ABSOLUTE TRUTH

On a hot, sweltering, oppressive summer night, no more than fifty yards west of the Jayne County Law Enforcement Complex, which housed the police department, the sheriff’s department, and the county jail, an unspeakable crime was committed. The convergence of opaque, dense air, stifling as dogmas, oozed through the thick pines of the countryside, swelled and heaved across the open pastures, emerged in town, blanketing the untainted homes and streets, and materialized at the Jayne County Courthouse, smothering the useless, gurgling screams of terror with its thickness. The junction as inevitable as it was grotesque. The people of Jayne County, about thirty thousand all together, would wake in the morning, resume their daily lives, and quickly learn of the horrific event through the normal, slightly pleasurable, processes. As the news sifted through the community, people could be overheard at the checkout counter of the bakery, in break rooms of schools, and copy rooms of offices, asking the questions, “Did you hear what happened?” and “Who could have done such a thing?” Always asked in a somber, respectful tone, yet always with the slightest inner feeling of excitement, or even enjoyment. This, of course, is not an indictment of the people of Jayne County. Rather, it is a general observation of human nature, and the capacity, if not the tendency, to experience opposite emotions and thoughts when confronted with an experience. The Jayne County Law Enforcement Complex, located in Jayne’s Haven, Mississippi, is a square, brick structure, solidly built at the foot of a rolling hill. In the nineteenth century, when the town was formed, this hill was on the edge of town, and the “law enforcement complex” consisted of a small, wooden office and jail. Of course, over the last two hundred or so years, the town has increased, the times have changed, and the need for increased space and security has brimmed over every now and then, until what has surfaced, on roughly the same ground, is a colossal structure. Surrounded by mammoth metal fences, topped with spirals of razor wire, the complex is ominous, but secure; brash, yet pleasing. Normally one would not suppose a small community to need such a jail, but with overpopulating prisons everywhere, excess prisoners from all over the state are shipped in and housed in Jayne County. For the most part a good arrangement. Jayne County gets paid extra for each prisoner, and overpopulated jails get relief. However, the comparatively massive prison, the introduction of outside influences, and decreasing property values in the area make for genuine effects on the town. Not to mention, if and when there is an escape, Jayne County is subjected to criminals from other towns. It could make for a populist uprising. Elected officials, being extremely conscious of two things, money and votes, accepted the prisoners, and built a more secure jail.