THE WALKWAY LIGHT FLICKERING did nothing
to deter the two doctors from sauntering down the corridor like they owned the place. Their swaggering pace was a welcome sight to the young man, whose approach was in stark contrast to theirs.
He approached with a blistering place.
He had been running all across the hospital in search of the doctors for about twenty minutes now. He had run into doors, kicked down cabinets, and stumbled on the cold concrete. Now with the doctors clearly in his sight up ahead, he picked himself up like a trained navy seal, and began his glorious dash towards the clinicians who were still sauntering confidently down the flickering path.
The noise of the young man falling caught the doctor’s attention before he did. They turned around gently, watching with cold indifference as the boy approached.
— Doctor, doctor, she’s at it again!
The boy said, nearly out of breath.
He panted like a wild dog.
—Calm down, boy.
Doctor Merkel said to him with a sort of fatherly discontent.
— She’s at it again!
— Who?
The other doctor, a woman, Doctor Steele, said.
— The woman. The woman with the kids!
— Oh. Well then why don’t you get Dr. Gene to respond to that?
Doctor Merkel said.
— Doctor Gene?
The boy said.
— Yes, of course. She’s the only one to whom they’d listen.
— I’m sorry sir, but I don’t know a Doctor Gene.
— It’s Doctor J. Gene Mirral.
Doctor Steele said. — You have to say it all. You know this.
— Oh darn it; I always forget, who cares anyway. Now boy, go on and get Doctor J. Gene Mirral, would you?
— Of course, sir. Of course. My apologies.
So the boy began his dash all the way back to the east wing from where his journey had initially begun.
— Stop!
Doctor Merkel called to him.
— I know you’re in an asylum but you don’t have to run around like a mad man. My God. Have some decorum, would you? You’re going to give yourself a wicked whiplash running like that.
— Yes sir. Of course, sir.
The boy said.
He tamed his steps now, not running, but moving as fast as he could like an Olympics speed walker.
— We really should have him checked out sometime.
Doctor Steele said.
Bright fluorescent bulbs overwhelmed the room. Here, you’d scarcely find an inch of the floor that wasn’t littered with Lego trains. Inside the room was Dr. J. Gene Mirral, radiant in a lab coat. She wore her hair down and she looked especially beautiful and carefree that day.
Her skin glistened under the light and she even had a little bit of lipstick on. She was with a lady, who was the primary occupant of the well-lit room. This was the lady whom everyone referred to as the woman with the kids.
Dr. J. Gene Mirral sat on a wide bench in the middle of the room, and beside her was the woman with the kids herself.
— I’m so sorry about the mess the children made.
The woman with the kids said to Dr. J. Gene Mirral.
— It’s absolutely fine.
The doctor said.
She flashed her patented smile, which she knew had a way with her subjects.
The pleasant smile persisted on her face for her entire stay in the white room.
— Mary, Anna, Jo, Titi, Millie,
The woman with the kids called. — Girls would you like to say hello to Dr. J Gene Mirral?
Dr. J. Gene Mirral looked around the white room, which was empty save for a sea of smashed legos on the floor. And blood on the wall.
— Would you look at that?
The woman with the kids said. — They said yes. Haha.
She began to laugh with unabashed enthusiasm.
— They never say yes! I’m telling you, like never. You’re the first visitor they’ve said yes too.
— Am I?
Dr. J. Gene Mirral said.
— Alright girls, say hi to dr. Doctor J Gene. Mirral.
— Hello girls.
Dr. J. Gene Mirral said.
All of a sudden, the woman with the kids leapt off the white bench, knelt in front of the doctor and stared blankly into her eyes.
— What?
Dr. J. Gene Mirral said.
— You’re not answering?
— What?
— The kids ask how you were but you’re not answering.
The woman with the kids said, still staring blankly into the doctor’s eyes. There was pain apparent in her voice. Surrounded by a tinge of disappointment.
— Oh I’m afraid you’ll have to translate for me.
Dr. J. Gene Mirral said. — I’ve got this ear thing going, and I have trouble understanding low voices.
— But she’s shouting!
— Oh, is she?
— Stop shouting!
The woman with the kids said.
She turned to the doctor.
— Can’t you hear Millie shouting how much she loves you?
— I’m sorry, Millie.
Dr. J. Gene Mirral said calmly. — I have this ear thing that’s bothering me. I’m terribly sorry and I do love you too, of course.
