Walk Tall Walk Straight: Part 7
Hard Knocks: Hard Time part 2

Hard Time

Eugene Judd walked slowly back to his cell, after being cooped up in a eight by six space for the last thirty days he wanted to make the most of his opportunity to really stretch his legs. As he entered the cell, Scoops looked up from the book he was reading. "Welcome back Eugene, enjoy your thirty days away?" a smile spread across his face as he spoke the words. "It wasn't to bad Scoops, boring, but worthwhile consider we probably had a better Christmas than most of the wardens. So what's been happening while I've been down the block?" At that moment 'Claymore' entered the cell, Judd had always perceived Claymore to be one of the nonentity prisoners on his wing, who if he had had the brains to match his brawn would have been a force to be reckoned with. "What do you want Claymore and haven't you heard of knocking?" "Shut your mouth Judd, I'm not here to talk to you and I don't have to knock anywhere in this place anymore. Scoops, the Count would like to see you tonight after dinner, he feels you and he have a lot to discuss" With that Claymore left the cell. "He seems pretty full of himself, who died and made him governor?" "No one died Judd, we just have a recent arrival who believes himself above us mere mortals, Claymore offered himself as muscle, so now occupies a position which leads him to believe he can shit on the rest of us. Judd smiled "So who exactly is this Count that he referred to?" "That would be Count Ferenc Nefari, who would have us believe he is descended from a long line of Hungarian noblemen. Word is that he is in fact an Italian with Maggia connections. He came to Canada to try and cash in when Prohibition was still alive and kicking in the US" Scoops replied. "So what does he want with you and how the hell did he manage to end up in here?" "Well it would seem that the Canadian government did a Capone on him, not being able to get him on anything else, they tried him for tax evasion and here he is.

Later on that evening, after dinner, Judd returned to his cell while his friend kept his enforced appointment. Scoops returned about forty minutes later and went straight to his bunk, when Judd tried to question him on what had happened, his cellmate just laughed and said "The man wanted to involve me in a business opportunity as he put it. I gracefully declined and he seemed very accepting of my refusal, so hopefully that should be a end to it" For all of his friend cheery demeanour Judd couldn't help but notice that his friend seemed distant for the rest of the evening. "Anything bothering you mate, you seem very distracted" "No, it's nothing Eugene, just something I gotta figure, let's get some sleep, maybe things will be clearer in the morning"

The next day, after finishing his duties in the kitchen, Judd returned to his cell. Maybe it was some kind of sixth sense, he couldn't say, but as he approached the cell he got the feeling that something was not quite right. This feeling was confirmed when he entered the cell. Scoops lay prone by the side of the table (the table where they had so recently shared their Christmas feast). Although he could see no movement from his friend Judd could see his chest raising and falling, He called out his name twice, but received no response. Running from the cell he went in search of a warder.

Later after his friend had been removed to the infirmary, Judd lay, tears in his eyes and for the first time in a long while, he felt alone. The next morning he requested to see the governor and waited while his request was processed. A little while later, Mr Dixon, the wing governor and one of the more affable warders led him to the governors office. "Well Judd, I take it you wish to visit your friend in the infirmary?" "If I could please governor and if I may ask, how is he?" "It's not good Judd, apart from numerous rib fractures, he also has some internal bleeding, possibly from his liver, or maybe his spleen. According to the doctor, he may not last the night. If I allow you this visit, you have to promise me that there will be no retribution, let us deal with whoever did this. Your likely to do your full sentence following your little stunt at Christmas, you don't want to be doing more" "Yes governor, I promise no retribution", but in his mind he said to himself 'I said nothing about revenge'

As Judd entered the infirmary he could see that his friend was in a bad way. One eye was closed with bruising and even the slightest movement seem to cause him pain. Brushing away a tear Judd moved to the bed. "How you doing fella, someone certainly did a number on you" In a barely audible voice, his friend replied. "Lets just call it a disagreement, someone wanted to hit me, I disagreed, he won the argument" "At least we'll be able to sort this when you get out" Judd responded, but his friend just grimaced. "Let's not kid ourselves Judd, you know as well as I do that I'm not getting out of this place, you've never been the best at hiding your thoughts, plus I heard the doctor talking to the governor" "Who did this Scoops? They shouldn't be allowed to get away with this" "If I tell you Judd, you've got to promise not to go after the person, leave it to the authorities, I'm about to ask you a favour and you can't do it if your stuck in here for the rest of your life" "I promise not to kill anyone, but please tell me what happened" "Tell you what Judd, help me get comfortable and I'll tell you as much as I can, but please don't get yourself into trouble and once I ask the favour of you, then you'll understand why I need you out of this place and back in the real world" Using the chair he was sitting in as a platform, Judd with the help of an orderly arranged his friends pillows and moved him into a more comfortable position, all the time clenching his teeth to prevent himself crying at his friends obvious pain. Once positioned, Scoops began his tale.

