TiredFingers
Spraying far'n'wide
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2017
- Posts
- 481
The Kitchen Storeroom
"Deal," Daria responded to Jackson's request for helpers in the kitchen. "And if you can handle working with children, I'm sure their mothers would want to bring them along. Not in the kitchen, though, some of them are old enough to help you there. I actually meant out in the garden, planting. But that's up to you. Not everyone's a kid person."
"I don't mind kids at all, Warden," Jackson told her, quickly correcting his own way, "Miss Daria. I'll teach them how to stir batter and lick off the spoons afterward. Send'em along."
Jackson went back to cooking. Breakfast had been a bit later than normal. He'd told Daria and Cooper that lunch would be at 1 pm. That only gave him 3 hours to make the main course, sides, and desserts.
Luckily, less than an hour after the facility's two leaders had left, his help arrived: Sammi Alcott and all three of her children, 13-year-old Connie, 11-year-old Freddie, and 6-year-old Willie. Jackson excitedly urged them all into the kitchen, saying, "Welcome, welcome, one and all. I am so happy to see you all."
Jackson and Sammi discussed what needed to be accomplished. They discussed what the children were experienced at. He was delighted to learn that they often helped prepare family meals and bake such treats as cookies, cakes, puddings, and more.
Soon, the family's members were getting to know the kitchen and its resources. One of the kids started humming, Jackson mistook the melody as being Working on the Chain Gang. He joined in, first humming, then singing. When the humming child asked him what he was singing, Jackson realized his error. He looked to Sammi, asking, "Do you mind if I teach them the song?"
She was okay with it, and soon he was teaching them the Sam Cooke classic. After that, the kitchen was filled with singing and laughing.
Then suddenly, the power went out. The kitchen was on the interior of the building and went pitch black. "It's just the power, kids. Don't panic. I give it four, three, two--"
On two, the emergency power reached them and turned everything back on. Jackson checked the ovens and cookers to ensure they were still on. He looked to Sammi. "This might be the last big meal we get to cook if the grid stays down, so whaddaya say we go nuts and cook like madmen?"
The Exercise Yard:
Nigel made his way for the doors to the exercise yard that would normally be locked and monitored, if not physically guarded by Screws. It felt so odd to have such freedom of movement. He felt as though any moment some CO was going to order him to take the position, putting him face down on the ground, arms and legs spread.
He ran into people, Trustees and Civilians both, who were carrying folding chairs from a rack out the door. He snatched one up without direction and followed. Outside he found Cooper standing in front of three conference tables arranged in a "C" shape under a large canvas tent. Atop it was a canvas bag. Nigel knew what was inside it: firearms and, presumably, ammo.
Cooper launched into a speech that covered several topics. It began with the trust that was being put in those assembled to handle firearms. After that, he began introducing them to the weapons on the table. One after another, Cooper retrieved a firearm, checked that it was in fact unloaded, described how it worked, then handed them out for each of the attendees to handle.
Several years earlier, the State had contracted with a distributor to provide all Corrections Facilities with firearms. The only pistol of significant number that they stocked was the Beretta 92FS 9mm. "This weapon has the lowest rate of jams of any pistol of its price range, so long as it is kept clean and maintained otherwise. The first lesson today will be how to disassemble and clean the Beretta. After that, we'll take a break for lunch, then come back out and learn to shoot the Beretta."
They spent two hours learning to disassemble, clean, and reassemble the pistols. They repeated the work. Then repeated it again. Cooper was a great firearms handling instructor. By the third time around, all 8 people present had the Beretta down.
While they'd been outside, the power had gone down, then up again. Cooper wouldn't have realized it had happened if the security alarms hadn't gone off. He wasn't too worried about it for the moment. They packed up the guns again and broke for lunch. Cooper asked the electrical contractor who'd gotten stuck inside WGCF, "Carl, can you go with me to check the emergency generator?"
It was working fine when they got there. But they noted that at the rate of fuel usage now, it would be out in a handful of days at the most. "We'll have to find some ways to conserve."
"What about solar panels?" Carl asked. "The prison ordered an entire trailer full of them to be put atop the main buildings."
"Where are they?" Cooper asked.
"In town, Marietta, I mean," Carl told him. "There's a warehouse there on 3rd Avenue. They were being held there cause the State hadn't paid the final portion of the tab, I guess. But it's all there. Everything we need. We just have to go get them."
