Free Prisoners of the Williwaw by Ed Griffin Page A

hair so that she had to grab it and hold it down.   "I like the wind," she said.
    "You like it?"
    "It rips away the artificial."
    "Along with various buildings.   One thing, however, it makes you look - mighty fine.   Very sexy."
    While she held her hair with both hands, he leaned toward her and kissed her lightly on the lips.His kiss lingered there and got deeper.Soon his arms were around her, and she abandoned her hair to the wind and put her arms around him. "Whew," she said coming up for air, "so that's what a williwaw is."
    "Shit, woman," he said, talking bad, "you're the williwaw.   Want to go to the back seat and do the wild thing?"
    She put her hand on his mouth and smiled.   "Wait."
    A sudden, cold wet wind hit them from behind.   Gilmore turned around.   "Holy shit," he said.   "Look."
    The clouds had lifted enough to reveal a snow-covered mountain, its top still in mist.She noted again the snowy starkness.There were no trees or bushes of any kind on its slopes.   Hundreds of American bald eagles, deprived of trees, clutched the telephone lines at the base of the mountain.
    "That's Mount Moffett," he said.   "Let's get back in the car.   This wind is a mother."
    "No, look Gil, there's another mountain." She pointed farther north.
    "I see," he said without enthusiasm.   "Let's go."
    In the car she turned again to look at the mountains.   Why was she so fascinated with nature? she wondered.   She'd been a city girl all her life.
    "This is such an interesting place," she said.
    He glanced at her, like she was kidding.
      They started down hill ."What are you going to do here?" she asked, surprised she hadn't asked before.   "I mean you said "a nightclub."   What does that mean?"
    He smiled that careful smile of his, the one he used when he was trying to figure out how to slant information for her. "Listen, fine lady," he took her hand, "I'm about to show you.   A golden opportunity.   The former officers' club.   The building has survived in great shape.   See, guys getting out of prison need a little fun.   They need a taste of the life they've been denied for so long.Don't get me wrong.   We need the factory.   We need a source of income for the future.   But you don't treat ex-cons like they were the rotary club.   You let them raise a little hell, then you come down hard.You get some muscle to enforce the rules.   Cons understand power and authority.   They don't understand all this democracy thing Villa is trying.   In reality, I'm going to do more for law and order on Adak than ten Frank Villas."
    She pulled her hand away from him.   "Villa is trying to do something good and you should - " she pictured Villa's tired face, his worried eyes - "You should - you should - "
    "That's just it, Latisha.   We should do what?   For twenty years guys in prison do what they're told.   Get up at six.   Eat at eight.Take a shit at - you get the picture.   Guys don't elect the warden, they don't make the rules.   Then, bingo!   Frank Villa expects in one day they'll become model citizens.   He's dreaming.   When the head of a prison organization says, 'Show up for work on Monday,' the guys will show up."
    "What about that little girl's mother?"
    "Hey - that's her wish."
    "Prostitution?"
    "Extra money."
    Latisha shook her head.
    "And we're breaking the prison fag habit."
    "Oh come on, Gil."
    "Listen, fine lady, you don't legislate morality.   You channel wild behavior, you control it.   You make a business out of it.   You don't shake your finger at it.   Swear to God, sometimes I think Villa's setting up a church men's group."
    "I don't know about all that, but - "   He started to turn into a driveway - "What is this?"
    "This is the what I wanted to show you, the Officers' Club."
    He stopped in the parking lot.   A sign said this was the Eagle's Nest Officers' Club and this was COMO and UOPH and BOQ, but the part of the sign that explained the letters was gone.
    He shut off the