Chapter 1: The Dream Angel: Author: James P. Thomas, Jr.
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James Thomas
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Chapter 1: The Dream Angel: Author: James P. Thomas, Jr.
CH. 1----------------“the DREAM angel”
It’s late, about three in the morning. My cellmate is sweating and I hear him twisting and moving as if he’s fighting in his sleep.
“No, No, please stop! I’m sorry!”
I keep hearing Andrew mumble.
I haven’t been locked up for that long, so I’m thinking maybe he had gotten raped or something and having nightmares about it. I noticed he sleeps with many dream catchers around his bed. I never knew what a dream catcher was until I got in here.
Anyway, now it’s 8:00 A.M. and everyone has to get up. I’m in a two-man cell and yet, I wake my celly up for count out of another bad dream.
“Hey Andrew, get up, it’s count time!” I said.
He gets up slowly wiping the sleep from his eyes. He sits up on his bed across from mines still sweating and I ask?
“Man, what kind of dreams do you be having or nightmares should I say?”
“I don’t remember,” Andrew replies.
I hear footsteps and keys jiggling.
“O.k. its count time, everybody on your feet,” one of the C.O’s (corrections officers) announces as he walks up the hallway.
Immediately Andrew and I jumped to our feet. The system took that stand up count serious. Everyone has to be out of bed and on their feet so the C.O.’s (correction officers) can get an accurate count to make sure no prisoners had escaped. You could be written a shot which is like a write up and you could be sent to the hole or lose your good time and neither of us wanted that.
The C.O. opened our door, and did his head count. A second C.O. trailed right behind him to do his head count. He closed the door. Then Andrew and I sat back down on our beds across from each other.
“So David, what do I be doing in my dreams?” Andrew asked.
“Man you be freaking me out. You be doing a lot of weird stuff. You be shaking, you be twisting and weaving as if you’re struggling in a fight. You also be sweating when it’s freezing in here.”
Andrew cut him off.
“So what do I be saying or do I talk when all this be going on?” Andrew asked.
“Do you talk? Hell naw!!! You damn near be crying as if you’re trying to get away from something or someone, but one morning you scared me. We were both sleeping. I heard you pleading and begging. You were breathing hard as if you were trying to grasp for your breath. That made me get up to wake you up. When I looked down at you, your eyes were wide open. You looked like you was in some sort of a trance. I was freezing as usual and looked down at you and there you were sweating. No eye movement, no eye contact. I kneeled over you. Hollered your name and you just laid there shivering and sweating, frozen in time with your eyes wide open. I reached down and grabbed your arm and you started swinging on me as if you were in a fight. You were still pleading as if someone was getting ready to take your life. Then I grabbed both of your arms and started shaking you and hollering your name. You never woke up. You just drifted off into a peaceful sleep. You stopped mumbling and shaking. Then your eyes just closed shut, as if you had just died or something. That was another time you had scared me. I thought you had just passed away on me, so I kneeled down and put my ear by your mouth to make sure you were still breathing.”
“Good, finally he’s having a peaceful rest. Whatever it was he was dreaming about, I must have scared it away when I grabbed him,” I thought to myself.
“Work call, work call, and ten minute movement,” the C.O. announced over the loudspeaker system.
When they called work call, everyone who had an assigned job had to report to their work location. If not in your assigned area when this is called you could be thrown in the hole and lose your good time. When ten minute movement is called, that was your time to move around the yard to get to the location you wanted to be. For instance, say if you are in your building unit and you hear ten-minute movement and you want to go outside to lift weights, play basketball, baseball, horseshoes or go to the recreational building. This is your time to move from building to building or to the yard. If you miss this movement, you would have to wait an hour for the next movement.
Andrew took his gym shoes off and put them in his locker, put his boots on and headed out our unit for work. I had a cool celly. I have only been locked up for about 6 months and had 18 more to go. During my 6 months locked up Andrew and I became close friends.
Lying down on my bed, I glanced over at Andrews’s bed and looked at these so-called dream catching ornaments he had hanging all around his bed. I never pried or inquired about his personal life or asked what he was in here for.
