"Because you need to take care of me," Keating replied.
"Taking care of you?" Verak was puzzled.
Keating patted his legs: "My lower limbs are paralyzed and I have completely lost the ability to take care of myself, so I need someone to take care of me."
"But..." Verak felt that this was both normal and abnormal.
It is normal for people who have lost the ability to take care of themselves to need care, but this is Damans Prison. Every prisoner is not respected. The prison guards leave them to fend for themselves. How can they be willing to sacrifice a profitable labor force to take care of others?
A prisoner?
"You go say hello to the prison guard patrolling outside and tell me that I'm incontinent and you need to take me to take a shower. Then you can go to the bathroom and have a proper cleanse." Keating suggested.
"This..." Before Verak could think more, Keating had already figured out a way for him to go to the bathroom immediately, "...Okay...thank you."
He would be spending a lot of time with Keating, so Verak had no choice but to suppress his curiosity and focus on solving the primary problem at hand - getting himself clean.
"Is anyone there?" Verak came to the cell door and looked out through the iron fence.
The patrolling prison guard came over: "What's wrong?"
"Mr. Keating is incontinent and needs to be cleaned." Verak whispered.
The prison guard turned his head and looked inside the cell. He saw Keating covering his lower body with his clothes: "Come out."
"Come carry me," Keating said.
Verak didn't expect it to go so smoothly. Hearing Keating's words, he walked over in a daze for a moment: "But... on me..."
"It doesn't matter, just be patient for a while, it's better than waiting until night." Keating said gently.
Verak knelt down and carried Keating on his back. Although his body had recovered a bit and was no longer so nauseous after returning to land, he was still a little weak. As soon as he carried Keating on his back, he stumbled and almost fell.
fall.
"Is that possible, young man?" Keating asked.
"It's okay." Verak held his breath and bent down to pick up a change of clothes. After the prison guard opened the door, he arrived at the bathroom under the leadership of two prison guards.
The bathroom in the prison is not large and can only accommodate up to thirty people bathing at the same time. Therefore, in order to avoid excessive pressure in the bathroom at night, there is no time for everyone to finish bathing. Bathing is the same as working, and prisoners are allocated at each time point.
Come in batch.
"Let's go." After entering, a prison guard used a gun to push a criminal away, making room for Keating to take a bath.
Under the supervision of the prison guards, Verak helped Keating take off his clothes, pretended to take a bath, and then helped him dry himself and change into new clothes.
"You should take a shower too." Keating was placed aside and sat down, and he deliberately said in a voice that could be heard by the prison guards.
"Okay." Verak glanced at the prison guard. The prison guard did not intervene, so he took off his prison uniform without any worries and took a quick shower.
Although it was cold water, which made him shiver from the cold, it was far less comfortable and comfortable than a hot bath, but it was already rare under such conditions. Verak did not complain. After washing himself, he changed into a spare prison uniform and carried it on his back.
Keating returned to cell 208.
After hearing the prison guard lock the door and go on patrol, Verak sighed.
He didn't know how long he would live in this dark life.
Probably a lifetime, but how long is a lifetime? It could be a few months, it could be a few decades, he didn't know.
"You'll sleep on the upper bunk from now on. Is that okay?" Keating didn't seem to care much about his new roommate. He sat on the bed and picked up the book on the pillow again.
"Of course." Keating had difficulty with his legs and feet, so letting him sleep on the upper bunk would end up bothering him, so Verak naturally had no objection to this.
After getting along for a short time, he found that Keating was relatively easy to get along with. Although he helped him take a bath just because he didn't want to smell the smell, his personality was at least not as weird as he had guessed.
"I forgot to introduce myself to you. My name is Thomas Chris. I am twenty-four years old and I come from Lezein." Verak broke the silence and introduced himself, trying to get to know Keating.
"Robin Keating, from the Old South of the United States of Dunman." Keating raised his head and said.
"Are you from Dunman? I didn't recognize it from your accent at all..." Verak didn't realize at all that Keating was from Dunman. He spoke very fluent Brexi and his appearance was not very distinctive.
"But I came to live in Bressey about twenty years ago. Like you, I lived in Lezein before I was arrested." Keating put down the book.
Seeing Keating put down the book and showing a willingness to talk, Verak quickly asked: "How were you arrested?"
"What about you?" Keating asked.
"I led the workers to organize a march and protest, trying to improve the workers' treatment..." Verak kept the story as short as possible, omitting some content that should not be said, and briefly introduced the reasons for his arrest.
"Like you, a political prisoner." Keating characterized Verak's behavior in one sentence, and also kept his specific information confidential.
Verak did not get what he wanted, so he reluctantly changed the question: "Why are you treated differently from other prisoners? It seems that you are the only one here who does not wear prison uniforms, and you don't have to work, and there are people taking care of you."
"You will know later." Keating didn't say much.
Faintly feeling that Keating was unwilling to reveal too much information, Verak didn't ask for details and stopped talking at the right time.
After taking a shower, he felt much drier and more awake, and his physical condition had recovered a lot. His frozen brain seemed to be awakened and active again.
"Do you mind if I go up and rest for a while?" Verak looked around the cell. The cell was too simple. Apart from a bunk bed, there were only daily necessities piled on the wall. If you don't go to bed,
You can only stand.
"Help me wash my clothes later, then say hello to the prison guard and hang them outside." Keating warned.
"Okay." Verak agreed happily.
In his opinion, taking care of others is much easier than going to work. Now, no matter what his identity is, Keating can actually live here safely. First, he can keep being in the same room with him. Anyway, he has plenty of time to spend together.
Climbing onto the bed and lying down, Verak's face was only thirty centimeters from the ceiling of the cell.
The bunks and bunks in this cell are different from those in other cells. The others are divided as evenly as possible, so that one more floor can be freed up and an extra bed can be installed for one more person to sleep on.
This room was more about Keating's comfort, so Verak's space was very small, and he couldn't even sit up from the bed.
He exhaled a breath, and his body quickly started to sweat again due to the suffocating heat.