The Life of Lol by Andrew Birch Read Free Book Online

ones.  That had been the first time I had ever clapped eyes on the one they called Tinhat.  I’d come to know him better later in my life. The painful bit was not knowing that was the last time I’d spend a full day with my Desiree.  Sure, she still came down after that, but less, and she didn’t bring me presents or let me go with her to do the shopping, or go to meet her nieces.  I didn’t know why, but I guessed it was because someone had told her that I was a bad little bitch.  So I just stayed quiet and hung around on my own.  Course, that all changed a bit after, cos I had to go to school.  That was all right at first, I Iearnt to write and read properly.  I mean…I could already read a fair bit, but I learned to do it properly, and spell and draw and things.  That got boring real fast.  I hated the stuff about history and the presidents and Jefferson and Washington and crap like that.  Who gives a fuck about some old dead guys?  Not me, and I started to bunk off.  In fact, I was out of school more times than I was in.  I was out so much that the volunteers in the home would give me money to get groceries and stuff for them to bring back.  They knew I wasn’t in school, and didn’t give a shit.  I was trustworthy with their money though.  Made me feel useful, and at twelve years old, felt like I was an adult already.  Not that I rushed back with the stuff they wanted.  It would be dark before I got back.  At first I panicked a bit that some school guy would come try and cause a row for me and try to drag me back to school, but nobody ever did.  And so I stopped going all together. I’m not a dumbass though, despite what people say.  I can read and write and I know maths and stuff it’s just the other bullshit I’m not interested in.  Like reading a book that’s fiction.  Some guy made it all up in his fucking head, so who gives a shit?  Find me a book that tells me how to do shit, and I’m there, but a whole load of made up crap, I’ll probably use it to light my cigarettes with.
    I wasn’t in solitary for long.  I was right when I’d known there would be repercussions.  My ten years with probably release after five had suddenly turned into a twelve years with a minimum of eight.  I had to pretend to be real sorry for blinding Diane in her left eye and causing her so much pain, not to mention the problems Alicia had been having when I fractured her skull.  She was having headaches and blackouts and shit like that.  SO there I was, sat in the governor’s office, my hands cuffed to the chain around my waist and my feet in shackles. 
    “…and you now have to try and regain some of that trust.  Not only with us, but with your fellow inmates.  It’s not going to be easy”
    The Governors voice droned on and on, and I stopped listening.  The haircutting woman, I’d forgotten her name…the one who had sheared all my hair off into this stupid buzzcut, told me that a smile can win more people over than a scowl.  And so I didn’t scowl.  Not that I smiled either, I had this weird thing when I smiled that made people afraid of me, more so now I had a little confidence.  Ha!  Diane was blind on one eye now.  Fuck her.  That would teach her.  Now they would see what a proper top dog could do in a place ripe for the picking like this one.
    “Are you even listening, Taylor?”
    “Uh sure”, I replied, “and I’m real sorry for what I done, sir”, I replied, casting my head to the floor.  This was the part of the establishment that couldn’t be bought, or changed.  This was the system that had to be worked around.  And so I worked it best I could.
    “It’s just…after the attack, and having to come here in the first place, I guess I lashed out.  So now I have extra years to think about what I did, huh?  Plus, none of my friends in there are gonna trust me for a while now.”
    “Very true”, the governor said nodding, “I’m glad to hear you made a few