Her head spinning at the same time it felt as if a rhinoceros had just rammed her in the stomach, Martha Traber sat behind the Defense Council's table, between her two lawyers, strained to the point of instinctual disconnect as the jury read her guilty verdict.
Despite the fact that Martha had been approached with several plea agreements from the Federal Prosecutors that would have taken any jail time off the table, she had stubbornly maintained her complete innocence throughout process, just knowing she would be exonerated in the end.
"Once I'm able to tell my side of the story to those jurors and they're able to see I'm not a crook or a cheat... that I'm basically just like most of their mothers or grandmothers... there's no way they could send me to jail," Martha had, in the end, falsely surmised.
* * * * *
One of the most beneficial qualities of the human mind is its ability to rationalize things even in the most extreme and trying of circumstances. Being led down the waxed maze of prison hallways at the Medford Detention Center for Women her first day of incarceration, Martha filled herself with a mixture of denial and bull headed optimism as she soaked in the scenery of her home for the next three years.
Contrary to many of the nightmarish things she kept herself awake at night worrying about, her first experiences at Medford were tolerable. The grounds seemed adequately kept, there weren't any unsightly stains or smells soiling her senses and even most of the inmates and guards she encountered seemed innocuous enough on first impression.
Stepping into her assigned cell for the first time, Martha lifted her chin and gave a polite nod to the women she'd share living quarters with for the next 36 months.
"Hi... my name is Martha," the painfully nervous woman mouthed.
"Looks like I get stuck with the new girl, " her cellmate smiled " Pleased to meet you Martha... my name is Karen."
Not long after the guards had locked the cell and returned to their appointed rounds, Martha and Karen were chatting like two long lost school chums.
* * * * *
Karen Quinlin was 45, a little less than 10 years younger than Martha. She had called Medford her home for the previous two years and was scheduled for release loosely the same time as her new cellmate. Her slightly graying chestnut brown hair pulled back into a ponytail highlighted a pretty but plain face, devoid of much of the makeup she wore in her previous life as the wife of a prominent businessman and woman about town.
Her marriage having already grown loveless and stale, their relationship had simply turned into a business arrangement. And when several of their tainted real estate deals began to unravel, especially one that cost the brother in law of an influential local politician a million dollars, Karen and her Husband quickly turned on each other to get the best deal from the D.A... It turned out her Husband acted quicker and when she was arrested for fraud the same day the divorce papers arrived via FedEx, Karen knew her life was about to swirl down the toilet.
Martha could easily relate. A product of the backlash against white collar crime as well, she had gotten herself caught up in a stock scam with the company she worked for and without going into every tawdry detail, she had ended up playing the role of 'fallgirl' for several of higher ranking members of the company.
A kindred spirit found, Martha went from dreading the thought of prison to looking at it as a period of self reflection, growth and priority finding.
* * * * *
Her relationship with Karen growing more solid with each passing day, Martha was able to steadily navigate the other pitfalls of being in prison for the first time. While she did experience the occasional stare or threatening comment from other anonymous inmates, Martha slowly developed a sense of safety and comfort in her strange new world.
Away from the constant and draining grind of the business world and with her legal problems finally resolved, Martha gradually re-discovered the simple joys of life. Having lost nearly 20 pounds after being brought up on charges, with three square meals a day and not much else to look forward to, she struggled with a sense of dismay and relief as she piled the pounds back on.
"Being indicted is a underrated way to diet... everyone ought to try it," she would often tell Karen as she watched her body begin to chub out.
Other primal drives, besides hunger, that had long been cooped up inside Martha slowly began to re-emerge as well, and many of her and Karen's post 'lights out' conversations often drifted off in those seedy directions.
Having discovered they had been in similar marriages, each agreed that they had once loved their respective spouse, but somewhere along the way the zest, joy and excitement had long faded. In Karen's situation, to the point that her now Ex was willing to hasten her trip to the slammer.
"Would have screwed him before he screwed me," Karen would often lament.
"Speaking of screwing... when was the last time you had... you know... sex," Martha whispered out of the blue, always making sure to keep her voice hushed with the way sounds echoed through the facility at night.
"You mean with a man?" Karen answered after a long awkward pause.
"Yeah," Martha giggled like a nervous school girl from the top bunk.
"God... easily a year before me and Rick broke up... and add the two years in here... so its been over three years," Karen replied bluntly.
"There're other ways to cope though... At some point you have to find a way to relieve stress. I'm sure you hear me down here every once in a while," Karen continued, sensing Martha's discomfort by her sudden silence.
"No... No... I never hear anything," Martha lied, now hating the fact she even broached the subject, knowing it would be a topic they'd inevitably come back to.
Closing her eyes, hoping to put the issue to rest for at least that night, Martha felt the bedsheets below sizzle when Karen's raspy voice once again pierced the darkened silence.
"In fact... I'm doing it right now," the younger woman whispered from the bottom bunk. "You learn real quick in a place like this to be as quiet as possible."
Flat on her back, Martha's eyes shot open and she bit down on her lower lip as she listened to the telltale signs of Karen's breath rising and falling.
"Why don't you do it too Martha... can't let all that stuff get bottled up inside," Karen's warm voice invitingly offered.
"Oh... Uh... I... can't," Martha replied weakly even though her thighs had suddenly pressed tightly against each other as a thin layer of sweat beaded on her forehead.
"Don't worry Babe... you'll give into it at some point," Martha's new found friend predicted. "It's cheaper than cigarettes around here and a lot better for your health... in fact... speaking of cigarettes... I think I need one now!"
Both women laughed quietly at Karen's quip and the two shared a couple of minutes of pleasant post orgasmic conversation until Martha made a innocent comment that would change the tenor of their relationship forever.
"I guess its all the urban legends and the movies about prison that gives a person the idea that a lot more real sex goes on in these places... I've been here for over a month now and I haven't hardly seen anything," Martha sighed, politely waiting for a response that was an eternity in coming.
