He had been in prison for approximately one year when he experienced a dramatic reminder of how lucky he was in not having been executed for his crime. Hepworth, who had been injured in the robbery, died in the hospital. Had he survived, of course, he would have been executed. According to many of Charlie's fellow prisoners, the gang leader had "cheated" the electric chair.
Charlie had very few visitors during his first few years at the penitentiary, but he tried not to let it bother him very much. Instead, he kept busy. There was so much for him to do there. He was taking high school courses, trade school courses, spending time in the library and in the prison's recreational facilities, and spending a lot of time talking to Justin on a myriad of subjects when he was back in his cell, or to Amos when he was in the prison’s libraries. He also worked in the woodworking, metal and print shops, for employment as well as for trade school instruction. Not only was he keeping very busy, but he was also learning a lot and even enjoying himself.
Although he was allowed visitors every weekend, he seldom had more than a visitor a month. His most frequent visitors during those early years were his oldest brother, William, and one of his paternal aunts, Edna. His mother finally visited him during the third year, and then came occasionally after that - mostly on holidays. He found out that her visits were less frequent than she wanted them to be, because of his father. His father never got over the hurt, outrage, and embarrassment of the humiliation his crime had caused the family. To keep the peace, his mother had to be very careful not to antagonize her husband.
He was very understanding and accepting of his father's attitude, and never pressured his mother to visit him. Nevertheless, he especially enjoyed her visits, and always became nostalgic about her unconditional love and guidance, and the wonderful aromas of fresh-baked breads and biscuits which had always permeated their home. She began to come more frequently after her husband died, but by then she became severely invalided and was unable to travel without assistance.
His life trickled on. By the time he was twenty years old, Charlie had taken every high school level and trade school course which were available to him, and even though Amos was older, he’d persuaded him to do the same alongside him.
‘You know what I’m going to do?’ Charlie asked Amos one afternoon when they were re-stacking the shelves with returned books.
‘Run for president?’ Amos laughed with his customary good humor. Nothing ever seemed to rattle him, even when his young children visited him in prison and left in tears. ‘You could be the first lifer to lead the country.’
Charlie pretended to consider it, then laughed. ‘Nope. Not yet, anyways. No, what I’m going to do is read every single book in this library.’
Amos studied the spine of the book he was holding and located its position on the shelf. He’d been able to read when he entered prison but not much; Charlie’s friendship and tutelage had pushed him to higher levels in all sorts of ways, especially in mental arithmetic, for which he had a natural talent. ‘You’re even going to read this one?’
He held up a copy of Gone With the Wind.
‘Even that one.’ Charlie winced at the thought, but a promise – even to himself – was a promise.
‘Actually, I asked Mr Danvers about getting hold of some more mathematical books,’ said Amos thoughtfully, ‘and he said we could borrow books from the public libraries outside of the prison.’
‘Really?’ That was amazing. ‘You might just have saved me from some very long tales of passion, Amos. Now I can really target what I’d like to read.’
‘You and me both, Charlie. You and me both.’
Truth be told, he didn’t have much time for tales of passion in any case. His close association with the church, including the legacy of his scripture lessons with Father Patton, had helped Charlie to control his sexual desires whenever he had them. He’d been an altar boy, for goodness’ sake; he’d even been considering the priesthood.
Whenever such thoughts would enter his mind, which they often did during visitation periods which exposed him to women from the outside, he simply thought of the celibacy such a life would have required. His prison counsellors included the priest, Father Hannity, and Sister Brighid, who were also very effective in helping him to overcome sexual desires, particularly at times when they began to overwhelm him because of something Amos or Justin said about their wives.
Or when he saw Muriel, the young daughter of Cecil, one of the other lifers.
‘Celibacy. Celibacy,’ he would repeat to himself, and somehow it worked.
All in all, Charlie was comfortable with his lot. He knew he was in prison for life, for something he’d never intended to do or known would create such harm, but he spent every day doing just as Mr Adams and Warden Kelly had told him: counting his blessings, reading his Bible, learning both trades and academic subjects alike. His friendships were deep-seated and rewarding, and he had enough visitors to keep in touch with the outside world.
And then the outside world stepped into the prison.