larry looked towards his cells makeshift altar with its array of photos for inspiration : his mother whod died after a stroke on year five of his sentence , ten months after his appeal failed ; his father whod died when he was only fourteen , mercifully before hed started to slip into bad ways ; his wife , francine , who hadnt visited him for the first five years and after that only infrequently , depending on her current-partner-situation , though they still hadnt divorced yet ; his son , joshua , now twelve , who , except for some recent e-mail contact , hed seen at most half-a-dozen times over the years occasional birthdays and at christmas-time .