Admissions (22 page)

Chapter 46

I
t’s a Sunday morning in late October. Heidi and I walk down
Red Drive
from Cottage 22. We’re meeting Estee and Autumn in front of Building 50 for Sunday services at the All Faiths Chapel on the east side of the hospital complex. September was unusually hot, and cool nights coaxed the leaves to turn. They fall away from their nodes and dance to the ground, sliding softly onto the cool grass. The wind whips them into eddies spinning across the lawn. We get to Building 50 with just ten minutes to spare before the chapel bell rings.

“Where are they?” Heidi paces in front of the door.

“They’re usually here waiting.”

We pace, sigh, and peer through the front door. At exactly nine o’clock, the chapel bell rings.

“That’s it,” Heidi says. “I’m supposed to be an usher today. I can’t be late.”

“You go on ahead. I’ll talk to the key man; see if he’ll let me in.”

“Okay. See you later.” Heidi takes off at a dead run across the lawn.

I ring the doorbell and wait.

“Good morning.” I say when he opens the door. “I’m supposed to meet two patients out front. They have passes to attend church.”

“Looks like they changed their minds.”

“May I come in and check at the nurses’ station in Hall 9?”

“Guess that’s okay. Do you know the way?”

“Yes. Thank you.” I hurry down the hall toward the elevator.

The bell dings as the elevator doors slide open on Hall 9, I step up to the nurses’ station and press the buzzer. I wait a good five minutes for a nurse to come to the door.

“What is it?” The nurse’s face is unusually red, a blue-white cast around her thin lips.

“I’m here to pick up Estee Wiseman and Autumn Bauer for church.”

“Come in. Stay right here.” The sound of soles squeaking across linoleum catches my attention, loud voices rising and falling, the words indistinguishable. I peer down the hall. The nurse joins a group of attendants gathered at the far end, near the bathrooms. A few patients hustle from the dayroom toward the commotion. I walk slowly into the hall, try to make out the voices, pick up the pace as I approach the crowd.

“What’s going on?”

“A patient went berserk and has one of the bathroom aides.”

“Who …who is the patient?” I feel the fear spark down my arms. My stomach rolls.

“Don’t know.”

I push toward the door and stand on tiptoes trying to see over the heads of the attendants.

Autumn squeezes my arm. “Luanne, thank God. It’s Estee. Come on. They’re trying to talk her down.” Autumn pulls me through the crowd. We stop just outside the bathroom door.

Estee stands in front of a line of sinks with her arm across the chest of a terrified aide. Her other hand holds a small curved knife against the aide’s throat. Two attendants are negotiating for her to put the weapon down and release her prisoner.

“Where did she get that curved thing?” I ask Autumn.

“It looks like a leather tool from the Shop. I don’t know how she got it, but they’re sharp.”

Autumn takes a couple of steps forward, talks to one of the nurses. The nurse whispers to one of the negotiators.

“Okay, Autumn. They said you can try to talk to her.” She guides Autumn by the elbow, brings her within a few feet of Estee.

“Estee, it’s me, Autumn. Put the knife down, sweetie. It’s time to go to church.”

“Ha! Now that’s a clever one, isn’t it,” Estee shouts.

“Estee. You know me—Autumn.”

“He takes many forms.”

She pulls the aide closer. One of the attendants comes up behind Autumn and puts his mouth to her ear. “Okay, step back. I think you’re making it worse.”

“But, she knows me. I can help.”

“No, she doesn’t recognize you. She thinks you’re the devil. Step back!”

Autumn and I stand against the wall and watch as the attendants try to enter Estee’s delusion, manipulate it to their advantage. Nothing works. Estee’s eyes are wild, black, darting around the room. One of the attendants sneaks along the back wall by the showers and approaches Estee from the rear. He has a large syringe in one hand, leather restraints in the other. Just as he steps away from the wall, she turns.

It looks like she’s drawing a line across the aide’s neck with red pencil. The knife moves slowly and deliberately across the aide’s throat, curves upward toward her ear as Estee’s hand finishes the arc. The aide makes a gurgling sound, clutches her neck as she crumples to the floor. Attendants are on her immediately, applying pressure, carrying her from the room where a stretcher waits in the hall.

