WHAT ABOUT ME, MAMA? A Small Pug-son Worries About the Prison Thing...
· Darby: Say, Mama?
Me: Yes, Darby?
Darby: I kinda scared.
Me: What are you scared about, Darby-son?
Darby: Well…you know you’ frien’ Elsa wot in prison?
Me: Yes.
Darby: Well…’a way I unnerstan’ it, her din’t do nuffin’ wrong, but ‘ey put ‘er in ‘at prison place anyhow.
Me: You’ve about got the right of it, son., as best I understand it.
Darby: So ‘ey could do sumpin’ like at ‘a you?
Me: Well, Darb-son, I’m afraid that if a thing like that could happen to Elsa Newman, it could happen to anyone.
Darby: ‘En wot happen ‘a me, Mama? Wot I do?
Me: [Nothing but a, aching, sorrowful silence. There was absolutely no answer for that little pug-boy’s question. Are there ever satisfactory answers for the children?]
I NOT UNNERSTAN' 'ISS. I NOT UNNERSTAN' 'ISS AT ALL.
Me: What is it you don't get, Sweeney, old man?
Sweeney: I jus' finish readin' wot you typin'. An I not unnerstan' how 'iss man Dean Case come 'a be free.
Me: Well...he's innocent, Sweeney. He was in prison for almost twelve years, and this organization called "The Innocence Project" proved he was innocent.
Sweeney: Well...I unnerstan' 'at part jus' fine. He innocent; he out of jail; couldn' be plainer if I print out 'at ole article an' pas’e it 'a my nose! An' at's 'a way it oughtta be. Man innocent; man should be out of prison.
Me: So what's the problem?
Sweeny: Well..it like lthis. I know I not 'a brightes' bulb inna ole box. Sometimes I even kind of a dim bulb. But I mos'ly happy. One pro'lem, howesomeover, I have, is this: I not unnerstan' w'y somebuddy not do 'a same fing for you frien' Elsa, so us could could sit aroun' an say, "Woman innocent; woman out of prison."
Me: Sweeney, sometimes I got to admit that even the dimmest bulb in the box may ask a question that is completely beyond me. All I can do is keep workin' on it.
Following is the email notice from the Innocence Project. It seems Sweeney was looking over my shoulder as I got it ready to post. This must have been what he saw:I am on the email list for The Innocence Project. This bit of news was in my in-box this morning.
I cannot contact the Innocence Project by e-mail to obtain permission to use this here...but on their message was a link to click to send this message to friends. By this means, then, I send this information on to all my friends who read this blog.
I rejoice for Dean Cage. I grieve his years of unjust confinement.
And at the same time--forgive me for indulging myself in an expression of my heartache--when in the name of G-d will someone be able to do something for Elsa Newman!!!
Dean Cage exonerated in Chicago:After nearly 12 years in Illinois prison for a rape he didn’t commit, Innocence Project client Dean Cage is finally free today. His mother and other family members picked him up when he was released late last night from a prison three hours outside of Chicago. Back at his mother’s Chicago home early this morning, his family threw a party to welcome Cage home.Cage said at a Chicago press conference this afternoon that he is overjoyed to be rejoining his family and that he is committed to working for fair justice in his home state and across the country. He is the 217th person exonerated by DNA testing in the United States, and the 29th in Illinois. Only Texas — with 31 — has more DNA exonerations than Illinois.
Read news coverage of Cage’s release — and learn more about his case and others across the country — on our website.
Cage was wrongfully convicted of raping a 15-year-old girl on her way to school during the winter of 1994. The victim’s identification of Cage as the attacker was the centerpiece of the state’s evidence against him at trial. After the assault, the victim helped police prepare a composite sketch of the perpetrator. A week later, police received a tip that a man matching the sketch worked at a local meat market. Police took the victim to the market, where she identified Cage. Later, at the police station, the victim identified Cage again, this time based on the sound of his voice.
