Wild West - Chapter 5 - Part 10 - 5 minute freewrite challenge

With the sun's rays lighting up the horizon, four policemen walked downstairs – one carrying the dishes, another carrying two full linen bags and the remaining two of them carrying a large iron pot.

At the sight of the policemen all the inmates already familiar with the protocol formed a queue, starting at the very hind corner of the cell, twisting like a snake to reach the food slit in the cell. Because Tom and James didn't know what was going on, they tried to fit in and get into the queue with the others, but they didn't let them. They pushed them to the front so they were the first to get served. They waited like so untill the food had been distributed in the cell prior to theirs.

The four policemen stopped near the food slit and took a good look at James, standing first in line.

“A change in leadership, huh?” The one with the linen bag full of bread asked James, then handed him 5 big slices of it. “I didn’t like the previous guy anyway.” He somewhat whispered to his ear as he took the plate filled with some strange cabbage soup from his colleague. “Next!”

James held the plate close to his face and thoroughly inspected it. It smelled foul and looked like dog vomit. Its taste was just as bad as its looks. It was most definitely not the healthiest of meals.

Tom, being the second one, got only 3 slices of bread, all smaller than the five James got, and a significantly smaller portion of the cabbage soup. By the fifth prisoner the policemen were handing out only single slices of bread and barely any soup, and nobody even asked for more. The hierarchy in prison was very strict.