A Prisioner

In the car....on the way to somewhere yesterday.....

Amelia: What is a prisoner?
Mama: Whaaaat?
Amelia: What is a prisioner?  Miss L____ (our favorite librarian at the library *) read the book about the spooky prisoner at story time.  What is a prisioner?
Mama: oh.  ah.  Yes.  Hmm... A prisioner is someone who lives in prison.
Amelia: What's prison? (did you see that one coming?)
Mama: Well, prison is where someone goes if they break the law and make a mistake.
Amelia: Like when you went through the red light? (worried voice) Are you going to prison?
Mama: Well, it is wrong to keep driving when there is a red light.  When I started going, the light was green and then turned red.  People who go to prison are people who make big mistakes like taking things that don't belong to people**
Amelia: What do you have to do to go to prison?
Mama: (flustered) Well...prison isn't a nice place.
Amelia: I know!  They have bars on the rooms and BUNK BEDS!
Mama: Yes, they usually do.
Amelia: So.  What do you have to do to go to prison?
Mama: Most of the time people who go to prison are just people who make mistakes by hurting someone else or taking things that don't belong to them.
Amelia: When you go to prison, do you get to stay for a long time?
Mama: (!!!) What?
Amelia: (Slower) When you go to prison, do you get to stay for a long time?
Mama: Most people don't want to stay there.  They don't want to stay for a long time.
Amelia: They don't?  Why not?
Mama: Well, you don't get to see your family or go outside very often.  You have to live with other people and you don't get to pick what you wear or when you get to go places.
Amelia: Oh.  Hmm. So what exactly do you have to do again to go to prison?
Mama: Look!  A big bird!!
Amelia: Really?  Where?
Mama: ((Thank goodness))




* Why yes, I do have a favorite librarian at the library.  I am also on a first name basis with all the staff at the reference desk as well as the lovely people working the check out station.  They know us and greet us by name every week when we get there.  I love the library.

**I'd like to say that the bad guys go to prison and leave it at that, but in my current position, I have come to know more than one person who has done time.  I have found most of the time, these are people.  People who have made mistakes.  It just feels wrong to characterize them as "bad guys".