‘Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but I think you have cause to be optimistic.’
‘Thank you, sir.’ Charlie climbed uncertainly to his feet, turned to leave the room, then spun around and reached for the warden’s hand. ‘Thank you, sir, so much. Even if it doesn’t happen, it means so much that you’re prepared to vouch for me in this way.’
‘Always was, Charlie. I always was.’
He was very excited, but also very apprehensive. After not being outside the prison walls for nearly twenty years, he had a hard time visualizing himself as a civilian – perhaps even a married man, being with a woman for the first time in his life.
That weekend, he got a visitor. It was Muriel, coming to see him on her own, as if they were already sweethearts. She was still only eighteen, and in her senior year of high school, but Charlie could see only her love of life and her total acceptance of him as a human being rather than a lifer in prison.
‘I … I might be getting out,’ he told her under his breath, hardly daring to speak the words in case he jinxed them.
‘Charlie, oh! That’s magnificent.’ Muriel’s hand stretched across the table, their fingertips touching.
Emboldened, Charlie held onto her left hand. ‘Muriel, I know we don’t know each other well, and that you’re younger than me, and I’m a prisoner, and …’
‘Can you think of any more problems?’ giggled Muriel.
Charlie shook his head. ‘No. I can only think that I love you, and that you might love me, and that if I do get out of here soon, nothing would make me happier than to call you my wife.’
‘Is … is that a proposal, Charlie?’
‘Yes!’ Charlie dropped to his knee, right there in the visitor’s room for all to see. ‘Muriel, will you marry me?’
‘Yes, Charlie, I will.’
All of a sudden, his desire for this exceptionally beautiful young lady was overwhelming. He retired that night in a state of euphoria, and even though he had a hard time falling asleep, when he did, he had the sweetest dreams of his life. Still, he remained on tenterhooks, fearing that everything that was happening was no more than those sweet dreams, and that his release would be denied by the Parole Board.
As it turned out, however, at the next meeting of the Parole Board, his release was approved.
And so it was that, nineteen years and ten months after Charlie was incarcerated, the "miracle" happened. He was released from a life sentence in the prison, to begin a new life as a civilian. He would have a beautiful wife to share that life with, and, because of his outstanding skill-set, an excellent job at the large manufacturing plant in the city which made metal tools and machinery parts. He and Muriel set their wedding date for the weekend following her graduation from high school – the week after his own graduation, from life in the state penitentiary.
Chapter 6
* * *
A Man on the Outside
* * *
Instead of getting the house like Mount Vernon, they had moved into the little house on Greentree Avenue in Westport, and Betsy had become pregnant, and he had thrown the vase against the wall, and the washing machine had broken down.
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Sloan Wilson
Charlie awoke early in the morning, quickly washed up, combed his hair, and dressed carefully in the new "civilian" clothing which Muriel had brought to him two days earlier. Everything fit reasonably well: undershorts, dark socks, crisp white shirt, shiny black shoes, a nice blue-and-gray striped tie, and a medium blue, pin-striped suit which coordinated with the color of his eyes. He was both surprised and quite pleased with his image, even though he did not know how to knot his tie. He was forced to leave it draped around his neck, awaiting someone who knew how to assemble it for him.
Almost as soon as he had finished, a guard came in to escort him to the Warden’s office. It was the same guard who had led him to his cell all those years ago, past Amos and the other inmates.
‘So, Two Four Nine. Your day has finally come.’
Charlie’s grin reached from ear-to-ear. ‘I haven’t been Two Four Nine since the first few weeks I was here. How did you remember that?’
‘You were easy to recollect … Charlie.’ It was the first time he’d ever called him by his Christian name. ‘Just a kid, and yet so determined to be good. Me and the other guards – well, we always took a little extra care to look out for you. We’re all so happy that you’re being paroled.’
‘Finally getting rid of me, huh?’
‘Exactly,’ said the guard with a wink, then he opened the door to the warden’s office as he had done so many times before.
Warden Kelly rose as they entered his office. ‘Do you know what, young man? I think we can do better than sit around this table yet again. Why don’t you both walk with me to the staff cafeteria for breakfast.’
‘And I don’t have to serve it?’ joked Charlie.