ZEMO, by Jack Heiter In 1945, fourteen-year-old aspiring artist, Jack, spends an unusual two-week vacation as a guest of his step-uncle, Zemo, a trustee inmate on an Alabama Prison Farm. Based on a true story. The summer of 1945, fourteen-year-old Jack leaves home in Mobile, Alabama, on the Grey Hound bus for the Atmore State Prison Farm as guest of his step-uncle Zemo, a trustee inmate in the prison. Zemo, a former hold-up man, and bank robber, is a model prisoner who has gained the trust of the prison system in order to live a comfortable life "behind bars". Although not religious, he believes that whenever something good happens to him, that "God is watching over him"- even if he is doing life in prison for a murder he did not commit. His job to take care of the guard's horses gives him special privileges to come and go freely through the prison gates where he can party at night with the locals and the young women who live on the edge of the farm. On his first night at the farm, Zemo teaches Jack to ride horseback and takes him to "Big Reds", a roadhouse on the edge of the farm where they spend the evening with two prostitutes. Zemo's macho "ladies man" image doesn't allow for real emotion to crack his shell, and he goes about prison life as a prisoner with "perks", with impressionable Jack tagging along after him. Zemo is a charming con man with "con-confidence", the ability to con himself into believing that as long as no one knows the real you, that part of you does not exist. Jack's innocent outlook on life is the catalyst that bonds the two strangers, representing the balance and the truthfulness that is missing in Zemo's life. Jack unintentionally exposes Zemo's con to reveal his real feelings about his life and the disappointments he has caused his family. Jack falls in love with the warden's thirteen-year-old daughter, Cindy, who has to take her two younger brothers with her wherever she goes. With the brothers around it is difficult for them to be alone, but Cindy knows the horse trails through the woods, and places where they can hide for their brief romantic encounters. On one of their outings Cindy's youngest brother is bitten by a deadly rattlesnake but Jack's quick thinking, along with first aid knowledge from his "Boy Scout Book", saves his life. The prison farm has many things for Jack to explore, and although he realizes the status of the convicts, he treats them with respect, and is always curious about their stories. Jack meets and befriends many of the inmates, and in particular Webster, a former school teacher, who encourages Jack to follow his dreams to become an artist, teaching him, "Although you may travel the world, you see it not, lest you carry it with you."
