The journal of Michael A. PaceTable of Contents:
15 January 2007I can't hear thunder but I love to watch the lightening and at times the thunder vibrates the air enough for me to feel or even wake me. STP's (no insult intended) can not feel it. For the deaf vibrations can be felt with hair and sometimes against the skin. I love a good storm or as the Rabbit said "I love a rainy night." We knew last night a storm was headed our way. The warm Gulf air brushes every front that dips into Texas. What we didn't expect was so much water. The storm knocked out the power over and over again. I was shocked to find water everywhere this morning. Iâ€"cell 107â€" was an island. I have my books and my poetry to protect me. Actually I have a couple extra packs of diapers that I can use as an adequate dam if need be. The flood inside is equaled by a flood outside, which means the world stops. 16 January 2007The world has stopped, even the postal service but the rain has not. Neither rain nor sleet nor hail, hell! Oh, we must be civil to the civil servant. But how civil must we be to the roofer and plumber? There's water flowing in the roof and windows but none in the sink or toilet. Our water supply has been contaminated and it takes 12 hours to switch over. We have no drinking water, but we have coffee and sodas. I put in a request for a bottle of Tennessee drinking whiskey because of its value as a cleanser. The temperature tonight will dip into the 20's. This means nothing to northern states or to those as us from the north except these idiot Texans will soon be killing themselves! It's still raining, we'll probably see some snow and sleet, but where's the mail? 17 January 2007The good things about sleet is it doesn't leak through the roof but it melts. I just so happen to be sitting in the captain's office when the thaw of aught 7 and I thaw it thaw. I understand better than I am understood. It was a funny conversation. The subject: someone put me down as a witness to a case of verbal harassment. I can tell you all kinds of things a deaf man should not know. My testimony is not acceptable but funny. Funnier was the water that kept turning his paper shredder on. 18 January 2007The south Texas and the gulf shore line through Louisiana and so on, the land is or was swamp. A 2 or 3 day rain and it returns to swamp and any critters who don't like swamp move to high ground or to man made structures. You could be invaded by fire ants. We have been overrun by verminâ€"MICE. They are so cute. Some are the little gray ones and some are multicolor. All are hungry. They can get into locker if there is a quarter in crack. I have no eatables, but something I didn't know: they'll get into bed with you. No sex though. 19 January 2007Oh it's Friday. Today I ventured into that land only chosen one can go. I did not go alone but was taken there by one of the special people. Karl is a CIA agent they hide in here. {His story}. With the GOP losing power Bush has decided to kill off or release most of the Texas inmates. The #5 are safe but won't be released. The #1's and #7's he will pardon hours before Hilary takes office. I am a #1 and Karl is a #7. How to get your #: Your social security or prison ID # can be used and should be the same. Mine 861148, 8+6+1+1+4+8=28, 2+8=10, 1+0=1. XXXXXXX. My SS# comes out the same. In fact, so much of what Karl says proves out that it is scary, mouse hunt is on. 20 January 2007"Make a better mouse trap and the world will beat a path to you door." Somebody said that? Anyway, grease up your toilet seat and put bread crumbs around the inside lip. If you have a stainless steel toilet it works real good. The last part is flush the toilet. I couldn't do it. I have 4 little brown and white mice in a warm towel dry at this very minute. Are we men or mice? I'm a mice. 21 January 2007"Mice to be given away to a nice home, with no nasty kitties or boas." My father complained about feeding 11 children. Try feeding 20 mice, okay six, but one's real fat. I don't intend to keep them as a petâ€"you can't pet them. They were real friendly when they needed me to save their lives. Convict mice. I will turn them loose as Noah did. My guess is over 100 mice have been killed on this wing alone. I believe that to be a very close estimate. It is 1% of the reported murders. I don't fault my fellow convicts for lying about this. I too have had to place a false claim. I don't want any to know I am harboring fugitives. 22 January 2007There are 52 weeks in every year but there are 53 Mondays in a Monday year. I may have overestimated the number of mice killed. Out of 120 inmates, 94 had mice to turn loose out the window. Some had 3, others had 10. I have 7 and one guy had 20. He used his fan for a cage (I wish I'd though of that). There was over 500 mice let go out our windows and I saw other wings doing the same. There's 17 wings. ?? But! We are still mice infested. 23 January 2007Before dawn there was mumbled curses and by 1st light the multitude was an angry mob. We thought ourselves rid of the hoodlums and hooligans and that in a charitable manner. Yet we found ourselves vandalized in the night and the pillage seems to be only waste or the mercenary was looking for something in particular. Nothing has actually been stolen, just destroyed. The question on everyone's mind: Is there one bandit or one hundred? (I love this shit). 