The Worn Footboard

A bare whitewashed prison room in Little Rock in early morning, flat grey daylight from a high window with iron bars, on a plain concrete floor a single wooden chair of medium brown wood with a very high narrow back, at its top a crossrail with two small knobs, below it a broad upright centre board flanked on each side by two open rectangular panels, beneath them a row of upright spindles, broad flat armrests on straight supports, small black metal fittings at the back, between the front legs a thick footboard worn pale with screw heads, two small metal feet, the chair alone in the still room.