Marcel awoke to the sound of shuffling feet heading down the long hallway, toward his cell. He didn’t realize that he had actually slept, but he must have because his mouth was very dry and his pillow was very wet! A sure sign that he’d been snoring. And he couldn’t remember ever snoring while he was awake, so he decided that he must have been sleeping. As the sound of voices grew nearer, he wondered what was going to happen next. He’d never been arrested before and felt quite helpless all locked up and everything. His stomach was feeling kind of queasy. He wasn’t sure if he was hungery or just nervous.
Just then, the jail door opened, two guards and some guy wearing a plain grey suit were standing there staring in at him. One of the guards said in a very lazy sounding, sort of routine voice, follow me. Marcel stood up from the cot where he’d been sort of sitting and reclining at the same time, and followed the group of men down the hallway. As they walked together, the man in the plain grey suit explained that his name was Roger and that he was the court appointed attorney that would be representing Marcel since Marcel was obviously an unemployed, homeless, bum who surely couldn’t afford to pay for an attorney on his own. Marcel thought, wow, I never thought I’d be considered a bum, that guy’s harsh!
Marcel comes from a family of hard working, up standing mimes, having always supported the police department and never even considered committing a crime. In his family such thoughts were simply unthinkable. Although what he and Mimi had done was a criminal act, it was only because they would starve to death if they hadn’t. Surely a judge would understand this and give them a break. Roger shook his head and explained to Marcel that it was going to be a difficult case because the convenience store that he targeted had been burglarized three times in the last two months. And the reason that the police were even patrolling the alley was that they suspected that an organized crime ring was responsible for the burglaries. Now Marcel and Mimi would have to prove that they were not indeed hardened criminals belonging to an organized crime ring. And since they were unemployed, homeless and apparently, bums, they really didn’t have the resources to hire a good attorney so that was going to be tricky. A TV in the visiting room caught Marcel’s eye as they passed by. A news reader was telling the story to thousands, no, millions of people, how an infamous crime-ring leader had been apprehended and how his name is Marcel! Marcel thought to himself, oh crap, I'm really screwed!
For the remainder of the morning, Marcel was processed through the “system”. First he was fingerprinted. Then his mug shot was taken. Next he had to fill out a statement for the police report. Then he had a private meeting with Roger. In between every step, he was escorted back to his cell and had to wait for what seemed like an eternity before the next step of the process.
He saw more people during the first couple hours of the morning than he had probably seen in the entire last month. Not to mention that he was apparently now a famous criminal. After all, he is on the news! There is some good news though…he eventually got to eat some breakfast. Consisting of a bowl of oatmeal, a slice of white bread toast and a glass of really bad orange juice; the kind that’s from a frozen tube that you thaw out and mix with water. It was real thin and watery. Overall, it wasn’t much, but it was food! His stomach was SOOOO happy.
The entire time, Marcel wondered about Mimi. Apparently, she was being held on another floor. They didn’t mix the female prisoners with the male prisoners. He wasn’t sure why, but that was indeed the policy. Marcel figured that Mimi was probably going through much the same process that he was and hoped that he would get to talk to her at some point.
Mimi did go through the same basic process. She was fingerprinted, got her mug shot taken and was given the very same breakfast. But in fact, that’s where the similarity ended. The prosecutor decided that she had been forced to go along with Marcel and besides, how could a cute little mime like Mimi commit such a heinous crime? They decided that she should be released, so they dropped her charges. Of course this was great news…except, well, she had nowhere to really go. She decided to call her mother, whom she hadn’t seen in years and explain the situation. That was not an easy decision!
Mimi’s mother was not a mime and she didn’t understand the mime lifestyle. For this reason, Mimi and she did not get along. They hadn’t seen each other since Mimi graduated high school and moved out on her own. This choice had hurt both Mimi and her mother, but there was nothing else that she could do. They would often have arguing matches that would turn into full-blown knock down, drag out fights. Down deep inside, Mimi knows that this is the reason that she chose the life of a mime. She doesn’t have to speak which means she won’t be able to have an effective argument. She tried this with her mother, but her mother took it as rudeness and basically threw her out of the house! She always wanted to patch things up with her mom, but figured it was impossible so she had pretty much given up on the thought.
Remarkably, one telephone call was all it took; which is good because one call is all she got. Mimi had convinced her mother that she should move back home and stay with her. This would of course mean that Mimi would have to speak a lot more, but she would have a place to stay and food to eat until she could find a job and get back out on her own. This all seemed wrong to her. But she felt that she had no other choice.
