Juvenile Detention

By: Rick Masters
(© 2015-2016 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 26
The Return

"Hello, Mr. Tolmers. Welcome back. Glad you are well enough to join us again. Thanks for bringing him here, Officer Albert." Officer Stuart greeted them.

"Look after him, Stu. He's a good lad and will help your other inmates to improve. I'll see you around, young man. Remember, if you feel anything strange with yourself, tell your officer and he will arrange to get you checked out."

"Thank you, Officer Albert. See you."

Albert left the office, leaving Josh with Stuart. "Right. There is no point in trying to get to a class now; you would only be a disturbance and have to leave almost as soon as you sit down. You can help me with some of my work until I take you to the mess hall for lunch. After lunch go with the guys and enjoy what you can of whatever they are doing this afternoon."

"Thanks, Officer Stuart. What do you want me to do?"

"How good is your maths?"

"I'm pretty good. In the top group of my class at school."

"Good. I have been struggling for a bit this morning and I can't get the block's accounts to balance. I have made a mistake somewhere, but I can't see it. Here are all the invoices and charges, and this is the book I have recorded them in. I am one thousand and eight hundred pounds out."

"Ten to one that is a transposition."

"How can you be so sure?"

"If the number is divisible by nine that usually indicates there is a transposed number somewhere in your workings. And you can't find it because you have written it all down yourself so you are looking at but not seeing your mistake."

"You sound so confident about this. Do they teach this sort of thing at school now?"

"Some of it. But my father was an accountant, and he taught me quite a bit before he died."

"Ahh, so the man who refused to help you is not your real father then?"

"Yeah, he's my step father, I guess. But more likely he is my mother's fuck toy and that is about it."

"Easy does it, Mr. Tolmers. You are not going to get anywhere feeling like that about him. You are still going to have to deal with him when you get out."

"I know, but I am not going back to live with them if I can help it."

"Well that is your decision. But I would not count on it, and you don't know, you might just change your mind before you finish up here."

"I doubt it. Now let's look at this paperwork."

Josh sat down with the sheaf of papers and the ledger book and began to go through it. "Why don't you put this all on the computer and let it do all the maths for you?"

"Mainly because I don't know the program or understand it, and Mr. Succum is worse than me," Officer Stuart confessed.

"Maybe I can help you with that. What program do you use? - Excel?"

"I think that is what it is called." Officer Stuart moved over to the PC and clicked it to bring the screen back again. "Come and look and see if you know it."

Josh went around and watched as Officer Stuart tapped in his username and password. Since the officer was a chicken typist - hunt and peck - Josh was able to follow the keystrokes he made and stored the username and password in his memory for the future. He was not remembering it in the hope that he would be able to use it to do something wrong with it, but rather so that he could just log in without having to get anyone else to do it for him, if he got to work on the pc a bit, which he hoped would happen. Josh had been missing his laptop and just wanted to get back onto a computer to keep his hand in.

After looking at it for a bit Josh realised that though it was a specifically written program, it used excel as its base and all the formulas were done in the same manner as they would be for a straight excel spread sheet. Josh went through it for a short while but only having the one hand to use he found that he was getting frustrated at not being able to work as efficiently on the keyboard as he was used to.

"This is a fairly straightforward program, but I can't work it too well with only one hand. If you and Mr. Succum want, I can show you how to use it when the plaster comes off."

"Thank you, Mr. Tolmers. I think I would like to take you up on that offer, but Mr. Succum will have to approve it first."

"Sure, no probs. Let me take a look at the snail way of doing this then." Josh returned to the sheaf of papers and after getting a pencil he sat at the desk and began to go through the entries in the book. "Do you have to do it in this way, or would you be allowed to change the order around a bit and put different things in different columns?"

"I don't really know. This is just the way we have done it going back I don't know how long. All I know is that when I walk into the accounts office with my book and envelope of papers there is a collective groan from the people who work there."

"Well I am not an accountant, but my dad did teach me stuff before he died, and I know why they groan. There is no real plan or order to these entries, which it makes it much harder to see if there is anything that needs urgent attention or could possibly be wrong."

"I will talk to Mr. Succum and see what he thinks, and we will let you know on that score. In the mean time I will be glad if you could just find my mistake."

For the next twenty minutes Josh work through a miss-mash of invoices, receipts and bills, ticking lines in the ledger and sorting the documents into their separate types. "Found it!" he called out and Stuart moved over to Josh to be shown where he had gone wrong.

"What did I do wrong?"
"You made the same mistake twice. You have entered this invoice for the repairs to the showers but have transposed the numbers and then you have entered it again from the statement and transposed the numbers again. So you have entered five thousand four hundred twice instead of four thousand five hundred and that gives you your difference of one thousand eight hundred."

"As simple as that! Thank you, Josh."

"No problem, Officer Stuart. Glad I could help. It got my brain thinking again. I can't wait to get back into the classes. Sitting around with nothing to do makes you go completely do-lally."

