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The thing was, the wo hi out with the iced tea on the hot days, always on a little tray, like folks did in restaurants, and the thing that had happened between theht down to his bones, but it still didn’t make sense in his head, no matter how he turned it around He’d never said he hadn’t done it, but it didn’t see he didn’t understand, at least before he had the chance to figure it out He went over it in his mind, but in four years it never had co to ter Carter hadn’t been able to see his way to If anything, the whole thing made less sense than ever; and with the days and weeks and ether in his brain the way they were, he wasn’t even sure he was rein with

At 6:00 AM, when the shift changed, the guards woke everybody up again, to call out names and nus to swap out boxers and socks This et a chance to shower but once a week or see the barber except every sixty days, so it was good to have clean clothes The sticky feeling of his skin orse in summer, when you sweated all day onto yourself even if you lay still as a stone, but from what his lawyer had told hio, he wouldn’t have to go through another Texas summer in his life The second of June would be the end of it

His thoughts were broken by two hard bangs on the door "Carter Anthony Carter" The voice belonged to Pincher, head of the shift

"Aw, come on, Pincher," Anthony said from his bunk "Who’d you think was in here?"

"Present for cuffs, Tone"

"Ain’t time for rec Ain’tto stand here talking about it?"

Carter eased hi and thinking about the wolass of iced tea on the tray His body felt achy and slow, and with effort he lowered hi the door He’d done this a thousand ti your balance was the tricky part Once he was kneeling, he pulled his shoulder blades inward, twisted his arh the slot that the food cah He felt the cold bite of the metal as Pincher cuffed his wrists Everybody called hiht he did the cuffs

"Stand back now, Carter"

Carter pushed one foot forward, his left knee ravity, then rose carefully to his feet, si his cuffed hands fro of Pincher’s big ring of keys, and then the door opened to show hiuard they called Dennis the Menace, on account of his hair, which looked like the kid’s in the cartoon, and the fact that he liked tospots on your body that you never knew could hurt so bad with just a little poke of wood

"Seems like somebody’s come to see you, Carter," Pincher said "And it isn’t your , but Dennis looked to be enjoying hiave that stick of his a twirl like a majorette

"My mom’s been with Jesus since I was ten years old," Carter told him "You know that, Pincher, I told you that about a hundred times Who is it wants me?"

"Can’t say Warden set it up I’es"

Carter supposed this was no good It’d been so long since the woman’s husband had cooodbye, or else to tell hio straight to hell, Anthony Carter Either way Carter didn’t have anything else to say to the man He’d said sorry to everyone over and over and felt done with it

"Come on with you then," Pincher said

They led hi hih a crowd, or a girl he was dancing with This was how they took you anywhere, even to the shower Part of you got used to people’s hands being on you this way, and part of you didn’t Dennis led the way, opening the door that sealed ad and then the outer, second door that took thees It’d been al-H for "hellhole," H for "hit my black ass with that stick some more," H for "Hey, Ma with his eyes pointed at the ground, he still let hi new to look at But it was all still Terrell, a maze of concrete and steel and heavy doors, the air dank and sour with the s area they reported to the OD and entered an erees war itPincher undid the cuffs; while Dennis held the point of his stick against the soft spot under Carter’s jaw, they shackled hins all over the wall telling Carter what he could and couldn’t do, none of which he wanted to take the trouble to read or even look at They shuffled hiave hiainst his ear only if he bent his legs halfway up his chest- the chain taut across his chest like a long zipper

"Didn’t have to wear the shackles the last tih "I’et to ask you nicely? Fuck you, Carter You got ten minutes"