5 days felt like 5 years as Jake The Snake poured the sugary concoction of sugar packets and toothpaste onto the sandblasted window. The criminals were always one step ahead weren't they? Most of the cell windows in SHU were sandblasted so inmates couldn't see out of them but someone had developed a special potion that seemed to solve the problem.
As the sun baked through the sugary crystals smeared on the window making it transparent Jake The Snake gaped in disappointment. He could see the green grass and most of the snow had melted. He placed his palm against the 4 inch wide window and felt an icy chill. This was good news. It was still very cold outside. Hopefully the snowmen hasn't melted completely.
The inmates in the SHU weren't allowed to wear wristwatches but Jake The Snake guessed it was about 9am. The morning meds were always disbursed at 8:30am and it felt like a good half hour had gone by since he'd flushed his meds down the toilet. Any minute the guards should be pounding on his cell door telling him to pack up and get ready to go back out into the general population.
Suddenly he heard a faint scratching sound on the floor and he quickly turned around. Lying just inside the cell door was a 3x3" piece of floor tile attached to a micro thin piece of unravelled thread from a bed sheet. Things like this happen all the time. This was how other inmates passed around notes, magazines, or even contraband. They would carefully unravel thread from their bed sheets and then tie it to a piece of floor tile that they had kicked up from the floor. Then they would kick the piece of floor tile under their cell door to another cell door across the hall. If the prison didn't have tiled floors they would use the tiny soap bars that you find at hotels.
Fred walked over to the door of his cell and pressed his fiendish face against the bulletproof glass window. Across the hallway looking at him with Kermit The Frog eyes was a big bald headed Muslim with an unkempt beard nearly a foot long. The Muslim gave him a thumbs up from behind the glass and Jake The Snake knew what to do. He picked up the piece of floor tile and gradually pulled on the line watching it grow thicker and thicker. A People magazine slid through the door as Jake The Snake pulled the remainder of the line like he was pulling in a fish from a pond.
Jake The Snake returned the thumbs up to the Muslim guy then took a seat on the bunk bed with a mattress full of crumbs and other food particles. Unless they wanted to eat their meals on the floor, the bunk bed was basically the dinner table.
Fred's face lit up when he saw the front page of the magazine. There was a poorly drawn sketch of the Gadget Man and a three hundred thousand dollar reward for information leading to his capture. Wow! The Feds must want him pretty bad! Unfortunately inmates were not allowed to earn commission while incarcerated so he could never collect the three hundred thousand bucks. Besides, Jake The Snake wanted out of jail altogether.
Fred quickly rifled through the People magazine looking for the story about the Gadget Man when he was startled by the pounding on his cell door.
"What are you doing in there?" Shouted a Correctional Officer, "Looking at those girly magazines?"
Jake The Snake stood up from the bed like a private would in the ARMY. An exhilarating rush surged through his stoic body.
"Am I going back out onto the compound?" He asked excitedly.
The Correctional Officer looked down at a clipboard. "Yeah you pinhead. Pack your stuff. Hurry up lets go."
The Correctional Officer walked away and Fred knew he'd be back in 5 minutes. Obviously there wasn't much for him to pack up because the BOP (Bureau Of Prisons) only allowed SHU inmates to have books, magazines, a few commissary items, and hygiene products.
Jake The Snake packed his few personal items into an empty pillow case then included a 3 page article about the Gadget Man that he ripped out of the People magazine. He stood impatiently behind the cell door holding the sack over his shoulder like Santa Clause. They weren't allowed hot water in the SHU so he was having a caffeine fit. As soon as he would get back to the unit the first order of business would be making a hot cup of instant coffee. Jake The Snake felt his snaky tongue whirligig around his lips. He could already taste the Maxwell House.