Estee waves the knife back and forth in front of her body, stabbing at anybody who comes close. The attendants clear the room, pushing Autumn and me into the hall. I hear a scuffle from the bathroom as they jab me toward the dayroom. We stand with the others in the doorway as the attendants pass, dragging Estee by the straps in the back of the strait jacket. Her head dangles forward, her legs trail along the tile floor.

She disappears.

Chapter 47

THE OBSERVER
            
November 2, 1969

Page 11

Admissions:

Randal Fife, Marquette, Mi

Lillian Brayfield, Prudenville, Mi

Felicia Courtland, Grayling, Mi

Jeffrey Bednarczyk, Rosebush, Mi

Home Leaves:

Luanne Kilpi

Nadine Peltzer

Rhonda Knapp

Samuel Gray

Discharges:

Gerald Grisdale

Benedict Falmouth

Staff Terminations

Joseph Doremire

Bonnie Harrison

Judith McInerney

Valerie Petrowski

Retirements:

Bernice Laferty

I pick up the hospital newspaper and search for news of the aide who Estee attacked with a knife in Hall 9. I’m not surprised when I find nothing in the
Observer.
The hospital grapevine reports the victim is recovering at Munson Hospital.

I walk to the tool crib to meet Carl. We have fall cleanup to attend to. He’s at the picnic table, behind the paper. “Hi, Carl.”

“Mornin, Lu. I read Joe Doremire’s name in the staff terminations. I guess he really got fired—just a few months before his scheduled retirement. He’s gone.”

“Do you think he might try to hurt you?”

“Nah. Haven’t heard anything. No surprise visits, no threats.”

“He could still be out there, Carl. Waiting.”

“No need to worry. I’m fine. Besides, I’ve got more dirt on him and I’m not afraid to use it. Judy’s gone and now it don’t matter.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I might as well back up a bit and tell you the whole story.”

“Okay.”

“It was early June, l947 when Doris Lobsinger, then Doris Doremire, came under Judy’s supervision. According to Judy, Doris paid her dues working in Hall 5, and despite her checkered work record, seniority finally won out and she transferred to Judy’s hall.

“The nurses were taking their lunch in the staff dining hall.
Anything yet?
Judy’s best friend, Bev, whispered to Judy.
Gramma visited last night,
Judy told her. We were trying to have a baby, and Judy had started her monthly. It was always a big disappointment.

“Later that afternoon, Doris was assisting Judy in the nurses’ station, doling out tranquilizers into little paper cups for the three o’clock med line.

Ah …maybe I shouldn’t butt in,
Doris said.

What is it?
Judy asked.
You tryin’ to have a baby”

What”

Calm down. I’m tryin’ to help you.

Help me what?
Judy set the medication jar on the shelf.

Would you like a baby?

Judy told me she was shocked.
What are you getting at, Mrs. Doremire?

My husband and me …we know somebody wantin’ to adopt out a baby.

Who?

Somebody here at the hospital. Ah …I can’t say …baby’s due this summer. I mean, her daughter’s pregnant …due to give birth soon.

“
Oh? A newborn then? What agency?
Judy said she tried not to show her interest, but she was bustin’ with excitement.

“
No agency. Cash and carry deal.

“
Is that legal?
Judy started to get nervous.

“
Sure it’s legal. Ah, there won’t be no papers or anything.

“
No papers?
Judy’s no dummy, now she was really startin’ to get suspicious.

“
Maybe it’s not what you’d call totally on the up and up. Do you want a baby or not?

“
Well, yes. Yes, of course. Let me talk to my husband.
Her heart took over at that point, and by the time she got home, she could hardly talk.

“I’m in the barn tendin’ a sick cow when I hear her yellin’ from the back porch. I pat the cow’s flanks, stomp across the floor, stick my head out the barn door and wave to Judy.
Out here, hon. Got a cow with a bad foot.

“Judy bursts through the door, still in her uniform.
Carl, we could get a baby! Doris Doremire, you know the new aide on the Hall? Well, she got me in the nurses’ station. Apparently she overheard Bev and me talking at lunch about my period and all, and she says to me, You want a baby? and I said, What? And, anyway, she tells me she knows somebody who’s going to give birth soon, wants to adopt out the baby
.

