DUANE LOOKED AROUND him. The Green Mile had disappeared from the cell floor. Another day. There was a new book on the shelf: The Bird Man of Alcatraz. Duane had seen the old black and white movie. Pops' favorite. Pops had loved the old timers' movies. It was about a prisoner in solitary confinement who catches a bird and makes it his pet. He fills his cell with birds in little cages he makes by himself, and learns all about birds and becomes an expert, better than all the other experts. He saves birds' lives from diseases with his special cures. Duane picked up the book and lay down on his bunk. Prisons were better places in the olden days, he reflected.
His cell door opened and the male techie walked in. Duane put down his book.
"What're you doing here?" he asked. Sweet Ass had run her
