The Adventures Of Marcel And Mimi Mime
Chapter 6:
Doing Hard Time
Chapter 6:
Doing Hard Time
As the days turned to weeks and the weeks turned into months, Marcel gradually resigned himself to prison life. Depression was the mood of the day… every day. He hadn’t even so much as cracked a smile in literally months. Right now, his only mission in life was to get through this horrible point in his life and hopefully start anew when he gets out.
Even though Marcel was allowed to receive a certain number of telephone calls each month, he had received exactly zero calls so far. To Marcel, this spoke volumes. He pretty much equated the number of telephone calls he was receiving with how many friends that he had left on this planet. And that only added to his depression. If his depression hadn’t already started to get the best of him, he probably would have remembered that he never actually told anyone that he was even in jail. Of course, that thought never entered his mind.
Occasionally, he would be permitted some time in front of a television set. Not his favorite pastime, but it did break up the monotony of things, so he took advantage of the opportunities. Mostly, all he was able to watch were news programs. There’s a lot of bad news out there, he thought. But every once in a while the news would report on someone’s good news. Like a couple weeks back when one lonely individual in his 80’s had just won the largest jackpot in lottery history.
Marcel’s brain really went into imagination mode at that. He wished he had it made like that guy! Oh, what he could do with millions of dollars! He thought, the first thing he would do is buy a big mansion, then a brand new sports car. No. Seven brand new sports cars. One for every day of the week! Yeah, and a brand new wardrobe. And he would hire fashion designers to help him pick it out. After all, mime or not, he was getting kind of tired of stripes.
And then, he would find a nice, pretty girl to marry and settle down and have kids with. Oops. His happy thoughts abruptly ended. He already knew a nice, pretty girl. Her name was Mimi. Marcel sank into an even deeper depression with the thought of Mimi. She was gone and there was nothing he could do about it.
Marcel reflected on his past, many times. Each time he seemed to change it slightly. He guessed that it was his brain trying to forget all of the bad things and only remember the good things. But if that was indeed true, why did he still remember all of the bad things. Well, at least he thought he remembered them. Soon he doubted his past, too. Was his past all a lie? The daily repetition was really messing him up. Not only does he not know how long he has before his sentence is up, but now he isn’t even sure if what he remembers about his past is real!
You don’t make friends in prison. And even if you could, you wouldn’t want to. Several of the other inmates frowned at the fact that Marcel was a mime. They didn’t like mimes and especially didn’t like mimes near them. For that matter, they didn’t like anyone near them. But mimes were even worse because the others didn’t understand their lifestyle. It’s odd how when someone doesn’t understand someone else’s lifestyle, it breeds immediate dislike. You would think instead, people would want to learn about and understand different lifestyles and branch out a little. But that often isn’t the case. Probably in the end, it mostly comes down to the fear of the unknown. But if people make an effort to learn, the unknown rapidly becomes the “known”. And that can change everything.
Love and respect. Yeah that would fix the world thought Marcel. If everyone truly respected others, it would be easy to love each other and get along.
All at once, Marcel had an epiphany! He himself had violated his own values. That’s exactly why he’s in jail. He is just like the others around him. He’s not above them. He’s one of them.
They say that rehabilitation time varies from one individual to another. I guess that’s true, but one thing’s for sure, the moment rehabilitation is achieved, the individual becomes completely different. Marcel suddenly went through a myriad of emotions from depression, to deep depression to fear to joy; all in about ten seconds! His heart was racing and his head hurt. He needed to lay down.
In the days ahead, Marcel reflected on his epiphany many times. He knew that deep down inside, this was not what he wanted to do with his life. He made a commitment to himself to change. Eventually, he would be leaving this place and when he did, he would seal up that part of his life in an imaginary container, wrap it up in duct tape, tie it to a rock and throw it in the deepest part of the ocean... figuratively, of course.
