After spending a long fifteen years in prison, TANYA JACKSON walked out of the ugly beige center she had been trapped in. As she steps out of the cruel, barb-wired gates of Phoenix Women’s Correctional Facility, she takes a look to the left and right before smiling to herself. Free at last. Battered Converse tennis shoes on her feet and a plastic bag full of her few possessions, Tanya begins to walk alongside the road to her new destiny.
Tanya finds comfort in her first hours of liberty at a local diner, inhaling burgers, fries and a couple of shakes as though she had never tasted the food before. While digesting, she calls her son, Blake, to deliver the good news of her release but is met with a cold reaction. Hurt and disappointed, she puts together the few bills that she has to call an Uber, with much help from the disgruntled restaurant employee.
Tanya closes the door to her Uber and faces a long drive way that leads to a beautiful home; her son’s. She anxiously knocks at the door and Blake opens it; his expression hard, stony, and a little sad. After a heated debate, Blake slams the door on Tanya’s face and does not give her the opportunity to meet her grandson. Heartbroken, Tanya sobs and yells out to Blake from the porch of the door, but is met with no response.
Defeated, she retreats back to the diner which had earlier served as a safe haven for her but now reduces her to unhappy memories. A happy family passes her table and triggers flashbacks of when she got caught in armed robbery gone wrong and of the last encounter Tanya had with her daughter due to her being angry that she did not want to take a plea deal.
The diner closes up shop and Tanya is forced to leave. Alone and cold, she plops on a curb in the parking lot. After much contemplation, she gathers the strength to dial a number. Time passes and a car rolls up. A warm, but concerned elderly black woman gets out and for a moment the two women stare at each other until Tanya darts towards the car to give her mother a long, warm embrace. After many tears spilled and a motherly kiss on the forehead, Tanya climbs into the car to go home at last.
Tanya finds comfort in her first hours of liberty at a local diner, inhaling burgers, fries and a couple of shakes as though she had never tasted the food before. While digesting, she calls her son, Blake, to deliver the good news of her release but is met with a cold reaction. Hurt and disappointed, she puts together the few bills that she has to call an Uber, with much help from the disgruntled restaurant employee.
Tanya closes the door to her Uber and faces a long drive way that leads to a beautiful home; her son’s. She anxiously knocks at the door and Blake opens it; his expression hard, stony, and a little sad. After a heated debate, Blake slams the door on Tanya’s face and does not give her the opportunity to meet her grandson. Heartbroken, Tanya sobs and yells out to Blake from the porch of the door, but is met with no response.
Defeated, she retreats back to the diner which had earlier served as a safe haven for her but now reduces her to unhappy memories. A happy family passes her table and triggers flashbacks of when she got caught in armed robbery gone wrong and of the last encounter Tanya had with her daughter due to her being angry that she did not want to take a plea deal.
The diner closes up shop and Tanya is forced to leave. Alone and cold, she plops on a curb in the parking lot. After much contemplation, she gathers the strength to dial a number. Time passes and a car rolls up. A warm, but concerned elderly black woman gets out and for a moment the two women stare at each other until Tanya darts towards the car to give her mother a long, warm embrace. After many tears spilled and a motherly kiss on the forehead, Tanya climbs into the car to go home at last.
