“You specifically ordered a frozen pizza. Ain’t never seen that before for no last meal.”
“I guess it really doesn’t matter, you know? I don’t have much of an appetite. You want some pizza?”
“No thanks.”
Cody hits the straw again, then starts laughing. “You remember when they killed Skunk Miller, what, two years ago?”
“Sure. I remember it well. I liked Skunk.”
“And what was his last meal?”
Marvin chuckles at the memory. “Oh, that was something. Skunk wanted everything, a sirloin steak, fries, two cheeseburgers, a dozen raw oysters, baked potato, eggs and bacon, chocolate cake. And he ate every bite of it.”
“And you served it to him, right?”
“Yeah, and watched him eat it. He kept trying to offer me some of his last meal, but it just didn’t seem right.”
“And he ordered a bottle of wine, too.”
“Yeah, but he didn’t get it. No alcohol, of course.”
Cody takes a small bite but it’s obvious he’s losing interest. “You know that a few minutes after you die your bowels and bladder relax and release everything, a real mess. I guess Skunk got the last laugh.”
“I don’t think he was laughing.”
“Do you get the cleanup duty?”
“Nope. That’s somebody else’s job, thank goodness.”
“What happens to me after they cut off my clothes and hose me down?”
“I don’t know, Cody. I ain’t never been that curious.”
“You ever watch an execution, Marvin?”
“Nope. This is as close as I want to get.”
“I wish you’d eat some of this pizza. It’s not that good but it’s sort of filling.”
“No thanks.”
“Let me guess. You don’t like frozen pizza?”
“You got that right.”
Cody chuckles and hits the straw. “That’s hard to believe, Marvin. When me and Brian broke in a house, we’d always go for the guns first, guns and jewelry, valuable stuff that’s easy to carry and even easier to fence. After we looked around real fast, it was my job to go to the refrigerator and freezer and find some food. We were usually hungry by the time we broke in a place. If we got lucky, there’d be frozen pizza in the freezer. We had this little charcoal grill that we’d stolen, hell, everything we had was stolen down to the shoes on our feet, and, anyway, we’d grill a frozen pizza at midnight and watch the stars.” He stands and faces Marvin and closes his eyes for a long pause. Then he smiles and says, “Those were happy days, Marvin. Me and Brian, free as birds, living off the land, so to speak, sleeping in pup tents, always moving around so no one could find us. Think about that, Marvin. Nobody in the world knew where we were and no one cared. And we damned sure didn’t care about anybody else. Total freedom out there, hiding in the woods. Those were the best days, and I was just a kid.”
Marvin has nothing to say. A long minute passes as Cody seems to be in a trance. Down the hall, the door clangs again, but no one joins them. Finally, Marvin says, “Look, Cody, I’m not being a hard-ass here, but you need to finish eating. We gotta move you to the holding room in a few minutes.”
“Why can’t I just stay here until the big moment?”
“I don’t know. I don’t make the rules.”
“I know, I know.”
“Sorry.”
“Say, Marvin, I was kinda hard on the Padre earlier. Is he still around?”
“Yeah, he’s up front with the warden.”
“Could you ask him to sit with me in the holding room?”
“Sure. He’d like that.”
“You wanna watch my execution? I got plenty of tickets.”
“No thanks.”
Cody breaks into a big smile and starts chuckling. “Say, Marvin, how about a favor?”
This is funny and Marvin laughs. “A favor on death row?”
“Sure. You can do it. A simple favor and it would mean a lot.”
“What is it?”
Cody walks to the bars and lowers his voice. “Marvin, I haven’t seen the moon in fourteen years, and I would love to see it just one more time.”
“Come on, Cody.”
“No, you come on, Marvin. I’ll be dead in less than an hour, so who gives a damn if I sneak outside for a bit of fresh air. What’s the harm?”
“It’s against the rules.”
“You make most of the rules around here, Marvin. Nobody will question you. Hell, nobody will ever know. We ease down the hall, take the side door to the yard, and there it is. A big moon, nice and full, the first summer moon. Right up there in the eastern sky.”