The Drunk Logs (16 page)

Seemingly shocked at this spectacle that approached her, Molly confronted us.

“What in the hell did you do to him?”

Slowly, we handed Mick back over to Molly, “He did it to himself. We just made sure he ate something and didn’t get injured.”

“Mick, did you even find your mouth?” she asked.

“He’ll answer you in about ten minutes,” I laughed.

As we walked back down the hall, Sam looked at his wristwatch. “Hey, we have a little time. Let’s go grab a smoke.”

We opened the double doors and felt the mist of the pouring rain on our faces. We decided to stay put, and stood under the overhang by the doors, listening to the cold rain sizzle like bacon when it hit the hot pavement.

“I know we’re not allowed to smoke here, but I sure as hell ain’t going to get wet,” Sam said as he lit his cigarette.

And for a brief moment, the sun poked through the broken clouds and formed a faint rainbow.

“We should be hearing the…”

“All patients, the AA lecture will begin in ten minutes. All patients, the AA lecture will begin in ten minutes.”

“…intercom about now,” he continued.

“I have to admit, I felt sorry for Mick, but I just couldn’t stop laughing,” I said.

“Sometimes, you just have to laugh. You can’t change the past and you can’t keep beating yourself up over it…we have all been there,” Sam said.

The herd of patients ran out of the pavilion and toward the building. We both took one last puff and threw our cigarettes on the concrete; the cherries fizzled in a puddle of water as we walked inside.

Inside, Jack Jack ran toward us.

“Crap, everyone is coming inside, aren’t they?” he said, holding his cigarette pack in his hand.

“Yep,” we both answered.

“Oh well. I’ll get one after lecture.” He put the pack in his back pocket and walked alongside us down the hall.

Being the first to enter the lecture hall, I noticed that there were a considerable number of empty seats available; so I rushed down the aisle, slipped into a row, and planted myself in the middle. I beamed in the victory that I hadn’t fallen victim to the constant stares of Victoria.

Jack Jack and Sam followed. “Move all the way to the end. We usually sit together for this lecture,” Jack Jack said as he waved me in and left the rest of the seats open.

Sure as what Jack Jack had just told me, the rest of the group followed suit; first Shorty and Shawn, then Bobby and Pat, followed by Father Tom and his cane.

“Man, it feels like the last supper,” Jack Jack said. “Where’s our Jesus hippie, Gary?” We all started to laugh.

“I hope that you are not providing me with another problem, Jack,” Dr. Lyedecker said.

Silence shadowed the group as I had my first encounter with Dr. Lyedecker.

He stood stiff and straight, his face chiseled steel, his teeth grinding as he spoke. His blue eyes, intelligent and highly educated, peered out from behind his rimless glasses. His grayish hair was jelled and coiffed in perfect place.

“Matt H., I see that you have found a…group in which to fit?” Dr. Lyedecker said, emotionless.

“Yes,” I whispered. I was nervous.

“Well, we do not condone such selection from our patients here at our hospital. You will find it beneficial to your recovery if you converse with all patients, outside administrators, and staff. There is a wealth of knowledge and understanding that can be gained from more than seven individuals,” he said as he looked down the row. “In the future, I hope to see you partake of that.”

“Yes.”

He took a deep breath, walked down the aisle, and sat next to a young woman in the front row.

“Effing Dicklicker,” Jack Jack said under his breath, as he readjusted himself.

“Don’t let it bother you, Jack Jack. He only does it to get a rise out of you,” Sam said.

“I understand why he does it to me, but he doesn’t have to include you guys in the equation.”

“We’re just different vegetables in the same pot,” Sam said as he stared at Dr. Lyedecker. “Guilty by association.”

Jack Jack leaned forward and looked down the row. “Well, what about you, Father Tom? Christ, you’re older than him, he should be showing you respect.”

Father Tom sat up as though he had just awoken. “Well, it is my belief that sometimes no matter how hard you try to teach someone, they will resort to their old ways,” he said in his quiet voice.

We were taken aback. Did he refer to one of us or to Dr. Lyedecker?

Lyedecker stood firm at the podium, his bold voice echoed throughout the auditorium. “Today, I would like to introduce a dear friend of mine, whom I have known through the bad times and the good. An inspiration, if you will, to me, to others, and hopefully to you. Please welcome Cathy M.”

