I am so scared. If this is really what god has chosen for me , I must accept but I am innocent. I don’t deserve prison, I don’t deserve to be whipped. I don’t deserve for those people to witness my shame.
This was supposed to be a religious and uplifting experience. I grew up in a strictly religious household, I always did the right thing. Not because it was the rule or expected, it was because it was the “right” thing. So when I went to college it was to a religious school. When the opportunity came to go on a Habitat for Humanity mission to the state with the lowest per capital in the USA, the state of Mississippi, for spring brake......my roommate and I jumped at the chance. We were sent to a small town not too far from Tupelo. There we met up with college students, on the same mission from all over the Midwest, both from private religious schools and public universities.
The group of students was quite diverse....some from small towns others from big cities even inner city. Some of the girls and guys were hooking up but my answer was always “No”.....I was saving myself for my husband someday. You know I always did the right thing. We were split up into two groups eventually. Some of us , like me, worked on the houses being built and others , like my roommate Kay, went into the more affluent areas selling bibles and asking for donations for our mission. I liked the students I worked with even if some were pretty lazy. Kay said her group was kind of wild but a lot of fun.
One morning Kay woke up sick and the project manager asked if I could go with the soliciting group until Kat was back on her feet. He said I would probably just be the driver for the group but learn what I could. I agreed. That morning we stopped at about a dozen houses in the ritzy part of town. Wow I couldn’t believe some of these houses....they must have been worth millions.
It was the last house , the biggest of them all, where this all started. For the first time that day I was told to just stay in the car, keep the engine running. They rang the doorbell and entered the house. I waited a while, it seemed like a very long time, then finally got out of the car. Just when I was going to ring the doorbell, the three guys I was with burst from a side door of the house and sprinted to our running car. I started to run down the long driveway waving my arms as the car sped away. Then I noticed a well dressed woman cometary the front door, pointing a handgun at me...telling my to lie on the ground, hands on my head. I did, I was very scared.
Now I am sitting naked on bench in the local jail, waiting. Of course I was convicted as an accomplice to robbery. I told my attorney I was just the driver. He said that’s enough to make you guilty. He wanted me to confess....I wouldn’t, couldn’t lie.The woman identified me as the driver of the car. The judge said he was tired of bible- thumpers coming to Mississippi and causing trouble. He asked if I was ready to be sentenced. I said that I pray to god and he guides me and I accept whatever god has chosen. The judge smiled at me and said “ then god spoke to me too.... he said that Theft is a sin... 20 years in the state women’s penitentiary. He also said Mississippi is a corporal punishment state... spare the rod, spoil the child.....before you leave this jurisdiction you are sentenced to 30 lashes of the grade 5 whip on your naked bible thumping body. Bailiff, I call a one hour recess, prepare the prisoner for the whip. Those of you who want to view the proceedings are welcome.”