[ WP ] A man is sentenced to two-hundred years in prison . Thanks to medical progress , he lives to serve out his term .

*A FRESH WATER FISH IN SALTWATER* 
 
 
 `` Hey, hey, excuse me? Do you know where Willow St. is? Thought it was here.'' 
 
 
 `` Nope. No Willow St. here. Just a couple old skyscrapers in a city.'' the cop said. 
 
 
 `` How the hell -- what? I swear to God it was here. By this old oak tree, you see? It should have writing in the bark. You see?'J.R.C. loves his mom.' I'm JRC. Joe Richard Cloutier, you see?'' 
 
 
 `` You came to this park and carved,'J.R.C. loves his mom' in that tree?'' 
 
 `` No, no, no. You see, this was n't a park. This goddamn tree was right in fronta my house in the suburbs. And some brats in middle school wrote that when I was kid, y'know?... But I do love my mom. She lives right here on Willow St in a nice wood house, with black shingles and tan paint and all.'' 
 
 `` Actually, yeah, an old lady lived here in a tan house. I wan na say 40 years ago, they finally built this tower over it when she kicked the bucket.'' 
 
 `` She died?'' 
 
 `` Christ, yeah, long time ago. Where the hell ya been, ya do n't know your mom been dead for forty years? Some friggin' kid you are.'' 
 
 `` Been in the clink. She stopped calling a while back.'' 
 
 `` Clink?'' 
 
 `` Jail.'' 
 
 `` Ah. How long?'' 
 
 `` 200. 200 years.'' 
 
 `` 200 years? You musta deserved it. Murder?'' 
 
 `` Yeah. I'd tell you I did n't do it, but I do n't care anymore. Yeah I did it.'' 
 
 `` I swear ta God there's no place in this world for asswipes like you.'' 
 
 `` I'm gon na go find a place to sleep.'' 
 
 
 
 Everything burned him: each inhalation devoid of the familiar smells he'd expected, each street more metallic and concrete than he'd expected, each piercing memory of faces that had evidently died and withered long ago. Everything burned like saltwater in the gills of a freshwater fish.