24 January 2007Throughout the night and day "Merc Mouse" has been spotted. Actually he has been spotted all his life. Eye witnesses report similar descriptions. Basically a white mouse with brown and black spots. Size varies slightly. Some say Merc Mouse is no bigger than than Tinkerbell; others say "a football with a tail." I have not seen Merc Mouse myself. Though there was something warm and cuddly in my dreams, I mistook for a teddy bear. I offer news (though Merc Mouse rules). One peatheanâ€"K. Booneâ€" has announced herself to have some connection to the crips, as though to use said information was a threat. Then proceeded to put down gays and handicapped. This is not unusual, however it gives me an opening to say one thing. There are 1000's of activist groups who claim they will assist you as an inmateâ€"say a Jewish inmate, a blind inmate...write any of these groups and you'll get a sympathetic letter. Beg them for a few months and they may make a telephone call in your behalf. This includes all the organizations who claim to be putting an end to prison rape. Write one letter to a gay activist and twenty calls will be made without you even asking. You don't have to say you're gay, just don't say you're not. If you are gay and beg for help, the Warden, building captain, regional and executive director will be hounded for weeks. To survive in prison... 25 January 2007(Only 11 months till Christmas) At about midnight I was awoken from a peaceful sleep and a dream in which my lover and I wereâ€" never mind that. It's the waking part I was getting at. There was a strange sight. Two boated feet and gray pant-covered legs stood on the foot of my bed. (Now how is this? I have a cell to my and where is the rest of this person?) Something was seen to move at the corner of my eye. My head was clearing slowly, but I am heavily medicated in the night. My eyes began to focus on a small semi-round object over by the door. Merc Mouse. Then he needed no introduction. In my half-drunken/half-conscious state it seemed to me that he waved before scampering, without haste, on down the line. So has the situation and my head cleared, it become obvious that the rest of this human was still outside the bars at the foot of my bed. I spoke very slowly and as plain as I am able, the one of my ankles was being smashed to hell. I must speak slow and with all concentration to be understood. In my head words and sentences come out of my mouth the same as these words I have written. Yet it has been explained and I understand I do not speak very good and I do not know how to pronounce very many words. Let me try for a verbal quote that I have never heard myself speak. "Get fuck off! Jus mouse! Not big bad convict." I was fairly heavily sedated and was asleep before the officer finished apologizing. I would think it a dream if not for the witness and bruises. From that foggy, blurry memory Merc Mouse seems to be more like a hamster, but I also remember him waving. 26 January 20073 a.m. cell H6 was bragging they had killed Merc Mouse. 8:42 a.m. on return from showers cell 304 noticed paper shaving on the floor across door. As they waited for cell doors to be rolled Ramen Noodle Soup (Dry Noodles) began falling from lockers above the door. The verbal alarm was sounded and a rush was made to open said door quickly. Yet even as the door was opening, Merc Mouse was making an easy escape by vent in back of cell. H6 now reports that their killing was a gray object flush down the toilet by a legal blind person who just happens to be missing one gray sock. 2 p.m. 108 cell lost one three musketeers barâ€"2 or 3 nibbles. Merc Mouse rules. Merc Mouse and Hilary Clinton Okay I'm getting carried away. Letters to gay activist were completed and mailed today. By this time next week K. Boone will start feeling the heat. 27 January 2007There are a number of reports today concerning Merc Mouse. However, intelligence has been able to shed light on some reports. Such as, a mouse cannot eat a whole package of cookies, or cheese puffs, or chili beans. A mouse does not drink Dr. Pepper, or coffee, or forget to unplug your cell's Hot Pot. I also can't believe Merc Mouse smokes or that he is the way drugs and cigarettes are being smuggled in, There is the question of how many mice are involved because of the number of incidents going on, but also that no two going on at the same time. It is our conclusion there is only one Merc Mouse and he likes the spicy Ramen Noodle soup spices. Using this as bait, one inmate nearly accomplished flushing him down the toilet. However, he simply waited as the water swirled down quickly and the secondhis little feet touched something solid; he leaped and caught hold on inmate pants. The inmate ran around squealing like a pig as others watched in deep concern (for the mouse). He is like the big one in the lake. Once he's caught the fun's over. He has escaped once more and we are all secretly pleased. 