A couple of days ago, I did my Gospel juggling and magic show at the Windham, Maine, state prison.  I was brought in under Chaplain Marian Zimmerman, a nun who has been there for several years.  When she greeted me at the front desk, she asked me about our family's recent trip to Paraguay.  She, too, had spent time there a few years ago.  Small world.

Because of the size of the prison's population, I perform in a different 'pod' each time I go in.  This time I was on a men's pod.  Sister Marian said these were men who 'didn't know where they stood with things, so they spent a lot of time waiting."  I'm not sure exactly what this means; I thought that once they were in the prison, there sentences were set.  Regardless, I set up, and the men were brought into the common area for the show. 

I was not allowed to bring in my I-pod - I think due to its picture taking capacity - so I had to revert to old school CDs.  Because of this, I had to adjust a few things.  My CD of Mahalia Jackson's "When the Saints go Marching In", which is my three ball routine's music," is scratched, so I did an adapted ball routine to Randy Stonehill's "Great Big Stupid World".  This is normally my 4 and 5 ball routine, so I did a blend of the two and did 3, 4 and 5 in my opening.  In other words, I was winging it.

The audience enjoyed themselves, but one highlight was when a dove got away from me and landed on a large, burly guy's head!  Fortunately, he was a good sport about it and joined in the laughter.  Another was my expanding head illusion, always a hit.  One of the inmates blurted out, "It's like I was on mushrooms again!" 

By the time I was home, Sister Marian had already e-mailed me the following message:

Richard,

"Thanks for coming to be with the men.  I appreciate your patience with me as I try to figure out the inner workings of our place – we keep morphing – and where you can spend your time to greatest advantage.  And thanks too for endless patience with the getting in and out, in the face of whatever comes along at the moment as we are trying to make plans realities!  Some of the guys really appreciated your coming and others are thinking!  That’s a good place to let them be."

Amen!