At today’s press conference, Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld said Illinois has been a national leader for several years in reforming the criminal justice system for capital cases. But the state has fallen short in implementing reforms that can prevent wrongful convictions in non-capital cases, which are the vast majority of convictions — and wrongful convictions — in the state. Last summer, the Illinois Legislature created a commission to study non-capital wrongful convictions and develop reforms that can make the criminal justice system more fair and accurate. Nearly a year later, that commission has not been funded and no members have been appointed to it. Neufeld and Cage today called on the Illinois Legislature to move quickly to get the commission started on its critical mission, noting that a similar commission in Illinois led to substantial reforms in capital cases. "If this commission were operating as it’s supposed to, it could help prevent a substantial number of wrongful convictions and restore confidence in the state’s criminal justice system," Neufeld said. "Perhaps most chilling is the reality that people across Illinois are still being wrongfully convicted based on eyewitness misidentification that could be prevented if the state enacted simple, straightforward reforms that are proven to work."
Sweeney: Congratulations to Dean Case an all 'em fambly an' frien' people's wot stuck by him. Even a dim bulb like me know 'at guy deserve 'a have a good life from now on. You go, Mr. Case.
An' Misser Case, you please forgive me please, if I not unnerstan' 'bout Elsa. Us dim bulbs? We prone to lots a' misunderstandin's, an' I hope I not confuse you, wiffa ole mess inna ole mine.
WHY CONVERSATIONS?
ESPECIALLY…WHY CONVERSATIONS WITH PUGS?
Somehow it seems that I owe an explanation to anybody who reads here. I have long been a practitioner of the art of speaking with my pugs. As a matter of fact, my command of the language is steadily increasing, probably due to the fact that I am often placed in a position where I can barely get a word in edge-wise, and thus must listen and learn—both in regard to whatever it is that the pug in question wishes to instruct me in, and in regard to the usage of their own peculiar language, as well.
In recording these conversations, I translate as best I can…which, admittedly is not always very good. Such conversations, in fact, have been known to leave a reader wondering whether either the pug or I have the vaguest idea what we are talking about.
Perhaps you can see what I am leading up to, here. You are about to have the privilege of eavesdropping—so to speak—on one of the first conversations between me and my pug-mother. That would be B’itt’y Bee, who came to me as an 8-month old pup. I was unaware at first of her conviction that she is, indeed, my mother. But before long I began to understand that the reason she hung about my person when I was involved in virtually any activity of my choosing was not that she was taking pleasure in my company. Oh, no…not B’itt’y Bee. She was hanging about in order to offer advice and to be sure I accomplished each task decently, properly, and in an orderly fashion.
Only when she began calling me “Charles,” however, did I truly begin to understand the depth of her motherly concern for me and her conviction that I am, in truth, her child and she is responsible for me and my behavior in all things.
For example:
Bee: “Charles?
Me: Who are you talking to, Bee?
Bee: “Muvver”…you say “Muvver” w’en you talk ‘a me.
Me: Uh…pardon me…but I thought you called me “Charles.”
Bee: An’ so I did. I fink ‘at a great name fer my firs’ chile.
Me: Whoa, B’itt’y Bee. Let me make three simple points here: 1) I am not your child. 2) I already have a perfectly good name of my own. And 3) Charles is a boy’s name. I’m not a boy.
Bee: Now, Charles, here ‘a fing uv it: You are my chile, my very own; I workin’ onna ole ‘doption papers ‘at ‘iss very minute. Second, w’en a muvver ‘dopt a new chile, she getta pick a new name fer ‘at chile, if she wanna do so. An’ fird, I have decide’ ‘at you’ new name is gone be “Charles.”
Me: Now wait just a minute here, Bee….
Bee: “Muvver,” you please remember ‘a say “Muvver” w’en you talk ‘a me. And ‘sides ‘at, a good chile never innerupt ‘a ole muvver. You inneruptin’ jus’ as I ‘bout ‘a ‘splain w’y I gone call you “Charles.”
Me: (small sigh) Explain away then, B…uh…I mean Muvver.
