These frogs are huddled together, facing the rock. And for good reason: The Screaming Toads have taken over.
"Oh my!" the neighbor lady says, "There goes the neighborhood."
But let's not get carried away. Let's just say the neighborhood's a changin'.
The prisoners shuffled their feet ever so slowly on the walkway, curious as to why a double-wide trailer had been delivered to the compound. Someone was busy extracting razor-sharp concertina-wire from the top of an interior fence so maintenance could remove a section and cut down a pole before one-half, then the other-half of the trailer could be parked in front of the mentally-ill prisoners' housing unit.
Rumor has turned into fact, has turned into truth. More deeply troubled, deeply disturbed, higher-security level inmates are coming our way. More healthcare professionals are needed. More office space is needed. This is a temporary fix.
While the work is in progress a corrections officer spreads false hope. "The trailer," she tells the inmates, "is for conjugal visits."
Sarcasm and the mentally-ill don't mix. Some prisoners don't know whether to believe this or not. They'll need time to reflect.
I'm at home, It's late. I can't sleep. I'm listening to the screaming toads outside my bedroom window. The weekend is almost over. It'll be back to the prison, back to the madness. I don't know why I'm thinking of it, but I'm wondering about those juice boxes, whether they'll be eliminated from the facility. From what I've heard, those sippy straws have become scaffolding, have become erector sets for some of the mentally-ill as they torture their way to pleasure.
9 comments:
Do you remember how you had to adapt a new mindset when you started this job?
Once more into the breaches dear friends, once more...
Henry V- Shakespeare
And just how long will that fix remain temporary? Until something goes very, very wrong?
The presence of screaming toads in your post fits well – on many levels.
Good picture. Good analogy. I'm thinking of the toads where I work and the figurative rocks they are huddling around. D
Makes going to my job on Monday not feel quite so bad!
Egads...I'm sorry!
That toad pic is very cool. I was on the Metro Pkwy path on Saturday and the frogs were SO loud! But I love that sound. Are the mentally ill that are incarcerated treated for their illnesses? Conjugial visits would probably relieve some of their stress. Good luck, dude.
Not sure what kind of toads those are but when we lived in SC in the summer we'd hear frogs all night long. I believe they were tree frogs. There were also frogs down by the creek. It was neat listening to them at night.
What a rough job. I don't know how you go in every day.
Once more into a . . . shudder . . .
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