Solomon's Porch Read Online Free PDF Page A

at the Federal Correctional Institution in Lexington, Kentucky, a “low custody” facility. This type of prison is one step up from a camp, but nowhere near as onerous as a penitentiary.
    The moment Saul stepped on the bus to Parkersboro, he said he recognized Malik from his dreams. Without stopping to think, because if he had he would have realized how stupid and potentially suicidal it was, he pushed his way into a seat next to Malik. But before the other black inmates sitting nearby could react and beat down the skinny old white dude for his insolence, Malik said, “He’s with me.”
    They spent the next three hours trying to figure out why God wanted anything to do with the likes of them, and how in the world they ended up on this bus together.
    Under Federal Bureau of Prisons guidelines, neither Saul Cohen nor Malik Graham had any business being designated to a Federal prison camp. Camps are for people like Peter Carson, non-violent offenders with sentences under ten years.
    While someone like Saul might see a camp near the end of his sentence, it was unheard of for a man to go from a maximum security USP straight to a camp. Malik told Saul that the BOP people in Atlanta checked and rechecked his paperwork several times before they put him on the bus, even going so far as to call Washington for confirmation.
    A man like Malik Graham, such as he was before God through Gabriel touched him, doing time in a prison camp, would be like turning loose a tiger on a herd of trapped deer. In the few hours or days he would spend there, since there was no fence, a man like Malik Graham would be gone almost instantly, he would intimidate, rob, and beat the other prisoners at will.
    Yet, as Peter sat looking at his new friends, he was struck by how unthreatening they both now were. Malik had become a lamb in a lion’s body, and Saul, who Peter rightly surmised had been every bit as evil if not as violent as Malik, looked like a chastened schoolboy ready to obey his Daddy and get straight.
    “Well, brothers, if what you say is right, and believe me I do not doubt anything that you’ve told me, we’ve got work to do. I guess we should be expecting four more to join us shortly,” Peter said, contemplating exactly what his next move should be. “I’m new at this business of being God’s servant, but let me assure you, He won’t leave any doubt about what we are to do next.”
    “Do either of you have a Bible?” Peter asked. Two heads shook no. “We will solve that problem quickly. For now let me quote to you from a book in the Bible called James, the first chapter and the fifth verse. It describes our current situation. James says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
    With that Peter stood and motioned for Saul and Malik to do the same. They held hands and formed a small circle. Peter led them in prayer.
    Several inmates who had been milling around the porch watched this happen and wondered why Peter Carson was praying at all, much less with two new guys he couldn’t possibly know.
    It was the first time men were seen praying on the porch, but what now seemed odd would soon become a regular part of life at Parkersboro.

Four
    “Daddy?”
    “Kevin, how are you, son?”
    “Okay, I guess. I miss you so much, dad. I’ve been reading the children’s Bible you sent to me. It’s neat. You help me to understand it better too. It’s just that mom … ”
    Kevin Carson hesitated. He was so happy that his father was calling him regularly again, saying how much he loved him, and promising that God was going to help them both. He didn’t want anything to mess that up.
    “It’s alright, Kev. You can tell me the truth. Don’t be afraid.”
    “Mommy says you are a phony. I don’t know what that means, but it can’t be very nice. She and Walter were talking last night in the kitchen and I heard what they said. I wasn’t trying to spy,