Chapter 16: Delbert Wayne Duncan On Remedial Education Unit

Chapter 16: Delbert Wayne Duncan On Remedial Education Unit

Delbert Wayne Duncan did not know that he was circling in a holding pattern, awaiting the outcome of negotiations concerning his being subjected to Dr. Wu's advanced interrogation techniques. The inmate was mesmerized by the wallscreen in his cell that showed a nine year old Delbert Wayne Duncan celebrating his birthday with a large family he had seemingly forgotten.

“Prison is the last great venue for advertising,” Lamar Watson liked to tell his adoring daughter. Of course there were obstacles to bringing Madison Avenue to The Big House. Bundled And Fortified Fiber Optics revolutionized the “delivery process.” Jailbirds would be able to watch a treasure trove of commercials that streamed through ultra-low energy interfaces as culinary odors were piped through the vents.

With their messaging refined if not perfected, the problem for Mindy Watkins and Amerijail turned to recruiting sponsors. Not surprisingly, vendors were not enthusiastic about marketing their products to a population on a trajectory that did not forebode a high volume of consumer decisions. The ever resourceful Amerijail responded by developing heir own product lines. Precious Memories, a wholly owned subsidiary of Amerijail, utilized a packaging firm that dumped their generic cereals into house brand boxes. To date, Swan Song Foods had packaged six cereals and three toaster pastries for Precious Memories. Precious Memories was also negotiating with other packagers to market dinner products that had been developed at Amerijail's Western Tennessee Unit.

The face of a nine year old Delbert Wayne Duncan had been lifted from the Internet and set onto a nine year old body using a process called Morph-Vid originally developed by Joseph Productions. James Joseph once oversaw a production company called “the virtual network” because of the volume of content they cable stations and networks. The cash-soaked Josephs sometimes swapped their crisp new shows for the rights to old, unmarketable movies. What would conglomerates want with moth-eaten fodder that were not even considered classics?

Morph-Vid to the rescue. An old cheesy Western serial was colorized and given a hip hop soundtrack and the faces of contemporary actors were sewn into the new product. The old thirteen part “Tumbleweed” series retold with black heroes and Caucasian villains were a direct to video sensation. “Tumbleweed Remix” sounded the tsunami alarm for an epoch of small screen and theatrical releases produced for a fraction of the cost of a conventionally made movie.

Morph-Vid would find its way into other venues. Pornography had traditionally held the attention of a largely male audience but women who were shown hardcore vids with their own faces grafted on the head of female actresses became loyal, if not fanatical customers. Their enthusiasm spiked even higher when voice emulators substituted their own voices for the actress's voice. Men who did not enjoy traditional porn frequently paid top dollar to watch a better-bod version of themselves perform with a beautiful partner.

Advertising was the next frontier for Morph-Vid. Consumers might open their wallets to watch a version of themselves in a porn vid or even an old Tarzan flick but who wanted to morph into a commercial? Amerijail transported its inmates into the future. Delbert Wayne Duncan sat on the cot of his cell slowly chewing on a Precious Memories blueberry toaster pastry.

Delbert seemed to have forgotten that when he was nine he won a croquet tournament that saved the whole town from eviciton and his Uncle Wilbur and Aunt Sarah rewarded him with Precious Memories Corn Flakes. He seemed to have forgotten that when he was nine, he saved a baby from a flooding river and the townspeople rewarded him with a parade and a serving of Precious Memories Fudge Crispies Cereal. He seemed to have forgotten that when he was nine, he rescued a family from a burning house and Uncle Dave and Aunt Ruby rewarded him with an assortment of Precious Memories toaster pastries.

Now as Delbert leaned against the wall that abutted his vinyl cot, he closed his eyes to focus his attention on the rapturous flavor of his Precious Memories Strawberry toaster pastry. Life was good.