True Notebooks by Mark Salzman

Author:Mark Salzman [Salzman, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780307429841
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2007-12-18T05:00:00+00:00

Just as the boy grabbed his crotch and shook it for emphasis, the room went quiet. The boy’s mouth kept moving, but no obscenities could be heard. A glance at the sound system explained why: the female guard had disconnected the microphone cord from the amplifier. She jabbed a finger into the errant boy’s chest and shouted, “I have heard all I need to hear! You are done for today! You are no longer welcome !”

Sister Janet somehow convinced the woman to release the boy to her custody. As the nun escorted him outside for a talk, Duane reconnected the microphone and calmly asked if anyone else would like to read. I looked at the clock: it was 3:20. My head felt as if someone were firing a gun inside it. When no one came forward to read, Duane had the fine idea to suggest that we use the rest of the time to write, talk to friends, “or just relax. You’ve earned it.”

I sat with Jimmy, Patrick, and Benny and talked with them about kung fu movies and Japanese manga cartoons; we were all exhausted from the day’s effort. Just before five, Sister Janet approached the podium. The boy who had delivered the obscene rap was standing next to her. The female guard stood up to object, her eyes bugging out of her head, but Sister Janet acted too quickly for anyone to stop her. “It’s time for us to say goodbye,” she announced. “We have had a wonderful day. You have made us so proud—and you should be proud of yourselves. I’m going to ask someone to lead us through a closing prayer, but first, I have someone here who would like to say something.”

She handed the microphone to the boy, who apologized to everyone for his inappropriate behavior. “Especially to the females. I’m sorry for the disrespect.” Sister Janet touched him gently on the shoulder, then allowed him to sit back down at his table. “Mario gave us such a beautiful opening prayer this morning. Now I’d like to ask Nathaniel Hall to close for us. Would you?”

Nathaniel walked to the podium and accepted the invitation. I crossed my fingers.

“Can I ask that we all bow our heads?” he began. The room fell perfectly silent, just as it had during Mario’s invocation. “First of all, we all want to thank God for this wonderful day. For this opportunity to listen to each other, to learn, and to show that we can do good. For this wonderful day of creation.”

He unfolded a sheet of paper and read aloud from it:

“When we came through that door, we found ourselves amongst writers and poets, not just fellow inmates. We had a chance to shed the restraints placed on us by this place and feel free, even if it was for only one day. We want to thank the staff and the administration for letting us do this. Sometimes we make mistakes, sometimes we slip up, but you don’t give up on us.

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