”Sorry for the loss”
By Bridget Keehan
One mistake can change your life forever. The wrong choice in the wrong situation can have big consequences for a person. It had to Victor. They took away his life and his freedom for a one mistake. Most people take freedom and their life for granted. It is just something we have, but some people are willing to die for that opportunity. To live free again. In “Sorry for the loss” we follow Evie the chaplain, who is going to tell the young criminal, Victor, about his grandmother’s death, and we get an insight into what freedom means to a human being.
Evie is the catholic chaplain, who works for the prison. It is her job to deliver good or bad news to the prisoners. She also helps with the Enhanced Thinking Skills. Evie has worked there for a while. About a year. She knows the building and some of the staff. Even though she has been there for a while, it doesn’t mean that she likes it. The prisoners scare her; “is he going to be all right?” Evie ask tentatively. The officer looks round with a perplexed… but realizes how nervous she is and that her question is really about whether Victor is the dangerous, unpredictable type who might want to throw a punch at news of his loss” (page 3 lines 63-65). Her intentions to help are good, but it is difficult for her to get a real break through to the prisoner’s minds, because she is afraid of them. Evie has a ritual before delivering the bad news. On a spot at five floor across the window. She stands at a certain spot across the window on the fifth floor and prays to the lord because she is afraid of the reaction from Victor. She is a good and a religious person because she wants to help others to get rid of the pain. But what if there is no pain and no emotions from the prisoner like Victor?
Victor Zamora is a young boy, who seems way too clever and pretty to be in prison. He was not