Terry Forster
THE GREAT ESCAPE
"How are you today Mikey, are you feeling any better after your operation. We were all worried about you but they wouldn't allow any of us to come and visit you."
"I feel OK thanks Brian but I'm really hungry, they wouldn't give me anything to eat yesterday. I heard the doctor say it would be 24 hours before I can eat something but I feel really well and I'm really hungry."
"Tell you what Mikey, I'll have a word with Titchy, his missus always saves a bit of food for late evenings and I am sure she will only be too pleased to give you some." Brian sped off to find Titchy's wife Melody. Melody was busy sweeping the floor singing at the top of her voice as she worked.
"Hi there Melody." "Hi Brian, is there anything I can do for you, Titchy is out and about somewhere at the moment if you are looking for him."
"Actually I was looking for you Melody. You know that Mikey has had an operation don't you, well he is really feeling hungry and they won't give him anything to eat until this evening. I was wondering if you had any spare food you could give him, just something to tide him over until tonight."
"Yes I can do that, I have plenty to spare in my larder but make sure you are not caught with it or the warders will cut my rations." "Oh! Thank you Melody, you are so kind and Mikey will be so pleased as he is really starving."
"Always pleased to help out a fellow prisoner, we've all got to stick together in here, help each other in times of need so, take what you want from my larder and give it to Mikey with my blessings."
Mikey ate the food Brian brought him with gusto. It had been well over 24 hours since he had eaten anything and really appreciated the food he had been given. Nora poked her head around the corner of the room with a delightful smile on her face.
"How's my man today" she said in her sexy husky voice that always drove Mikey to submit to what ever she wanted from him. Marriage had always been on the table but things had not gone as planned. Prison was a place where you did what you were told to do and Mikey had asked many times to marry Nora but he had always been refused.
"How are you feeling after your operation" Nora asked, "what exactly did they do to you."
"To be honest I don't know what they did to me” Replied Mikey. No one explained to me as to why I needed an operation and didn't I feel ill or anything so it is a complete mystery to me. There is a bit of a lump under my left arm that wasn't there before the operation and it feels a little sore at the moment, so I have no idea as to why I was operated on."
"Let me have a look at the lump under your arm" Nora asked.
"Before I came to this prison I was in another prison somewhere up North and they were operating on all the males and just like you it was an operation under the arm in the arm pit. We eventually found out it was a tracking device that the wardens were installing in all the males. Why they were doing this we never found out but eventually all the male prisoners were fitted with one. Soon after they were finished all the males were taken away and we were left with only females in the prison. is it possible that they are doing the same thing in this prison."
"That sounds very likely indeed" Morris said as he poked his head around the door.
"I was listening to the wardens and doctors talking a couple of days ago and they were talking about installing tracking devices into all the males that were in this prison. They didn't say why they were doing this but I overheard someone say that they were separating the males from females to stop the population increase."
"They can't do that to us without our permission" bellowed Franky, the oldest prisoner. “What we have to do is escape from here. I know for sure there is a massive forest nearby that stretches for thousands of miles in any direction. If we plan an escape into the forest they will never be able to find us. I have a wife and three children in this prison that have never seen the light of day outside or even know what freedom is like. I overheard the driver and his assistant talking when I was brought here and the driver was saying that the forest is one of the largest in the whole world, so I have had it in mind for a long time now that we should all breakout of here and live in freedom in the forest.
Mikey thought about what Franky had said and he decided to plan an escape.
Over the next few days he checked the prison out from top to bottom and the only way out was possibly through the massive scenic window in the Conservatory where the wardens took their meals whilst enjoying the forest view.
"OK, we need something quite heavy and strong to break the glass window. There is a long drop outside of the window but if we can find a long rope we can attach it to a radiator and safely shimmy down the rope. We will need two of our strongest men to secure the the large entrance door, while all the ladies use the rope to get out of the window, lower themselves down the rope and then hide in the forest."
Everyone thought this was the best idea so far and a search and find operation was put in place.
Three weeks later a long rope had been fashioned out of anything flexible they could find. It had been tested by a tug of war system devised by Andy, one of Frankys sons, and the rope proved to be very strong indeed.
Joseph, the oldest son of Franky had stolen a large hammer from the guards workshop and almost got caught doing so, the escape was ready.
Each of the women would carry food and water tied around their waists whilst the men broke the window, secured the long rope to a sturdy radiator and helped the women and children to climb down the rope. The men would seal the only entrance door into the conservatory by piling up the heavy furniture in front of the inward opening door to keep the wardens at bay.
All seemed to be going well in the darkness of the early morning whilst the wardens, doctors and nurses were all asleep in their beds. There was only one warden on guard at night and he was sound asleep in his office, feet up on his desk with a whisky bottle and an empty glass on his desk. Once inside the conservatory all the tables, chairs and heavy furniture was piled up against the door in the hope it would stifle the sound of breaking glass.
The noise of shattered glass seemed like it would awaken the dead, yet there was no evidence of anyone being alerted by the noise. The large radiator held steady as the women and children climbed down the rope one at a time and scurried safely out of sight into the bushes below the window.
Mikey was the last one to climb down the rope, when he was 20 feet or so from the bottom he cut the rope in the hope it would put off anyone who might try to follow them and then he safely jumped to the ground.
It was pitch dark in the Forest as everyone made their way into the unknown darkness in line, the person behind hanging on to the person in front so they all stayed together on the same track. The six youngest children were each carried on the shoulders of their fathers and male friends so that no one was lost in the darkness of the night.
7:am and the prison wardens, doctors and nurses were awake.
The alarm was sounded at 7:23 am.
Not one single prisoner was to be found anywhere within the prison compound. Eventually they found the barricaded conservatory and the rope hanging from the radiator, a national emergency was then issued.
A police and army alert was issued throughout the area and the surrounding towns and cities, but Mikey and his new family of refugees had well and truly disappeared into the depths of the forest.
Nora had removed the tracking device in Mickeys armpit on the first day of their escape and smashed it to pieces with a rock so no one could track them.
Every few days they moved to a new place until months later they found a series of large caves in a well shaded forest area and decided to make the caves their permanent home.
Many happy years have now passed by and the family has increased in numbers, freedom is now permanently instilled within their lives.
Mikey the Silver-back is an old man now and is well cared for by his large family.
Apparently there are still roumers of Gorilla sightings by passing overhead aeroplanes but, 20 years later there has never been an escaped prisoner captured and now the family is over forty strong and living their lives in freedom.
1,594 Words