In the short stay that I’ve been here, I have learned what to ask and what not to ask. The number one thing not to ask is what a person is in here for. Number two, never ask a person when was there out date. Some people were very secretive as to letting other inmates know their outdate, for fear one of them might do something horrific to get their time extended longer out of jealousy.
Subsided in my room, I wondered what could I do to help Andrew overcome these obsessive dreams and these dream catching things he got all around his bed is probably the things causing all the ruckus in his sleep. I don’t believe any of this garbage about a priceless ornament that could catch bad dreams. Now how can I find out where these dreams are coming from and how to get rid of them?
I decided to call my girl Ophelia. I only had 15 minutes talk time to tell her what I needed her to do. I left my room to use the phone. I dialed her number, punched in my pass code, which only allowed numbers on my phone list to be dialed. Her phone started ringing and she picked it up on the second ring.
The phone operating system had to do its job and let the person receiving the call know that their call was coming from an inmate in a federal prison. Then your name is said through a voiced activated recording. After that a voice activated operator would tell the receiver that the call was either collect or of no charge to them and to except press 5 or to deny to simply hang up or press 2 to deny any more calls of this nature in the future. My girl knowing that was me, immediately pressed five eliminating all that voice operating bullshit.
Ophelia answers, “Hi boo.”
“Hey sexy, hi you doing?” I said.
“Nothing baby, I’ve been lounging around thinking about you. I’m missing you more and more. We’ve only weathered a quarter of the storm and still have three quarters left. It’s only been 6 months and it already feels like eternity,” Ophelia said miserably.
“I know baby, but look at it this way. Those 6 months just pass means 6 more and I would have already done half my bit and will have only one more half to do. Then before you know it, I’ll be home. Time is going by faster than I expected. Look boo, I need you to do something for me.”
Ophelia cuts him off, “And what’s that boo?”
“Do you still have the internet hooked up?” David asked.
“Yes,” Ophelia replied.
“I need you to Google something for me.”
“And what’s that?” Ophelia asked.
“I need you to Google dream catchers and all the literature that you receive pertinent to that subject, I want you to send to me,” David said. “I almost forgot something. I need you to get in touch with my Aunt Nikki also and ask her to find out anything she can on an Andrew Lighthorse. His inmate number is 44455-000 if she needs it.”
Aunt Nikki had her own private eye business, but didn’t have a lot of clientele. She was just getting her business started and I knew she wouldn’t mind taking on a case that would get her media attention. This would put her business on the map and bring in lots of clients.
“David, aren’t these dream catchers just myth’s for the superstitious believers?”
“I don’t know Ophelia. It’s got to be something more to it than that. My cellmate Andrew who I want Aunt Nikki to do the background check on, be having a lot of weird dreams every night where he’s fighting, crying and pleading in them. I mean, it’s like there is actually something or someone in his dreams that’s trying to snag him away from existence. Trust me, these aren’t normal nightmares and when he get up the next morning, he never has any recalls or memories of any nightmares he’s had since I’ve been here. Let me remind you, I’ve been in here for six months. Andrew has these nightmares every night and can’t remember any of them. He can’t remember swinging his fist in his sleep. He can’t remember the begging and pleading he’s doing for his life when he’s sleeping. Basically to me, these dreams seem more than just dreams. I’m starting to feel anxiety and grief from them. There’s something more to these dream catchers than being superstitious or it just being a myth. Those dream catchers he has around his bed, are connected to his dreams some kind of way and I want to know. Explain all this to Aunt Nikki and let her know this might be the case to start a booming venture for her business,” David explained.
The phone made a beeping noise one time letting the callers know their time was almost up.
“Ha Ophelia.”
“Yes.”
“You know the phone just beeped, so it’s about to end our call soon. I just want to say I love and miss you. Please! Don’t forget to take care of that for me,” David said.
“I love and miss you too boo,” Ophelia replied.
The phone beeped a second time letting them know their call was about to end in a matter of seconds.
“Don’t forget about Aunt Nikki! I’ll call you back in the morning to see what she said. I love you.”
“I’m about to take care of that right now, as soon as we hang up boo and I love you too,” Ophelia replied.
David didn’t hear her say I love you as the phone ended their call. David hung up the phone.
