One Winter Inside

Dear Mother-dear,

Too bad your saintly knees wouldn’t permit you to board the trolley that stops right outside our home everyday to carry loving Southsider parents across the bridge to see their Northside penitentiary spawn. In the very least, will you send those ginger cigarettes I asked for on Thanksgiving? Ro-tund can drop them off at the post-office if that’s also too far for you to walk - he is still with you, isn’t he?

The view from up here isn’t too bad. I can see our street, and if it weren’t for that ridiculous giant bottle Old Man Saddle insisted on fastening to the front of his place, I’d be able to see our place. Is the homemade swing still there? It was the envy of the neighborhood kids when I was growing up, you know. Some other kids had pricey metal swings in the backyard, but that long rope and plank that dad hung from the oak gave the best rides, and everyone knew it. I know you can’t talk about him when Ro-tund is around, but you can give me a hint in a letter you send with the ginger cigarettes. Have you heard form him at all?

You might want to know what’s going on in here: nothing, most of the time, but I guess that’s the point. Everything is routine; guards are overbearing jerks, and prisoners jockey for position. We got to see an old movie over the holidays, and the library was temporarily shut down when they discovered someone had moistened and wadded up the pages of the textbooks. Don’t ask why.
I made a friend or two in here; well, mostly one, a big guy named Gorisnew. Not sure I spelled it right. We got off on the wrong foot at first, but just when I thought he was going to crack my skull he suddenly burst into laughter and told me “not to sweat it.” We don’t hang out in the same circles most of the time but he’s funny and unpredictable.

Running out of page, so I’d better finish this letter. Give my best to the rest of the family, even Ro-tund, and remember, the ginger cigarettes are actually very important. I know I joke around with you a lot, but please, please send them quickly, it’s very important.

Your son,
Alphonse Venner Jr. (Alphie)