“What day is it? Monday? Wednesday? I cannot seem to remem---wait, today, my last day. Oh yea, the BIG day. My visit to, what was it they called it? ‘The big chair.’ I am going to fry. Big deal, big STINKIN’ deal. No one even cares, WHY SHOULD I?” No one could hear the screams going through his mind. No one knew the agony of facing “the chair.”
“Is there any way out of here? Yea”, he said, laughing to himself, “I’ll fry, then they will put me in a bag, take me to the morgue, put me in a box, then put me in the ground. Yea, there is a way out. To hell with ’em, to hell with ‘em all.
“Did no one care? No one at all?” These were just some of the thoughts that kept going through his mind. After supper, which was a too well done steak, a baked potato, and some of those weird veggies that he had never liked, he settled back, smoked one of his last cigarettes, watched the plumes of smoke rise toward the ceiling, and just stared at the walls. Those same gray walls that had held him prisoner for God knew how long.
“10:48. Why is time passing so fast?”
“3:34. I must have fallen asleep. I am still alive. Did they forget?” Little did he know that his debt had already been paid.
7:00 A.M. Footsteps could be heard coming down the hall. He was wondering who it could be.
Keys slid in the slot. He heard the unmistakable sound of tumblers engaging the lock. He watched as the door slowly opened. The warden, accompanied by a guard, was standing in the doorway.
“Johnson, Randall Johnson?”
“Yes sir.”
“Follow me.’’
Walking down the hall, they wound their way to the warden’s office.
“Sit down Johnson.”
Upon sitting down, the warden explained that he, Randall Johnson, was a free man. Someone had come forward and taken his place. The warden also explained that, if someone would take the place of the one who stood accused, and then the accused could walk away from prison as a free person.
The man known as Johnson was wondering to himself, “Who would have done this for me? I am no good. I left my family for a floozy. Then she left me. I turned my back on everything that was dear to me.