Lunch that day was the largest and best meal any of the new boys had received in months. This meal was the first that they would receive that left behind the jail food they were used to. Rice and beans were history along with miracle meat and moldy bread. From this point on, the boys would receive the same food that the guards ate: roasts, chops, chicken, fish, steaks and turkey. Lunch that day was cheeseburgers, fries and chocolate milk. Aaron began regretting he ate so much milk and cookies. Most of the boys thought they died and went to heaven. Conner knew he was in heaven. On this food, the boys would be able to sustain and grow healthy bodies.
That was vital to the program. The cost to feed one of the boys was 5 times the cost of a regular prisoner, but the guards considered it the cost of doing business. A healthy child was a happy child and a far more productive one. Besides: the guards didn’t have to pay for the food, the State footed the bill.
The new boys were still segregated from the older boys, but the boys were told that the segregation would end as of the next morning. Jimmy was the happiest to receive that news, he was the oldest one in the group, and there were several boys his age that he would rather be sitting with instead of the “babies” he was with now. He also assumed a couple of them were a little light in the loafers, and he didn’t want the other boys to assume he was too.
Following lunch the new boys were to remain in the mess hall for a meeting with the programs supervisor. Maybe some questions Aaron was constantly asking himself would be answered for him. He hoped so. Doc came into the mess hall and Conner saw him take a seat. Doc had treated Conner’s rectal tear just an hour earlier. And Conner wanted to join him, He scooted off Aaron’s lap and stood before the good doctor. Doc picked the boy up and sat him on his lap. Doc was back with the boys he loved, and for a few minutes he enjoyed his respite from the ward. Conner sat back with a belly sticking over his diaper and fell asleep within minutes. Doc sat back rubbing Conner’s stomach.
With the blowing of a whistle and the order of “Attention!” a man dressed in a suit and tie accompanied by several guards entered the room and all the boys were ordered to stand. He introduced himself and talked for about 20 minutes. Most of what he said, very few of the boys understood and needed it explained to them at a later time, but the gist of his speech was that his name was Mr. Holmberg and he was in charge of the special unit they were in. He told them they had some schooling to complete, and if they were good little boys, they would not have a problem. If they took the “wrong path” they would very deeply regret it. The boys were told that from that point on, they would be under the direct supervision of the caretakers, and that the guards would see to it that they were “meeting expectations”, but they were administrators not child care workers so the boys would be seeing less of them unless discipline required otherwise. Aaron wasn’t exactly sure what he was hearing! Was he saying the guards wouldn’t be around them that much? Was this fucking Christmas? Mr. Holmberg then left and the guards followed him out. The boys were now alone with no one except trustees, 3 of them.
An older trustee stood up and walked in front of the boys. He introduced himself and then he introduced the other two trustees. He told the boys that he was known as “Gramps” and that the other trustee’s names were Peter and Coach. He wasn’t yelling, screaming or scowling at the boys, he was actually talking to them as though they were real people. Aaron was thunderstruck. Was this a trick? Did he have a stick being held behind his back that he was going to bring out and whack the shit out of them with? Aaron wasn’t really sure. Gramps continued. “Boys, the guard’s job was to get your attention and demonstrate to you what could happen. They don’t play games, and you could find yourselves seriously hurt if you don’t follow directions very carefully.” All of the boys knew that that was no load of bullshit! It was exactly the way they knew it to be. Gramps continued “Michael is the team leader of this group, we answer to him. He will be back just before dinner and will take charge of his group.”
“Your caretakers will not harm or hurt you, but they will report any problems that can’t be solved amongst ourselves. Your caretakers are inmates. I’m an inmate. You’ll be split into 4 groups. We will live together for the next three months. We’ve got a big job ahead of us. Let’s make it as smooth as we possibly can for everyone.” Aaron felt like clapping.
Gramps then rattled off the names (not the numbers) of each boy and assigned him to a caretaker. Aaron, Conner, Jimmy and Mark would go with Michael. Aaron was particularly happy to be going with Michael. To Aaron, he was one of the more gentle trustees, and he was the boss of all the caretakers. That was pretty important stuff in jail Aaron knew.
The boys followed the caretakers down many corridors and eventually came to a section that would be their new “home” for the next 3 months. Gramps stood by the door and turned around looking at the boys. “Gentleman, you’re not in Kansas anymore!” With that he opened the door and the boys filed in.
There were 4 dorms in their section, each with it’s own area of two bedrooms. The center of the unit had a large common area and a large bathroom with showers and toilets. It also had a small kitchenette and laundry room. Aaron wondered why the place had a laundry room. All the kids had no clothes on so why bother?
After the last 4 months, it looked like a sterile paradise to Aaron but it was paradise. The beds had mattresses and blankets, pillows and sheets. The common area had couches and a TV. There was a water cooler in the kitchenette and it actually had water in it. The bathrooms had towels and toilet paper. The showers had soap and shampoo. It was Christmas for Aaron and the other boys, all 19 of them. Gramps allowed the boys to look around, and then gathered his group into his room. All the other caretakers took their boys into their rooms and their education began. Michael was still not there and Aaron’s group had a substitute caretaker who Aaron recognized as one of Doc’s assistants. “Michael will be joining you again just before dinner. This afternoon we have a full schedule of things we have to do, so take some time to look around, we’ll be leaving in about 15 minutes.” Aaron and the boys went exploring.
The dorm they would be calling “home” had two bedrooms. The first bedroom had two large beds in it. The second bedroom was much larger and had a king sized bed, dresser, TV and some chairs in it. This room was Michael’s Aaron assumed because the room had pictures of Michael with groups of boys in them, a lot of pictures. Aaron studied the pictures. All the boys were naked like they were and all the boys looked really happy. Aaron wondered why? Aaron also noticed that in most of the pictures, Michael was also naked. After 4 months in jail, Aaron had seen more than a few naked men, and most of them had a body that Aaron wouldn’t consider too appealing to look at if he wasn’t being forced to. To Aaron, Michael certainly wasn’t a boy, but he wasn’t a hairy ape either. His penis was certainly the size of a grown man, but the rest of him was more boyish looking than he had seen previously. Michael’s naked body didn’t scare or repulse him as was normally the case. He wondered why? Aaron studied the boys’ faces in the pictures. He searched for any signs that indicated that the boys were not happy, didn’t want to be there, were afraid or withdrawn. Except for the fact that they were naked, they all looked like they were taking a group picture at Disneyworld! Not one boy in the pictures made any attempt to cover their genitals. To the contrary a few seemed to have boners! Aaron curiosity grew by the minute and he wanted to find the answers to the questions he had piling into his mind.