[Continuing the journal of Diane McMurphy, a patient in Bad Shepherd mental hospital, “The Asylum”]
Doctor takes our minds apart piece by piece, disassembles them, lays them out like mice ripped apart by a cat. Sometimes we talk about it, a kind of conversational terrorism. Here’s a piece of me:
“Do you know why you’re here?” he asks.
“I’m crazy.”
“Well, saying that is just avoidance, you know, Diane. ‘Crazy’ is just a word. It’s not acknowledging what you did.”
“What I did?”
“You weren’t ‘crazy’ in a nice quiet way, were you? Remember the time they picked you up in the street, ranting and screaming?”
“Which time was that?”
#
Of course I ranted. Why not? That was before I was locked up here, of course. I also jaywalked, and raised my arms and scattered the cars like so many birds, swerving and honking like the geese they were, their little captive people shouting at me desperately to let them out, waving arms and fingers, but I ignored them. Being caught by a car buzzing busily to its den to feed its young is perhaps not so bad, at least it’s all over quickly, just a grease-spot X marks the spot and then it’s over, while I – ! I live with my life all my life.
[to be continued …]
<END>
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See www.terencekuch.net for a profile of the author, publications, reviews, etc.
Terence Kuch’s speculative fiction novels * may be purchased directly from the publishers or via his Amazon author page, www.amazon.com/author/terencekuch
*The Seventh Effect: a thriller from Melange Publications about a new kind of bioterrorist plot against the USA; praised by Kirkus Reviews.
*See/Saw: a literary adventure from Ink Smith Publications about implanting memories, and a murder.
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