Almost Like a Movie

A short story by Steve Chittenden

It is the opening scene. The first thing you see is an team of armored police officers with guns drawn, breaking down the door to an apartment. Inside the apartment is a frightened family; a young mother is screaming, her kids are crying, and the armored police continue their quest through the apartment forcing their way into a bedroom.

Inside the bedroom, an undignified father is quickly surrounded by pointed guns, police demanding him to lie face down on the bed as they handcuff him, and then they proceed to escort him out of the apartment. In military fashion, they read him his rights as young children are crying, "Daddy, daddy! Where are you taking my daddy?!"

The scene fades with the unforgettable look of horror on the children's faces and tears streaming down their cheeks.

After a brief pause, the screen fades back in with a new scene and a caption at the bottom that says, "15 years earlier."

As the new scene unfolds, it becomes obvious that the young boy you are seeing is the father who was arrested at the beginning. He is now about 12 years old, growing up in an impoverished situation, living in a run down trailer park, and being emotionally abused by an alcoholic father. His mother loves him, but there is little she can do. If she manages to get any extra money at all, it is quickly squandered by a father who cannot hold a job of his own.

He has few friends and matters are made worse by the ridicule he receives from many of his peers. He longs to be normal, but life has other plans for him.

It is now 7 years later. Our lead character is about 19 years old. He has moved out of the house, living with a roommate, and taking whatever jobs he can find to gain some dignity in life. He has discovered that he has a talent for woodworking. He works for a small company that makes furniture parts and fixtures. It does not pay very well, just enough to cover his basic expenses, and they are located in a run down warehouse section of town.

It looks as though his life is going to play out for him the same as most of the older people he is surrounded by. He begins to see an existence of never getting much above the poverty line and living paycheck to paycheck. His attempts to find a decent job in woodworking end only in disappointment.

He finds comradery in one of his co-workers who has befriended him. As they are having a beer together, his friend asks him if he has ever tried drugs. At first, the idea seems rather alarming, but over the course of time he decides to smoke some pot with his friend. He enjoys the experience and is then introduced to a series of new party culture friends. He now finds himself escaping the harsh reality of his life through drugs.

It is not long before his low paying job is insufficient to support his drug and party lifestyle. After being tempted to steal to support his habit, he begins to realize that if he sold the drugs, he would have enough to support his own habit and some extra cash as well. He met some dealers since getting involved in this new lifestyle and they always seem to be flashing money around. He works up the courage to approach one of the dealers and ask about becoming a dealer himself.

To his surprise, he was welcomed into their world. He was indoctrinated into the "rules" and sworn to secrecy about who his sources were. His money problems were over, but he soon realized that you cannot walk away from that life easily. He was in, but now could he ever get out?

Over the next few years, he leads a double life. With a wife and young children, he shelters them from the dark secrets of his other life while maintaining the facade. We watch as his world filled with treachery and deceit take their toll and threaten to shatter everything he has worked for. Everything culminates as he is set up for a police sting operation and we end up with the same apartment raid scene from where we came in at.

This time, as the scene of the horrified little faces and the tear-soaked cheeks fade from the screen, we slowly open up into a courtroom where the judge is sentencing our "drug dealer" to prison. The wife and children once again are left in tears as he is escorted from the courtroom in handcuffs to begin serving his time in prison.

Who will tell this man that there is still hope in life? Who will help him get back on his feet when his time in prison is served? Who will help with the burden of a family now torn apart by having a parent in prison? Who will remember those prisoners in our society who are often scorned, forgotten, or both? The movies seldom answer these questions, but prison ministries do. Our purpose is to raise awareness, to meet these needs, and "visit those who are in prison" just as Jesus would do.

To learn more about how Alpha Prison Ministries is seeking to make a difference, please feel free to visit other pages on this site. Discover our excitement in the success we have witnessed as lives that once seemed hopeless are transformed into shining examples that would warm the hearts of any movie going audience.

© 2004 Steve Chittenden

Close this window