THE PRISON VISITORS
Ashkenazy, Irvin
The Prison Visitors by IRVIN ASHKENAZY The story of Mike Angel began about two years before my wife, Elinor, and I had ever heard of him. It began when he held up a gas station on a suburban...
...Louis...
...More than beer salesmen, I'll bet...
...It was a toy...
...Oh, Mike, how wonderful...
...Mike said he had recently returned from a fire-fighting trip upstate with a contingent of inmate volunteers...
...He hesitated...
...Twenty minutes went by...
...Come next Sunday," the Deacon dreamed aloud, "they'll be hollerin' my name...
...Christmas is a little late this year...
...I dunno...
...The feeling...
...When Mike tells us those stories about himself," Elinor said thoughtfully, "I think that, for that particular moment, for him they're true...
...I'm a pretty darn good salesman...
...Here are a few who have applied to the prison chaplain for visitors...
...He was silent for a while...
...He looked at me earnestly...
...The library was close by, an attractive structure where he attended accounting classes at night, and where, on Sundays, a Great Books seminar was held...
...Two weeks later we got a letter from Mike Angel, a painful scrawl on cheap, lined paper...
...Who's been talking to you...
...And when she wrote, her letters had to be returned because you refused to list her as a correspondent...
...He picked up the gun...
...Your crew...
...Or even a stranger . . . The Prison Visitors, an interracial, interfaith voluntary group, meet once a month...
...One of the painters...
...Sure, if you'd wanted us to...
...Highway 66 toward the town of Chino, some forty miles east...
...Elinor made her next trip to Chino alone...
...The chaplain had arranged for the visit even though Mike had warned him he wouldn't see her...
...Presently the pathetic story came out—how he had lost his job and passed a few bad checks to maintain the pretense that he was still working...
...It's my kid's birthday...
...They never holler your name, do they, boy...
...His eyes met mine...
...One Saturday morning two months later, Elinor again packed a platter of fried chicken into the lunch basket...
...They lunched in the glow of his euphoria...
...Sounds like it could be dangerous, too," Elinor commented...
...He grinned, reacting to my obvious astonishment...
...Mike, are you married...
...On our last visit he had explained he had been put in charge of the prison paint shop because the job assignment officer had discovered that his father was a prominent painting contractor in St...
...The chaplain at Chino told me you and your husband have been visiting Mike the past year . . ." Elinor invited her in...
...He lifted it so that she might examine its perfection of detail, and pulled a hidden switch under the wagon's cover, illuminating it from within...
...I talked to him about you...
...I accepted...
...I paused at one name...
...There was a note about her going back to her folks in Albuquerque...
...We talked about the trip over, the pleasant fall weather, the vastness of the institution, which covers some 2,600 acres...
...When we meet him, what do we talk about...
...IRVIN ASHKENAZY Is a free-lance writer, whose articles, short stories, and light verse have appeared in many American publications...
...He never told the same story twice...
...The girl stared...
...Mike and Barbara were crossing the street...
...Many of Chino's residents were sunning themselves on the narrow strips of lawn that border the new dormitories...
...The Deacon squirmed to a more comfortable position...
...Scudder had solicited the visitation program to aid in this effort...
...He paused...
...all seemed to fit Mike's description...
...I—I had to learn to handle the tools...
...She's been working in Los Angeles, supporting your child and her mother, waiting for you...
...We have a lot more men who want visitors than we have members...
...The all-night station was an island of light in the misty darkness...
...Do you know what I'll be the rest of my life...
...A character who's gotta register with the police wherever he goes...
...An ex-con...
...We played our opening game of the season against the Pomona firemen...
...The feeling of being wanted...
...We call him the 'Deacon' . . ." He rambled on for a while about the Deacon, then trailed off, staring vaguely into space...
...Frank," I asked, "do you think we'd make acceptable visitors...
...I just had to see you...
...It was fall once again and the leaves in the grape arbor were turning yellow...