"Well it would seem that our latest inmate 'The Count' has heard about your acrobatic abilities. He wants to bring in narcotics via the kitchen supplies. Hiding them in sacks of coffee make them difficult to detect. He thought that as you work in the kitchen I could convince you to use your abilities to get to where the sacks are stored and deliver the stuff. I told him I wouldn't ask you and he sent Claymore along to try and convince me otherwise, when Claymores attempts at logical argument failed he resorted to what he knows best" "So why didn't you ask me, if it would have saved you from this, I would have done it" Judd replied. "Ah yes, I know you would have done, but that would have put you into all types of trouble. Look, I couldn't be much of a father to my son, but in you I see a good person who in time can become something, how could I ask you to be something your not just to keep myself healthy. I want you to make me a promise, can you do that?" "Anything, you only have to ask" and Judd knew that it would take more than wild horse to prevent him from doing anything for the man lying prone before him. "I want you to get out of here as soon as you can, then maybe if you can find the time you can look up my boy and maybe make sure he's not following in his mothers or my footprints. I kinda figure you could point on the straight and narrow or at least prevent him ending up in a place like this" "I promise you Scoops that'll find him and make sure he's doing fine, hand on heart I'll do it" "Thanks Judd, I figured you're the type of man who would, the last I heard he and his mother were living in 'Stettler, just north of Calgary. Now your going to have to leave, I'm tired and if I'm going to get out of here I'm going to need all my strength" "Sure, no problem, I'll come back tomorrow and see how your doing".

As he left the infirmary, Judd took a backward glance at his friend and realised that maybe there would not be a tomorrow, the exertions of talking to Judd seemed to have taken their toll, his friend was wracked with pain and blood was spilling from his mouth. He almost took a step back, but a distant voice sounded in his head "Walk Tall son, Walk Tall" Judds anchor succumbed to his injuries less than an hour later, by which time Judd was back in his cell staring towards the ceiling.

The next morning while waiting in the queue for his breakfast, Judd was approached by Claymore. "The Count wants to see you tonight after duties, oh and please let me be the one to offer my condolences regarding the sad accident that befell your roomy. It would be a shame if the same kinda of thing was to happen to you" Before Claymore had a chance to take a breath to continue his message, Judd had sprung forward, using Claymores leg as a springboard, also managing to shift the patella to the side of the leg at the same time, Claymore was already down on his knees as Judd landed a perfect back somersault. As he looked up with a pained expression on his face Judd bought his food tray square into the face of his antagonist. Falling forward onto his face, Claymore didn't see Judd throw the tray into the air and launch himself into a series of tumbles that culminated with him landing two footed onto the tray three feet above his prone victims head, shifting his feet to the sides of the tray, he rode it down and stepped off as the tray was bent almost in two by Claymores head. Bending down by the almost unconscious mans head Judd told him "Tell your boss I work for no man and that if he wants to pursue this then I'll be more than happy to explain to the warders how drugs arrive here in coffee sacks. Stay away from me and consider yourself lucky that you still have life in your body. A promise to a friend is the only thing keeping you breathing. The next time I might just forget that promise" Judd stood up and turned to face two approaching wardens. "Please sir, Mr Collins sir, Claymores fallen over and would seem to have hurt himself" "So I see Judd, so I see. Mr Jones take Claymore to the infirmary, Judd, guess where you're going?" "Down the block sir?" "Yes Judd, down the block, come on"

60 Days Later
"Well Judd, what am I going to do with you now? I can hardly put you back into general population, you've upset the wrong people with your attack on Claymore, but Mr Collins has put in a good word for you. If you can assure me there will be no more incidents then perhaps I can do you a small favour" "I can assure you governor that any business I had on the wing is concluded and I just want to see out my sentence and get on with my life" "Well in that case… It would seem that a position has opened up in the library, there won't be much to do, but maybe you could turn your mind to reading instead of playing avenging angel. Mr Collins will be your personal mentor come guard and hopefully you can turn the last thirteen months of your sentence to broadening your horizons. There are many classics in there and I hope they stand you in good stead. I think that's all"