05 Sept 07

Odds & Ends

Phoenix has had thirty-one days of 110 degrees or higher. Guards and prisoners are spending most of the day indoors – except for Iron Man. Citing my imminent release, Iron Man is justifying us working out harder than ever. So far my injuries have been limited to a torn chest muscle (it felt like I had a nail stuck in my chest for two weeks, and when I sneezed it felt like I’d been shot in the chest), and some heatstroke following a thirty-minute run at midday – what Iron Man calls endurance training.

A swarm of honey bees descended on the yard, panicking prisoners, and attached itself to the chow hall, causing the exit to be closed for two days. Toads, horned lizards, and rattlesnakes have been appearing. Over the weekend, rattlesnakes bit six people in Tucson. But affecting us most are the flies. The chow hall is teeming with them. They land on my food and tickle my hands as I eat. One dived into my rice, and wallowed in it as if it were a pig. A guard hung a fly strip from the ceiling in the chow hall, and many fly corpses are now stuck to it.

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