Life at Hard Labor chapters 51-53

Author: Fumpa
Title: Life at Hard Labor Chapters 51-53
Date: 24 March 2013

Chapter 51

It was getting close to midday, and the sun was beating down on my newly shaved head. My arms were still black with grime from years of filth and work on the chain gang, but the other convicts were slowly catching up to my level of filth.

I had finally gotten used to dragging that ball around with me wherever I went. I had to move my leg slowly but forcefully to drag the thing forward, but it was easier than bending down and picking it up every time I wanted to move.

I heard a loud steam whistle blow off in the distance, and I almost stopped working, but I saw that Buck was still pounding away. He shot me a stern look and took another wide swing with his sledge. He nodded off to the south down the hill. I looked down there and saw only a tall fence capped with a mess of barbed wire. I took another swing with my sledge and thought nothing more of the whistle. It obviously had nothing to do with me.

Then I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I hadn’t looked toward the south very much that day, but down the hill and behind the fence, there was another hill forming a valley. A line of men was coming out of a hole in the side of the other hill; carrying pick axes, and black lunch boxes. They wore white t-shirts with black grime on them, helmets with crude lamps attached, and canvass pants that were all in some shade of brown or green. Their pants weren’t blue like ours. No one wanted to look like a convict after all.

These were free men, and their work day was over. As they walked past a shed, they emerged without the pick axes, and a few went about the business of starting campfires near some tents. I thought that they might be taking a lunch break the way we were probably about to, but then I remembered that Miner told me that he only had a 10 hour shift when he worked in the mine. These guys were done for the day, and ready to relax.

“Wipin it off boss?” I figured I’d try again.

“Yeah wipe it off there.” the boss finally relented, and then wiped some sweat off his own forehead.

I faced the fence, and pulled my shirt out of my back pocket. I buried my sweaty face and neck in the filthy white fabric, and when I looked at it, I saw that it picked up even more of the grime on my body. I then snuck a whiff of my pits, and almost passed out. They stunk like rotten vinegar. I looked down at the filth encrusted skin that I wore, and my cock got rock hard. I felt different. Different from what? I’ve always been like this. I’ve always been this dirty. I was different from those guys down the hill and on the other side of the fence. They sat on rocks and logs with their boots kicked up, and cold beers in their hands, looking straight at our work crew. The chink of the bottles almost drove me insane with thirst. The boss had already shot down my request for water, so I’d have to wait for the mid day meal.

“Alright, start loadin’ em up!”

I set my sledge down, and looked at the ground at my feet. There were tons of rocks that needed to be picked up and thrown into wheelbarrows. I leaned down and grabbed one, and jogged to the trusty with the wheelbarrow. Only I didn’t jog. That damn ball held my leg back with all its weight. I can’t understand why, but it was a real struggle to carry that stone to the barrow, and drag that iron ball at the same time. I looked at some of the other cons with balls and chains, and they were moving quick enough to satisfy the boss. Working with that ball and chain attached to my leg was just something I was going to have to get used to.

I pulled the ball and chain hard with my leg, and finally made my way up to the barrow. Soon after that, I finally caught up to the others. I was no weakling. I was a hardened convict. If something felt too hard, I just had to work at it until it felt easier. Easier, but never easy.

The two new guys that had both legs free were going slower than I was, and heaving out blasts of air. As Tom set down a light rock, I saw that it had a few red handprints on it. His hands had blistered, and were now raw. His white skin was starting to pink up, and his sweat was mingled with tears that he couldn’t hold back. He sunk to his knees, and stopped for a bit.

“GET YOUR ASS ON THEM ROCKS CONVICT!” The boss smacked him in the ass with his club, and Tom leaped back up as best as he could.

Josh wasn’t faring much better. He was dragging his feet much slower than I was, and his were both free. He held a light rock limp in his hands. He looked towards the other hill and the sky above it with his eyes almost shut. I could see his feet shaking in his boots as his knees started to buckle. He dropped the rock in the barrow, and shambled back to the pile.

Before he could even get back, I lifted another and brought it back to the barrow. My leg was getting used to this ball, but I started to feel it more in my head than in my leg. It was telling me that any dream I had of freedom; even freedom of movement, was hopeless, and pointless. Rather than let it get me down, I let it get me back to work, and drag me forward.

As I was dragged forward by that ball and chain in my mind, I saw that Josh was falling down to his knees. The rock fell from his hand, and kicked up a few others. He fell on his side with his eyes shut, and his limbs limp. I rubbed my eyes a bit and looked again. He was still laying there.

“Man out here boss!” I shouted and walked over to him, leaning down to check on him.

“Typical,” the boss said, and he leaned down to check too. He snapped his fingers next to Josh’s ear, pulled his eye lid back, and slapped him in the face a few times. “Yeah, he’s really out. HANK! Get on over here and get this fucker to the shade,” he said to a trusty who was standing nearby. “You get back to them rocks,” he said to me, waving towards the slowly shrinking pile of rocks on the ground.

The trusty came over to help Josh, and I vaguely recognized him. His name was Hank. I’d worked with him on the cane fields. I remember having laundry duty with him too; something I prayed I wouldn’t have to deal with in this quarry. I didn’t have a chance to talk to him, but it made me glad to see him doing lighter duty. I looked around the quarry for a shady area where they might take Josh, but I couldn’t see any. The only shade I could see came from the mining camp on the other side of the tall fence. Hank and another trusty lifted Josh, and carried him up the hill towards the bunkhouse. For now he could escape the quarry in the arms of unconsciousness.

Turning my thoughts away from others for a while, I thought about my own situation. There were rocks on the ground that needed to be lifted and put in a barrow. They were all heavy. They were all rough. They were all white hot from the constant, burning sunlight. And I’d have to touch, and lift every single one with my bare, calloused, dirty hands. The thought brought no tears to my eyes, and no emotion to my mind. I looked at the other cons shuffling back and forth with rocks of their own, and I just kept working as they did.

Then the ball dragged down on my foot again. Once again, it reminded me of what I was. It spoke in some soft corner of my dull mind. “You’re a convict. You’ve been sentenced to hard labor. You’ll work hard all day, every day, forever. You’ll never get out.” again, there was no emotion. Just work.

The boss blew a long, loud whistle. “CHOW TIME! Bring er in boys!”

I looked towards the ground at my boots, and saw that most of the rocks we’d broken that day were now in a barrow, and on their way to the chain gang where Craig and nineteen other doomed convicts would break them down even smaller to be used as road gravel.

The chain that attached that iron ball to my leg clanked as I slumped to the chow line. Far away on the chain gang, Craig’s leg irons clanked as he sank to his haunches with a bowl of mush in his hands. We broke the big rocks, they broke the small ones.

A convict’s life is always tied up with thousands of other convicts. They grew and harvested the materials that made the clothes on my back. They were driven back and forth to the fields on roads that convicts built using gravel that came straight from the quarry that I toiled in. We all busted our asses every day. None of us reaped the benefits, but we all supported each other. We also confined each other. A convict probably dug up the iron on my ankle. A convict trusty certainly bolted the thing to my leg. A convict like me dug the post holes for a fence, that kept that trusty locked up and far away from a free life. We were all the same. We’d all been sentenced to one long, hard life. We were all connected in one long cycle of hard labor. We were all connected, but I couldn’t feel Craig. There were still no tears in my eyes. No emotion in my heart. I wanted for there to be, but there was just nothing there.

My mind was dull and blank as I lined up behind Buck. I could smell the tangy stench of the beans, and that was all I could think of. Chow.

“How you doin?” Buck grunted, turning his head back to look at me for a brief second.

“Tired man,” I grunted back.

I held up a bowl. A pile of beans spilled out and a slice of bread landed on top. I lurched forward and the ball made a trench in the dirt behind me. I held up a cup, and cold, clear, metallic tasting water poured in. I dragged my feet up to Miner, who had already sat flat down on the hard dirt. The ball slid forward a bit. My dull mind had an idea. I kicked the ball into place with my free boot, and tried to sit on it.

“GAA!” I yelped, and fell off the thing, landing on my butt. My beans almost spilled, but I managed to save them. Buck looked up from his beans, waited a few seconds, and started laughing his ass off. He was joined by almost every other convict out there, including me. It did my heart good to hear laughter, but it was short lived. The boss gave us a stern stare down and patted his club in his hand. That was enough to shut us up and make us eat.

Tom didn’t join in the laughter at my expense. He had slumped down with his meal and just sort of stared at it. I didn’t know the kid at all, but he seemed like the talkative type. Something wasn’t right with him. He finally took a bite of food, and started to scrape it down for a bit, but then lay back on the ground, placing the plate on the dusty ground beside him.

Buck nudged Tom with his boot and spoke to him. “Hey new meat, how you holdin up?”

“Alright I guess. It’s been a long day.” he said and lay back down.

“Yeah… Well, you’re holdin’ up pretty good kid.” Buck gulped another spoonful, but kept his eyes right on the kid.

“Thanks. Glad to be done though.” Tom bent one knee up, and rested his other boot on it. The phrase startled us old cons, and I shot a glance to see what the boss was doing. He was having a heated discussion with another boss about taxes or money or something else convicts didn’t know anything about.

“Pipe down kid!” Buck whispered. “And sit up! Eat your damn chow.”

“Kid I don’t know what the hell you’re thinkin’ but we ain’t even half done yet,” I said to him quietly, but not too sternly.

I was met with a look of crushing shock coming from Tom’s young, un-hardened face. “We’ve been at it for 12 hours!” he whispered back to us.

“You better just keep workin’ till they tell you to quit, or till you pass out, you hear me son? You can give out, but don’t you dare give up, or they’ll give you even more hell.” Buck was a little sterner with the kid than I was; a little sterner than the Buck I remembered.

Tom looked back at the rocks, and the hammers. He swallowed, and shoveled more food into his mouth. “Now, I grew up on a farm. I’m no stranger to hard work, but this shit’s ridiculous.” He said under his breath to another con sitting closer to him.

“Yep,” the con replied and didn’t say another word.

When I finished my meal, I took Tom’s lead and lay down on my back. I shut my eyes, and the sun beat down on them. My eyelids couldn’t hide my world from me though. I could smell my pits, I could feel the shackle on my ankle, and the work boots on my sore feet. I could feel the sweat pooling under my jeans. Buck lay down right next to me, and I could hear his chain rattle. The smell from his pits wasn’t any kind of match for mine, but I could still smell them. Stronger still was the smell of his jeans. Mine were brand new, and clean apart from the day’s work. His had a week’s worth of dirt and sweat ground into them. My cock grew just from the smell. It reminded me of the way Craig smelled. The way all of us smelled. No, I couldn’t block this world out. It was all I knew or remembered. There may have been something before, but it had all crumbled into the dirt.

A whistle blew, and the boss ordered us back to work. Tom still looked a little crestfallen as he picked his sledge back up for the rest of our work hours. I found a rock, and positioned myself in front of it in a way that I could work, and keep an eye on the kid at the same time. I lifted the hammer, I brought it down. Tom did the same. Still that same look of shock and defeat.

True to what Tom had said, he was no stranger to hard work. I imagined him chopping firewood the same way he was breaking rocks now. The work camp wasn’t as dramatic of a change as it could have been for the kid. He probably worked every day on his dad’s farm until things got done. Hell, that may have even taken as long as a convict’s shift, but he would have had the freedom to set down his axe and take a break now and then. I could see how he might consider these long hours of hard labor to be unjust, or impossible. I didn’t know if this was justice or not, but I did know that it was possible. It was possible, and it was what a stupid man like me needed out of life. Not that kid though. No, he needed to be free. He was class A. He would be free one day. I’d make damn sure of that.

Just as I finally cracked the rock I was working on, I saw the kid sink to his knees. His eyes were still open, but I could tell he was done. He’d passed out. I don’t think there’s a convict alive who didn’t pass out his first day. He blinked slowly, and a peaceful smile ran across his face. I knew that look. I mistakenly thought it myself once. He thought he was going to kick the bucket. I knew better.

“Man out here boss!” I heard Buck call out a few moments later. He had leaned down and checked on the kid.

“Get your ass back on that hammer boy!” the boss barked at Buck. This boss was even more of a prick than our morning overseer. “God damn son of a bitch, that’s two today. What the fuck is up with you stupid lazy asses? TRUSTY! TAKE THIS SACK OF SHIT BACK TO CAMP!”

Buck looked at the guard with a firm look of contempt on his face, but started to smash the rocks again once the boss turned back to us. We were two men short, but there again, it was two new men. They wouldn’t have gotten much work done anyway. They didn’t look like they belonged on a quarry either, but then again, I never belonged on a farm or in a lumber camp and they still put me on both. They’d figure it out with the new guys as well.

Chapter 52

I lifted the hammer, I brought it down. We plowed through another load of rocks that had to then be loaded up, and we didn’t get as many water breaks as we would have liked. We had to keep listening to the laughs and taunts from the miners off in the distance on the other side of the fence. Another shift of them was meeting with the first shift before they went down the shaft to work their relatively leisurely half day. We heard a lot of the type of hearty laughter that cons weren’t allowed to produce during work hours.

Still the sun was getting lower, and more orange. The change in light made every convict feel the same way. Almost done, almost done. Not yet though. Finally, the sun sank low enough for the boss man to blow the whistle.

“Alright boys, quittin time. Get your stinkin asses to them showers.” he said as he slid his whistle back into his shirt pocket.

When you spend as long a time as I did doing nothing but sweating and swinging a sledgehammer, your mind kind of dulls down. You’re not thinking about the future, or the past. You’re just there getting beat on by the sun and thinking about where that sledge is going to land. Then you hear the boss man say “shower” and all you can think about is cold, clear water falling on your sweaty, filthy neck.

I picked my sledge up, and started to run up the hill, but then I was stopped. I forgot my ball and chain. I don’t know why, but it reminded me of Craig. That ball meant one of my legs was free. That ball meant I had a warm bunk to crawl into. That ball meant I had a cold shower waiting. Craig didn’t have a ball and chain. He had 9 other convicts chained to him, swinging their hammers in unison with his. He wouldn’t be getting a shower; he’d probably be getting a good taste of the boss man’s belt. I hoped to God they wouldn’t throw him in the cages. Suddenly that ball felt a lot heavier. But still, there was that shower to think of.

The bosses ushered me, Miner and the other guys who were fresh from the chain gang to the front of the line. They were obviously tired of smelling us. I peeled off my jeans, and threw them in a pile for the wash boys. I untied and kicked off my boots setting them together against the edge of the shower floor, away from the flow of the water.

I stepped up on the platform underneath a pipe, and next to Miner. The water started pumping out of a pipe, and fell on my forehead. I could almost feel the grit and the grime scraping my skin as it slowly ebbed off my body. I looked down and could see the dirty water flowing off me; darker than the wood floor of the shower, but not darker than the ball and chain. I shut my eyes and looked up. It almost felt like pounds of the stuff were being shed off, but at the same time there was dirt that I knew I’d never be able to scrub off. There was dirt caked under my nails and crammed into my handprints. Not to mention the fact that the next day, all the dirt I had washed off would get replaced with brand new dirt and sweat. That’s just the life of a convict though. Nothing that I wasn’t used to and nothing that really worsened my mood.

When we were done, I picked up my work boots, and I walked naked back to the bunkhouse, dragging that ball behind me. Nudity felt so strange and so free for me. My mind was completely blank. It was as if my body was dragging me around out of habit, and I was just watching. I felt the air move across my cock which had been locked up in hot denim for as long as I could remember. Soon though, the ball and chain crept back into my perceptions. I didn’t feel the heaviness of the ball as much as I felt the lightness of my free leg, and my bare cock.

The way the bosses could take a ball and chain, and make it feel like freedom almost made me laugh. Even funnier was how they made that freedom feel like something I didn’t want or deserve. I wanted to be back with Craig. Back with the guy I loved, suffering along with him and the other 8 sweating, mindless convicts.

Miner ran up behind me, and patted me on the back, jarring me out of my private thoughts. “Damn, feels good don’t it dude?” He started to rub a towel vigorously over his head. “Been a long time.”

“Yeah.” I said vacantly as I walked over to my bunk. A clean, but well worn pair of jeans was hanging on the edge of the bed with my number stamped on it. M-067-D. I wished to hell that there was another pair with C-067-D sitting there waiting for Craig, but all that was left was Buck’s pants. I was sick of having my cock dangling out. I wanted to feel like a convict again. I hung my work boots on the foot of the bunk, and threaded my ball through the left leg of my jeans. I pulled them up, zipped them, and sat my ass on my bunk. I shut my eyes and zoned out.

“Listen man, it ain’t your fault he’s still back there.” Miner said as he sat down across from me. “That’s all the fuckin prison man. I know what you’re thinkin. Don’t feel like you left him. You got dragged away from him. Hell, we both did.”

“You’re right,” I groaned as I leaned back. “Still man…” I was cut short by Buck bounding into the bunkhouse, and over to greet us. I couldn’t blame him. He obviously missed us, but I wished I could have finished my thought.

“God damn that felt good!” Buck belted out as he dropped his ball and chain on my bunk. His half erect, hairy cock swung around as he came to a stop, and grabbed his jeans. He threaded his iron ball through the leg, and pulled them up. I watched him fasten the button with his dirt caked hands, and got a little hard, but not enough to show. My erection started to die down until I turned my thoughts back to Craig, sweating his ass off on the chain gang. I would have given anything to feel his hand on my back again. Even crouching down in those damn cages for the night.

“What crawled up your ass?” Buck said in an uncharacteristically stern voice. “Hell Matt, you’re off the chain gang, that’s good ain’t it?”

“Oh you know it.” I said sarcastically.

