"Well, roomie, you did pretty good, I have to admit," Wilkes said after Kenny entered their room. Wilkes was already starting to undress for Lights Out.
"_f_u_c_k_!" Kenny said, as he slammed his fist onto his bunk then fell on it, face down.
"Not so loud," Wilkes said. "Ashton or Rivers -- or both -- will be by any minute locking doors.
"You mean the _f_u_c_k_in' door's not locked right now?"
"Not unles you got a key and locked it, roomie." Wilkes smiled. "The doors around here don't lock and unlock themselves, ya know. Why? You planning on going somewhere -- like fifty feet down the hall to the guard station?" Kenny said nothing but lay there, exhausted.
"So... how often does this happen?" Kenny finally asked. The sound of a guard walking down the hall, locking room doors could be heard.
"What?....the guards locking the doors? Every night, idiot. Were you planning on going out for a burger or somethin'?"
"No, _d_a_m_n_it," Kenny said. He knew Wilkes had deliberately misunderstood his question. "You know what I mean." Wilkes held his finget to his lips as a guard locked their door and then walked on to the next room.
"Oh," Wilkes said, "you mean the Punishment Tour? Well, like I told you, roomie, every Sunday, Tuesday and Friday before showers."
"C'mon, Rob," Kenny said, calling Wilkes by his first name for the first time, "you know what I mean. How often do guys get _f_u_c_k_ed in the locker room?"
"Oh, not that often, actually," Wilkes said. "Maybe once a week. Usually after Sunday night Punishment Tour. Guys seem hornier after weekend visits, I guess. Sometimes more often."
"Wonderful." Kenny said. "I can hardly wait."
"For what," Wilkes said. To 'get it' again or 'give it' to one of the guys who screwed you tonight?"
"_f_u_c_k_ you, Wilkes," Kenny said. Wilkes had again deliberately mis-understood what his roommate had siad.
"Sure, but not tonight, thanks." Kenny turned to look his roommate in the eye. He decided that Wilkes was half serious.
"Hey, cut it out. I told you I'm not queer." Kenny said a little pissed.
"And I told you you didn't have to be. Not around here." The lights in the room flashed twice rapidly. "Ten minutes 'til lights out," Wilkes said. "Better get undressed and in bed. Ashton will be around to check and you sure as hell don't need more with the paddle tonight -- nor do I." Kenny got up and stripped to his undershirt and underpants, then turned his bed clothes back and got under the cover.
"You were -- are -- a newbie," Wilkes said as Kenny crawled into his bunk. "It's natural that you got the paddle and switch tonight. Newbies always get it the first night. What did you expect?"
"And the other..." Kenny asked.
"I told you that would happen and it did. I even predicted who would screw you. I was wrong about Brutus, though. Don't know what the story was with him tonight. I thought he'd be the first up your newbie butt."
"I wasn't disappointed, believe me." Kenny said. He paused. "So, how long do us "newbies" get this treatment?"
"Depends, I guess." Wilkes said, looking at his roommate.
"On what?"
"How you fit in, your attitude, whether you 'couple' or not. If you're a good lookin' guy like you, it may be against you. If you're a big, stupid, _s_h_i_t_head like Brutus, you're pretty safe. Not because he's big and a bully and throws his weight around but because...well, think about it. Who would want to _f_u_c_k_ Brutus with better looking guys like you around? The guys who get singled out for butt-_f_u_c_k_in' are the ones who are like girls the most --- you know, not big hairy apes like Brutus. It'd be hard to close your eyes and pretend he was a girl, now, wouldn't it. So you got a problem in that way, roomie. You and me and Striker, I guess, and a couple of the others. We're all known as what's called 'pretty boys'. You know, sort of girlish; no hair to speak of on our chest or back or legs. The kind of guy someone can close their eyes and hold and at least pretend it's a female. That's what's going on with the straight guys, Kenny. Wise-up," Wilkes said seriously. "When one of us 'pretty boys' gets _f_u_c_k_ed its a female the guy _f_u_c_k_ing you is pretending he's holding and screwin' the _s_h_i_t_ out of. Hell, some guys will even want you to just make out with 'em, they're so _f_u_c_k_in' horny. Just kiss 'em hard and they're happy. When the straight guy go for you, it's because they can use you as a halfway decent substitute for the real thing."
