"I really hate to rain on your parade, Avi." Samuel laughs. "But I think the fact that Tim and Adam sitting here at the table had a lot to do on their backing down."

"Uh, no. They backed down because they didn't want to have to eat their own nuts." Avi replies.

"Whatever." Samuel laughs, shaking his head.

"Hey, Chance told me what the fight in Block A was about." Avi says as he sips his tea.

"Really? What happened." Tim asks, lighting up a cigarette.

"One of the inmate's wife brought him some home-made cookies and the other inmate that was getting the sh*t beat out of him had stolen them." Avi answers.

"That's understandable." Tim nods.

"Can I ask a stupid question?" Hunter asks. "I mean, I am kinda the new guy here. But why would someone try to kill someone over cookies?"

"Anytime you get something from home like that, such as cookies or brownies or even cigarettes, it's almost like, bringing water into a room of a man dying of thirst and not giving him any. He will try to steal it or kill you for it." Tim answers with a shrug.

"Wow, that's crazy." Hunter says, shaking his head. "Have you ever had anything taken from you?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't food." Tim answers as he takes a puff from his cigarette. "When I was sent here after killing my husband, his lover and a few others, my mom and sister were very hurt and ashamed of what I did. Out of hurt, my mom had said some things that cut me to the bone. But I still loved her even though she refused to have anything to do with me. I had a picture of her hanging on the wall next to my bed. I talked to it every night. Asking her forgiveness. A couple of years later, they brought this guy in and we didn't get along from day one. He went inside my cell while I was in the cafeteria and he stole my mom's picture. He was seen by another inmate. I confronted him in the yard, we got into a fight and he died from his injuries. But I got my picture back."

"Daaanngg." Hunter says as he listens to Tim's story. "But I've seen you and your mom during visitation. You can plainly see how much she loves you."

"Well, our reconnection probably would have never happened if it hadn't been for Adam." Tim replies as he turns and smiles lovingly at his husband.

"Oh, it didn't take much persuading." Adam smiles. "She was no longer ashamed of her son but ashamed of herself for not being there for him."

"Wow, that's amazing." Hunter replies.

"But, getting back to the topic of this conversation..." Tim chuckles. "Hunter, if you ever get anything such as home-made goodies from home, don't parade it around."

"Yeah, Block B gets along pretty well but home-made brownies can change someone very quickly." Adam adds.

"Gotcha." Hunter nods.

"Uh, guys?" Old Red says as he slowly makes his way over to the table. "Sorry, but the cafeteria is closing."

Tim looks around to see that everyone had already left.

"Nooooo." Avi whines, dropping his head to the table. "It's so much cooler in here. Can I take the fan with me?" He adds looking up at Red.

"I don't think they'll allow that, Avi." Red smiles.

"Well, it was nice while it lasted." Tim says as he stands from the table.

"Maybe we could persuade the governor in supplying fans for each cell. It would be better than nothing." Samuel says as they head back to their cells.

"You know, Samuel, that's not a bad idea. Maybe if the whole cell block meets with him, it might show him just how bad it is." Tim says. "He's an understanding guy."

"You know you'll have to be the spokesman, right? No one else has the backbone to go up in front of the governor and warden." Avi says.

"Yeah, I think everyone sees you as the leader of the cell block anyway." Sam adds.

"You guys go and tell everyone to be at the cafeteria at eight o'clock in the morning." Tim says as they stop in front of the Fousts' cell.

"You think this will work?" Adam asks as Samuel, Hunter, and Avi leaves to go delivery the message to the other inmates.

"We won't know until we try." Tim says as he flops down on the cot. "I mean, the guards are having to deal with this heat too. Putting in air conditioning is asking too much. It would be way too expensive. But maybe fans would make it more bearable."

The message to be in the cafeteria at eight was delivered to each inmate of Cell Block B. No information was given about the meeting.

~~

At eight o'clock, the cafeteria begins to fill up. The inmates mumble to one another as they ate their breakfast, wondering what was going on. No one knew exactly who had called everyone to be here.

Tim stands and carries his empty tray to the front and puts it away.

"Can I please have everyone's attention?" Tim says loudly.

The cafeteria falls silent as the inmates turn their attention to Foust.

"I guess you're all wondering why I asked you all to meet here this morning. (everyone nods) I know that we are all suffering in this heat, especially the older inmates. Samuel came up with an idea yesterday that I think might work if we all stand together. I'm going to call a meeting with the governor and the warden. I want every inmate in Block B to be at this meeting."

"What's this meeting going to be about, Foust?" An inmate asks.

"We're going to ask or if we have to, demand, fans for each cell." Tim answers. "I know it won't help much but it's better than what we have now."

"Can't we just demand them to put in air conditioning?" Another inmate asks.

"They'd never go for that." Tim says shaking his head. "That would be way too expensive for such an old building. The best we could ask for would be to have fans for each cell."

"But. We need all of you to back us on this and be at this meeting." Adam says from where he was sitting. "Power comes in numbers."

"If everyone is there it might even put the idea in the governor's head that if he doesn't agree to our demands, that there could very well be a riot." Avi adds.

"That's true. Block A rioted and a lot of prisoners were killed along with a couple of guards." Tim nods.

"Not to mention the sorry ass warden." Avi replies with a smile causing Tim to smirk and shrug his shoulders.

"Exactly. They definitely don't want another riot, especially coming from Block B." Tim replies.

"Most of us are in here for life so we have nothing to lose." Adam adds.

"If I do get this meeting with the governor and I don't have you guys backing me, I'll be wasting my time." Tim says as he gives a warning look to the other inmates.

"You get this meeting to happen, Foust. We'll be there." A prisoner says. The other inmates' nod in agreement.

"Okay. That's what I wanted to hear." Tim smiles and nods. He walks back over to the table and reaches for his husband's hand. "I'll be getting back in touch with you guys when I have the time and place of this meeting." He adds before the Fousts leave the room.

********

Until next time ....  ✌️