It was the clanging of the bell that awakened her. She was lying on the cold cement floor of her cell, naked. Her three cell mates were in their bunks.
In the corridor, Iron Pants was calling out, "Rise and shine." As the matron passed the cell, she saw Tracy lying on the floor in a small pool of blood, her face battered and one eye swollen shut.
"What the hell's goin' on here?" She unlocked the door and stepped inside the cell.
"She musta fell outta her bunk," Ernestine Littlechap offered.
The matron walked over to Tracy's side and nudged her with her foot. "You! Get up."
Tracy heard the voice from a far distance. Yes, she thought, I must get up; I must get out of here. But she was unable to move. Her body was screaming out with pain.
The matron grabbed Tracy's elbows and pulled her to a sitting position, and Tracy almost fainted from the agony.
"What happened?"
Through one eye Tracy saw the blurred outlines of her cell mates silently waiting for her answer.
"I--- I---" Tracy tried to speak, but no words would come out. She tried again, and some deep-seated atavistic instinct made her say, "I fell off my bunk...."
The matron snapped, "I hate smart asses. Let's put you in the bing till you learn some respect."
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