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Orange Is the New Black Chapter 17 Summary

How It All Goes Down

Diesel Therapy

  • Jae and her cousin Slice are on Piper's prison flight, along with a bunch of boisterous men. 
  • Piper is shackled the entire time, but the guard is nice enough to not do it too tight (and she was advised to wear extra socks to protect her ankles).
  • She lands in Oklahoma City for the worst layover ever.
  • In the prison there, she meets LaKeesha, who is on her way to Danbury…
  • … and she sees Nora Jansen there.
  • She tells Jae and Slice that Nora, the "b**** [who] ratted me out" (17.39), is now in the same facility with them. 
  • They tell Piper that she needs to do her thing, but it's probably not worth it to rough the girl up.
  • Piper ignores Nora and her sister, who is in there, too. 
  • She finds out that Slice is called Slice because "It's her favorite drink" (17.60); to protect her true identity, Kerman changed her name in the text from 7-Up.
  • When LaKeesha leaves for Danbury, Piper gives her a message: "Tell them you met a white girl who does yoga from Danbury and she's all right!" (17.68)
  • They finally get moved to Chicago, and Piper has to sit next to Nora on the plane.
  • She clogs her ears with Vaseline and ignores her the whole way. (At least the person in front of her can't recline her seat into her lap.)
  • Of course, Piper and Nora get put in the same cell in Chicago, along with Hester. 
  • They talk, and the "iceberg between [them] melted" (17.52).
  • They get moved to their rooms, and Piper finds herself with a 350-pound roommate who snores and does astrology. 
  • They're also greeted by the one-woman welcoming committee, Crystal, who brings them underpants and towels.
  • Piper spends her time hanging out with Nora and Hester, who is calling herself Anne now.
  • She finds out what happened to Nora: She was living in Vermont when a SWAT team took her into custody. 
  • She says she told the feds that Piper was "just my girlfriend and […] didn't know anything" (17.114). And Piper believes her.