...One afternoon several weeks later, Elinor answered the doorbell...
...Mr...
...He was in his early thirties, a quiet, thoughtful young man...
...Hello, Mike...
...The Deacon had been wrong...
...Armed robbery," he said...
...We have visited other prisoners since then...
...For a fleeting moment anxious appraisal flickered across his face...
...We arrived late...
...She blew up...
...For Elinor and me they have been their own reward, a continuing human adventure testifying to her faith that there is something of God in every man...
...The job to which Mike and his partner were assigned was painting a chain of gas stations in the eastern section of the city...
...It was a Sunday...
...When he hung up and turned around he looked into the muzzle of an automatic...
...Some of these friendships have continued, as with Mike Angel, long after the men were released...
...Sure, I'm pretty light for pro ball...
...In a place like this the only real friends you got are from the outside...
...His face hardened...
...The following Sunday morning Elinor packed a basket lunch and we embarked in the family car, driving out U.S...
...I asked...
...You have visitors...
...Talk to the chaplain...
...It was going to be a Christmas present, but I couldn't get it finished in time...
...We put him up for the night and sent him off to work the next morning...
...But for a man to know he is not alone has often been a decisive factor in helping him to keep out of further trouble with the law...
...I could sell beer like crazy...
...It was still in my pocket—a toy pistol...
...They bring him to God yet...
...Mike's parole hearing was due to come up again soon...
...Nobody ever visits him, write him a letter, buy him a coupla bucks credit at the canteen...
...You see, 'Angel' isn't my real name...
...The experiences haven't always been so happy or successful...
...Oh, Mikel" She started toward him, checking herself as Mike's partner called to him from the truck...
...The coach begged me to put on a suit and do or die for dear old Chino, but this sand-lot stuff is not for yours truly...
...I admire a man with imagination," Elinor said, "even if he does have a lousy memory...
...Isn't it...
...The way I hear they don't talk religion less'n you bring it up...
...He's only three...
...The Deacon frowned...
...He wasn't hopeful...
...They—they tell me that's what I used trying to pull the stickup...
...Oh, I wouldn't worry," she assured me...
...I'll see you in the morning...
...Elinor drove to Chino alone to pick him up...
...I asked...
...He is a great.football star, the black sheep of a prominent family—" "Whose name he'd rather not mention, of course...
...The place was much like any public picnic area, with shade trees and an ornamental grape arbor...
...They contain the complete history of each man, plus all the various analyses and evaluations made by numerous prison specialists—physical, vocational, and psychiatric...
...No, I've kept it from them...
...I was just trying to— trying to make you think I was somebody...
...Mike's eyes were on his wife...
...The door opened once more...
...He grinned selfconsciously...
...The night attendant got out...
...When my kid grows up, what do you suppose he'll think of me...
...I wondered what sort of tale Mike would spin this trip...
...It was hot, dirty work, he admitted, but it broke the monotony...
...They were all in their twenties...
...I reckon he been here about two years, same as you...
...Elinor introduced herself and me...
...Mike Angel was sent to the California Institution for men at Chino as a first offender under an indeterminate sentence of from one to twenty years...
...Well, why doesn't she think of him...
...Angel—that's an odd name for a sinner...
...House painters get fantastic wages these days," Elinor said with cheerful practicality...
...His partner stared a moment, then got into the truck and started up just as another car rolled into the parking area beside him...
...His grin died...
...He has also written a number of plays for radio and television, has just finished a screenplay, and is currently working on his first novel...
...It's for you...
...She told me...
...He stared into space...
...His birthday, see...
...If it ever got out, it would ruin my old man...
...I guess maybe you know that...
...Well, no," I denied uncomfortably, "but—well, I'm curious, naturally...
...Troy Finley...
...One of the fallen, no doubt," Frank smiled drily...
...My wife, a member, invited me to join her at a prison committee meeting...
...Oh, Mikel If you only knew how I've missed you I" He lifted his hands as though to take her in his arms, then hesitated...