"What did you mean it depends on whether I 'couple'?" Kenny asked. "Does that mean what I think it does?"
"Probably. In a way anyway." Wilkes said. "If you 'couple' that means you have someone to look out after you -- usually a roommate. A roommate who's either been here a while and knows the ropes or a roommate that nobody wants to _f_u_c_k_ around with - like Brutus." Wilkes explained. "Couples look out after each other, in the halls, in the locker room, in class, in the gym. That kind of thing. And," Wilkes added, "couples usually have _s_e_x_ with eachother -- at least some. That's why couples are usually roommates." Wilkes paused. "Getting the picture, Kenny?" This was the first time Wilkes called Kenny by his first name instead of 'roomie' or 'newbie'. "And when I say '_s_e_x_' I don't mean kissin' and huggin' and that _s_h_i_t_ -- that's Striker and Ford -- I mean '_f_u_c_k_in' and 'suckin'."
"Which one's Ford," Kenny asked.
"Ford is Stricker's 'couple' and they're both queer as three-dollar bills. They make out with each other in the shower all the time. Ford was standing next to me tonight. Locker number five. Tall, blonde hair. Probably one of the ones who got a hard-on at the sight of your butt-hole and _c_o_c_k_ tonight. He's not dangerous. All you got to do with Ford is yell at him real loud and he'll be on his hands and knees doin' anything you want. And I mean 'anything'." Unless Striker's around, that is. Striker likes to keep Ford-baby to himself. Striker's the first one to _f_u_c_k_ you tonight, in case you didn't know. Or was he the second one up your butt? I'm not sure now."
"How could I forget," Kenny said. Just then the room lights went out. The lights in the hallway shown through the window of their door onto the floor.
"Quiet on the floor!" It was Ashton yelling from the guard station.
"What am I supposed to do tomarrow," Kenny asked. "About Ashton and what he told me," he added.
"You mean about telling him when you got to take a _s_h_i_t_?"
"Yes."
"Well, that's easy," Wilkes said. "You tell him. He'll be around all day, don't worry. So you just get his attention and say: 'Excuse me, Guard Ashton, sir, but I got to take a dump somethin' awful'. Then he'll take you down to the guard's bathroom and...well you'll see." Kenny was quiet for a long while.
"How often do you get the paddle or switch during the day like you did this morning."
"What? here in the room?" Wilkes asked. "Count on it happening maybe twice a week, on average until you're not considered a newbie any more."
"Wonderful." Kenny said.
"But that's not unusual. The thing I'm expecting maybe tomarrow is a body search. We're overdue one of those and I can almost smell one coming."
"A 'body search'?" Kenny asked. "Let me guess..."
"Right," roomie," Wilkes said. "Ashton or Rivers or both will come in here and you strip and have your butt probed." Wilkes chuckled softly. "They say they're looking for contraband and drugs and stuff like that. But that ain't what they're lookin' for at all. Since the guards can't get away with putting their _c_o_c_k_s up your ass any more, they use their fingers and _d_i_l_d_o_s instead -- all perfectly legal. You'll love it. And best of all, since you're standing there naked during the search, they take the opportunity to give you five or so good hard smacks with the paddle. As I say, you'll love it and I smell one comin', Kenny, I smell one comin'. Tomorrow night, you wait and see. A room search, then a body search."
"_f_u_c_k_!" Kenny said in a loud whisper.
"I told you not tonight," Wilkes said and Kenny could almost see him smiling in the darkness. "Now shut up and go to sleep."