their left.
“I have your lists,” Miss
Takahashi informed the two. “The warden asked me to give them to you
both."
Renie and Cornell read the names
from the guest list…
Teens and Sponsors:
Antonella from Chiclayo, Peru
– Sponsor: Miss Maria Cruz
Letitia from North Richmond, California
– Sponsor: Mr. Graham Zelany
Mae Khao from Chiang Mai, Thailand
– Sponsor: Miss Jenny Cho
Stanley from Melbourne, Australia
– Sponsor: Mr. Philip Thomas
Kopano from Port Elizabeth, South Africa
– Sponsor: Miss Mandisa Jabavu
Baojia from Xian, China
– Sponsor: Mr. Chad Chin
Reporters:
Poppy Fields, Akiko Takahashi
Super Y-MAX Staff:
Sundar Khan
– Warden
Vladimir Volchesky
– Correctional Officer
Godfrey Laroux
– Maintenance Supervisor
Thelma Krims
– Correctional Officer
Super Y-MAX Inmates:
Lester
Pinman
Kpojito
M'Bandi
Ingeborg
Eiebu
Laurent Thibault
Super Y-MAX Inmate Workers:
Renwick Stone
Cornell Purdue
“I’ve read the backgrounds and
criminal histories of Pinman, M'Bandi, Eiebu and Thibault,” Poppy said softly,
“These teens could scare the bejeebers out of the bogeyman.”
Cornell responded, “I hear ya, Miss Fields, I hear
ya.”
Next Chapter: Penalty of Death
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