Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Thief on the Left: Thief on the Right

Part 1 – Ship on a Frozen Sea

By Eddie Griffin

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Luke 23:38 And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Mark 15:27 And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left. 28 And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, “And he was numbered with the transgressors.”

Luke 23:39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, “If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.” 40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, “Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.” 42 And he said unto Jesus, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” 43 And Jesus said unto him, “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

THIEF ON THE LEFT

Since I was the loudest and angriest inmate among the prisoners, and since so much of my prison writings attracted outside attention, they decided to put me somewhere where I could not be seen nor heard. They put me in a refrigerated strip cell, in nothing but my civvies, and the temperature was sub-freezing.

The prison guards had taken everything I had, all of my books, letters, and writing materials. They held me incommunicado and spread the rumor among other prisoners on the compound that I was dead. And, indeed, I was.

Leftist revolutionary thief and bank robber confined inside a prison within a prison, the end of the line of the end of the line. Here they do not quibble about the legality of a man’s dead. Being frozen to death was just another means of getting their message across, that they did not give a damn about my body or my soul.

For good measures, they threw a little red bible into the cell. It was the only reading material I had left of a 140-book library. They laughed at me when I demanded my law books. The warden was most happy to remind me that I was not in a position to demand anything.

The northern gushing through the narrow slit windows brought snowflakes. It was one of the coldest winters in southern Illinois history, and I was wholly exposed.

They had taken the mattress, but left the plastic mattress cover. With it, I wrapped my body, and the heat from my pores kept me somewhat warm. The clear plastic turned yellow over time, and slowly it turned oily black.

They gave me running water for only 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening, along with three meals per day. But the constant cold killed my appetite. Whatever the guard slid into my tray slot, returned with him to the dumpster. I barely cast a glance his way, day in, day out. I just sat there, frozen to the icy steel bunk, staring into space and reading the little red bible. I had to keep blinking my eyes to prevent ice crystals from glazing over my pupils.

Then I saw a mirage: A ship frozen at sea. It was like the Titanic in paradise.

No comments: