A Convenient Case of AIDS

Prose, including snippets (mini-memoirs).
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Lightning Rod
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A Convenient Case of AIDS

Post by Lightning Rod » August 20th, 2008, 2:02 pm

A Convenient Case of AIDS

Prisons are a strange microcosm of society. The quarters are close. Everything is compressed. Your business is everybody's business.

A rumor can spread among 2000 inmates in a matter of minutes.

One day I noticed a newspaper clipping tacked to the bulletin board. It was from the Huntsville newspaper. It said that there were two inmates on the Wynne Unit with AIDS and that because of medical confidentiality issues the names of the inmates could not be disclosed. But it was thought that they worked in the construction department.

We had a large construction department. I worked in the construction office running a materials management system. It was computer work, not construction work.

I didn't pay much attention to the article. I wasn't sharing needles with anyone nor was my sex life varied enough to include other humans. I had been tested for AIDS and I knew I didn't have it. So I didn't think much about it.

Until a few days later when I was in my cell reading during count time. Two young rookie gray-suits were doing count. They stopped in front of my cell. One of them says, "you work in construction, don't you?"

I said, 'Yes."

Rookie says, "So, you've been losing a lot of weight lately, have you?"

I'm a skinny guy. I've always been skinny. I weigh the same as I did when I was seventeen years old. I hadn't lost weight, but these idiots didn't know that because they were drive-ups. I had been there for three years, they had been there for three weeks.

From that exchange I deduced that they thought that I was one of the anonymous AIDS victims in the construction department. Knowing how rumors spread in the institution, I prepared myself for some feedback. My bodily fluids were going to be perceived as lethal weapons.

Luckily I never heard a peep about this imaginary infection from any of the other inmates. Most of them had known me for three years. But the rookie guards had their own network.

At the end of the workday a few days later, we were lined up to get back into the main building. There was a checkpoint there where the inmates were frisked before entering. It was the kind of duty that the rookie guards would draw, pat down hundreds of inmates.

As I was standing in line, I noticed that the rookie who had stopped in front of my cell was doing the searches. He also noticed me in line. On occasion they would not pat everyone down, especially if the line was long. They would let a few walk through and randomly select a few.

When the rookie saw me about to come to the front of the line, he ushered about ten of us through without a search and stepped back as I passed.

It gave me a perverse sense of power. The guy was afraid of me. I might drool or bleed or blow my nose on him. He wanted to avoid me. I loved it.
"These words don't make me a poet, these Eyes make me a poet."

The Poet's Eye

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silent woman
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Post by silent woman » August 20th, 2008, 4:01 pm

When the circus went into Canada they held us up for hours while they searched our vehicles for drugs. Except for the truck hauling the tigers. They did not seem interested in what might be in those tiger cages.

I am starting to wonder about Bill Gate’s grammar check in MS Word. I was curious what he thought about your writing.

Image

Nice write Clay. I think you is one of the best writers here.
If you can't give me love and peace, Then give me bitter fame. — Akhmatova.

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Lightning Rod
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Post by Lightning Rod » August 20th, 2008, 4:14 pm

I puzzled over this one for a few minutes
Prisons is plural and so is are

I think I got it write

Maybe I should have said, 'Prison is a strange microcosm of society."
but I meant all prisons so I decided upon the plural
"These words don't make me a poet, these Eyes make me a poet."

The Poet's Eye

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silent woman
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Post by silent woman » August 20th, 2008, 4:27 pm

I think you got it right. That's why I been wondering about that grammar checker.

That is the only bit that came back with a squiggly line under it.

The grammar checker says I should change
"a squggly line" to "an squiggly line." I wondered about that too.
If you can't give me love and peace, Then give me bitter fame. — Akhmatova.

Free Rice

avatar courtesy of Baron de Hirsch

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Lightning Rod
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Post by Lightning Rod » August 20th, 2008, 4:38 pm

my friend told me that when he typed Lrod into his spell checker, it suggested "Lord"

I just told him to hit 'ignore'

P.S. I love talking to silent women. Their stories are short. Even if they have beards.....haha
"These words don't make me a poet, these Eyes make me a poet."

The Poet's Eye

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silent woman
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Post by silent woman » August 21st, 2008, 5:57 pm

About the user name and avatar

You mentioning the beard reminded me to do some disambiguation about this user name and avatar

http://www.amazon.com/Silent-Woman-Sylv ... 0679751408
If you can't give me love and peace, Then give me bitter fame. — Akhmatova.

Free Rice

avatar courtesy of Baron de Hirsch

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Doreen Peri
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Post by Doreen Peri » August 24th, 2008, 6:55 pm

silent woman wrote:
Nice write Clay. I think you is one of the best writers here.
Yep, I agree. I think you is, too.

lol

welcome to the hotel california, SW.

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