“Oh damn. I’m sorry man, I wasn’t thinkin.” Buck said. “Listen, Craig’s a tough (edited). You know that. I’ve known him longer than you have. He’ll be alright.”

“I know. I just felt like shit standing there under that nice, cool water when I know they got him covered in grime, sweat, and whip marks.” I tried my best not to sound frustrated at Buck or anyone else. It wasn’t their fault. It wasn’t my fault for that matter. But he was still there. There had to be something I could do.

“Yeah, that ain’t no place to be.” He said staring off into space. I knew he was thinking back to his own long terms on the chain gang. I shared one of those terms with him and Miner; locked up in heavy coveralls. It was a pain all three of us knew, and it sat there in the back of our mind every time we felt the gaze of the bosses on our back. “I was just so damn happy to see you two…”

“I know. Don’t worry about it man.” I patted Buck on the back. “It’s like you said Miner, it ain’t our fault. It’s the prison. That’s why Craig’s not here right now.” I could hear Josh and Tom snoring and moaning. They had been laid on their bunks by the trusties that had carried them back after they passed out. They were wearing clean jeans, so they must have woken up at some point during the second half of the day.

“I think the new meat has the right idea,” Miner groaned, nodding towards the snoring Josh. “We got a full day of workin tomorrow, and we gotta make sure they don’t fuck up too bad. Craig can take care of himself. You’re just gonna have to grind on the way he did when we were on the chain.”

“Yeah. I know it,” I leaned back. We didn’t have the luxury of feeling torn up about anything. There was a full day’s worth of rocks to break in the morning, and we couldn’t afford to lose the little sleep they allowed us. Buck stood up to let me claim the rest of my bunk, and I shut my eyes. I fell asleep a few seconds later, but on the edge of consciousness, I could hear Miner’s bunk creaking. In the dream I was on the edge of, I smiled, but at the same time, I felt something missing next to me.

I slept hard for a few hours, but then I started to toss and turn a bit. Nothing about where I was felt right. These jeans were so well worn and soft, they could have been satin. I kept hearing a clinking sound. There was something clamping to one of my legs, and it felt like something had fallen off the other one. Nothing felt right. I stirred awake. I rolled over, and saw Buck and Miner, holding each other and snoring in the bunk next to me. I rolled back over away from them. I felt cold. Colder than I’d ever felt. The shackle wouldn’t let me get entirely back to sleep. I just laid there with my eyes shut. My body rested, by my mind wouldn’t shut up. “He’s back there. They took you away. They got him in one of those cages, and you know it.”

An hour or so later, I heard the bosses opening the door to the bunkhouse. I knew to cover my ears for what was coming. They started to clang the bell. “RISE AND SHINE FAGGOTS. WE GOT ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE QUARRY!! LET’S MOVE!!”

I picked up my boots, and threw them on. As I was tying one of them, Buck and Miner woke up. Buck rubbed Miner’s shoulder firmly, and Miner moaned. They both grabbed their boots, but when they looked at me they stopped and looked back at each other. They then looked sheepishly back at me. They had slept together, and I’d slept alone both nights since we got back.

“Oh man… sorry… I wasn’t even….”

“Whatever man. Just get your boots on.” I said in a tone that told them I didn’t have any hard feelings. I would have done the same thing if Craig was there, and one of them was alone. I pulled my shackle down over the boot, and pulled the leg of my pants through it too so there’d be some cushioning. I leaned down to tie the other one, and then I noticed that I was being watched. Josh was staring at my feet intently.

“Hey man, see something you like?” I asked the new meat in a slightly intimidating tone.

“Oh shit,” he stuttered a bit. “I was just…. Going to apologize for yesterday. You were trying to show me how to tie my boots. My feet were killing me when I came to yesterday.”

“I’ll bet they did. Just watch how I do it.” I pulled the laces tight around the hooks, and then crossed the long laces behind the back of the calf. Then bought them back to the front, and tied them normally. “You think you got it?”

He just kept staring at my boot. I could tell his dick was pretty hard. I couldn’t see it through his jeans, but he had that kind of “God damn” look on his face.

“Uh I think so,” he said, and started to tie his boots.

“Let me see.” I watched him intently as he tried to repeat my motions from memory. He wasn‘t getting it at all. “No no. Here, kick your foot up here.”

He looked down at his boots, and then slowly kicked one up for me. I grabbed his leg, and I could feel him tense up. I pulled the laces tight, then showed him. “Here, you just gotta loop the laces behind your leg like that, then bring them back to the front, and tie them like normal. Now you do it on the other one.”

He struggled a bit, but he finally pulled it off. Then he stood up. “That…feels better!” He was shocked that something as simple as tying your boots the right way could make such a difference. “Thanks.”

“No problem. We’re gonna need you on your feet man. Your ‘grace period’ won’t last much longer,” I said, as I stood up and walked towards the mess hall.

“Grace period?” he asked.

“You got about a month to toughen up before they start throwing you in the hole for passing out on the job like you did yesterday. They know you’re weak now, and they don’t expect you to make it all day. They do expect you to toughen up though and if you don’t, it’s gonna be harder on you.” He seemed like the kind of guy who had to be talked to sternly.

“Oh man…” was all he could say. He walked with the rest of the cons toward the mess hall.

Chapter 53

Tom and Josh weren’t as nauseated by the meal as they had been the day before. It’s the same with every new convict, and it was the same with me. Physical exhaustion does a lot to improve your appetite, and even more to dull your senses to the point where slop like the kind we ate was palatable.

We had stepped out of the bunkhouse and were just getting ready to grab our hammers when we saw something behind the fence where the boxes were. A boss was standing by one of them with his club in his hand. There was a convict lying there covered in what I’d hoped was rock dust and not something else. It was a man who I’d once called boss, before he got convicted himself. It was Mark. There was a trustee at his feet, pounding on a shackle on Mark’s leg. The boss then grabbed Mark by the shirt, and put him on his feet.

“GET OUT THERE BOY.” He kicked Mark in the ass. Mark picked up the ball which had just been attached to him, and ran out as quickly as his sore, stinking body could carry him. The gate flung open, and he ran over, catching up with us.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ASSHOLES WAITING FOR? GET A MOVE ON!” another boss shouted. We ran the rest of the way to the shed, and a trusty quickly shoved a sledge hammer in each of our hands. We then hobbled back down to the rocks, where more bosses were waiting.

I expected Mark to be sore and disoriented. Instead, he looked relieved. He was breathing easily, and stretching his muscles, leaning the hammer over his shoulder. It had been a long time since I’d been in the box. I had forgotten how good it felt to be let out of the thing once you’d been in a long time, and from what Buck had told me, Mark had been in there for over a month.

I followed him and Buck out to where the boss wanted us, and set my ball down. The boss pointed to three huge, dark boulders. I didn’t know what this type of rock was called, but I knew the color, and I knew it was going to be hard as hell. Miner and Buck each took the two smaller ones by themselves, and the boss told me and Mark to work on the largest.

“God damn drill squad’s been slackin,” the boss said to the boulder, and not to us. He was right of course. The boulder was larger than two men alone should have had to handle. The drill squad should have broken it in half the day before. It was too big for only two men to handle, but we were convicts, not men. If the boss man wanted us to lift a mountain, it got lifted. Even if it took 20 years, and broke our backs.

Mark didn’t say one word. He just got right on his hammer, and started pounding away at the rock. I didn’t want to look like I was slacking, so I took the other side of the boulder and started pounding. The boulder was big enough for me and Mark to face each other, and not get in each other’s way.

The sun started to peak up, and lit up Mark’s dirty, sweating face with a cold, golden light. His eyes were bright, and his face was calm, and looked almost relieved. We both kept swinging our sledges, trying to exchange words through eye contact, but the boss was right on top of us. It was best not to risk talking for a while.

“Takin’ it off boss.” Mark grunted about an hour into it. We’d barely dented the boulder.

“Yeah, take it off,” the Boss said, and wiped his forehead off as he walked over to Josh and Tom. The two of them were working as fast as could be expected for new meat, so I didn’t pay them any mind.

“Hey,” Mark grunted to me under his breath as he took off his shirt.

“Hey man,” I grunted back.

“How long you been back man?” he asked as he started to swing his hammer again.

“A day.” I took a good chunk of the boulder off, but there was a lot more of it to contend with. It would take us till midday at least.

“Glad you guys made it through ok. I don’t see Craig. They got him at the infirmary?” he scanned the quarry looking for him, as if he could pick out one shaved head from another.

“He’s still on the chain,” I said and landed my hammer down again. I took a deep breath, looked over my shoulder, and then took another hard swing.

Mark’s hammer slipped, and nearly hit his foot. “He’s what?”

“On the chain! Where the hell you think?” I quietly snapped. “He took a bosses eye out. What’d you think they were gonna do?”

“No man, you don’t get it. I know him. I know the boss out there.” Mark said, swinging his sledge almost as if he were trying to fake it.

“Yeah, and he’s a real prick.” I shot back at Mark. “He’s like any other boss, only worse. Present company excluded.” I smiled at Mark as I made another crack in the boulder.

