Teen Cops 'A Time for Redemption' Read online

Chapter 6

  It was rare for the inmates at Mount Hood to receive visits from friends or family because Gresham was so far from all our homes. Warden Ellis had found an alternative and as a reward for good behaviour we would be granted 20 minutes Skype time to converse with our loved ones. Naturally for security reasons, the Skype sessions were carefully monitored by the guards, after all we don’t want escape plans being discussed online. In any case this initiative was greatly appreciated by all.

  I’d earned some points for good behaviour and it was my turn to enjoy quality time on Skype to speak to my family. It was heart breaking speaking face to face with my mother and sister who seemed so far away. Dad didn’t participate in these little chats as he was still refusing to speak to me, so Mum would tell me a small white lie and say he was busy working, but sent his love. I introduced my new friends to Mum as they were conveniently hanging around in the background and she immediately picked up that I seemed to have a soft spot for Jordan. It was something about the way I lingered longer on her name she said and naturally I denied it when the others had gone.

  ‘Big kiss and hugs to you all,’ I said as the session ended.

  Mum crossed her heart and blew a kiss back before the screen went blank. It was these special moments that helped to get me through the loneliness of confinement and made me even more determined not to be a repeat offender.

  The band practised hard after classes each day and I thought we were starting to sound pretty good, but we were still the band with no name. The Oregon 5, the Mount Hood Rockers or Kids from the Hood were just not cutting edge enough, but we had plenty of jail time to work on a name. Things did seem to be going well for a while, until one day I noticed something strange. A few inmates started to show their resentment about what they called the ‘band’s special treatment’ by making nasty comments as we walked past in the hallways. Things came to a head during one lunch break, when a fight almost broke out in the canteen between Brandon and two inmates. I stepped in to even the numbers as Brandon was being pushed around in the food line.

  ‘Come on guys, we’re all in the same boat. Let’s try to get along,’ I said standing in the middle of things, holding the two fighting fractions apart.

  Thankfully tempers managed to calm down before the guards noticed. If a fight had broken out, no doubt more inmates would have joined in and Warden Ellis would have gone ballistic. It would have meant either a loss of privileges for the guilty parties or worse, extended jail time, which nobody wanted. We needed to work the problem out amongst ourselves.