The "little" girls (Ruth and Joanna, who really are completely adult-sized but haven't shed their title from years gone by) and I hit the road early this morning.
They were going to catch a ride with another family from church to a Revival Conference in Oklahoma this morning, so we got going bright and early. I also had milk deliveries to make in Springfield to our milk customers. Anyway, the girls finished packing their clothes and I packed the coolers of milk and we headed off to Springfield.
We had been driving for nearly an hour, uneventfully, singing along with songs, talking, laughing... all the usual stuff we do during car rides. Joanna was staring out the window at a crew of guys in orange reflective vests cleaning up the side of the highway. You know, picking up trash, trimming bushes... nothing too out of the ordinary.
The silence was broken.
"Mare?" she began.
"Yes?"
"Those guys cleaning up the roadside... did you say that they're prisoners or something?"
"Uh, yeah... They are. I mean, they're probably on a work-release program or something. I mean, they're the kind of not-so-bad guys who have been behaving themselves in prison, so they get taken out to clean up the roads... At least I think that's how it works..."
Joanna stared thoughtfully as we passed another one who stole a glance at the passing car.
"So, um... they're not like, um... serial killers or anything, right?"
Uh.
"I don't think so. But you know, I never asked."
Maybe the guy wielding the weed-eater was indeed just that...?
Come to think of it, did you ever ask? Maybe if even the worst guy is really good in prison, they let him go clean up the roads?
Just a question Joanna was wondering...
And I've been chuckling about ever since.
It never crossed my mind to worry about that.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
If it's any comfort to Joanna, they were probably from OCC. At least if you saw them along hwy 60. It is not a really high security prison.
Several men from our church hold services there regularly (including David), and what they have found there, is mostly drug abuse and the related theft.
Actually, every time I've been there for a service, I come away quite inspired by these ordinary guys, trying to live for God behind a fence, and at the same time trying to get over growing up in circumstances that were FAR from ideal.
Of course, it's only a small percentage who come to our services!
Post a Comment