Falconer+-+John+Cheever

Falconer 55
twice a week. There’s a Committee for the Legal Protection of
Inmates. The next time one comes in I’ll tell him about you.”
A few days later a lawyer came over to Farragut’s bed. His hair and
his beard were so full that Farragut couldn’t judge his age or his
face, although there was no gray in his beard. His voice was light.
His brown suit was worn, there was mud on his right shoe and two
of his fingernails were dirty. The investment in his legal education
had never been recouped. “Good morning,” he said, “let’s see, let’s
see. I’m sorry to be so slow, but I didn’t know that you wanted the
law until the day before yesterday.” He carried a clipboard with a
thick file of papers. “Here are your facts,” he said. “I think I’ve got
everything here. Armed robbery. Zip to ten. Second offense. That’s
you, isn’t it?” “No,” said Farragut. “Burglary?” the lawyer asked.
“Breaking and entering with criminal intent?” “No,” said Farragut.
“Well, then, you must be second-degree homicide. Fratricide. You
attempted escape on the eighteenth and you were disciplined. If
you’ll just sign this release here, no charges will be brought.”
“What kind of charges?” “Attempted escape,” said the lawyer.
“You can get seven years for that. But if you sign this release the
whole thing will be forgotten.” He passed Farragut the clipboard
and a pen. Farragut held the board on his knees and the pen in his
hand. “I didn’t attempt escape,” he said, “and I have witnesses. I
was in the lower tier of cellblock F in the sixth lock-in of a
maximum-security prison. I attempted to leave my cell, driven by
the need for prescribed medicine. If an attempt to leave one’s cell
six lock-ins deep in a maximum-security prison constitutes an
attempted escape, this prison is a house of cards.”
“Oh, my,” said the lawyer. “Why don’t you reform the
Department of Correction?”
“The Department of Correction,” said Farragut, “is merely an arm
of the judiciary. It is not the warden and the assholes who
sentenced us to prison. It is the judiciary.”