MyTimeToBlog
It's snowing again! I'm outside, hands stuffed in my thin layered jacket. My head down as I turned the corner, meeting the breath of Mr. Frost. Already I'm recognizing that I'll be shoveling snow sometime today. Still, I'm marching towards the chow hall with my coworker Chino...who was fighting the flu.
We ate our daily tray of grub (oversized duck eggs and stale bread), then met up with our supervisor, who shared that we needed to shovel snow. I'm with three coworkers, asking about the rock salt. We're informed we won't be using it until the snow stops. The weather on our local news said six inches of snowfall--and they wanted us to wait. I headed back inside.
Chino already tapped out, and I was at the stainless-steel table, still in my work gear, trying to figure out who would be helping me later. I'm already tired because last night I didn't sleep well.
All my sheets were in my laundry bag, being washed while I tossed and turned in the cold. I used my sweater as a makeshift blanket, which didn't help. So, on a few hours of sleep, I'm being called out to work the moment they put House of The Dragon on our movie channel.
It's me, Vontae, Satan (his preferred name to be called), Mickey J, and Francisco. We're going to be working through institutional headcount. Nobody cared, we just needed to know what they wanted us to do. They wanted us to clear a path for the food carts, but still, no rock salt until the snow stopped falling. Well, we protested, showing them (COs) a path that my coworkers cleared with rock salt; no snow was in sight. The COs called in to his superiors if we could use the rock salt and the powers that be agreed.
My coworkers and I huddled up and made a plan: who'll shovel, who'll sweep and who'll toss the rock salt. Once we had our duties known, we began our job. I'm already exhausted, but what had me grimace was my middle finger.
Yesterday, while showering, I shaved my head with a razor. I'm roving my head for patches of hair, with my left hand, and shaving with the razor with my right. Well, I'm moving fast and the razor connected with my middle finger and sliced it from the fingernail down to the skin. Now outside with a squeegee, sliding it back and forth, my finger throbbed so much that I was constantly taking a break to switch up my grip.
We spent hours outside working, clearing a path. We even had a CO with us, and we all had a discussion about the weather and working for the prison. As all this transpired, we saw the wildest thing ever: an eagle.
It sat on the roof of N/O Building, then it took to the sky. In its talons were the remains of a dead pigeon. It discarded the remains, which drifted down to the snow-covered ground, feet from us. My jaw dropped when Mickey J scooped it up with his shovel. He deposited it into the trash, then we headed back up the front of the facility.
We cleared up a few more patches of snow, making a wider path for those on the boulevard to traverse on. After we returned all our equipment to our supervisor, the major told us to head inside the chow hall to warm up and wait for lunch. We obliged him.
Inside, we reclined on stools, awaiting lunch. We had cold pizza, collard greens with way too much vinegar, potatoes with cheese, and a three-layered chocolate cake with icing and chocolate chips. I devoured my tray, then gulped down a cup of cold milk.
We spoke with our supervisor, making sure we were cleared to head back to the building. He said if they needed us again, he would call the building. So, we said our goodbyes, then made our way back to our housing units. We're running into our friends, and all they're asking about was what was for lunch--and that's when I saw Chino.
He's all smiles, and I'm joking with him that he ducked work so he could get the tray for lunch. You see, he gets all my chicken trays, and whenever we have pizza and a dessert I like, he would give it up. We laughed, then did our First Responder salute (a backward hand to the forehead) as I marched to our housing unit.
I ditched my saturated boots in front of my cell, grabbed my shower clothes, then headed for the shower. I'm in the front shower stall, next to Stone, who hyper-extended his shoulder while playing soccer. We started up a conversation as we got under the hot, scalding water that caused us both to cry out.
The water was unbearable. I had to soap up with my washrag, then did a two-step under the water. It didn't work. I had to use the washrag to get my body washed off. The shower ended abruptly, then I dried off.
I'm in the day room, chatting about the craziness of the day, then started a game of Uno with Mike, and Guido. The game has turned into a battle. They have these new cards (blank wildcards) in the deck that allows you to do whatever you want. So, I had two of them and used one on my opponents: they had to split the deck in half, and unbeknownst to them I had a second one; my plan was to make them get rid of all their wildcards so they couldn't retaliate. The plan worked, but on the next draw, Guido plucked a blank wildcard and made me pick up all the cards that were on the table. They laughed at me, then Mike won the hand. I gave up, then retreated to my cell.
I'm tired. I'm on my bunk, looking at House of Dragons. The snow continued falling, and I was under my sheets, drifting off to slumber land hoping that nobody would call me again, talking about shoveling snow. Fingers crossed.