Page 16 of The Freshman

He laughed when Nate said Dan and Benreminded him of Playmobil men with their matching mullets andfacial features. He listened with a disbelieving gasp when Nateswore Marie had got with all the men on G-wing’s day shift and thatwas why she was moved to nights.

When he mentioned Ryan’s strip offacial hair looking like a smeared arse crack, Alfie didn’t try tomuffle his laugh, and Queenie joined in too. The moment ofamusement always came to an abrupt stop when Nate told him to openthe hatch or asked about his sexuality. Alfie told him it was noneof his business and strolled away. Alfie told himself if he everopened the hatch at Nate’s say so, he would have to quit. That wasthe line.

Henry always reported the night’sevents to the day-staff. He, out of all of them, seemed thefreshest, most alert member of the team. They didn’t know he spentthe night in and out of consciousness. They believed him to be alively seventy-year-old and were inspired by his energy.

This night, Ryan nodded along toHenry’s words, but his eyes never left Alfie. Once Henry hadfinished, Ryan scratched the annoying strip of facial hair with ahum. No amount of stroking it could clean the dirty arse crack, andAlfie dug his nails into his palms to cure amusement withpain.

“Good,” Ryan said with anod. “That’s all then. You’re done for the day.”

The six of them got in line and leftthe office one after another. The zombies of the night gave way tothe wide-eyed dayshift.

In the car park, Marie and Glen gaveeach other longing looks, then climbed into their separate cars.The former off to her house and husband, and the latter to the homehe still shared with his parents. Alfie hadn’t asked, but Henry wasa man of all knowledge and told him. The twins shared a car, one ofthem could drive, and the other couldn’t, but Alfie still couldn’ttell them apart to know which one had the license.

Henry climbed into his battered oldbeetle and drove away, narrowly avoiding the gate, the curb, and apedestrian.

That left Alfie. He walked back to histwo-bedroom house.

One of the advantages of living near aprison was the cheap housing, and he had the biggest house ofanyone he knew. The previous owners had to compensate for theunsavory area, and the décor looked like that of a show-home. Whitewalls, marble counters, lush carpets. There was so much space,Alfie had trouble filling it. He resorted to buying potted plantsand randomly shaped ornaments. Tia added spice to the rooms in theform of cock shaped candles, but he never lit them. They were toorealistic, and he couldn’t stomach watching them melt.

Alfie slumped into his leather sofawith a long-drawn sigh. He stared out the living room window at thecars that whizzed past. The outside always reminded him work wasnearby. There was no dramatic wall on the horizon covered in barbedwire, but there was a white sign for Larkwood Prison opposite hishouse.

He groaned and fell to his side. Hisstomach bubbled for food, but his tiredness won the battle, and hefell asleep on the leather sofa, not his plush king sizebed.

Chapter Five

There was trouble in paradise for thelove-birds. Alfie stayed clear of their heated conversations, butevery so often there was a shout or whine of outrage from behindthe lobby gate.

“Think she’s calling itoff,” Henry muttered, then slipped his shaded glasseson.

When roll call arrived, the atmospherewas tense, and rather than wait for Alfie in the lobby like theyusually did, Marie and Glen disappeared to talk in private. Thetwins were out smoking, and Henry was slumped in the chair in theoffice, asleep or dead, Alfie didn’t know.

Alfie shook his head and moved alongto his second favorite cell. He called it his favorite aloud to geta chuckle from Nate. The soft-spoken Queenie, betrayed only by hisdeep laugh.

Alfie smiled in anticipation andstruck his fist to the door, but there was no response.

“Queenie?”

He tapped his foot as he waited, butthere was no reply.

“Tyrone?” he said, knowinghe could anger a response from the cell. There was nothing, no softvoice, no noise of someone shifting in their bed.

“What’s happening,Freshman?”

Alfie leaned back and stared at Nate’sdoor. He frowned and shook his head. “Please don’t tell me you’veset this up.”

“Why would I dothat?”

Alfie turned his attention back to thecell in front of him. “To get me to open the hatch.”

“I only want you openingmy hatch Freshman … open my hatch so I can see your smile, andmaybe your coc—”

“Hey, Queenie!” Alfieyelled.

There was no response. Even when hepressed his ear to the door there was nothing. He startled at thethump to Nate’s wall.

“Queenie, stop pissing usabout!” Nate shouted. “You’re holding up Freshman.”

Still no response. Alfie grabbed hiskeys and unlocked the hatch. He peered in to the dark room,narrowing his eyes to increase his sight. The bright lights thatlined the perimeter fence shone through the bars of the window.Alfie could see a figure lying on the bed, arm dangling to thefloor.

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