Chapter 4
“Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned,
repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief
priests and elders...and he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and
departed, and went and hanged himself.”
- Mathew 27:3 & 5
Friday morning brought with it a
surprisingly early winter bite to the air.
It wasn’t supposed to frost for another three or four weeks, but it was
apparent that Mother Nature was blissfully unaware of the official almanacs. Even the sun seemed reluctant to rise in the
cool misty morning. The house was cold,
and Lilia slipped further underneath her covers, pulling her blanket closer to
her body, and kept her eyes closed. The
cool grey of the morning lulled Lilia back to sleep as she slipped in and out
of consciousness, blurring the line between sleep and awake.
Last night, her mother had another
episode. This time, it was triggered when
Lilia’s brother called right after they had finished dinner. Her mom spent the rest of the night drinking
wine and crying until Lilia put her to bed around at around three in the morning. Lilia tried to open her sleep crusted eyes,
and squinted at her alarm clock. She had
thirty minutes to get ready. She pulled the
covers over her head again and continued to float in that space between dreams
and reality. Her mom was normally stable,
but every time she was reminded of Lilia’s father and her brother, she became despondent. Lilia rubbed her eyes and sighed. Okay,
just get up Lilia, she told herself.
She stumbled to the bathroom and
splashed her face with cold water, and shivering, she started to get ready for
school. She actually hadn’t seen her brother
in a few years and was happy to talk to him briefly before handing the phone
off to her mother. I should go visit him, she thought as she brushed her teeth and
combed her hair. Maybe I’ll just drive up to visit them both for the weekend, she
thought wishfully, but she knew her mother would not approve.
She went to check on her mom, and
found her sleeping sounding, with tear-stained cheeks. Lilia gave her a kiss on the forehead and
tucked the blanket around her tighter.
She worried about her mom sometimes and was glad that she had the next
few days off from work.
Lilia wrapped a knitted scarf
around her neck and decided to forgo a coat and opted instead for a heavy
sweater. Realizing it was presentation
day, she drove to school faster than she would normally. She had forgotten that her group was meeting before
class.
The twenty seven students of Mr.
Livingston’s class gave their presentations on the executed criminals during
their morning class in groups of six and seven.
Four twenty-minute presentations in the ninety-minute class.
Lilia and Micah’s group went first,
and their presentation went smoothly, even though Sara was perturbed that it
lasted just under twenty minutes. Lilia
could hear her mutter under her breath. After
the second group, it seemed as if the crimes of in the Listed criminals all
blurred together. The crimes that were committed
were all different, but all similar in their violent nature. Even the statistics began to sound the same
after a while.
Isabella M. Gray, executed by
firing squad on Monday at 09:15am, died at age 42. Crimes included homicide of two adults and
three children. Names of the deceased to
be remembered: Jonathan Mathew Anderson, age 58; Thomas Landon Gray, age 35; Sarah
Marie Gray, age 9; Susie Michelle Gray, age 7; Sondra Madeline Gray, age 5.
Anthony “Tony” Wright, executed by
firing squad on Monday at 09:15am, died at age 56. Crimes included two counts of rape and one
count of armed robbery.
Adam Johnson, executed by firing squad
on Monday at 09:15am, died at age 24.
Crimes included homicide of three adults and two juveniles, and a drug
trafficking charge. Names of the deceased to be remembered: David Moore, age 19;
Enrique Martinez, age 21; George Jackson, age 18; Samuel Moore, age 15; Tasha Nakamura,
age 15.
Raquel Garcia Rodriguez, executed by
firing squad on Monday at 09:15am, died at age 35. Crimes included homicide of one adult and
numerous misdemeanors. Names of the
deceased to be remembered: Luis Gabriel Rodriguez, age 47.
Lilia stole a look at the clock
and was relieved there were only a few minutes left in class, but in front of her,
Lilia could see Stanley raise his hand. Oh come on Stanley! Lilia thought grinding her teeth. He can’t
just wait until next week to ask his question?
