Five Little Indians by Michelle Good

Author:Michelle Good
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
Published: 2020-02-17T16:00:00+00:00

9

Howie

It was my seventh time before the Parole Board. I didn’t even pretend to believe they would hear anything I said. I’d said it all before. It was all there in the thick paper files in front of them. In their expensive suits and shiny shoes, they sat ready to judge me yet again. They explained the way the hearing would work and then started in, asking me questions about how I spent my time inside.

I raised my hand to speak. “Look, I don’t want to waste your time. The only reason I am here today is because I need to hold on to my hope that I will get out of here sooner than later. I know what you need me to say. You want to know I’m sorry. That I’ve been rehabilitated. That I deeply regret my wrongdoing and I will never do such a thing again.” I shook my head slightly. “You all know already that I have a clean record in here. Not one disciplinary note. Not a single one. And this is the only crime I ever committed, if you must call it a crime. But I am not sorry. Not at all. You have no idea what that man did to me and a whole lotta other little boys. He deserved what he got and more. Where was the law then when he was beating us, breaking bones, and other, even worse things? That man never saw a day inside, much less inside a courtroom, and yet I am locked in this hell. You’ve got it all backwards. I am not sorry, and I would rather stay in here till my dying day than tell you a lie, pretending I am. He got what he deserved.”

The panel shifted uncomfortably in their seats, not looking at me or each other. The one in the middle who seemed to be in charge finally lifted his pen off the paper and looked up at me.

“Thank you, inmate. I understand this must be difficult for you. You must understand that we are sworn to protect the public safety and so we must.”

I looked at my tattered running shoes. “And who was protecting our safety? No one. Not a damn soul.”

“We’ve read over your file carefully, Mr. Brocket. Is there anything else you would like to say?”

“Just that all I wanted was to get out of here before my mother died. She was the only one who fought to get me out of that nightmare. Now it’s even too late for that.”

“Thank you, Mr. Brocket. You should receive our decision within two weeks.”

The guard placed the cuffs back on me—at least it was with my hands in front—and escorted me back to my cell. The guard shook his head as he removed the cuffs again. “Man, why can’t you just say you’re sorry? We all know you shouldn’t be in here, but you got to help yourself. You gotta play the game, say the words.”

“I can’t. Don’t you get it? That would be like saying that it was okay for that monster to do what he did to us.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.