Marcel was tired. Not physically, but mentally. He had had so much time to think and ponder his past that he was just plain worn out. Soon he would focus on his future. Only his future. He really missed Mimi. As he drifted off to sleep, he took in a deep breath and let out a long sigh, wondering, could Mimi ever again be in his future?
Even though Marcel was allowed to receive a certain number of telephone calls each month, he had received exactly zero calls so far. To Marcel, this spoke volumes. He pretty much equated the number of telephone calls he was receiving with how many friends that he had left on this planet. And that only added to his depression. If his depression hadn’t already started to get the best of him, he probably would have remembered that he never actually told anyone that he was even in jail. Of course, that thought never entered his mind.
Occasionally, he would be permitted some time in front of a television set. Not his favorite pastime, but it did break up the monotony of things, so he took advantage of the opportunities. Mostly, all he was able to watch were news programs. There’s a lot of bad news out there, he thought. But every once in a while the news would report on someone’s good news. Like a couple weeks back when one lonely individual in his 80’s had just won the largest jackpot in lottery history.
Marcel’s brain really went into imagination mode at that. He wished he had it made like that guy! Oh, what he could do with millions of dollars! He thought, the first thing he would do is buy a big mansion, then a brand new sports car. No. Seven brand new sports cars. One for every day of the week! Yeah, and a brand new wardrobe. And he would hire fashion designers to help him pick it out. After all, mime or not, he was getting kind of tired of stripes.
And then, he would find a nice, pretty girl to marry and settle down and have kids with. Oops. His happy thoughts abruptly ended. He already knew a nice, pretty girl. Her name was Mimi. Marcel sank into an even deeper depression with the thought of Mimi. She was gone and there was nothing he could do about it.
Marcel reflected on his past, many times. Each time he seemed to change it slightly. He guessed that it was his brain trying to forget all of the bad things and only remember the good things. But if that was indeed true, why did he still remember all of the bad things. Well, at least he thought he remembered them. Soon he doubted his past, too. Was his past all a lie? The daily repetition was really messing him up. Not only does he not know how long he has before his sentence is up, but now he isn’t even sure if what he remembers about his past is real!
You don’t make friends in prison. And even if you could, you wouldn’t want to. Several of the other inmates frowned at the fact that Marcel was a mime. They didn’t like mimes and especially didn’t like mimes near them. For that matter, they didn’t like anyone near them. But mimes were even worse because the others didn’t understand their lifestyle. It’s odd how when someone doesn’t understand someone else’s lifestyle, it breeds immediate dislike. You would think instead, people would want to learn about and understand different lifestyles and branch out a little. But that often isn’t the case. Probably in the end, it mostly comes down to the fear of the unknown. But if people make an effort to learn, the unknown rapidly becomes the “known”. And that can change everything.
Love and respect. Yeah that would fix the world thought Marcel. If everyone truly respected others, it would be easy to love each other and get along.
All at once, Marcel had an epiphany! He himself had violated his own values. That’s exactly why he’s in jail. He is just like the others around him. He’s not above them. He’s one of them.
They say that rehabilitation time varies from one individual to another. I guess that’s true, but one thing’s for sure, the moment rehabilitation is achieved, the individual becomes completely different. Marcel suddenly went through a myriad of emotions from depression, to deep depression to fear to joy; all in about ten seconds! His heart was racing and his head hurt. He needed to lay down.
In the days ahead, Marcel reflected on his epiphany many times. He knew that deep down inside, this was not what he wanted to do with his life. He made a commitment to himself to change. Eventually, he would be leaving this place and when he did, he would seal up that part of his life in an imaginary container, wrap it up in duct tape, tie it to a rock and throw it in the deepest part of the ocean... figuratively, of course.
Marcel was tired. Not physically, but mentally. He had had so much time to think and ponder his past that he was just plain worn out. Soon he would focus on his future. Only his future. He really missed Mimi. As he drifted off to sleep, he took in a deep breath and let out a long sigh, wondering, could Mimi ever again be in his future?