Mr. Livingston called on him anyways. Lilia gave an inward groan. She was hoping they would be let out earlier
today since it was Friday. And she was
so tired.
“Why do we profile the criminals
instead of the victims?” Stanley
asked. “Seems like we’re giving the
criminals more infamy than they deserve.”
Mr. Livingston just leaned on his desk and crossed his arms.
“Like hangings in the public square
in the olden days, or public lashings, it’s usually the face of the criminal
that holds the lesson. If you do this
type of crime, you can expect this type of punishment.” He gave a small shrug. “Maybe next week we’ll do something different
and profile the victims with only a minor section on the killer.”
The bell rang. Lilia already had her bags ready to go and practically
bolted out of her seat. Her sudden
movement startled Micah as he had been completely spacing out during class.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Micah asked her as he caught up to her in the
hallway. She was trembling. “What’s the rush?” Lilia only shook her head.
“I don’t know,” she said crossing
her arms in front of her. “I have too
much pent up energy, and that class just makes me so tense.” She sighed and leaned against her
locker. “I just hate that we’re too
young to vote, to change the law, but we still have to implement it. It’s so stupid.” She looked up at Micah. He seemed to be doing better today. He looked less tired, and his hair was
actually combed.
“I forgot to ask,” she said. “How was it yesterday? I’ve never been down there.” Micah shrugged.
“It’s okay, I guess,” he
said. “We’re just doing paperwork. Nothing special.” He glanced at her. “You sure you’re doing okay?” he asked. Lilia
didn’t answer, but nodded her head. Are any of us doing okay? She thought.
“You’re going over to Isaac’s house tonight, right?” he asked. Again, Lilia only nodded. He gave her a hug. He knew she had issues dealing with her mom but
he felt helpless.
[*note: will write transition scene here, someday]
The weekend went quickly. The weekend hours seemed to be half the
length of time of the average weekday hour, and before Lilia knew it, it was
Monday again, and she was back behind her gun, mounted and pointed at a
target. She looked up at the clock. Three
minutes until execution. For a
moment, she wondered what would happen if she pulled the trigger early. Would she get in trouble? Would she be expelled? Then she realized the guns probably had a
safety timer on them to prevent a person from pulling on the trigger for more than
a second too soon. Still, she didn’t
feel the need to test it.
She looked through the scope and
waited. Once again, time elongated and
warped. Then, just as before, her finger
found the trigger. Red. Red. Red. Green. She exhaled and squeezed.
Before the class left for the execution
chamber, Micah and Noah were pulled aside by Mr. Livingston who handed them
timesheets.
“Just remember to have these
signed by either John or Sean, okay?” Mr. Livingston told the boys, who
nodded. “If you finish early, you can
come back up here and start on your homework.”
Micah and Noah waited by their desks while the class filed out.
“So I was surprised you are in
Humanities this year,” Micah said trying to make conversation. He had never really talked to Noah, even
though he was in almost every class Micah was in. “I thought you’d be a CO, even I was thinking
about it.” Noah only shrugged, his
stringy dark hair falling in front of his eyes. “He’s not too bad as a teacher, yeah?” Micah said tilting his head to Mr. Livingston
exiting the room with the class. Again,
Noah shrugged.
Micah gave up trying to talk with
Noah. “Come on, let’s hele,” he said
grabbing his school bag. Noah quietly picked
up his bag and started heading toward the door without waiting for Micah. This is
going to be a long semester, Micah thought.
They passed the guards quickly,
said hello to the woman at the reception desk who issued them temporary visitor
passes for the entire semester so they wouldn’t have to keep checking in with
her. Penny was already in the office
sitting at the table with John and Sean seated next to her. John had his arms tightly crossed across his
chest and Sean absentmindedly was tapping on the table and looked as if he was
thinking about something else.
“You’re late,” John said frowning.
“Sorry,” Micah and Noah
mumbled. “I didn’t realize there was a
time we were supposed to be down here at,” Micah said.
