Chapter 21
The Rec. room was decorated with paper cutouts of Santa Clauses and wreaths. There was a small tree in the corner, decorated with strings of popcorn and some sponges shaped like reindeer. Ladies from some community service organization had gone out of their way to try to bring some semblance of holiday cheer into the prison. They weren’t allowed to have lights for the tree but they’d made do as best they could. One fifth grade class in a nearby school had even gone to the trouble of tracing, cutting, and pasting a collage of a Nativity Scene to be hung on the wall.
Annie was holding court there. She’d had her parole approved and would be out on Wednesday, the day before Christmas, and she was celebrating. “I called my old man. He’s picking me up at 10 A.M. When I walk out of h