“
Whoa! Slow down. Here, sit.
I lower myself onto a bale of hay, pull Judy onto my lap.
Now, tell me the story.

“I haven’t seen my wife this excited since our wedding day. To tell you the truth, the prospect of a baby has my own heart pumping. But after hearing the story, I’m worried there is something shady about it. I have questions.
Doremire? Any relation to Joe Doremire?

“
Her husband, I think.

“
Joe in on this?

“
I’m not sure. Why?

“
He worked for me at the hospital farm. Got transferred. He’s a bad egg, Judy.

“
Will you go to a meeting? Oh, Carl, this could be the answer to our prayers.

“She’s so happy, I can’t say no.
I don’t know …

“
Carl, please!

Okay, sure. We can find out more about it.
I hate to see Judy get her hopes up. Joe Doremire has been a thorn in my side on the farm since he came in as a hand.
But, Joe isn’t the one havin’ a baby.

“Judy and me met with the Doremires at City Park two days later, after work. I wanted details. I tried to balance out Judy’s enthusiasm with a little common sense. She was so taken by the idea of bein’ a mother, she would have taken the baby no questions asked.

“Joe’s story was Doris’s teenage niece got pregnant by a boy from a good family. They managed to keep the pregnancy a secret by keepin’ the unwed mother to the house since school let out. Their plan was to have the baby at home—pretend it never happened. There’s no birth record, and that’s a problem. We have to have the child’s birth certificate to make her a legitimate member of our family.

“That’s your problem.
Joe Doremire said.
Five thousand dollars for expenses, payable in cash when we give you the baby.
I told him we didn’t have that kind of money. He stood up,
Come on, Doris. I told you. We’re wasting our time.
I looked over at Judy, her face seemed frozen, like she was standin’ in front of a firing squad. I just couldn’t hurt her.
No, no. Sit down, just a minute now,
I said.
This don’t sound legal, I mean, how can we get a birth certificate. We gotta’ have a birth certificate.

“
I told you, I don’t know. That’s why you’re gettin’ this deal.

“We could talk to a lawyer, I guess,
I said.

“
You crazy? No, I can check with a guy I know. Not wastin’ my time ‘til I get an answer, though. You in? We got others interested.

“
How long do we have …to get the money, I mean.
I just had to make this work, for Judy.

“Who knows? She ain’t had it yet, but it could be any day now.

“Gimme a week to get to the bank, sell off some cows.

“I’ll give you a week, if I got it. If the baby comes, the money is due.

“Fair enough. We’ll need to see the baby, and a birth certificate, before we hand over the money.

“We’ll contact you.
Joe pulled his wife up by the arm, turned, and left.”

“Wow. Weren’t you excited, Carl? A baby.” I’m so wrapped up in Carl’s story, I feel like I’m Judy.

“Course, course I was excited, but I also felt like we were making a big mistake. To trust Doremire? Seemed like jumping into the ocean without a life jacket.”

“Well, come on. Keep going. I know you got the baby, but what happened next?”

“When the phone call came, Judy and me drove to City Park with the money wrapped in heavy brown meat paper. I pulled up, and when I came ‘round to open Judy’s door, I spotted Joe. Sittin’ next to him at the picnic table sat Doris, a small bundle in her lap. Doris stood when she saw us approach and handed the baby to Judy. After examinin’ her, Judy carefully rewrapped the baby in the receiving blanket, held the infant to her shoulder.

“I tell you, Luanne, I’ve never seen a baby as beautiful. She was perfect, all the fingers and toes wiggling happily. Judy smiles at me with as close to bliss as I’d ever seen.” Carl wipes his eyes.

“Did you give him the money?”

“Yup. I handed Joe the money.
It’s all here. Where’s the birth certificate,
I said.

“
We don’t have one yet. Baby came early. It’ll take a couple more weeks,
Doremire said.

“That’s not what we agreed to.
Here we go, I thought to myself. Chiseled already. He sure didn’t waste no time.

“Carl, please. Judy was about to fall apart.

“Okay, okay. I know where to find you, I told Joe.

“And I know where to find you, Carl.”

Chapter 48

T
he ghost trips leaving the porch. He steps off the sidewalk onto the crunchy lawn. Cochise and Roy Rogers brush past him toward the light.