28 January 2007Do mice take Sunday off? We heard nothing from Merc Mouse overnight, nor all day. Could he possibly have been injured? Should we put out an APB? What the hell is an APB? 29 January 2007Before mailing update: Merc Mouse rules! October 15th, 2007We moved. They locked down the Unit and moved Safekeep from the North end (HI) to the South end (E2). They actually helped us and were nice about it. This wing was transit and it has been practically destroyed. I am too tired to care or even look. October 16th, 2007My New Cell has good points and bad points. I know the guy who lived here. He is a tall skinny kid who lost half his foot over a spider bite. He was here for 8 months and had it fixed up. It is freshly painted-bright yellow. There is a new toilet and sink. No writing on the walls and the DAM mirror is set up for someone just under 6 foot-18 inches over my head. Wednesday-Oct. 17th 2007: More Books? I sent a Thank You note to the folks at 12th Street Book and they sent me more books. I don't want to talk about the mirror. October 18th, 2007Ok! Maintenance came and fixed my mirror. I have never seen anyone laugh so much. I don't begrudge a person a good laugh. I am the most unlikely looking convict-besides being very small. I was sitting on my bed wrapped in a sheet, reading and only had on a diaper (yet). These situations just seem to keep happening. October 19th, 2007It is still hot in Texas! October 20th, 2007A friend of mine- named Weird- says that I need to explain the little fragments of info in Thursday's entry. To explain THAT is to explain me and I don't have enough paper for such. I think I have said I am 4 foot 9 and very small. The diaper are on account of a head injury. The personality-You wouldn't believe if I told you. October 21st, 2007If I could give the world a piece of advice it would be to use what you have to the fullest. Screw the preacher and go directly to God. If he says it's OK, then go for. In all it has been a good week. The word is Benevolence. October 22nd, 2007Estelle Unit, E2-Safekeep-264 FM 3478- Huntsville, TX 77320 Monday- Oct. 22nd, 2007: Now it's Cold. It was Hot all night {80's} and a front hit us around 10 AM. It's in the 40's now and raining. My new cell leaks. I was wondering what the pattern on the floor was- faces in the concrete. One month till Thanksgiving. October 23rd, 2007I was raised in the North and I know if the temperature would drop another ten degrees it would feel much better. It hangs right there around 40 degrees and there a steady wind out of the North west and high humidity. They dare not close the 25-year-old vent, which are hard to open and close. It may be hot again in a few days. This is Texas. Wednesday-Oct. 24th, 2007: It's still cold, so what does TDCJ decide to do? Repair the screens on the windows. Yes, it needs done, but it need done last spring too. A.C.A. is coming. Now we know the reason they moved us. They want to get this wing ready. Can we get some red checked curtains. There's not a thing you can do about water spots on concrete. On the wing and clean the big windows and everything else, except the cells. Two hours of fighting to keep water out of the cell and the bed dry- in the middle of the night- a cold night. I am slightly upset. October 26th, 2007Well, the vents are closed and the heat is on. I don't think I've slept all week. Good Nite. October 27th, 2007So it was 80 today. I knew it would happen, but I'm tired of complaining. They tried to redeem themselves (TDCJ) today- fried chicken and biscuits, a new TV for the dayroom. We don't have any place to sit....Where's the carpet? October 28th, 2007Sunday is a day of Peace and Rest. I spent the day making a maze of eighth inch squares with no exit and titled it TDCJ. I sent it to the Psych Department anonymously. The word is Individualism! October 29th, 2007I am not sure if it is spring or fall here. It has been a beautiful day. Dr. Vermillion has been going from wing to wing carrying a maze. He thinks some is considering escape. Once he knows it is me he will know that it is only thoughts trying to escape my head. October 30th, 2007Breakfast for us (Safekeep) is 1:30 to 2 AM. Today they woke us up and we were headed down the hall to the chow hall, when suddenly they remember they hadn't done the 1 AM count. Who in hell is running this place?! We should do a sitcom. October 31st, 2007All Hallows Eve- It is a good day to be in diapers. Should I explain? Later Maybe. November 1st, 2007Today- for me- begins the Holidays. Sure there has been death and all kinds of bad shit happen in my 46 years; However, the good times have been really good. So I feel the holidays early and everyone hates me for it. I am a child and will never grow up- Do I smell sage? November 2nd, 2007OK- Let's get this straight, I am a little queer. You may sense that I am odd-strange- non-human and I am ever so small. Therefore, I am a little queer, and I am a little queer- So! Everyone in here has gay tendencies. I just know what to do with them. And, no! I am not a slut. Actually, it protects me and I'm less lustful. November 3rd, 2007I hate good examples, Butt: Today is the day on which our Mother died. I have had visits from a few of my siblings- All crying and moaning. I am like, "Yes she died on this day, butt she lived 91 other November thirds. One out of Ninety-two she died and we call it a bad day." I think it was pretty good odds. November 4th, 2007On the next page you will find a copy of my famous maze. The psych still is trying to track me down. This is a small example of our world (Prison). I am sure many more words could be added; I am butt one.... Shall we sing Happy Songs and Roast the King? The word is Mitigation. |