FRESH
YARN PRESENTS:
My
Lesbian Love Letter from Prison (Or So I Thought)
By Jill Morley
PAGE
TWO:
Awww.
My first lesbian love letter from an inmate. I was honored. And
excited. Having never been to prison before, I find it intriguing
and kind of sexy. This was untapped danger territory for me. Criminals
who were actually imprisoned have been tough for me to get to before
this.
Yes,
I have been working on getting myself back "into the light"
as far as my interests go. Having lost two friends to their over-explorations
into dark territories, I have been looking to find the joy in life
above ground.
But
ever since seeing Chicago, I find the idea of women in prison
glamorous. I picture Catalin in a glimmery beaded costume and a
short dark bob. All of the other prisoners are gorgeous trained
dancers who sing about how they committed murders, counterfeited
money, robbed banks and exacted revenge. They dance together in
the jail yard, leaping over picnic tables during their recreation
period, and possibly dance on cars. I know I am mixing the film
Fame with Chicago but it's my fantasy, dammit.
I bragged
about this letter to all of my friends. I carried it in my purse
with me wherever I went for the next two days in a manila folder
as proof of my newly found street cred. I was so tempted to write
back, establish a correspondence with Catalin, bring her brownies,
nail files baked in cakes, and fine lingerie sewn into stuffed animal
heads. I wanted to know more...
My
friend, Lucy, a dominatrix and professional Bettie Page impersonator,
decided to do an Internet search on my version of Catherine Zeta
Jones. Lit cigarette dangling out of her mouth, Lucy, typed Catalin's
name into the Google box and hit "enter."
Several
articles came up with Catalin's name in it. I get even more excited.
Roxie Hart, here I come!
"Looks
like you hit the jackpot here. This is one famous bitch," Lucy
exclaimed, her ashes dropping onto the keyboard as we read the articles.
But
things turned ugly. To my horror, we find out Catalin, who was involved
in an infamous case in the early '90s, is, in fact, a man.
A 40-year-old day trader who lived with his mother in New York City.
Apparently he lured a 14-year-old judge's daughter to a motel, gave
her alcohol, had sex with her and taped the encounter. He is the
first prisoner serving a life sentence for child pornography charges.
That's what happens when you target the judge's daughter (Frown
Face).
But
he never even got the sex act on tape. He only filmed for 11 minutes.
The tape stopped because he forgot to rewind. This is who is sending
me fan letters. An incompetent child pornographer -- getting life
for a sex act he didn't even get on tape. Pathetic. No wonder there
were all the Smiley and Frown faces in the letter. He had met her
on the Internet in a chat room. I wanted to throw up.
The
letter took on a whole new meaning. I read it again, but instead
of seeing a heavily made up moll with a dark bob and beaded dress
with a pout, I envisioned a sleazy, straight, middle-aged white
man.
Please
write back, Clarise. Eek!
Lucy
thought Catalin was getting a really bad deal. She told me that
14 is just like 16 and that 16 might as well be 18. "If you
are old enough to get pregnant," she says, "you are old
enough to decide who you want to sleep with."
I reminded
her that this man lured the girl to a motel room and gave her alcohol.
Lucy
actually told me that he is probably good looking if he got a 14-year-old
to come see him. He probably sent her a picture of himself. I wanted
to smack Lucy. She then encouraged me to answer his letter to see
"if there is anything there."
But
then I remembered that Lucy has a high tolerance for the eccentric
and insane. As a professional dom, she's had clients who were kinky
businessmen asking her to do things to them that most of us couldn't
imagine, let alone pay for. Her primary slave at her dungeon is
a Japanese businessman who brings four boiled eggs, for each session.
After giving him an enema, she tells him to strip naked and shove
the four eggs up his ass. Then, she calls the other mistresses in
and yells that he had better "lay those eggs like a good chicken!"
With a very serious expression on his face, he squawks like a chicken
and lays those eggs. At the end of the hour, she's $300 richer,
he's properly humiliated, and Lucy is just a little more twisted.
As
the years have passed, I have been working diligently on untwisting.
I notice that life is becoming less dramatic, but more livable.
I am married to a wonderful man who is stable, has a job, was never
incarcerated and is still interesting. I don't know as many people
who are in life-or-death situations, and don't worry so much about
myself going down the rabbit hole to uncertain depths. I don't even
associate with Lucy anymore, let alone incarcerated people who I
don't know.
In
the end, my lesbian love letter from prison was stripped of glamour,
infused with reality and now sits in an old filing cabinet somewhere,
reminding me of where I don't want to go anymore.
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