Chapter 9

I lay on my bed, with legs crossed and hands rested on my chest, and stared at the ceiling. My breath was deep and long as I practiced my meditation. I tried to block out the noise from the hall, and rewound the speech I heard only a few moments before.

The smell of popcorn filled the air as Pat walked into the room, sat at the desk, and opened a bottle of pop.

“What’s up? You going to watch the game? It’s about to start and the room is starting to fill up.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I said, disheveled.

He took a sip of pop, and looked long and hard at me. “What’s wrong, did the woman’s speech get to you?”

“Yeah, it’s messed up. I thought I lost a lot. But man, what that woman went through.” I sat up in bed. “Everything she had is gone, husband, kids, house, job, and then she winds up in a crack house doing tricks, where she gets a disease, only to figure then…”

Pat took another sip of pop as I walked to the window, and noticed a dumpster outside being hoisted up by a garbage truck.

“You know, some people figure it out later than others. To me, it looks like you might be one of the lucky ones and are starting to figure it out already. Hell, look at Jack Jack and how many times he’s been back here. He should just change his home address to this place,” said Pat as he took another sip of pop. “Look, you can’t forget your past, but you can’t dwell on it either. You move forward and try to rebuild those bridges you’ve burned. Every day, from this point on, is your birthday. It’s a new day…because isn’t it a great day to be sober?” He grinned.

We both laughed, ready to enjoy the rest of the evening with people just like us.

In the distant hallway, a large commotion began with screams and the stomp of what sounded like an elephant. We ran toward the door, and saw Jack Jack and Bobby being chased by Big Toledo, who was soaked with water. All three ran into the kitchenette, and then to the TV room, where the commotion pursued as Pat and I gave chase to see what all the excitement was about.

We opened the entertainment room doors and saw Jack Jack straddled onto Big Toledo’s back, who had Bobby in a head lock. They spun around the room as the patients scattered to avoid contact, and cheered on Big Toledo. We followed a few minutes of this spectacle, and then exhaustion set in as they tumbled to the sofa, where the brave patients jumped in, separated them, and stood in the middle to avoid any further contact.

“I’m going to get both of you for this,” Big Toledo breathed heavily.

“Hey, you told us to wake you up for the game!” Jack Jack yelled back, obviously exhausted.

“Like this?” Big Toledo pulled on his wet clothes.

“C’mon, it was only a joke. It’s water, for Christ’s sake,” Jack Jack said, as he tried to catch his breath.

“Your time will come. Both of you,” said Big Toledo as he stormed out of the room.

While the chatter and laughter circled the room, the patients rounded up whatever seats were available and prepared for the start of the game. Bobby gasped for breath and walked over to Jack Jack as they fell on the sofa.

“Man, I didn’t think that the both of us were going to take him,” Bobby said, as he leaned back.

“Next time we’re going to need three of us,” Jack Jack laughed.

The elevator door rang and out walked Carl. He scanned the hallway for any disturbance, but only noticed the patients who sat at the tables and walked around the halls. He walked over to Pat and me and looked into the entertainment room.

“What the hell’s going on up here? It sounds like a lot of banging coming through the ceiling on this floor.”

“Nothing. Just a few guys running in the hall,” I said.

“Yeah, just getting ready for the game. That’s all,” Pat added.

Suddenly, screams came from down the hall as Carl, Pat, and I turned around. Incoherent ramblings came from Gary’s room, the hippie who resembled Jesus. Patients stopped to see what the commotion was all about.

“This is going to be a fun first night,” I said as we sprinted down the hall.

We planted ourselves by the group of patients who looked in, as Carl took the lead at the entrance. Inside, Gary was throwing his belongings into his duffle bag that lay on his bed, and rambled as he grew more agitated.

Gary was exactly as Jack Jack explained—in one word, Jesus. He was a small, white man with long brown hair and a beard. He had on a gray sweat suit and plastic sandals.

Carl assessed the situation and refused to enter the room. He decided to talk to Gary from the hallway.

“Gary…Gary,” Carl said with a calm, non-threatening voice.

“Oh. Hello, Carl,” Gary said in a pleasant voice. “How may I help you?”

“Is there something you would like to talk about?”

