TALES FROM DEATHROW

  The day of the execution drew inexorably nearer, 48 hours to be precise and while all death row inmates at a time like this seem hopeless depicting a picture only exhibited by those who surely know that death is about to take them on a one way trip; its at a time like this that one gets to fully comprehend the quote ‘’ one thing worse than death is the anticipation of death’’ However this inmate is entirely different from others executed or about to be in my 30 years working in the row ‘’I aint seen nothing like this character’’

Curiosity took the better part of me and I asked him ‘’48 hours from now you will be lethal injected, aint your scared?’,sitted at one angle of the cell, in shackles at first he seemed reluctant to utter a word but then, he smiled and said’ why should I be, why ‘d you ask?’.I couldn’t hide my bafflement from his astonishing behaviour, so I told him’’ no deathrow inmate behaved as you are while fully aware of the fact that death is hanging loose around there neck, especially towards the last 48hours, they seem to die long before the D-day’’

Looking at the ceiling with his knees raised to his chin he talked’ officer different people have different perception to a particular situation, talking about death, some men fear death for the fact that they will seize to exist and that they will be forgotten, some fear death because it’s a pay back issue, some fear it because of its timelessness and flexibility and for me..’’ he paused turned around, looking at me he said’ I’m not scared because I consider death as a unit measurement of life’’

The next day I came thinking I was going to see the con in the mood, the kind of mood that all deathrow inmates plunge into but what? This one seemed indifferent, yesterday he talked like a school teacher addressing some parents over the low performance of there kid and today this guy looks even more livelier, to make him talk I said ‘its tomorrow, seems like you’re regretting, wishing and hoping you could have been given life instead of the needle right? Standing, he stepped forward taking two steps with the sound of the shackles echoing in the cell he said’ wishes and hopes are frequently considered as equal, they are not but are entirely segmented by belief’’ he paused turned around backing the door and continued ‘he that lives of hope shelters wishes, wishes unfulfilled remain deluded hopes and people believe easily in wishes they earnestly hope for.’ As he finished, immediately he turned around, looking at him I told him ‘whoever you were looking up to has had a bad influence on you, I mean how you be responsible for the death of thousands of innocent people, get sent to death at the same time talk in such a way, like you’ve won some Nobel prize’. Smiling he sat on the floor and said’ talking about bad influence let me quote oscar wilde to answer you’ he paused and then continued’ you see there are no such things as good influence, all influences are immoral, to influence one means to give one ones own soul such that that person does not think with his natural thoughts, he does not burn with his natural passion and if there such things as sins they are going to be borrowed’ in a low husky voice he concluded’ officer that person becomes the echo of someone else’s music’. I was kind of dumbfounded by his words as I stood looking at him I got kind of lost in my head, suddenly my walkie talkie beeped and I was called, hoping to be back but I didn’t.

D-day, the perpetrator of the most gruesome homicide by a single individual is about to be executed via lethal injection. Television stations are given the rights to cover the event live, in view of bringing down the grief inflicted on the populace by this killer .as all formalities carried out, the convict had an I.V drip in his left leg, with yellow and grey I.V tubes running from his right hand to the wall. He was asked if he had any last words; like a president addressing his citizens on a New Year day, sitted with all cameras on, he talked poetically ‘In the fell clutch of circumstance my knees are broken but im not on bended knees In the fell clutch of circumstance my hands are fractured but I can still raise the middle finger In the fell clutch of circumstance my eyes are teary but im not crying In the fell clutch of circumstance my head is broken but unbowed In the fell clutch of circumstance the punishment is capital but im not regretting’

Its plainly evident on the face of all witnesses and I bet the entire citizens that they ‘ve not been more hurt and perplexed in there lives than today, for the final statement by the convict plainly indicated his non regrettable attitude over the homicide, an incident like this I mean the broadcasting is suppose to lessen the grief but alas it has only fuelled it.

In a speech that threw the whole country in a standstill, the executioners and the everybody at the scene were the most lost ‘may I go now?’ stated the convict, a statement that brought everybody to half life. Minutes later his chest started moving up and down, smiling his eyes blinked a few times and they remained open.

One media witness commented saying’ he died with pride’. He ones told me death has always smiled at its victims while they struggle to break loose, but what this guy did was what nobody ever did, while death smiled at him, he smiled back, it was strange very strange.

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[TLK]

The first paragraph appears to be one long and unreadable sentence. Where do you mean to put the full stops?