Chuir muid a tugtha ar braighdeanach arú inné. Ghearr sé air go Tehachapi. Is príosún é leis breis agus sé chéad cimí ina ghleann tirim ceithre chéad troighithe ar airde in aice leis an diseart. Fásionn doirí glas ar an cnoic leis an dath na brioscóidí i teas an tsamhraidh dhúr seo. Bhí cluain go halainn leis bláthannaí léana go leor fadó nuair chónaithe Indiaigh na gCalifoirnea ansin. D'inis ár theaghlach go raibh pairc na stait níos luath ansin. Thóg priomh-charcair na mbán ina stait seo ar feadh an Lagan Mór Trachta ina tríochtaí. (Éist ar bheirt scannáin "The Maltese Falcon" & "Double Indemnity" go curamach.)
Bhí crith go hollmhór ann i 1952: 7.5! Rinne sé dochar an áit, "ar nádúrtha"! Athógásaigh sé chomh príosún na dhá chéad agus leath fír. Ach, tá níos mo a airde an roinnt sin ann inniu. Tá sé plódaithe chomh gach príosún i gCalifoirnea mar sin na dlíthe atá i bhfeidhm go háirithe le drugaí anseo.
Bhí seomra ar cuairt a luchtú fós. Chonaic mé cime a phaiste a luascaidh ag imeall sé leis pinífin stríocach. Bhí buachaill óg ag rince le háthas ag timpeall ag cosa a phaidir. Póg a tughta do bheirt go fada-- ar aghaidh cóiriú!
Bhí sé mo ceithre huair ag dul isteach faoi ghlas ar cuairt. Ar scor ar bith, ní dheachaigh mise leis mo bhean a tí agus mo mhac ar chéile liomsa. Ar ndóigh, chuir Tehachapi ó bhaol is láidir an chuid eile ar fad.
Ní bhuail "B.C." do féin féin cheana. (Tabharfaidh mé leasainm air.) Ní fhaca muid riamh go dtí sin é. Bhí muid imníoch lena linn ag fanacht.
Ach, chomh luath agus bhuail leis féin linn, bhí muid riamh ar ár shuaimhneas ina láthair. Is maith linn "B.C." Lhabhair sé go díosgraiseach faoi scéaltaí go moch, anois, agus amárach airsean féin.
Dúirt muid leis sé faoi na litreachaí ag scríofa go dtí seo. D'fhoghlaim muid faoi a bhreith. Fad a bhí sé faoi phianbhreith, chaith sé ag cinneadh ar chomhairle. Bhí cúrsa báis ní beatha é.
Taobh a thógáil leis oidhreacht Guídach. Stád sé féin ar aghaidh nua-Naitsíthe im bpríosún. Ní throid leis siad chomh 'na ciníochaí gealaí.'
Shíl mé an dúrud dó. B'eigean dom meas a bheith agam air. Chuala mo theaghlach faoi fior-chalmacht. Tá de mhisneach aige beart a dhéanamh de réir a thuarimí.
Fuair "B.C." faoi dúchas Giudách beágan ar bhéagan chomh anois. Ní raibh fhíos aige faoi sé mórán nuair bhí sé óg. Cuireann muid sé (agus dhá príosunachaí eile i mball eile ansúid i gCalifoirnea) sa phost leabhair Giúdach go rialta. B'fhéidir, gardaí a dhiultú faoi a chur leabhair eadaigh airithe thart ó an cinsire go siad. Tá gardaí in amhras acu go raibh ag earraí contrabhannacha istigh.
Mar sin, measaim go mbeadh muidsa a filleadh a feiceáil "B.C." go fóill beag ar cheadú oifigiúil. Is fearr cuairteoir le leabhar, mar sin feín. Beidh muid ar ais go gairid. Ní lhabhairt mé leis cara nua is fada le fada!
Paying a visit to prison
We paid a visit to a prisoner the day before yesterday. He was sent to Tehachapi. It's a prison with more than six thousand inmates in a dry valley four thousand feet high near the desert. Green oaks grow on hills the color of biscuits in the feverish heat of this blunt summer.
It was a lovely meadow with many wild flowers once, when the California Indians lived there. He told our family that it was a state park earlier there. The first prison for women in this state was built there during the Great Depression in the Thirties. (Listen to the pair of films "The Maltese Falcon" & "Double Indemnity" carefully.)
There was a huge quake in 1952: 7.5! It damaged the place, "naturally"! It was rebuilt as a prison for two-and-a-half thousand men. But, there's more than twice as much as that share there today. It's overcrowded like every prison in California because of the laws which are in force particularly relating to drugs here.
The room for visiting was full also. I saw a a child of a prisoner swinging around him with a striped pinafore. A young boy danced for joy about the foot of his father. A couple gave a long kiss-- against regulation!
It was my third time going inside behind bars (="under lock") visiting. However, I never went myself with my wife and my sons together. Of course, Tehachapi put the strongest security {than} of all the others there.
We had not met "B.C." himself ever before. (I will give him a nickname.) We had not seen him until then. We were nervous while waiting.
But, as soon as we met him in person, we were put at great ease. We like "B.C." He spoke feelingly concerning stories earlier, now, and tomorrow about himself.
We spoke with him about the letters written thus far. We learned about his sentence. It was a long severe sentence, within which he had to come to a decision. It was a matter of life and death.
He declared himself [=he took the side] of his Jewish inheritance. He stood against the Neo-Nazis in prison. He would not fight with them as {one of} "the white races" {=the 'bright' or 'shining' races" in Irish!}.
I had great admiration for him {="I thought of 'a great deal' within him"}. I was struck with a measure of pride for him. My family heard about true valor. He has courage within him for defending his convictions.
"B.C." found out about his Jewish heritage little by little, as now. He did not know about it much when he was young. We send him (and two other prisoners elsewhere out there in California) in the mail Jewish books regularly. Perhaps, guards may refuse to give out certain clothbound books through the censor to them. The guards are in suspicion of contraband goods inside them.
Therefore, I reckon that we may be returning to see "B.C." on official approval. A visitor's better than a book, all the same. We will be going back shortly. I have not spoken with a new friend for that long for so long!
Ghriangraf le/ Photo by Frank Kee: "Dhoirt Dia an Phéint/God Spilled the Paint." Blathannaí Leánaí na Shliabhraon Crith Talún in aice leis Sléibhte na Tehachapaigh. Wildflowers of Temblor Mountain Range near Tehachapi Mountains, 2005.
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