The Night Ice Bath

As the proud, stoic middle-aged man with a smile as wide as the mouth of the Mississippi was nudged down the dorm hall by his bunk mate who looked like that tall bearded wizard from Harry Potter, he fist-bumped and high- fived the guys lining the cold, cinder block walls as if he was entering his childhood surprise birthday party. However, this was a very different rite of passage. One that began well before the ice plunge TikTok challenge.

Now, the chills already crawled down his spine as he inhaled the delicious aroma of the iron-toasted burritos as he passed dinner time in the "kitchen" one last time. All of his senses were on overload as the excitement of a better, brighter future lit up his hazel eyes glowing on his last night of his three year stint. The door to the pyramid shaped bathroom was propped open by the sea of humanity flowing past the broken urinals and filthy toilets.

As he entered the thick cloud of cigarette smoke to the bombastic cheers of the culturally diverse, yet intimately intertwined lives, he realized there would be no more stand up counts, no more posted call outs and no more unexplained lock downs. As two fellow prison brothers, one who could have been Batman's arch enemy the Penguin and the other who may have played as Denzel Washington's stunt double, gently sat the guy into the gray plastic chair centered in the room, nobody noticed the dirty sinks and moldy showers anymore.

The stout, but strong Latino heaved the industrial grade yellow mop buckets overflowing with fresh ice water up high towards the cracked ceiling as he stood on the center island bench above the honoree with his now partially closed eyes and gasp of bated breathe. The crowd roared with excitement and shivered with ecstasy as the glacial freeze crashed down like a tumbling glacier onto the awaiting recipient.

Despite the frigid polar plunge, his veneer smile never left his face as he knew freedom arrived and opportunities as many as the falling, glistening cubes awaited as he was set to depart the fenced yard in the early morning. Tonight was his night. Some time soon, my night will come. Eventually, it will be everyone's turn.

Anonymous is a member of the Ministry’s White Collar Support Group™ that meets every Monday evening on Zoom, and is currently serving their sentence in Federal Prison.