Bee: ‘At better. Howesomever I seem ‘a detec’ a note uvva ole sarcasm in at response. A good chile not get sarcastic wiffa muvver. Just keepa ole mouf shut an’ lissen hard.
Me: (not saying anything, just nodding; I mean—even though one is nearing 70, what can one actually say to a one year-old pug who has just declared she is about to formally adopt you?)
Bee: You needa unnerstan’, Charles, ‘at I not havva whole lot uvva ole respec’ fer ‘a ole hooman race in certain matters? One of ‘em matters be ‘a matter uvva way you peoples name you chil’ren. You say ‘a youse’fs, “Aha! Us gotta girl! Us can call ‘er Alice or Petunia or ‘lizabef!” Onna uvver han’, you say, “Aha! Us gotta boy! Us call ‘a little brat Stanley or Eric or Marshall or Charles.” I fink ‘at a despicable way uv goin’ ‘bout fings. ‘erefore I change ‘a way I go ‘bout ‘em fings. “Charles” my favorite name. W’en I getta ole ‘doption put frough, I changin’ you name ‘a Charles.”
There. I done. You’ lissenin’ went pretty well. You got anyfing you wish ‘a say?
Me: Uh…no…I can’t think of anything whatsoever to say to that.
Bee: Good…’en I off ‘a finish ‘a ole ‘doption papers an’ take ‘em to ‘a ole courthouse fer filin’.
Me: Bee...the land of Brocken does not have a courthouse.
Bee: Ignorin’ ‘a fac’ ‘at you slip an’ forget ‘a address me as “Muvver,” I like ‘a assure you ‘at I got ever’fing unner control. Our lanna Brocken courthouse unner conststruction as we speak. I got ole Tyler an’ ole Travis an’ Wiggins an’ Pepper puttin’ on ‘a ole finishin’ touches. We settin’ it up inna corner uvva barn. You not worry, OK? Ever’fing will be mos’ official.
Me: Thanks…uh…Mom.
Before I end this explanation of me and my conversations with my favorite critters, I must add that Bee and I have these conversations frequently, since she takes her role as my mother quite seriously. She hates it, for example, when I am mending or improving or destroying—as the case may be—our house or some portion thereof. As soon as she hears the despised and frightening scream of the circular saw, I invariably hear a puggish sort of scream from wherever B’itt’y Bee happens to be at the moment.
Bee: Charles? Charles! You usin’ ‘at roundy-roun’ fing again?
She seems to have something to say about most everything I do. And that leaves me without the vaguest idea how I ever accomplished a single thing worthwhile before she came to live with me.
Now on to the real point of all this. Not only does B’itt’y Bee consider her small self my “muvver,” but she takes an interest in virtually every activity I undertake. She has long watched me write my pug blog. She has begged for a blog of her own, but so far she has not mastered the art of typing with pug toes, so she’s out of luck. I fully expect, however, that one day I will be reading some of my blog entries and come across one I didn’t write. At that point I will know that she has somehow figured out the toes-on-the-keys thing. Either that, or she will have learned to hunt-and-peck with a stub of a pencil in her mouth.
Now Bee has discovered the writing I’m doing for and about Elsa Newman. She has noticed that Elsa has her own website—although the thing is, as they say, still “under construction,” and probably will be until the day Elsa walks out of prison, exonerated and a free wommon.
Thus B’itt’y Bee has decided that the pugs of Brocken should also undertake a website on Elsa’s behalf. I tried to dissuade her, but for the benefit of those who have never been friends with a pug, I had best admit here that nobody ever, under any circumstances dissuades a pug from anything said pug has decided to do. Oh, dear…I’m wandering off on another topic again. Back to the original thought.
B’itt’y Bee, my own true, registered-atta-Brocken-courthouse-type adoptive muvver, insists that the pugs need a website of their own. Who am I to argue the question?
Thus it is that we undertake this little project called Pugs for Justice.
And there will be more conversations to come. I promise. I have to promise. Bee insisted!