"Yes, I think having classes like that helps to maintain some order and a level of peace we would not have if the guys just sat around with nothing in particular to think about."

"Yeah, although I think there are some that find just walking to the classes in silence with only their thoughts to accompany them a bit too taxing for their IQ."

"Yeah. Okay, smartass, I think we had better look to starting out on our walk. Once I am sure you are safely with Mr. Seymour and Mr. Jones I will leave you to stay with them for the afternoon. Do them a favour and stick to them like glue. They and others will do their best to protect you if there is another attack. I know you are not really going to like that, but give them a thought too. Mr. Succum will come down on them like a ton of bricks if they let you get hurt when they should have been looking out for you."

"Shit, it is a wonder I am not wrapped in cotton wool and bubble wrap and locked away in the Bank of England's vault."

"Josh, you are intelligent enough to know that you are particularly lacking in street savvy and the culture of Academies such as this one. Most of the guys in here know a lot more than you do on that score. They can use that knowledge to their advantage, and a good number do. If they decided to attack you again, there is no way you could handle it on your own. You would end up in intensive care for a good long time and probably finish your sentence in a physiotherapy unit trying to get some limb working again."

"Shit! Why do so many people always have to be right with these things?"

"Because certain individuals are right about so many other things. Come on, let's go and make some people's days."

Officer Stuart led off with Josh walking beside him. While Stuart was allowed to talk he did not because he did not want to tempt Josh to respond in a section where no talking was permitted. They had left it a bit late and when they were still a short distance away they saw the tail end of the cell block line disappearing through the door to the mess hall. Of course this did not matter too much as Officer Stuart opened the door and ushered Josh through it before taking him up to the head of the line. As Chris and Andy had already got their meal, he assisted Josh by carrying his mess tray for him. At least with Officer Stuart there the servers were more careful with how they put the food on the tray and Josh noticed that at some things he held the tray and nodded to the one serving and Josh got a small extra helping. It was still silent time so he could not say anything. Stuart then carried his mess tray and led Josh over to join Andy and Chris. He put the tray down on the table and waited for the gong to signal the end of silence before he spoke to them.

"Mr. Tolmers is back in the block now. Make sure the whole block knows it is everyone's responsibility to keep him safe. If anyone has a problem with that I want to know and we will work it out with them. Mr. Seymour, report back to me at the desk this evening." And with that Officer Stuart left the dining hall.

"Shit, do I really need a whole cell block of body guards?"

"That was more of a tactic," Andy explained in a whisper. "Word will get around that the whole cell block has to look after you and that will prevent many from even considering doing anything to you. Besides which, Bravo Cell Block is a team. We are all in it together and that is why we have less hassles than any of the others. If you don't want to work as a team you will soon learn to."

"Also we girls might try to take advantage of you now that you have got one arm out of action," Jasmine teased. "No, really, we are glad you are back with us. And my girls will also be watching your back for you."
"Thank you. I am amazed at how kind everyone is being."

"Josh, you don't just get given that, you earn it. So don't be amazed; be proud," Carole said.

"But you all hardly know me. How could I have earned it already?"

"You earned it by being you. Being man enough to take a spit roast your first day here. Being honest and thoughtful towards us. By getting your overalls in record time. By not seeking revenge for the things that have been done to you. You know that you are much more intelligent than any two of us put together but you don't flaunt that. I am guessing we will all look to you for some help with our school work before your time is up and I am willing to bet my balls that you will help wherever you can without asking for anything in return," Chris told Josh. "So, shit yes, you will get us looking after you to protect you. All I ask is that you don't make it difficult for us just so that you feel more comfortable."

"So what did they say at the hospital today?" Andy changed the subject. He could see that Josh was getting a bit embarrassed by what was being said.

"Oh, it was pretty cool in some ways. They cut the plaster cast off to do an ultrasound test, but Officer Albert had to hold my arm to stop me straightening it. It was weird because even though I knew I was not supposed to straighten it and I tried, some other part of my brain must have taken over and I could not stop myself from trying to straighten for a few seconds, which is why the doctor had Officer Albert hold it. But the muscle is healing well and they think the plaster cast will only be on for another week. Hopefully the pain will be better by then too."

"I hear you are quite good with the old cue stick. What say you we have a few rounds of pool in the library this afternoon?" Carole asked.

"What is this? Carole setting herself up to beaten in the game she is current champion of?" Chris asked, smiling.

"Is that what you think? Care to put a little wager on a game?"

"If I had any money, I gladly would and take you for whatever I could get."

"Do you agree with that, Andy?" Carole was still defending her stand.

"One hundred percent. I have never seen anyone play as well as Josh does," Andy concurred.

"Come on, guys. You make it sound like I am the world champion instead of just the school champion. Only I have one small problem. You need two hands to play pool and I have only one that is working right."

"Damn! That means it will have to wait. After all I don't want you claiming a disadvantage when I pulverise you." Carole pouted.

To be continued...

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Posted: 04/15/16