Birdie

2. To Visit an Inmate...

No clothing that looks like inmate clothing (khaki or green military type clothing.

No hats or caps.

No sleeveless garments.

That was the criteria Chance had to follow to be able to see Carmen. The list for women was much longer and in depth. After going through the short list of what he couldn't wear in his mind, Chance let out a sigh, and made his way to the closet to pull out some jeans and a grey collared shirt. He threw those on the bed along with a pair of socks, placed the shoes he was going to wear on the floor next to the bed, and went on to the en suite.

The water was close to scalding, Chance's back was killing him after yesterday. He had fallen off the ladder halfway up and landed so hard on his back that his breath escaped his body. The bruise was took up pretty much his whole back, and some spots were red from landing on rocks. The crew tried to convince him to go to the hospital, but Chance wasn't going for that. The water became so hot that it hurt, but at the same time relaxed it relaxed his muscles, so he took the pain, shuddering under the torrent for a few minutes until the searing pain-not much from the water- dwindled into a steady throbbing. He grabbed his soap, and rubbed it across his muscled chest, doing so with the rest of his large body before grabbing the grey washcloth hanging on the shower bar, and scrubbing that soap in until he had a nice lather. He then grabbed the gentle soap reserved only for his face, and his blue washcloth, and went on to about that task before washing his curly, brown hair, and stood directly under the water to rinse everything off.

Chancellor was a very particular man. Now, he wasn't, and didn't identify with being a type A, but he was somewhere close, at least with some things.

Chance stood in the shower for a few minutes more, then turned the flow off, and stepped out, wrapping a towel around his waist after drying off, and heading back to his room.

After he was dressed, and out of the house, on the hour drive to visit his sweet Carmen, Chance found himself nervous to see her. He hadn't been nervous to look at such a beautiful face since their first face to face visit, but the nerves weren't coming from seeing such raw beauty. The nerves were coming from their last few calls.

Carmen was unhappy, she was growing close to the end of her sentence, and she was sounding discouraged every time the two of them talked over the phone. She tried to hide it from her, but while Carmen knew Chance probably better than he knew himself, it was the same vice versa, and he knew exactly why she was upset.

Every time Chance visited Carmen, she had a smile on her face. He wasn't ready to not see that.

With a shake of his head, and a tightening of his hands on the old leather of his steering wheel, Chance pressed his foot down on the gas, even more anxious to see her, even if he was dreading the visit for the same reason.

When he arrived at the jailhouse, Chance looked down at his phone to check the time.

10:15 AM.

He hopped out without a second thought, patted his back pocket to make sure his wallet was there, and headed to the entrance, stopping at the front desk to sign in, and get his ID checked after passing through security. There were seven other people waiting in the area.

"Have a seat Mr. Seams, and I'll call you back in just a few, okay?" The man behind the desk was a polite, older man with a head full of white hair that was slicked back. It always shocked Chance that a man that had to be seventy had more hair than some men half his age.

"Sure," He responded, nodding as his shoved his hands in his pockets, throwing the older man a respectful smile.

He was led to the back before his ass hit the plastic chair, and Chance stopped as the officer turned, and lifted his arms and stood with his legs spread upon request, watching the officer pass the metal detector over his body. Chance was patted down next, something he hated the most, and the officer spoke to verify who he was seeing, "You're visiting inmate number 4879310, correct?"