On one hand, she was happy that her mother would take her back and that she’d have somewhere to live, but on the other hand, she really missed Marcel and had always thought she would marry him and live happily ever after. By noon, Mimi was on a bus headed for her new home, her mom’s house. She sure hoped her mom would pay the bus driver when she arrived!
Marcel on the other hand; had a more difficult situation on his hands. He refused to call anyone. He was so ashamed of himself that he didn’t want anyone to know about what he’d done. Of course, a thousand million people already knew, thanks to the news media. All they’re after is money and ratings, he thought to himself. They're coverage of his arrest was ruining what little bit of life he had left, and they didn't care one bit!
He sat in his cell passing the time and thought about things. He thought about how so many people had so many “things”. Toys, homes, cars, vacations! How could they afford all of those things? That was indeed a puzzle to him. But what really made him wonder was why people always seem to always want more? They buy a fancy new car. A couple years later, they want a better one. They buy a big fancy home. Five years later, it’s too small and not fancy enough. A sort of rage came over Marcel as he thought What’s wrong with people?! Here he was, sitting in a city jail cell, with nothing and nowhere to go. And they couldn’t be happy with a two year old car! Something had to be very wrong with people these days.
Eventually, Marcel calmed himself down and reasoned that life is not about the material things but rather it’s about what’s in your heart. It’s about brotherly love. It’s about treating others with respect and acknowledging their similarities and accepting their differences. We are all unique and that is a good thing. It’s not something to be biased, prejudice or intolerant of. It’s something we should embrace and cherish. For without these differences, we would still be living in caves, wearing tics and lice, eating raw meat and bugs. By working together, we make our world what it is. If we all care for each other and “try”, it can be a wonderful place.
Marcel spent the next thirty or so days behind bars in the city jail, waiting for his turn in court. He had occasional visits from Roger, his attorney. They would get together about once a week and discuss the progress of his case. One such meeting, Marcel learned of Mimi’s release. He was happy for her. The court system moved very slowly. His court date was still some time off in the future. Things did not look good for him. Roger had already warned him that he might be doing some hard time in prison. That prospect was very alarming to Marcel, because he was not a criminal. He was a victim of circumstance and he was already very sorry for what he had done. He only hoped the judge saw it the same way.
Just then, the jail door opened, two guards and some guy wearing a plain grey suit were standing there staring in at him. One of the guards said in a very lazy sounding, sort of routine voice, follow me. Marcel stood up from the cot where he’d been sort of sitting and reclining at the same time, and followed the group of men down the hallway. As they walked together, the man in the plain grey suit explained that his name was Roger and that he was the court appointed attorney that would be representing Marcel since Marcel was obviously an unemployed, homeless, bum who surely couldn’t afford to pay for an attorney on his own. Marcel thought, wow, I never thought I’d be considered a bum, that guy’s harsh!
Marcel comes from a family of hard working, up standing mimes, having always supported the police department and never even considered committing a crime. In his family such thoughts were simply unthinkable. Although what he and Mimi had done was a criminal act, it was only because they would starve to death if they hadn’t. Surely a judge would understand this and give them a break. Roger shook his head and explained to Marcel that it was going to be a difficult case because the convenience store that he targeted had been burglarized three times in the last two months. And the reason that the police were even patrolling the alley was that they suspected that an organized crime ring was responsible for the burglaries. Now Marcel and Mimi would have to prove that they were not indeed hardened criminals belonging to an organized crime ring. And since they were unemployed, homeless and apparently, bums, they really didn’t have the resources to hire a good attorney so that was going to be tricky. A TV in the visiting room caught Marcel’s eye as they passed by. A news reader was telling the story to thousands, no, millions of people, how an infamous crime-ring leader had been apprehended and how his name is Marcel! Marcel thought to himself, oh crap, I'm really screwed!
For the remainder of the morning, Marcel was processed through the “system”. First he was fingerprinted. Then his mug shot was taken. Next he had to fill out a statement for the police report. Then he had a private meeting with Roger. In between every step, he was escorted back to his cell and had to wait for what seemed like an eternity before the next step of the process.
