Title: Taking Your Children to Jail
One Saturday evening, when my children were perhaps, between 10-13, one of my girls had a slumber party at our house, one Saturday night, which was the night of the Full Moon.
At about 1:30 in the morning, when the party was in “full roar,” I piled all these “electric” children into my car and drove them to the Receiving Room of the County Jail.
As we sat there a few minutes, we watched prisoners being admitted, girlfriends, wives and friends pleading … trying to get people out, bail bondsmen doing their jobs, drunks vomitting, and people who were freshly bandaged up, being admitted to jail.
Each time a prisoner was admitted, the big steel Admitting Room door “slammed” shut with a resounding clank.
After watching perhaps 10 or 15 people get admitted, I took the children, piled them back in the car and we went to Earl Abel’s all night restaurant to eat Maple Pecan pie.
As each of the children told each other and me how they “would never, ever do” what caused those unfortunates to get there,
I also told the kids
“If you don’t want to go to jail, don’t do what it takes to get there.”
The Lesson:
The resounding clanking of that closing door, impressed my children and their guests in a manner they will never forget.
And I am glad they got to see the harsh results of Disobedience to the Law.
Robert Jorrie,
1992