In the Hat

Dannie Martin went to the toughest writing school on the planet - jail. Now, he writes to tell us stories from that world he left behind, the hard but somehow brutally honest world of the career criminal. Martin offers the story of Vernon Coy, a pimp and small-time bank robber who's living the easy life with two girls and a rooster. Of course, the easy life never stays easy for long. What Vern doesn't know is that he's in the hat.

There's a little ritual unique prison gangs. When someone crosses your gang, his name gets put in the hat with a bunch of blank slips of paper. Whoever draws the slip with the name on it is expected to make sure that this someone ends up dead before the next lockdown. Since Vern's on the outside, killing him won't be that simple or that quick, but if the Duboce White Boys have their way, it won't be long before Vern is just another body with tag on its toe.