Story XIX: Pigeons (Part 2 of 3)

A scheming prisoner on Death Row has one last jury to fool: God Himself.

This story is being released in both its full version, available directly below, or in three sections this week: Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

Story XIX: Pigeons

Part 2 of 3

In spite of eight years of common sense, my curiosity caught its cat. I needed to stick my own arm up that drainpipe for reasons I can’t explain. Chester and I got in a long conversation middle of the night, him trying to tell me what a drainpipe felt like and reaching for God.

He seemed peaceful when we were talking, so I stared right at him, walked past, and got down on my own knees to reach up it.

It was bold to kneel with my gun hand up a drainpipe. You can imagine how foolish this was. They could have fired me for letting a Picker get me like that. But after conversations here and there, I’d started to trust him. Trust is funny. You give a dying man something when you trust them. I suppose you have to know the rules of prison.

So, when I put my arm up the pipe, it blocked at a dogleg. I couldn’t get any further in.

“Twist sideways,…