MY ALL FOR A FRIEND

Thursday, I'm up at six in the morning, shouting happy birthday to Red, my celly of two years. He tiredly thanked me as our day began. I waited an hour before the cell door opened and out I went, moving down the tier with a mozzarella cheese bar, a vanilla health shake, eight individual vanilla wafers, a strawberry Kool-Aid and my small plastic bowl and spoon. Ramutu ran into me with the small bags of milk I asked him for to make the cream cheese for Red's cheesecake--his birthday cake.

My day would be about my college class later, and other personal matters, but right now, I needed to begin making a cheesecake. The dayroom was empty because I'm in a predominantly Muslim housing unit during Ramadan. So, the microwave was free of the normal coffee line desiring to nuke their cups of Joe. While I made the cream cheese, I'm being asked by Ramutu if we would study our assignments before our afternoon classes. I assured him we would, then returned my attention to what I was doing.

When I completed my strawberry concoction, I retreated to the cell as Red headed for the kiosk to check Jpay for birthday emails. While away, I started on the cookie crust, I hummed a few oldie tunes as I crushed cookies and added milk, then molded the cookies into the bottom of my large plastic bowl. As I finished my task, I had to get my day going.

Each morning, I read from my Bible and did my journal entries for the day. My mind always needed to purge itself, and writing was a great outlet. As I commandeered the stainless-steel table nearest Ramutu's cell, he joined me with his stacks of books.

We conversed about topics that ranged from public housing to being a father. These subjects would be mentioned in our classes that afternoon. We went over our notes until Griz arrived from work. Griz and I made a deal, one where we desired to keep our business private.

In my cell, Griz removed two wrapped sandwiches he assured were the best...but the other two in his pockets were mouthwatering. This was his way of getting me to spend more money--I did. It's my celly's birthday in prison. He, like many others, needed a smile during a day like this.

Back in the dayroom, I'm back to getting my day going. I had the meals done and the strawberry cheesecake in a bucket of ice. I'm now getting a few more tasks done, like an essay for my blog, reading a chapter from American Gods, calling my family and cleaning our cell. All of this was done before 10:30 AM.

When we locked down for institutional count, Red saw the food and smiled as he clasped my hand, patted it and thanked me. He was overjoyed and me, I took a breather. I had two hours before I departed for class. As I reclined in my bunk, I watched the series we had on the prison movie channels: The Sopranos, The Handmaid's Tale and The Godfather of Harlem. Now, when the cell door chugged open, I rushed to the kiosk to send out an afternoon email to my lady, then I headed for chow call.

I sat with Zumar, an artist friend who I chatted with about random things. One in particular was when he would put on the classic sci-fi V, an 80s TV show I loved as a kid. He told me soon, then I was up and going to Red's friends and making them aware that today was his birthday.

Red has always been private about his life, so I exposed it to his friends. They would hug him, and possibly a gift. That was the hope, but all of that ceased when I made it to Inside Outside Dad.

I was signed up for this class because I'm a peer mentor. Even as I am, I'm still in college at the same time, so I handed over my assignment to my instructor, then departed for College Success, which was the last class for the semester.

In the classroom, we had an upbeat professor whom I had the privilege of being taught by in previous semesters. She gave us a task to complete and for me to fill out a questionnaire for the college to check out. Once done, I thanked her and hoped to see her next semester.

Out in the elements, I'm marching across the sidewalk lined with tall fences and razor wire; I head for the gymnasium. Today was picture day, which they did once a month. I posed for two pictures, then two more with friends, then I said my goodbyes and retreated to my housing unit.

Red was on the phone calling family, which I knew would make him happy. I retreated to our cell and changed out of my clothes for shorts and a tank top. Red entered the cell, telling me nobody answered the phone when he called, and he didn't receive a single birthday card. Shocked as I was, I had work to do--and a good thing I could, as Red left our unit for the gymnasium. Once he was gone, I shouted to the entire unit that I needed a birthday card. Lil D had one and offered it to me when I revealed it was for Red's birthday.

The card in hand, I had the men lined up to sign it for Red at the ironing board in the rear of the dayroom. As they signed the card, a few of the men brought food to the cell as a gift for Red. I expressed to a couple of comrades what Red shared about his family not acknowledging him for his birthday. That made us all ache as we watched him come back into the unit. Hugs came, and a multitude of happy birthdays to him.

Red smiled in our cell as he read the card. He stood and thanked me as he said this: "My own family didn't say anything to me. I had to call them and remind them of my birthday. Thanks bro, you made me feel seen today." I love you was all I could say.

Life in prison has always been hard. So hard that when family didn't acknowledge us, it broke us in ways that took far too long to mend. I'm glad that our community always showed out when they needed to, because too many of us have become an afterthought to those out in the free world. Even so, Happy Birthday, Red. We love and see you. We always will.