— Now you’ve made her cry.
The woman with the kids said.
She went over to the other side of the room. She crouched on her bruised knees and gave a soothing consolation to the air around.
Then all of a sudden she burst out laughing. The doctor joined in briefly for a while.
— Why are you laughing?
She said,
— I’m laughing because –
The woman with the kids said, trying to get her words out. Laughter was in the way. When she finally stopped laughing for a second, she continued:
— I’m laughing because she didn’t actually say she loved you. She said you sucks.
She began to laugh again. Then all of a sudden it disappeared. She knelt in front of Dr. J. Gene Mirral and stared blankly into her soul.
— Never mind her. She doesn’t like doctors.
The woman began a more subdued laughter. Dr. J. Gene Mirral could hardly tell whether she was laughing or crying.
— Why are you laughing this time?
The doctor said.
— Never mind me,
The woman with the kids said. — I’m only laughing at the irony.
— The irony?
Dr. J. Gene Mirral said. — What irony?
— Well, you’re a doctor. But you’re sick as well. You can’t hear. And you can’t see. Haha.
Doctor J Gene. Mirral laughed.
— We all have our demons, don’t we?
She said.
The woman with the kids gave her a hug.
— I would like to sleep now.
She said,
— That’s fine. That’s very fine.
Dr. J. Gene Mirral said.
The woman with the kids laid down on the bench to sleep.
Dr. J. Gene Mirral walked towards the door to take her leave.
— I hope you get better soon.
The woman with the kids said to her, lying supine on her bench.
Dr. J. Gene Mirral left the white room and entered into a darker one, where Dr. Steele and Dr. Merkel waited.
— I’ve been doing this job for 18 years.
Dr. J. Gene Mirral said. — Can you imagine how it feels to live like that?
— We’re all sick in one way or another.
Doctor Steele said.
— How is she now?
Doctor Merkel said.
— She’s asleep. She has less kids now.
— She does?
— Yes, now down to 5.
— I suppose that’s progress.
The room that the doctors were in was almost similar to the white room from where Dr. J. Gene Mirral had just exited, except that this was a better-furnished room, with a large mattress and an old television set.
It even had a reading table and a comfortable chair.
Doctor Steele sat on the comfortable chair by the reading table and Doctor Merkel stood by a wall near the entrance. Dr. J. Gene Mirral took her seat on the mattress.
— You did good out there tonight, doc.
Dr. Steele said.
— Thanks.
Dr. J. Gene Mirral said, standing up from the mattress, walking towards the tiny mirror on the wall. The wall was dusty and dirty.
— Thanks for letting me do it. It helps.
— And you help them as well.
Dr. Steele said.
— We have to leave now.
Dr. Merkel said.
— Sure. Sure.
Dr. J. Gene Mirral said. — Thank you again.
— It’s no problem. I’m going to have to collect the coat now.
— Of course. Of course.
Dr. J. Gene Mirral said, taking off her lab coat.
— Has it really – has it really been 18 years?
She said, handing over the coat to Dr. Merkel.
— Pardon?
— You know, since I’ve been here. Has it really been 18 years?
— 18 years tomorrow, I believe.
Dr. J. Gene Mirral’s heart sank for a bit as she gently handed the coat over. She wouldn’t let go.
— Can I please keep it?
She said, — Just for tonight?
— I’m afraid I can’t let you do that
Dr. Merkel said.
— It’s alright. That’s alright.
J. Gene Mirral said.
Dr. Steele turned off the lights as they prepared to take their leave. J. Gene Mirral went back to the mattress. She laid on her side, facing the wall; facing away from the doctors.
— Good night Gene.
Dr. Merkel said.
J. Gene Mirral turned over.
— It’s Doctor. J. Gene Mirral.
She said,
— Of course. Goodnight Doctor J. Gene Mirral.
— Goodnight.
— Goodnight. Goodnight. Goodnight. Goodnight
Dr. Steele turned around.
— Remember Gene, um, Dr. J Gene. Mirral; remember that that bear is there for a reason.
He pointed towards a teddy bear nailed to the wall over the reading table.
— Yes. Yes. Sure. Of course. I know.
— Yes?
— I know.
— Alright. Now have a good night.
— Have a good night. Goodnight. Goodnight. Good night. Good night