...There's something of God in every man...
...Is it important...
...Now he got somebody visit him reg'lar, bring him cigarettes, bring him fruit, canned stuff, coffee, and more letters'n he can read...
...She thought it was you who didn't care enough to write...
...The Deacon," a middle-aged Negro bookie given to hymn singing and Bible quoting, lay on the next cot, barefoot, hands clasped behind his shiny bald head...
...It doesn't matter...
...He watched her for a moment, his eyes glistening with tears...
...The Deacon considered Mike a moment...
...You can choose from these which man you'd like to visit...
...After a while he looked up...
...He got the chaplain to fix him up with one of them church visitors...
...It was the gas station Mike had tried to rob...
...We were talking about Jefferson last Sunday...
...Salesmen have to be bonded," I pointed out...
...Elinor asked...
...They had called his name once...
...Mike jeered quietly...
...Elinor wondered if it might help if the parole board knew he had a job waiting for him on release...
...Too bad you weren't here Saturday," he said...
...he asked...
...What did he do...
...She said quietly, "But you are...
...He said, without looking up, "I've often wondered why you've been doing this for me...
...One thing bothers me," I said...
...Him...
...What's the difference...
...We—well, we listen...
...He looked at her sharply...
...The kid won't remember me or miss me...
...We have a friend who's a painting contractor...
...I already got visitors...
...For a moment his eyes searched hers...
...They told little about each man other than his age, race, general personality, and term of imprisonment...
...I was afraid to tell her, but when one of the stores telephoned about a check that had bounced, I had to...
...He stared...
...I stirred uneasily...
...Since we noticed no one moving to meet him, Elinor moved toward him, and I followed...
...It might...
...Mike was painfully contrite...
...At the end of the day, when Mike was fastening Wet Paint tags on the gas pumps, a woman's voice greeted him...
...He expressed gratitude for our interest, and said he hoped to see us soon...
...What you got to lose...
...He had come in by himself on the bus, he explained...
...He can't read nohow, so I gotta read 'em to him...
...He handed me a sheaf of papers...
...I've told you a lot of lies...
...What a clambake...
...He brightened...
...In Washington...
...Mike had written he would be released on Wednesday...
...We shook hands...
...he chortled...
...He fished several sheets of paper from his notebook...
...At 1:20 a.m...
...He shrugged and smiled engagingly...
...The attendant grabbed a wrench and knocked him senseless...
...You're a friend...
...It's beautiful," she breathed...
...He's six...
...I'll try to finish it before I get out...
...If she had any brains she'd have gotten herself a divorce long ago . . ." "Mike—she loves you...
...I understand that the prisoners usually do most of the talking...
...The dossiers were mere lists of names with thumbnail sketches of the owner of each name...
...It's rough, Mike, but that's the way it is...
...It began when he held up a gas station on a suburban fringe of east Los Angeles...
...On this visit, Mike was nostalgically recounting his "college days" at Princeton when Elinor asked, "Have you made many friends here...
...He added casually, "I used to play quarterback for the Baltimore Colts...
...I—I didn't expect that I—I'd get something more...
...I shrugged...
...The chairman pondered my question a moment...
...He considered me quizzically...
...Nobody is a no-good bum," Elinor said...
...Another young man in slacks and a sports jacket entered...
...They call me 'Calculating Angel.' Even with an adding machine I still get the wrong answers," he grinned slyly, "but always in my favor, of course...
...We were silent...
...He hesitated...
...Does your family know what's happened to you...
...He went to his desk and searched through a file of dossiers issued by the prison, each ten to fifteen pages long...
...It seemed to promise an element of adventure...
...Of course you are," she said...
...More than twenty-one months passed...
...He took the new gambit eagerly...
...If you go as a husband-and-wife team, why not...
...I don't want to hurt him," he continued moodily, "so I hope you don't mind if I don't mention his name...
...If 'Angel' isn't his real name, what is it, anyway...
