It was one of the worst feelings in the H-Block, one of the worst experiences to sit and listen to somebody getting beat. Because you were totally powerless, and you would always get somebody shouting at the door, “You shower of bastards!” It was always a crowd of screws and one or two naked men in a cell. They had total control.

It wasn't my fault if the blamed old store caught fire and gave me a chance to help Ferguson move out some of the stuff that has been 'spiffed' till it looks like red ink had been spilled all over the price-tags.

Don't believe a word he says, pet. He's away with the fairies.

To understand just how rare, look back into history to, say, the Johnson Act of 1924. Its national-origins quota system reverberated with nativism and racism.