Naked, on the Edge Read Free

have. But that would only bring him into hell more quickly. There was nothing ahead of him but life's agony. And then death's agony.
    When the crying eased, he touched the tears on the floor and brought the wet to his lips. Then he stood, found the wall, and walked.
     
    J imbo pulled his fingers out from Tonya's bush, sucked them, and then shoved his hands into his pockets.
    "Can't push that too far," he said. "I want something raring to go when my time comes. I'm a steel rod, baby." He winked. "You like steel rods?"
    Tonya said, "What do you mean, when your time comes?"
    "It's gonna be something special today," said Jimbo.
    "What is it?"
    Jimbo said, "I mean this." He walked another ten feet then planted his hand on a steel door. "There's a lover boy in here, ready and waiting."
    Tonya came over and touched the door, too. She peeked in through the food slot and couldn't see a thing but tar-blackness. She had promised herself to do anything for Jimbo. He was her man. He bought her stuff. He liked her ass. He didn't hit her. Anything, she had told him. But her stomach turned with uncertainty.
    There were many things she'd done to keep Jimbo happy. She'd let him pee all over her in the bathtub once. She'd screwed him in a gravelly parking lot where a gang of construction men could look down on them. She'd gone without panties into a hardware store then bent over to show the clerk what kind of nails she wanted to buy while Jimbo watched through the store window.
    But she'd never fucked somebody else. Especially not no damned con in solitary confinement.
    "You want me to fuck him?" she asked.
    "He's probably too weak to hurt you, baby," said Jimbo. He touched her cheek and tweaked her nose.
    "You mean he'd want to hurt me but he's too weak?"
    Jimbo frowned. Tonya didn't like his frown. "I don't know, Tonya. Don't press me. He's been there a while. He ain't gonna hurt you.”
    "How long he's been there?"
    "Two years. Longer than I been here. But, like I said, what the warden don't know won't piss him off. This con's got no family, no lawyer checking on him. He could stay here his whole life for all I care."
    Tonya's head began to pound. "Ever see him?"
    "No. But I been down here for feeding. He eats, so he's alive, just like the other one. Hear Captain Harner took off a couple the guy's digits one time."
    “What’s a digit?”
    Jimbo made an exasperated sound deep in his throat, and Tonya shivered.
    "Harner hates rule breakers and human trash," Jimbo continued. "He even put a buddy guard of mine down here in a cell for a couple weeks for smart-mouthing off." Jimbo laughed. "Harner's right on."
    "Why don't you just go on and let the cons here die? I mean, if the warden don't know and all. You think they ought to die, right?"
    This seemed to make Jimbo think. His lip drew up and one eye squinted. Then he smiled. "Damned paperwork is one reason. But I guess it's more fun like this, too. Kind of like a secret club. You like secret clubs?"
    Tonya's nose wrinkled. She hoped it looked cute. But in truth, it was a spasm of fear. "Yeah. But what if he's a queer and don't like me? He might hurt me then, Jimbo."
    "I'll be watching, so if he starts to hurt you I'll kick his ass, how about that?"
    "Well. . . ."
    Jimbo took Tonya's arm and shook it. "Well, what? You gonna do this, aren't you?"
    "Sure. 'Course I am."
    Jimbo nodded, then put a key into the hole in the door. "Thought so," he said.
     
    H e knew every corner of his room, every crack, every lump, every chink. His fingers were his eyes and they were rough but clear. Sometimes, though, his mind became his eyes and it showed him the cell from above, a clear picture with him in it, twenty years old, naked, shivering, and doomed.
    "I'm sorry," he said to himself. Five, six, turn, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, turn, one, two. "Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, three, four, five, six, turn, one, two, three."
    His hand rode again over the nick with the spoon. He took it