A Last Embrace - Chapter 7

In which Frank receives some news, and his future is laid out before him.

It all happened very quickly. The next morning at breakfast Frank was approached by a guard who told him the governor wanted to see him and he escorted him to the governor’s office. The governor was a small, bald guy, very mild-mannered, almost distracted, as if he was thinking of other things and the prison was just there, all around but barely intruding on his consciousness.

“Good morning, Mr. Stein,” he said from his chair, and watched Frank pretty keenly as he came in and sat down. “How are you?”

“I’m fine, governor,” said Frank.

“I’ve got some good news for you.”

“Oh yeah?” said Frank nonchalantly, already fairly sure what it was.

“You’re being moved,” said the governor without further preamble. “To another prison. Pentonville. It’s medium-security. We think you’ll like it there, and the regime will suit you.”

Frank shrugged. “I like it here.”

The governor’s eyebrows rose: “Really? That’s interesting. But in any case, you’re moving this afternoon.”

“This afternoon? Wow, that’s quick.”

“Two o’clock. Have your stuff packed, and be ready to vacate the cell at two.”

“Ok.”

“By the way, how has your experience sharing with Carl been?”

“Great. He’s a nice guy.”

“You think? Interesting. His behaviour has improved a lot since you’ve been there, actually.” The governor paused, then said with a half-smile, “You’ve been a good influence on him. It’s quite strange.”

Frank shrugged.

“Ok, that’s all,” said the gov.

 

Frank went back to his cell. Carl was there: “Hey man, where you been? I saw them taking you out of breakfast. Don’t tell me, it’s about the move, right? You went to see the gov.”

“Got it in one.”

“Going today at two, huh?”

Frank was astonished: “How the hell did you know?”

Carl touched his nose with his forefinger, indicating secret information he could not share, and smiled broadly. Frank’s brain was working furiously: was Carl the governor in disguise? No, that didn’t make any sense.

“It’s all right, Doc. I know people is all. I always find out what I need to know. And this I need to know.”

“Why?”

“Come on, Doc! It’s easy. I’m busting you out is why. Today.”

“S**t,” said Frank.

“Aint no doubt about it, you gonna be a free man. Howzat?”

Frank spoke sheepishly: “Are you sure it’s necessary? I mean I’m going to a medium-security prison. It should be ok. I can write my book and stuff.”

“Naw, man. You wanna be free. I’m gonna set you up on the outside, too. I won’t forget about you. you’re gonna have a house, money, some good a*s. Hell, all the a*s you want. You want lots of a*s, Doc?”

“Yes,” said Frank. And he did. At least he thought he did, but he wasn't sure.

“You gonna get it. And you can write your book, too. But you gonna get so much a*s you won’t know nothing about no book. You see?”

“Yes.”

“And you know what else, Doc? I’m setting you up all the equipment you need and s**t.”

“Equipment?”

“Yeah, for the resurrection, see? It’s all worked out. You don’t have to worry about nothing. My boys will bring the body to you and you got to resuscitate, like you did those other times. That’s all.”

“Oh.” Frank saw that tears were standing in Carl’s eyes, and Carl came over and gave him a suffocating bear hug, and started bawling and trying to speak, but without coherence, between heaving, sobbing breaths. Frank stood stiffly and allowed Carl his moment of catharsis or whatever. This whole reanimation trip Carl was on was a bit of a drag. But Frank didn't want to say no to freedom, a*s, and equipment. 

Carl pulled himself together, and sniffed back his runny nose. “Oh man,” he said, “This is hard. I’m gonna miss you.”

“There, there,” said Frank kind of awkwardly. “It’s all right.”

“No it aint. They’re gonna get me. My time aint long. At least I know I’m gonna be resuscitated. That’s not so bad. But it’s gonna be hard.”

“Have they set a date for the… ah…?” asked Frank delicately.

Carl burst into tears and didn’t answer. Frank was pretty sure Carl was still appealing, some apparent procedural breach his lawyer had discovered, or trumped up, so he had a few months, anyway. Carl was getting state legal aid, and he felt good about it, putting one over on the government. Frank said why not just pay for a better lawyer, but Carl said No, it’s all fixed, anyway, might as well get everything out of the system you could.

So Frank started packing, not that he had much to pack, but it was better than standing there watching Carl crying like a big, bald baby. He got packed quickly, and now he just had to wait for the warden to arrive, and to lead him to the freedom he had been robbed of. When he thought of freedom, he thought of Alice, now mouldering in a grave somewhere, but not for long, not if Frank had anything to do with it.