Crafting Another Short Story Based on Actual Events
The making of another short story. This past week. After a story is completed, I always struggle with the start of a new one. I forget each time what it takes to “start”, if that makes sense.
Since the short story collection I am currently working on spans three decades of the past, I must research items used, which may be minor but are essential to understanding the lives of my characters. For example, when I sent the story to my uncle for review, I used the word 'rifle' instead of 'shotgun'. The shotgun is an accurate weapon that the guards used.
My uncle is collaborating with me, as I mentioned before, in his retelling, and also drawing on my vague childhood memory. The story is about when his father, my grandfather, brought his prison road crew (about eight men) to their house to cut sabal palms for swamp cabbage. The thought of his mother/my grandma sitting in a circle with these men and telling them how it should be done is a visual that cannot escape the retelling of it. As a child, I remember seeing men from Camp 48 working on the road swinging their weed cutters in the ditches. These memories, though not my own experiences, are deeply ingrained in my mind.
My grandfather was a guard for a minimum-security prison camp, also known as the road crews, or “chain gangs”. It was a part of Florida’s history; some conditions of the prisoners have changed over time to improve their treatment. Chains were used to prevent prisoners from escaping, but they tried anyway. According to the Florida Department of Prisons system, leg irons were eliminated in 1945, and sweat boxes, small confined spaces where prisoners were kept as punishment, were eliminated in 1958.
Have you watched the movie Cool Hand Luke, with Paul Newman, which depicts a road crew prison camp in the 1940s? The use of leg chains and sweat boxes as punishment is represented in this film. The movie was filmed in 1967, and was based on Donn Pearce’s novel 1965, which was written based on Pearce’s personal experiences working on a chain gang.
The story, 'Camp 48', is a retelling of a few incidents that defy the stereotypes of the time. It's a first-person narrative, with my grandparents as the central characters, recounting their experiences. As I delved deeper into the story, I realized that my grandfather, despite his role as a prison guard, must have earned the respect and trust of his crew, which allowed them to experience the things they did.
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