He saw more people during the first couple hours of the morning than he had probably seen in the entire last month. Not to mention that he was apparently now a famous criminal. After all, he is on the news! There is some good news though…he eventually got to eat some breakfast. Consisting of a bowl of oatmeal, a slice of white bread toast and a glass of really bad orange juice; the kind that’s from a frozen tube that you thaw out and mix with water. It was real thin and watery. Overall, it wasn’t much, but it was food! His stomach was SOOOO happy.
The entire time, Marcel wondered about Mimi. Apparently, she was being held on another floor. They didn’t mix the female prisoners with the male prisoners. He wasn’t sure why, but that was indeed the policy. Marcel figured that Mimi was probably going through much the same process that he was and hoped that he would get to talk to her at some point.
Mimi did go through the same basic process. She was fingerprinted, got her mug shot taken and was given the very same breakfast. But in fact, that’s where the similarity ended. The prosecutor decided that she had been forced to go along with Marcel and besides, how could a cute little mime like Mimi commit such a heinous crime? They decided that she should be released, so they dropped her charges. Of course this was great news…except, well, she had nowhere to really go. She decided to call her mother, whom she hadn’t seen in years and explain the situation. That was not an easy decision!
Mimi’s mother was not a mime and she didn’t understand the mime lifestyle. For this reason, Mimi and she did not get along. They hadn’t seen each other since Mimi graduated high school and moved out on her own. This choice had hurt both Mimi and her mother, but there was nothing else that she could do. They would often have arguing matches that would turn into full-blown knock down, drag out fights. Down deep inside, Mimi knows that this is the reason that she chose the life of a mime. She doesn’t have to speak which means she won’t be able to have an effective argument. She tried this with her mother, but her mother took it as rudeness and basically threw her out of the house! She always wanted to patch things up with her mom, but figured it was impossible so she had pretty much given up on the thought.
Remarkably, one telephone call was all it took; which is good because one call is all she got. Mimi had convinced her mother that she should move back home and stay with her. This would of course mean that Mimi would have to speak a lot more, but she would have a place to stay and food to eat until she could find a job and get back out on her own. This all seemed wrong to her. But she felt that she had no other choice.
On one hand, she was happy that her mother would take her back and that she’d have somewhere to live, but on the other hand, she really missed Marcel and had always thought she would marry him and live happily ever after. By noon, Mimi was on a bus headed for her new home, her mom’s house. She sure hoped her mom would pay the bus driver when she arrived!
Marcel on the other hand; had a more difficult situation on his hands. He refused to call anyone. He was so ashamed of himself that he didn’t want anyone to know about what he’d done. Of course, a thousand million people already knew, thanks to the news media. All they’re after is money and ratings, he thought to himself. They're coverage of his arrest was ruining what little bit of life he had left, and they didn't care one bit!
He sat in his cell passing the time and thought about things. He thought about how so many people had so many “things”. Toys, homes, cars, vacations! How could they afford all of those things? That was indeed a puzzle to him. But what really made him wonder was why people always seem to always want more? They buy a fancy new car. A couple years later, they want a better one. They buy a big fancy home. Five years later, it’s too small and not fancy enough. A sort of rage came over Marcel as he thought What’s wrong with people?! Here he was, sitting in a city jail cell, with nothing and nowhere to go. And they couldn’t be happy with a two year old car! Something had to be very wrong with people these days.
Eventually, Marcel calmed himself down and reasoned that life is not about the material things but rather it’s about what’s in your heart. It’s about brotherly love. It’s about treating others with respect and acknowledging their similarities and accepting their differences. We are all unique and that is a good thing. It’s not something to be biased, prejudice or intolerant of. It’s something we should embrace and cherish. For without these differences, we would still be living in caves, wearing tics and lice, eating raw meat and bugs. By working together, we make our world what it is. If we all care for each other and “try”, it can be a wonderful place.
Marcel spent the next thirty or so days behind bars in the city jail, waiting for his turn in court. He had occasional visits from Roger, his attorney. They would get together about once a week and discuss the progress of his case. One such meeting, Marcel learned of Mimi’s release. He was happy for her. The court system moved very slowly. His court date was still some time off in the future. Things did not look good for him. Roger had already warned him that he might be doing some hard time in prison. That prospect was very alarming to Marcel, because he was not a criminal. He was a victim of circumstance and he was already very sorry for what he had done. He only hoped the judge saw it the same way.
The Adventures Of Marcel And Mimi Mime
Chapter 2:
I Woke Up (A Thousand Million People)
Chapter 2:
I Woke Up (A Thousand Million People)
