(The story must be told that I was 20 years old and Grace was 15 so the blame on anything was mine. Even with her that young she was mentally older than me. I will say that without her I would most likely not lived a long life. )
I woke up about 4 am with a scaping sound on the boat with the sound of boys talking , I run up to the deck and see two of Graces cousins Dudey and Ralph I think, trying to a\tie the boat to another boat, what the hell are you’ll doing, we untied the boat and it is going out to the gulf with the tide , you idiots. I look and we are a long way from where the boat was tied, how am I going to get the boat back ,dam. The boys are laughing but I know the old man will blame me. The Violet canal is nasty, not a place to swim, but I have no choice, I jump in with the rope in hand. It takes me over a hour to get the boat back at the mooring place that it was before they untied it, I was completely wore out , the boys help me up , but the boat start going down the canal again , before I have time to tie it off, I scream to Dudey to throw the anchor out, he tells but the eeee, throw the dam anchor Dudey, so he throws it overboard, I watch the chain roll down into the water and to my dismay I discover it isn’t attached to the boat. Dam Dudey why didn’t you tell me it wasn’t connected, I tried he said. I jump back into the water another 20 minutes to get the boat back to the mooring but this time I tie the boat off to the pier. I am getting out of the water when old man Mac walks down the hill what the heel is going on, why is my boat moved, the two boys are like rabbits , jump from the boat and run like hell. I stand there with a dumb look, they untied the boat I have been hours getting it back, Mac what the hell were they doing on my boat, I tell him I don’t know , I woke up and they were there. Come in to the house and dry off , I have no shower. I walk over to where grace had stayed the night and tapped on the window , what you doing, she laughs nothing what you doing , I tell her the story she just laughs, what a night. We all end up at Granny Nonas house for breakfast Walter has had enough of me , he calls me out side to tell me he wants me to leave and to leave immediately, that him and Nellie were going to take matters on their own if I don’t , without hesitation I tell him to go to hell, he swings to slap me but he was way to slow, old man I will hurt you the next time you try to hit me , you understand. He walks away in a huff , he turns around twice to show his discontent for me. The day was bad everywhere I turned people were trying to convince me that I needed to go, I was not the least bit persuaded in fact I told them so. Grace and I walked around Violet for most of the day just talking , we kidded each other about not being together, she ask what will happen if I get pregnant, we will have a baby , I tell her , that’s all, do you love me , yes , you know I do. I wonder what my dad will say when he see you , I don’t think he will be happy, I tell her I am not worried about him, he probably should worry more about me, Grace shakes her head. I have never been a man that was smitten by a woman, of course I liked women but not where I was wanting to keep one, Grace was different I knew that I wanted her and that I wanted a family with her, I am not a complicated person I feel and see what I want, even with no money, nothing I knew what I wanted. The nigh was getting late I walked Grace to her uncle Richards house to spend the night and kissed her goodnight and headed to the boat. Old man Mac meets me at the pier , I see a chain and pad lock holding the boat back so no one can untie this night, I laugh he tells me sleep good, it may be your last for awhile, why I ask, you are AWOL from the army aren’t you son, yes I am, well that old man called them today I was told so your days are numbered, well if it happens I will be ready to go back and finish my time, good night. I wake up at about 4 am with two men asking me my name, I tell them, are you in the Army yes , come with us, I walk to the top of the boat they put handcuffs on me and lead me to the car, I walk past old man Macs door , he looks out, good luck son, you have more character then all these young boys, be safe. I arrive at the parish jail and it is awful the dirties place I have ever been, what the hell this should be what hell looks like for sure. I sit by this young guy that looks about my age and we start to talk, he ask me what you in for , Awol, what the hell is that, I am absent without leave from the Army, I ask what are you here for , I killed a women and shot her husband in a robbery, what the hell you say, I got up and moved. I didn’t know at the time I made a bad decision, I walked over and started talking to other men just to find out they all were bad , I decided to be alone, another mistake. The jailer comes up to the door of the holding cell , Boyanton, yes, you are going to Orleans parish prison in about 30 minutes get ready, I tell him humm ok, get ready I have nothing. I turned around to see my murderer guy blocking my path, hey cupcake I din’t like you walking away from me, you don’t like me, I realize this guy is crazy, look buddy I want no problems I am leaving for parish prison I a few minutes just let it die, he didn’t move from my path, I decided that it wasn’t going to be a good situation regardless so I hit him as hard as I could and jump on him hitting him over and over again, the last thing I remember was being kicked by one of the other, lets not say gentlemen. I woke up in a cell with two other men, what going on I ask, they tell me I was knock out when they put me on the floor in the cell, dam. I was hurting all over my body, about that time the jailer and two other men game to take me to Orleans parish prison, my thoughts where that any place was better than this, I was so wrong, this was the Hilton Hotel compared to Orleans parish prison. I sleep all the way to New Orleans parish prison when we arrive I say to my self this isn’t good oh my god this isn’t good at all. I am put in a holding cell with over fifty men , I can’t believe my eyes , for the first time in my life I see two men naked together and it was awful I walk by in horror. I look around this cell for a place to sit I see this young guy and decide that at least he is big and clean like me maybe we have something in common, I set by him and start up a conversation, he tells me when the night comes those black men over there find some young guy and rapes him, do what I ask, he says this is the devils den and the horrors are unbelievable. I ask have they messed with you, he tells me they tried last night but just as it started looking like he was going to have to protect himself they brought in a very young teenage looking boy, they took him to the toilet area and raped him, when the night comes this place is a living hell, they walk around and challenge everyone. I am sitting there wondering what will the night bring , this huge black man comes over to where we are sitting he ask me my name , I tell him, you want to come over by me, hell no I don’t , I am not asking, I don’t care if you are are not, mister leave me alone, all of a sudden there are ten of these black men and it looks very bad. He tells me come on over our he would drag me over, I think to myself that no matter how this turns out it want be good, the big guy beside me stands up , you guys better go back over to the other side , about this time the door opens and two MPs are standing by the jailer, Boyanton, I said here , come own you are leaving. I walk towards the jail door when one of those men bitched slapped me so hard with his hand his finger prints were their for days, I struggled to the door walking over many bodies, I looked over my shoulder to see the big guy with all the black guys around him, I know not what happen but I still wonder to this day how it turned out, the jail was maybe the worst place on earth. I arrive at Fort Polk Louisiana , at this time the greatest place on earth, they take the handcuffs off me and turn me over to the officer , the office ask me are you ready to get this last year behind you, hell yes, never again do I every want to go back to New Orleans. Tobe contu