...Barbara had approached from the sidewalk behind him...
...I'm his wife...
...He blinked, then looked down at his plate, making a pretense of eating...
...He glanced at me and took a breath...
...the boulevard was lonely...
...Inside Mike's dormitory a dozen men lay on cots, reading magazines, writing letters, playing checkers, or just dozing...
...He grinned...
...She wanted me to wait, but I couldn't...
...He asked almost diffidently, "How's the baby...
...He seemed to give up, turned to the station office—then looked back, his eyes wide with sudden memory...
...I'm nothing to you...
...Elinor observed the continued stare of the night attendant as her two guests got in beside her...
...Your wife...
...He pointed out the shops, the dairy, the piggery, the vast farming areas, the powerhouse...
...Yeah, I guess he is at that...
...Mrs...
...He's a political wheel...
...Mike sat propped up on his pillow, staring into space...
...He beamed...
...Well, watch out for the wet paint...
...he strode directly to the prison clerk to report...
...He swallowed...
...Why don't you put in for one of 'em...
...What's that...
...His eyes on the attendant, he edged toward the cash register, tripped over a pyramid of oil cans, and fell sprawling, the gun clattering across the floor...
...When I came back that night she was gone, she and the baby...
...As they cleared the table she said casually, "Mike, I've been wondering why you once told me you weren't married...
...He had been turned down twice before...
...Last time I saw him it was his third birthday...
...I'd rather hear your side of it...
...They followed his gaze...
...I'm Barbara Angel," her visitor said...
...He turned away once more, his manner saying, "Aaah, it couldn't be...
...A young woman in her mid-twenties, pale and uncertain, stood before her...
...Could you get me in with your firm...
...Sorry," he mumbled, "don't wanna do this, but I gotta have money...
...See you tomorrow...
...The nearest thing to a friend I got here is a colored guy...
...All I want is to forget...
...Why...
...Well, you can tell him I made it...
...She explained to Mike that I was at home working on copy for a new advertising campaign...
...Mike wasn't sure that he would refuse to see her now...
...Occasionally the voice of an inmate clerk could be heard booming over the loudspeaker: "Troy Finley, report to the waiting room...
...Sister...
...Tears had begun to well...
...As each prisoner entered the room, Elinor and I exchanged glances of anticipation...
...He poked at the half-consumed slice of ham on his plate for several moments...
...Fine...
...He looks sorta familiar, somehow...
...I want to tell you," he began, "that even those who doubted most in the beginning now agree that your visitation program has proved a happy experiment in keeping prisoners in some kind of balance with the outside world . . . Chino may have no armed guards and its inmates may not have to wear uniforms, but it is nevertheless as much of a prison as San Quentin, Soledad, or Folsom . . ." He outlined prison Superintendent Kenyon J. Scudder's rehabilitative program, the psychological problems of prisoners, their guidance toward a hoped-for maturity...
...Mike, it's not too late...
...The holdup man was in his early twenties and obviously drunk...
...Elinor changed the subject to his accounting classes...
...He had been released hours earlier than expected to give him time to report to the Los Angeles parole bureau, find himself a room, and see about his job...
...he demanded bitterly...
...Me, I just supplied the brains...
...Do you know the real reason I asked for a visitor...
...They had spent two weeks combating a huge forest fire...
...Frank once mentioned Mike had been adopted by a family named Angelo or DiAngelo—something like that...
...We took possession of one of the few vacant tables on the visiting grounds...
...When I returned home from work at about six, Mike, with a sizable bundle wrapped in newspapers, was on my doorstep...
...The night attendant approached his two fellow workers as they emerged from the station office...
...As she started up she saw the light die and doubt set in...
...It's dangerous all right, but I took care of my crew...
...He nodded, "Yes...
...Frank paused at one, closed the file, and looked up...
...He rubbed them slowly against the thighs of his white overalls...
...They tell more about a man than he would ever know about himself...