“Well, there is,” John said. “If you boys are going to help us out, we expect
you to treat this seriously.” Sean
looked up and smiled as if he suddenly realized Micah and Noah were in the
room.
“Oh, good you’re here!” He said a
bit more cheerfully than John, who continued to frown at the boys. “Now we can get started,” he said springing
up from his seat. He motioned them all
to gather around a metal file cabinet.
He patted the cabinet on the top.
John stood next to him, arms still crossed.
“These need to be sorted.” He pulled open the top drawer, it was stuffed
full of papers. “Every step that alters
an inmate’s rights under the law is meticulously documented and stored down
here. However, while we’re pretty good
at keeping records, we have not organized this file cabinet.” Sean pushed his glasses back up his
nose. When he talked, the glasses
continuously slid down the bridge of his nose due to his energetic way of
speaking. It was as if he was unused to
speaking and so when the opportunity arose, he overflowed with words.
“This paperwork is usually not
included in the inmate’s general file because it’s not the general paper work
that accompanies execution, which has already decided. These are only concerned with whether the
criminal is generally executed, or allowed the mercy rule. Which is the only thing we deal with. So,” Sean said pulling out a large stack of
papers and placed them on the table. “Here
you go, you can start sorting these.” He
motioned for Penny to sit down. She
seemed bewildered, but took a seat.
“You would think we would have all
of these digitized already,” John said in an annoyed voice. Sean shook his head.
“Nope, they gotta keep us government
workers employed somehow,” he said smiling.
John handed her two file
baskets. “Here,” he said. “Separate them into the General Execution
pile and the Mercy Rule pile.” He handed
Noah and Micah baskets as well.
“Here you go,” Sean said placing a
large stack of paper in front of Micah. “Holler
if you need help.” Micah looked at Penny
and Noah. Penny picked up a piece of
paper to look at it.
“Wait a moment,” John said sternly
placing a hand over her paper. “First
you all must sign a confidentiality form.”
He handed all three papers that they had to sign. Sean dismissed it with a wave of his hand.
“It’s just a general
non-disclosure agreement,” he said. “To
make sure you guys don’t go off and talk with everyone about the case files you
may see. But these inmates are all dead already, so it doesn't really matter.”
John frowned. "An inmate's rights don't end just because they are dead, Sean," he said. After signing the agreement
and handing it back to John, Micah looked at the stack of paper in front of
him. They looked like court transcripts, with
each inmate’s signature at the bottom.
---
Administrator: “You
have been Listed for death, and you may now choose your method of execution in
accordance to section 575 of the Penal Code.
How do you want to die?”
Inmate No. 1865: “I
don’t want to die.”
Administrator: “Then
you will be executed on a day set forth by the administration of Penal Code 576.32-19
section four, subsection a. You may
leave.”
---
The pile in front of Micah was roughly a foot high. He didn’t think he would get through them all
during this class period. Micah put the
transcript he just read into a small pile on his right. He picked up another transcript. They all had the same
basic question and answer format, with court-appointed administer and the
individual inmate. After a few
agreements, they began to look all the same to Micah.
---
Administrator: “You
have been Listed for death, and you may now choose your method of execution in
accordance to section 575 of the Penal Code.
How do you want to die?”
Inmate No. 1866: “By
my own admission of guilt, by my own terms.
I ask for the Mercy Rule.”
Administrator: “Then
you will self-execute according to the procedures set for by the administration
of the Penal Code 576.32-19 section
nine, subsection b. You may leave.”
---
Micah put this transcript in the small pile to his
left. He picked up another one.
---
Administrator: “You
have been Listed for death, and you may now choose your method of execution in
accordance to section 575 of the Penal Code.
How do you want to die?”
Inmate No. 1867: “I
don’t want to die. I’m innocent.”
Administrator: “Then
you will be executed on a day set forth by the administration of Penal Code 576.32-19
section four, subsection a. You may
leave.”
---
Micah put this transcript in the pile on his right.