It was definitely something worth speaking to Daria about at lunch.
"Deal," Daria responded to Jackson's request for helpers in the kitchen. "And if you can handle working with children, I'm sure their mothers would want to bring them along. Not in the kitchen, though, some of them are old enough to help you there. I actually meant out in the garden, planting. But that's up to you. Not everyone's a kid person."
"I don't mind kids at all, Warden," Jackson told her, quickly correcting his own way, "Miss Daria. I'll teach them how to stir batter and lick off the spoons afterward. Send'em along."
Jackson went back to cooking. Breakfast had been a bit later than normal. He'd told Daria and Cooper that lunch would be at 1 pm. That only gave him 3 hours to make the main course, sides, and desserts.
Luckily, less than an hour after the facility's two leaders had left, his help arrived: Sammi Alcott and all three of her children, 13-year-old Connie, 11-year-old Freddie, and 6-year-old Willie. Jackson excitedly urged them all into the kitchen, saying, "Welcome, welcome, one and all. I am so happy to see you all."
Jackson and Sammi discussed what needed to be accomplished. They discussed what the children were experienced at. He was delighted to learn that they often helped prepare family meals and bake such treats as cookies, cakes, puddings, and more.
Soon, the family's members were getting to know the kitchen and its resources. One of the kids started humming, Jackson mistook the melody as being Working on the Chain Gang. He joined in, first humming, then singing. When the humming child asked him what he was singing, Jackson realized his error. He looked to Sammi, asking, "Do you mind if I teach them the song?"
She was okay with it, and soon he was teaching them the Sam Cooke classic. After that, the kitchen was filled with singing and laughing.
Then suddenly, the power went out. The kitchen was on the interior of the building and went pitch black. "It's just the power, kids. Don't panic. I give it four, three, two--"
On two, the emergency power reached them and turned everything back on. Jackson checked the ovens and cookers to ensure they were still on. He looked to Sammi. "This might be the last big meal we get to cook if the grid stays down, so whaddaya say we go nuts and cook like madmen?"
The Exercise Yard:
Nigel made his way for the doors to the exercise yard that would normally be locked and monitored, if not physically guarded by Screws. It felt so odd to have such freedom of movement. He felt as though any moment some CO was going to order him to take the position, putting him face down on the ground, arms and legs spread.
He ran into people, Trustees and Civilians both, who were carrying folding chairs from a rack out the door. He snatched one up without direction and followed. Outside he found Cooper standing in front of three conference tables arranged in a "C" shape under a large canvas tent. Atop it was a canvas bag. Nigel knew what was inside it: firearms and, presumably, ammo.
Cooper launched into a speech that covered several topics. It began with the trust that was being put in those assembled to handle firearms. After that, he began introducing them to the weapons on the table. One after another, Cooper retrieved a firearm, checked that it was in fact unloaded, described how it worked, then handed them out for each of the attendees to handle.
Several years earlier, the State had contracted with a distributor to provide all Corrections Facilities with firearms. The only pistol of significant number that they stocked was the Beretta 92FS 9mm. "This weapon has the lowest rate of jams of any pistol of its price range, so long as it is kept clean and maintained otherwise. The first lesson today will be how to disassemble and clean the Beretta. After that, we'll take a break for lunch, then come back out and learn to shoot the Beretta."
They spent two hours learning to disassemble, clean, and reassemble the pistols. They repeated the work. Then repeated it again. Cooper was a great firearms handling instructor. By the third time around, all 8 people present had the Beretta down.
While they'd been outside, the power had gone down, then up again. Cooper wouldn't have realized it had happened if the security alarms hadn't gone off. He wasn't too worried about it for the moment. They packed up the guns again and broke for lunch. Cooper asked the electrical contractor who'd gotten stuck inside WGCF, "Carl, can you go with me to check the emergency generator?"
It was working fine when they got there. But they noted that at the rate of fuel usage now, it would be out in a handful of days at the most. "We'll have to find some ways to conserve."
"What about solar panels?" Carl asked. "The prison ordered an entire trailer full of them to be put atop the main buildings."
"Where are they?" Cooper asked.
"In town, Marietta, I mean," Carl told him. "There's a warehouse there on 3rd Avenue. They were being held there cause the State hadn't paid the final portion of the tab, I guess. But it's all there. Everything we need. We just have to go get them."
It was definitely something worth speaking to Daria about at lunch.