“Oh, no, just packing my things. Getting ready to leave tomorrow,” he said as he walked toward the door. “So what’s going on with everyone? Did something happen?”

He leaned out into the hall and looked around. All the while, the group hid behind Carl and stared. He snapped his head back, as the group flinched, nervous as to what he might do.

“Well, you’re yelling and throwing your clothes in your bag,” Carl said.

Everyone, even Carl, took a step back as Gary proceeded to step out into the hallway.

“I’m not yelling, just talking to myself. I’m packing my things because I’m leaving here tomorrow. I feel that all of my requests have gone unheard. Therefore, since I am not being taken care of properly, I will be going home,” he said as his voice grew more agitated.

“What type of problems are you having, Gary?” Carl asked.

“For one thing, I have asked repeatedly to be moved, because of my roommate’s snoring and continued crapping of his pants, which is a health violation. Furthermore, I have not been given the correct pain medication for my hernia operation.”

Gary took a few more steps into the hallway as the entire group moved back as one.

“Well, I’m sure if we discuss it and we calm down, we can find a happy solution,” Carl said.

“You ever have a hernia operation? Well, I had mine four years ago and I’m still in pain.” Gary proceeded to pull down the front of his pants. “See these scars here? Well, they run down past my balls and all the way over to the next side. It’s not a pretty sight, and when I sit down, it feels like my balls are resting on a scouring pad. Did you ever rest your balls on a scouring pad?”

At that, we had all had enough and proceeded down the hall, leaving Carl alone with Gary. I tried to erase the image that has just been planted in my mind.

Pat and I entered the kitchenette, which was as busy as five o’clock rush hour, and tried to make a snack. We surrendered and entered the entertainment room, which was abuzz with excitement from the hockey playoffs. We noticed that there was an empty spot on the sofa next to Bobby and Jack Jack, and we both clamored over and sat down. We fought for every inch of confined space, neither of us relinquishing a bit of it.

“Okay. This is gay with all of us sitting this close together,” Jack Jack said, as he pushed against Bobby and me. “Somebody is going to have to move.”

But no one budged an inch as we giggled like schoolgirls.

“Fine. I’ll move,” Jack Jack said, irritated.

As he sat in one of the black plastic office chairs next to the piano, Big Toledo walked into the room with Danny close behind him. The room became eerily quiet as he spotted Jack Jack and walked toward him. Jack Jack looked at us for assistance, and prepared himself for the worst. But to his surprise, Big Toledo extended his hand.

“No hard feelings, Jack Jack,” Big Toledo said.

Jack Jack looked at us again and cautiously extended his hand toward Big Toledo. “No hard feelings.”

“I’m still going to get you and Bobby back,” he said as he pulled him close.

Jack Jack smiled. “Wouldn’t expect anything less.”

They both sat down and the room became abuzz again, with almost everyone’s eyes affixed to the television.

The rest of the evening was old-fashioned male bonding filled with laughter, boisterousness, and camaraderie; including cheers, when their team did well, and jeers when their team did not. It reminded me of my college fraternity days and the fun times I had, when the nights turned into days and the friendships were supposed to last forever. But those times were long gone, and the friendships were only mirages. The reality had been set before me and my destiny was mine to choose.

It was the middle of the night when I felt someone raise my right arm and slide the blood pressure belt on. My eyes opened slowly as I battled with the light that crept in from the hallway. Gradually, I forced my eyes open as Karen began to come into focus, and pushed the start button on the machine.

“Sorry Matt, I have to check your blood pressure,” she whispered, as she watched Pat, hoping not to wake him. “This will only take a second, and then you can go back to sleep.”

The machine beeped and the air escaped from the belt.

“You still need to take your medication,” she said as she handed me a cup.

I lifted my head and swallowed the medication; never did I give any thought to what was inside.

“Go back to sleep. I’ll check on you in the morning,” she whispered as she grabbed the machine and quietly exited the room.

I lowered my head, closed my eyes, and wondered if it had been just a dream.

Chapter 10

The door opened and an elderly man walked into the room, with clipboard in hand. “Good morning, gentlemen. Pat L. and Matt H. need to report to the nurse. The nurses will be seeing patients today on the second floor by the tables across from the elevator. Have a good day, gentleman.”