Ophelia blew a kiss into the phone and whispered, “I love you boo,” as if he could hear her and hung up the phone also.
It’s late, about three in the morning. My cellmate is sweating and I hear him twisting and moving as if he’s fighting in his sleep.
“No, No, please stop! I’m sorry!”
I keep hearing Andrew mumble.
I haven’t been locked up for that long, so I’m thinking maybe he had gotten raped or something and having nightmares about it. I noticed he sleeps with many dream catchers around his bed. I never knew what a dream catcher was until I got in here.
Anyway, now it’s 8:00 A.M. and everyone has to get up. I’m in a two-man cell and yet, I wake my celly up for count out of another bad dream.
“Hey Andrew, get up, it’s count time!” I said.
He gets up slowly wiping the sleep from his eyes. He sits up on his bed across from mines still sweating and I ask?
“Man, what kind of dreams do you be having or nightmares should I say?”
“I don’t remember,” Andrew replies.
I hear footsteps and keys jiggling.
“O.k. its count time, everybody on your feet,” one of the C.O’s (corrections officers) announces as he walks up the hallway.
Immediately Andrew and I jumped to our feet. The system took that stand up count serious. Everyone has to be out of bed and on their feet so the C.O.’s (correction officers) can get an accurate count to make sure no prisoners had escaped. You could be written a shot which is like a write up and you could be sent to the hole or lose your good time and neither of us wanted that.
The C.O. opened our door, and did his head count. A second C.O. trailed right behind him to do his head count. He closed the door. Then Andrew and I sat back down on our beds across from each other.
“So David, what do I be doing in my dreams?” Andrew asked.
“Man you be freaking me out. You be doing a lot of weird stuff. You be shaking, you be twisting and weaving as if you’re struggling in a fight. You also be sweating when it’s freezing in here.”
Andrew cut him off.
“So what do I be saying or do I talk when all this be going on?” Andrew asked.
“Do you talk? Hell naw!!! You damn near be crying as if you’re trying to get away from something or someone, but one morning you scared me. We were both sleeping. I heard you pleading and begging. You were breathing hard as if you were trying to grasp for your breath. That made me get up to wake you up. When I looked down at you, your eyes were wide open. You looked like you was in some sort of a trance. I was freezing as usual and looked down at you and there you were sweating. No eye movement, no eye contact. I kneeled over you. Hollered your name and you just laid there shivering and sweating, frozen in time with your eyes wide open. I reached down and grabbed your arm and you started swinging on me as if you were in a fight. You were still pleading as if someone was getting ready to take your life. Then I grabbed both of your arms and started shaking you and hollering your name. You never woke up. You just drifted off into a peaceful sleep. You stopped mumbling and shaking. Then your eyes just closed shut, as if you had just died or something. That was another time you had scared me. I thought you had just passed away on me, so I kneeled down and put my ear by your mouth to make sure you were still breathing.”
“Good, finally he’s having a peaceful rest. Whatever it was he was dreaming about, I must have scared it away when I grabbed him,” I thought to myself.
“Work call, work call, and ten minute movement,” the C.O. announced over the loudspeaker system.
When they called work call, everyone who had an assigned job had to report to their work location. If not in your assigned area when this is called you could be thrown in the hole and lose your good time. When ten minute movement is called, that was your time to move around the yard to get to the location you wanted to be. For instance, say if you are in your building unit and you hear ten-minute movement and you want to go outside to lift weights, play basketball, baseball, horseshoes or go to the recreational building. This is your time to move from building to building or to the yard. If you miss this movement, you would have to wait an hour for the next movement.
Andrew took his gym shoes off and put them in his locker, put his boots on and headed out our unit for work. I had a cool celly. I have only been locked up for about 6 months and had 18 more to go. During my 6 months locked up Andrew and I became close friends.
Lying down on my bed, I glanced over at Andrews’s bed and looked at these so-called dream catching ornaments he had hanging all around his bed. I never pried or inquired about his personal life or asked what he was in here for.
In the short stay that I’ve been here, I have learned what to ask and what not to ask. The number one thing not to ask is what a person is in here for. Number two, never ask a person when was there out date. Some people were very secretive as to letting other inmates know their outdate, for fear one of them might do something horrific to get their time extended longer out of jealousy.
