Eastern State Prison

"Come on, Penny! You can do it." She slid on her belly under the fence that surrounded the old abandoned prison. We had locked our bikes to the chain link fence that stood to keep people out. The buildings of the institution were a good ten miles outside of town and nobody went there anymore. The old concrete walls once painted white were dingy now with age and dirt.1

Penny and I dusted the dirt from our faded blue jeans and t-shirts. Her shirt was yellow and mine was red. Her navel showed. Penny and I were fourteen. She was almost fifteen, but I had only just turned fourteen. Though I was younger, she would follow me. Maybe that was because I was a boy.2

"Mickey," she said nervously shaking her long blonde hair out of her blue eyes. "I don't think this is a good idea. Someone might catch us."3

"Nobody comes here anymore," I assured her.4

"Okay, Mickey." I knew she would see it my way. I almost always got my way when I was with her. Penny and I spent a lot of time together, but we weren't going together or anything like that. I didn't want to kiss her or anything. We were just friends.5

We went into a building through a door which had bars on it. There was a hall with cells leading off on each side parallel to each other. Cracks and chipped paint lined the walls. It was dark and musty inside and it felt spooky.6

"Do you think there are ghosts in here," whispered Penny looking about as pale as a ghost herself.7

"Nah. There ain't such things as ghosts."8

"Are you sure?"9

"Positive," I said. That seemed to relieve her.10

"What's that!" she exclaimed near panic. There was a howling noise almost like a dog barking to a siren.11

"Oh, that's the wind."12

"I'm scared," she said and it was clear that she was very frightened, but I wasn't finished. This was exciting and besides it was only about noon, so there was still plenty of daylight though it was dark and gloomy inside the building.13

"Oh, don't be silly. I'm with you. You're safe."14

"Okay."15

We walked around the building looking in some of the cells. They had toilets that were dry and two bed frames in each cell. Most of the cells were locked shut but some were open. The bars were scratched, chipped, and rusted. 16

There was a cell with a door which had the door pin locked back. Just playing I shut the door before Penny came out of the cell with a loud metallic bang. "Mickey!" she shouted.17

I laughed, "Just pretend you are a prisoner."18

"That's not funny," she said. "Let me out."19

I pulled on the bars of the door and it wouldn't open. I tried again. Still nothing, the door wouldn't budge. "Quit fooling around. Let me out!" said Penny getting upset.20

I could tell that my face was turning red with embarrassment and fear. The door just had to open! What was I going to do? "Mickey!?" she said and I knew she was about to cry.21

It was useless. The door was jammed shut or locked. "I'll be right back. I am going to find something to open the door."22

"Please don't go, Mickey!"23

"I have to, Penny." She really began to sob then, tears running down her face and her nose dripping. I hated it when girls cried, especially Penny. What I hated more was that I felt like crying, too. I knew we were going to get in trouble if I had to get help.24

I looked all over the place and finally found an iron rod. I went back into the building and couldn't find the cell. "Penny!" I yelled.25

"Over here," she cried.26

I found the cell and started trying to pry open the door. "It seemed like you were never coming back," she said. She was not crying for which I was thankful, but I knew she was very afraid. Nothing I did helped. The door was stuck.27

"I'm going to have to go for help."28

"Oh God! I don't want to be left here alone, Mickey!"29

"Penny, there is nothing else I can do. I can't get the damn door open." It was about 2:00 pm and it was about an hour bike ride back to town.30

"What am I going to do?" asked Penny fretting.31

"You'll be all right. The sooner I leave, the sooner we can get you out of here."32

"Okay," she said. "Please hurry!"33

"I'll be quick," I promised and began to run back to the place in the fence we had slipped in. I crawled out and unlocked my bike. Jumping on it, I peddled as fast as I could. I was tired by the time I came to the first house. I knocked on the door, but no one answered. It was about a half mile further to the next house. I banged on the door and a woman answered. I explained what had happened to her and asked if I could use her phone. I dialed 911. "What is the nature of your emergency," asked the operator. I told her. She connected me with the sheriff's department and I had to go through it again. The woman told me her address and the deputy on the phone said they would dispatch a deputy immediately.34

"You kids shouldn't have been playing at Eastern State Prison," the woman chided me. "You are lucky you both didn't get locked in and die there."35

I could tell that the woman enjoyed my discomfort. Soon the deputy arrived and he questioned me about what we were doing at the prison. "We were just having fun," I answered him.36

"Well, are you having fun now?"37

"No, Sir."38

We got into his squad car and went to the prison gate. He got bolt cutters and cut through the lock. He swung open the gate and drove to the building I pointed out. Another deputy pulled up in a car behind us. We went down the dark hall and the deputies took out their flashlights. "Penny!" I called out.39

"Over here," she shouted. Going to the cell she was in, the deputies examined the door. One of them stepped away and radioed to the dispatcher, but I couldn't hear what was being said. He came back and said, "We will have you out soon, Miss."40

"You want to tell me how she got locked inside here," asked the other deputy.41

I explained and finished saying, "I was just playing."42

"We could arrest you for breaking and entering and criminal trespass," he said. "Would you like to spend time in a real jail?"43

"Oh God!" Penny began crying again.44

"We'll never do it again," I promised.45

"I'm sure you won't, but how do we know that this isn't the beginning of bigger crimes. I don't think we should let you off." He took out his cuffs and put them on my wrists with my hands behind my back. He was apparently a sergeant or a corporal or something. He had a couple of stripes on his uniform. I began crying.46

About an hour later a welder came with a cutting torch. He quickly cut through the lock and they opened the door and cuffed Penny. "I don't want to go to jail," pleaded Penny. 47

The deputies led us out to the nearest patrol car and put Penny and I in the back seat. They drove us to the station. "If you act like criminals, you will be treated like criminals," said the deputy.48

He had us sit down in a room together and we waited with handcuffs still on our wrists.49

We had stopped crying. "We're going to jail," whimpered Penny.50

I really had no answer to that, but I said simply, "I'm sorry, Penny."51

"We may not get to finish school this semester," said Penny.52

I hadn't really thought that far ahead, but I suspected she was right.53

"How long do you think we'll be in jail," asked Penny.54

"Since it is our first offense," I said trying to act tough. "We probably won't get more than a few months in juvenile detention.55

"Oh God!" said Penny and she was right. That was pretty bad. It was so stupid, but it didn't do any good to worry about that.56

Finally our parents came into the room with the deputy with the stripes. There were not enough chairs, so they all stood while we sat. The deputy spoke, "We have decided to cite Penny and Mickey with simple trespass. There is a possible fine of up to $500 and jail time of 90 days. That will be determined by the judge or by the jury if you elect to have a jury trial. Talk with your attorneys and see what they advise."57

We had some very angry parents, but they released us into our parents custody. It felt so good when the deputy removed the handcuffs. Jail might have been better for the next few days, our parent were so pissed with us. We appeared before the judge and were fined $50 each and got no jail time. Man was I worried! Our parents wouldn't let Penny and I play together for six months. They said it was because we were a bad influence on each other. That was when I decided I would never do anything illegal again.58