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7 IN A CONCRETE STRAIGHTJACKET IN THE FIRST WEEK OF JANUARY,STONEFACE, WITH ACCUStomed glumness, walked in with three letters from Tangee and one from Mom. He also had a large cardboard carton which he set down on the table. I thought it was from home until I saw the Geneva stickers and labels printed in French. It must have come from the International Red Cross in Switzerland . I opened it like a child impatient to see a surprise. What a bonanza it turned out to be! That little box was a cornucopia of delights which I rummaged through deliriously. I brought out two huge bars of Swiss milk chocolate, each a foot long and three inches thick, wrapped so meticulously they seemed packed for gourmets. Tremulously, I brought out more luxuries, each with a label printed in French, German, Italian, Spanish or English. I almost purred handling the jar of Nescafe instant coffee labeled cafe solubile. But there was more: a package of cookies, a big pack of sugar cubes marked zucker, five packs of Swiss filter cigarettes, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a jar of vitamins and a tube of creme sandwich tmffee. Wide-eyed and palpitating, I grasped two huge blocks of green, sweet-smelling Sunbeam soap, two packs of dried prunes, apricots and peaches, a can of corned beef from Paraguay, two undershirts and two large bath towels. I hovered over my windfall. Everything was stacked neatly, as if a croupier had just pushed across my jackpot winnings. Dear Mom, Dad, Delia and Mad, One of the guards here walked in and really surprised me. He gave me another of your letters, Mom, dated 6 December, with DeVs included, and three more 108 IN A CONCRETE STRAIGHTJACKET 109 from Tangee (numbers 19, 20, and 21). He also had a large package for me—has a lot of goodies in it I'm sure I will enjoy them very much. It is very comforting to me also to receive and read mail from home. It really raises my spirits. Madeleine, Mom said you were doing well in school and now I see you have made the Honor Roll. That's good, Mad. Keep it up. And Del, so you finally bought a new car for yourself. Have you sent out any bulletins to warn all the other motorists in California? Hmmm? fust kidding of course. I will keep writing you often, but you know, nothing much happens here. Big events are when I get your letters, and days like today are rare. I don't know how long this will go on. I decided immediately to ration the food, to make it last as long as possible . But I couldn't resist digging into the chocolate. It was so good that it taxed my will-power to the full not to reach for the remainder and gobble it down. But if I were to preserve the delicacies for future feasts, I would have to protect them well against the rats. It became more a battle of wits than simply blocking them physically. I had to stuff the chocolate, with its own wrapping, inside other possessions, and even then keep a watchful eye on the scavengers. The jailers often brought their young children on the rounds. One Sunday some kids popped their heads inside as a turnkeywalked in. I broke off a piece of chocolate and held it out to him, motioning at the same time that he should give it to the children. He shook his head negatively and handed it back to me. It appeared they were under strict orders not to fraternize at all, for fear, perhaps, that they might begin to treat me more leniently. I wondered how the jailors raised their children. What expectation could these coarse and uneducated men have for their own offspring? Would they want them to remain peasants or would they have loftier dreams?Would they brag to their children that they had responsible jobs because they were guarding the enemies of the state? Or would their dreams be sobase that they would hope only for tough children to succeed them in their prison work? It didn't even occur to me to ask the guards these types of questions because they obviously lacked the basic knowledge to carry on thoughtful conversations . Besides, we were separated by the language barrier. After the improvement in diet, I had sufficient strength to exercise and did push-ups, though neither regularly nor rigorously...

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