“We’ll talk about it tonight. Looks like they’re gonna be doggin us good today.” Mark was looking behind me at the boss, who was making his way back towards us, but was still out of earshot. I nodded, and landed my hammer on the boulder again.

The sun blazed high and hot. Even the men in the mining camp thought it was too hot out to crack jokes about us convicts. The only words we spoke were “wipin’ it off boss” and “water over over here boss.” And there was plenty of both going on with or without the boss’s approval. He had sat down by the side of the water truck, and was watching us keenly from the shade.

Midday came, and another pile of beans landed on my plate. Josh had passed out long before then, and had been taken up to the bunkhouse to recover. It happened early enough in the day for the boss to wonder if he were playing possum, but when a bucket of water, and a flashlight to the eye failed to rouse him, they knew he was done for the day.

We didn’t talk much. We just ate. I told Mark about our time on the chain; building the rails, sleeping in the cages, and getting our share of the “Boss man’s” whip. He nodded in agreement, and informed me that the big boss man’s “vacations” were really him going back and forth to other chain gangs, either inducting new men, or generally bringing the hammer of hell down on them. “Fishing, swimming, and Barbecues” suddenly didn’t sound so benign.

The rest of the day was brutally hard for most of the cons in the quarry. Most of them were getting their fair share of the strap to keep them in line, but me, Miner, and Mark were rolling along at a good pace. Me and Miner had just spent a turn on the chain, and were used to hard days like this, and Mark was just glad to be out of the box, and stretching his limbs. Tom was still on his feet, and still swinging, but he looked like he was in a daze. I saw the boss making his way toward him, and unhooking his strap from his belt. He was looking for someone to beat down on, and he wasn’t sure who it should be yet. I had to move quick if I was going to spare the kid a world of hurt.

I set my hammer on its head, stretched my arms behind my back, and wiped my brow off. I stood there and leaned on my hammer a bit, breathing deep, and hoping the boss would whip me instead of Tom. And hell, taking a break like that felt pretty good in and of itself. I can’t deny that.

“What the hell are you doin old timer? I didn’t blow no whistle!” The handle of his strap was firm in his hand already.

I didn’t want to press my luck any further than I had. I quickly picked up my hammer, and started to swing again. The boulder me and Mark had started the day with had been broken down into 5 smaller parts that were still too heavy for a man to lift. I landed it on the largest of them, trying to pretend nothing had happened. That’d draw his attention for sure.

“I asked you a QUESTION convict!! What the hell did you think you were doin’ there boy?!” He coiled the strap up in his hand.

“Sorry boss, my back’s been hurtin.” I said, and continued to work as if I’d done nothing wrong.

“That right? Here, lemme help you out with that.” The strap landed hard between my shoulders, and I dropped my sledge. “You got 10, asshole. Hold still!!”

WHACK!!

I winced, and tensed my back against the pain. Tom was jarred out of his trance, and saw what I’d done for him.

WHACK!!

I let out a short, loud yelp, and Tom jumped at the sound of it.

WHACK!!

He was really laying into me hard. He knew he had to whip us old cons harder because we were so used to it.

WHACK!!

I really was in a lot of pain, but I’d been through worse, and I could take it. I allowed myself to yelp a little louder than I normally would have. Hopefully it would satisfy the boss’s sadistic streak for the rest of the day.

WHACK!!!

Tom was swinging his hammer a lot faster and harder now that he’d been jarred out of the funk he was in. I had no doubts he’d last the rest of the day. My back stung, but I was glad to feel it. I could take it. Tom would have to take his licks one day too, but us old, class D cons had to keep his spirits up as best we could if he was ever going to get out. I got my 5 remaining straps, and worked the rest of the day without incident. It took me and Mark most of the day to break that damn boulder up, but it ended up being Tom and Buck who had to lift and load the pieces of it. The boss had us start on another big one.

When the boss man blew the whistle, Tom dropped his hammer, and fell to his knees. Buck was right there to catch him, and lift him up and I held up his other side. We helped him walk that steep hill back to the bunkhouse, while Mark grabbed our hammers. I didn’t realize until later on that night that I’d finished my second day of hard labor in much the same way. Craig and Buck had helped me back up the hill that day.

We laid him on his bunk as soon as we got back. He breathed heavily, and tried to utter the word “thanks” but he was too exhausted. He conked right out after a few seconds. Josh was still lying in bed, but he was in a position that suggested that he’d woken up, and moved from the position the trusties left him in.

