Obliged

.He didn’t know. How could he. She wasn’t clear on her instructions. She never was. I believe she was flying by the seat of her pants and had no idea what she was doing. She was a rookie but would never admit it. She had the backing of all the people who mattered. They didn’t know either. It became the nature of the civil service to promote friends and family. The actual brain trust was gone, departing for other spaces, or places unknown. Some voluntarily and still others not so voluntarily. She would eventually succumb to the latter, but for now, her mayhem would continue. He was told to bring in files she had transported from another correctional facility. They were in her car and he might need a cart. He wondered why didn’t she just bring them in? So, like the good subordinate he was, he took a cart, and met her at the vehicle. It was loaded with boxes. Boxes and boxes and boxes of files.

.It was obvious to him she didn’t load the vehicle. The cart he brought was inadequate. She didn’t know. How could she? They stared at each other not saying anything. The silence making them both uncomfortable, she began to mumble. Having worked in the inner city before being hired as an academic teacher here, he understood the mumble. She didn’t have any idea on how all these boxes were going to make it in to the school but ” he” would make it happen. Today! The mumble was clear. She laughed and left him standing there as she disappeared back into the Administration Building. I ran into him in the parking lot as I was going out to make a phone call on my break. (we were not allowed to have our cell phones in side the security perimeter) He didn’t look happy. He explained what he was just assigned to do and I can’t say I wasn’t surprised. However, I was really surprised he understood the assignment through the mumble.

.She was the administrations’ assigned guru for special education, and in their mind she would make things right. She knew the law. That didn’t help him at all. He wondered how he could get this done in one trip. He told me he believes it is about 20 boxes, and they had some weight to them. My suggestion was to borrow a John Deer Gator from our maintenance department and bring them in through the sally port. He took me up on my suggestion. I didn’t see him for the rest of the day but when we were punching out at the end of our class day he thanked me. I asked him if “he checked the boxes actual content?” He gave me a quizzical look. I asked him, “whose name is on the manifest of the boxes being brought in?” He informed me that it was our bosses, and he made a copy of the manifest. He knew exactly what I was getting at. I didn’t have to tell him to keep that documentation. He already knew he may need it, and for me asking, he was obliged. ..Prison Stories To Be Continued..