Subsided in my room, I wondered what could I do to help Andrew overcome these obsessive dreams and these dream catching things he got all around his bed is probably the things causing all the ruckus in his sleep. I don’t believe any of this garbage about a priceless ornament that could catch bad dreams. Now how can I find out where these dreams are coming from and how to get rid of them?
I decided to call my girl Ophelia. I only had 15 minutes talk time to tell her what I needed her to do. I left my room to use the phone. I dialed her number, punched in my pass code, which only allowed numbers on my phone list to be dialed. Her phone started ringing and she picked it up on the second ring.
The phone operating system had to do its job and let the person receiving the call know that their call was coming from an inmate in a federal prison. Then your name is said through a voiced activated recording. After that a voice activated operator would tell the receiver that the call was either collect or of no charge to them and to except press 5 or to deny to simply hang up or press 2 to deny any more calls of this nature in the future. My girl knowing that was me, immediately pressed five eliminating all that voice operating bullshit.
Ophelia answers, “Hi boo.”
“Hey sexy, hi you doing?” I said.
“Nothing baby, I’ve been lounging around thinking about you. I’m missing you more and more. We’ve only weathered a quarter of the storm and still have three quarters left. It’s only been 6 months and it already feels like eternity,” Ophelia said miserably.
“I know baby, but look at it this way. Those 6 months just pass means 6 more and I would have already done half my bit and will have only one more half to do. Then before you know it, I’ll be home. Time is going by faster than I expected. Look boo, I need you to do something for me.”
Ophelia cuts him off, “And what’s that boo?”
“Do you still have the internet hooked up?” David asked.
“Yes,” Ophelia replied.
“I need you to Google something for me.”
“And what’s that?” Ophelia asked.
“I need you to Google dream catchers and all the literature that you receive pertinent to that subject, I want you to send to me,” David said. “I almost forgot something. I need you to get in touch with my Aunt Nikki also and ask her to find out anything she can on an Andrew Lighthorse. His inmate number is 44455-000 if she needs it.”
Aunt Nikki had her own private eye business, but didn’t have a lot of clientele. She was just getting her business started and I knew she wouldn’t mind taking on a case that would get her media attention. This would put her business on the map and bring in lots of clients.
“David, aren’t these dream catchers just myth’s for the superstitious believers?”
“I don’t know Ophelia. It’s got to be something more to it than that. My cellmate Andrew who I want Aunt Nikki to do the background check on, be having a lot of weird dreams every night where he’s fighting, crying and pleading in them. I mean, it’s like there is actually something or someone in his dreams that’s trying to snag him away from existence. Trust me, these aren’t normal nightmares and when he get up the next morning, he never has any recalls or memories of any nightmares he’s had since I’ve been here. Let me remind you, I’ve been in here for six months. Andrew has these nightmares every night and can’t remember any of them. He can’t remember swinging his fist in his sleep. He can’t remember the begging and pleading he’s doing for his life when he’s sleeping. Basically to me, these dreams seem more than just dreams. I’m starting to feel anxiety and grief from them. There’s something more to these dream catchers than being superstitious or it just being a myth. Those dream catchers he has around his bed, are connected to his dreams some kind of way and I want to know. Explain all this to Aunt Nikki and let her know this might be the case to start a booming venture for her business,” David explained.
The phone made a beeping noise one time letting the callers know their time was almost up.
“Ha Ophelia.”
“Yes.”
“You know the phone just beeped, so it’s about to end our call soon. I just want to say I love and miss you. Please! Don’t forget to take care of that for me,” David said.
“I love and miss you too boo,” Ophelia replied.
The phone beeped a second time letting them know their call was about to end in a matter of seconds.
“Don’t forget about Aunt Nikki! I’ll call you back in the morning to see what she said. I love you.”
“I’m about to take care of that right now, as soon as we hang up boo and I love you too,” Ophelia replied.
David didn’t hear her say I love you as the phone ended their call. David hung up the phone.
Ophelia blew a kiss into the phone and whispered, “I love you boo,” as if he could hear her and hung up the phone also.
