“So let me get this straight,” Henry lifted his head to stare at the guard he had now taken a spot on a chair, “you will feed me, give me water, you WON’T beat me or torture me and all I do is hang here until I die?”
“Yep that sounds about right,” the guard’s helmeted head nodded slowly.
“Don’t forget the part about free medical treatment,” a fellow wall dangler said from Henry’s right.
“Oh yeah, don’t forget the medical treatment,” the guard agreed.
Henry shook his head in disbelief.
“Sorry, forgot, if I need medical treatment for any ailment, it will be provided at no cost to myself or my family.”
“Yep,” the guard said.
“Can’t I just recant or something? I promise I won’t tell anyone.
“No. No recanting,” the dangler said, “tried that in,” he closed his eyes and squinted as if that would help him concentrate harder, “the year Joseph the Mediocre came into power.”
“That was 10 years ago.
“Yep, sounds about right.
“How long have you been here old man,” Henry asked.
“A while.
“How long?
“60 years.
“Oh no.”