A pretty woman was serving a life sentence in prison. Angry
and resentful about her situation, she had decided that she
would rather die than to live another year in prison. Over the
years she had become good friends with one of the prison
caretakers.
His job, among others, was to bury those prisoners who died
in a graveyard just outside the prison walls. When a prisoner
died, the caretaker rang a bell, which was heard by everyone.
The caretaker then got the body and put it in a casket.
Next, he entered his office to fill out the death certificate before
returning to the casket to nail the lid shut. Finally, he put the
casket on a wagon to take it to the graveyard and bury it.
Knowing this routine, the woman devised an escape plan and
shared it with the caretaker. The next time the bell rang, the
woman would leave her cell and sneak into the dark room where
the coffins were kept.
She would slip into the coffin with the dead body while the
caretaker was filling out the death certificate. When the care-
taker returned, he would nail the lid shut and take the coffin
outside the prison with the woman in the coffin along with the
dead body. He would then bury the coffin.
The woman knew there would be enough air for her to breathe
until later in the evening when the caretaker would return to the
graveyard under the cover of darkness, dig up the coffin, open
it, and set her free.
The caretaker was reluctant to go along with this plan, but since
he and the woman had become good friends over the years, he
agreed to do it. The woman waited several weeks before some-
one in the prison died.
She was asleep in her cell when she heard the death bell ring.
She got up, picked the lock of her cell, and slowly walked down
the hallway. She was nearly caught a couple of times. Her heart
was beating fast.
She opened the door to the darkened room where the coffins
were kept. Quietly in the dark, she found the coffin that contained
the dead body, carefully climbed into the coffin and pulled the lid shut
to wait for the caretaker to come and nail the lid shut.
Soon she heard footsteps and the pounding of the hammer and
nails. Even though she was very uncomfortable in the coffin with
the dead body, she knew that with each nail she was one step
closer to freedom.
The coffin was lifted onto the wagon and taken outside to the
graveyard. She could feel the coffin being lowered into the ground.
She didn't make a sound as the coffin hit the bottom of the grave
with a thud.
Finally she heard the dirt dropping onto the top of the wooden coffin,
and she knew that it was only a matter of time until she would be free
at last. After several minutes of absolute silence, she began to laugh.
She was free! She was free!
Feeling curious, she decided to light a match to find out the identity
of the dead prisoner beside her. To her horror, she discovered that she
was lying next to the dead caretaker.
Many people believe they have life all figured out..... but sometimes
it just doesn't turn out the way they planned it.
