Tossed Up

Well November is over, making a lot of us one more month closer to home. Time will do with us what it will though, and this next month shows no real promise for an expedient conclusion.

Randomly, the deputies will "toss up" a tent. They search through the inmates personal property for any contraband like tobacco, lighters, pornography, extra issue, etc. Today was our day, and they made quite a mess of things. First, they told us to be in full jail issue and line up outside where we were strip searched by deputies, then sent to sit at the picnic tables in the yard while a drug sniffing dog was brought into our tent (to no avail). The deputies then entered to do a hands on search through property boxes, commissary bags, under mattresses and pretty much anywhere they thought that contraband may have been hidden.

They found altered razors, extra issue, lighters, tobacco, naked pictures, and various other contraband items. This was not fun for Robinson and me (being the house mice). We had to come in and bag all of these items while the deputies watched, telling us what to pick up. We're just walking around a complete mess, "our home" looking as if a tornado had hit it.

Another hard part about the whole debacle was the unspoken disappointment factor. There are a few deputies with whom I would like to think I have a good rapport. One (who by request will remain nameless, but he knows who he is) was involved in the search of our tent. And when lighters and tobacco were found in proximity to my bunk (and Robinson's), another deputy made some disparaging remarks about "his orderlies." I caught one of those "I-am-not-angry-with-you-just-disappointed" looks that was even worse than just being yelled at. Even though the contraband in question wasn't mine (not all of it anyway) there is little I can say in that situation in my defense. But it was over quickly, and everyone picked up the small pieces of lives they have here that were strewn about the floor.

It wasn't the first time and it won't be the last. A detailed poem will follow in the next few weeks describing the feelings that existed during and after the incursion of our domain. I just have to wait till I am in more of a mood to write it.

Till then friends.