...Elinor was at the wheel of her car parked across the street...
...Like it never happened...
...It was just for what I thought I could get out of you—cigarettes, food, a little money, maybe...
...There were a score of them, all with attached benches, many spread with food and occupied by prisoners and their visitors...
...More than thirty members crowded the modest living room, listening to the Protestant chaplain at Chino prison being introduced...
...His gun wavered and so did his grin...
...He helped himself...
...Nor did he, then or since...
...His release date, he told her, was in "Exactly four weeks, one day, and—" he reached across the table, took her wrist, and peered at her watch—"sixteen hours and twenty-four minutes...
...You know what he done...
...If you'd decided I was a no-good bum, would you still have come to visit me...
...When she came back you wouldn't accept her as a visitor...
...Let it be a surprise, huh...
...others were on the visiting grounds receiving friends and relatives...
...For a moment he gazed pensively into the distance, then turned, smiling weakly...
...I was in prison three months before she even tried to find out what happened to me...
...We visited Mike twice a month for more than a year...
...My ole lady'll be out there waiting for me...
...I'd bought a birthday present for Timmy...
...Now you take Joe the Paperhanger...
...I—I went out and got drunk...
...Some of the guys I know," he said finally, "you'd have to blast to find it...
...I'll carry that...
...I was admiring the gift he had brought when Elinor returned, her mood dark...
...It gives you a few extra privileges...
...He sat down slowly...
...You go on," Mike called to him...
...Her smile flickered nervously and she swallowed against the threat of tears...
...You have visitors...
...You wouldn't recognize him, he's so big-" "You're looking well...
...Mike watched a plume of smoke snake ceilingward...
...In fact, I was the lightest man on the squad, but I let the others carry the ball...
...When we had cleared the routine entry procedures at Chino, the inmate clerk spoke into a microphone on the table before him: "Mike Angel, report to the waiting room...
...I'll bet...
...The Deacon shrugged...
...You're here," she smiled, "and that's all that matters...
...He said to come up and see him as soon as you're out...
...They just visit them what ain't got any...
...What is it...
...I've been making something for you—you and Irvin...
...Between visits, he wrote long, rambling letters, some typewritten, some scrawled in pencil...
...He looked away...
...She first heard what had happened when your landlady wrote asking about the clothes you'd left in the apartment...
...Then what's the angle...
...I got the lucky ducket yesterday 1" "Your parole...
...When a man has a record, the bonding companies won't touch him...
...He wore a sports shirt and rumpled sports coat and slacks...
...They finished their first job by two o'clock, and headed for the second...
...His eyes filled as though I'd struck him...
...Who's that guy...
...I've got to get cleaned up," he said...
...You mean— you were there as sort of a trusty...
...He was silent for a while...
...Much later, following an absorbing discussion of personal experiences between visitors and prisoners, and after the members had said their farewells, Elinor and I approached our host...
...He'll put you on the list...
...He controlled his voice with an effort...
...You know—the guy who wrote 'Give me liberty or give me death.' " Before I could say anything Elinor broke in to offer him more...
...Mike seemed not to hear...
...What else did she tell you...
...He hesitated, then reached for the picnic basket in my hand...
...She reached out and clasped a paint-smeared hand...
...Mike didn't tell me he had a sister living here...
...she smiled tentativeHe turned...
...The night attendant was on the telephone explaining to his wife that his relief man had been delayed and he would be a little late getting home...
...This would be our fourth visit to Chino, I observed—twice with fried chicken...
...Besides, there's your son to think of...
...The day men headed for their cars...
...These are held in confidence by the chairman...
...You're somebody—somebody very special...
...I'm in one of the honor dorms...
...Nobody got hurt...
...She paused, staring at a large model of a Con-estoga wagon which stood upon the coffee table amid its newspaper wrappings, its electric cord plugged into a wall outlet...
...Ashkenazy said you'd be here...
Vol. 25 • April 1961 • No. 4