Leaving the new meat alone, I lugged my ball and chain and followed the others to the mess hall. I didn’t get any credits due to my taking a whipping for Tom, but Buck, Miner, and Mark each gave me a bit of their evening chow.

“New meat held his own today.” said Buck as he gummed his chow.

“Yeah, the younger guy. Looks like that older guy’s gonna have a hard road though.” Miner said after he swallowed.

“They’re probably gonna try him out on the cane field pretty damn quick.” I scraped up a chunk of meat, and chewed the hell out of it. “That’s what he looks like he’s built for.”

Mark didn’t say a word. He was shoveling his food down like he was afraid it was going to evaporate. When he finished, he set his bowl down and stretched his arms out. “This shit don’t taste too bad after a month of bread and water.”

“Yeah I’ll bet.” I was glad to have a nearly full belly after working all day. My free leg was finally getting used to not having a shackle on it as well. And as always, it felt great to get off my feet and sit on my ass for a few minutes. I looked next to me, half expecting to see Craig gumming down the last of his chow, but there was nothing but empty bench where he should have been.

“Anyway, about Craig,” Mark said, setting his spoon in his bowl. “If they let you and Miner go, and kept Craig, it don’t look good for him.”

“Well like I said, he did take a boss’s eye out,” I reminded Mark. “They ain’t just gonna give him a few straps and take his smokes away. I knew he’d be on longer than me when I went out on the chain with him.”

“You two know how long you were gone?” Mark asked.

“No, come to think of it. Long enough to get a tan I guess.” Miner joked.

“About triple what they told you, and all of what they told Craig his minimum would be,” he said quietly, eyeing the guard while pretending to stretch.

Me and Miner looked at Buck. “Why didn’t you tell us?” I asked.

“I thought you knew. I guess that was pretty stupid of me though. Can’t keep track of time out on that fuckin chain. Hell, you can barely do it here in the quarry.” He rubbed his forehead. “Sorry buds.”

“Ain’t nothin.” I said. Miner patted him on the back. I hadn’t even considered the fact that Buck probably didn’t have a friend in the world after we left, besides Mark who’d been in and out of the box a lot of the time. He was so happy to see us, he had forgotten to tell us what little he knew.

“Well, anyway, the point is, Craig’s already done his minimum,” Mark continued. “I know the way that bastard boss man operates too. If he hasn’t let him go by now, he probably has something planned for him, or for one of us; one of the guys Craig knows. He wants one of us for himself, or maybe all of us. If I had to guess, he probably wants me.”

“You don’t think they’re gonna keep him forever…” Miner said what I couldn’t.

“Well, as it is right now, he can’t,” Mark put my heart at ease. “It’s up to the chain boss how long, but if Craig didn’t kill the guy, it’s gotta be a finite amount of time. Could be 1000, could be 6. He can’t keep him forever though, unless Craig does something stupid out there on the chain.”

“He’s got a talent for doing stupid shit,” I said, remembering that day in the lumber camp when all of this started. If he wouldn’t have lost it the way he did, I would have only done 100, and we would have all been here in the quarry, staying out of trouble.

The quarry bosses were assholes of course, but I didn’t hear them dolling out strikes left and right like the assholes in the lumber camp. These bosses wouldn’t ship you out to a chain gang for mouthing off. They were the type that would rather watch you squirm in the box for a few weeks.

Craig had done a stupid thing. He should have just let me go on the chain gang myself, as the lumber camp bosses would have railroaded me out there anyway. “There ain’t nothing I can do for him right now,” I finally said out loud, but more to myself than anyone else. “We just gotta wait, and hope for him.” If I had been a softer man, I would have teared up. I felt it in my heart, but my face didn’t betray it. I’d just have to go on without him for a long time, but he‘d be back. I could get through it. I did it the first time on the chain gang, I could do it now. Still, I felt more alone than I’d ever felt, even surrounded by 3 out of 4 of the best friends I’ve ever had. I’d have to craw into that bunk alone, and pray that I fell asleep quickly.

“Yeah you’re right Matt.” Miner said, rubbing his eyes with one hand. “Meantime, we got new meat to look out for. One of them down for the long haul, and one who might get out. That was damn fine of you taking that lickin for Tom man,” he finished, looking at me.

“I don’t want to see a kid like that ever have to wear one of these.” I patted my shackle, and lifted up the ball. “Let’s hit the rack. Got another long day tomorrow.”

“Yep,” they all said, and followed my lead. Another long day. It’d be a long night for me. I slammed down on my bunk, shut my eyes, and tried to shut my brain off.