a straitjacket and yet looked comfortable that way.
“Hello, Raymond,” Dr. Fenton said.
“Hello, Dr. Fenton,” Raymond replied. “How are you?”
“I have a headache,” Dr. Fenton answered, “I am here to introduce you to Dr. Radburn. He is the new doctor here.”
“He is going to kill me,” Raymond said when he looked toward Dr. Radburn.
“No, he isn’t going to kill you,” Dr. Fenton said, “He is the new doctor. He will take over your care.”
“He’ll kill me,” Raymond yelled as he kicked himself into the corner. Dr. Fenton turned to Dr. Radburn and nodded the suggestion that he leave. Dr. Radburn moved back and the orderly let him leave.
“We’ll try again another time,” Dr. Fenton said. Raymond calmed down.
“Rest,” Dr. Fenton told Raymond before leaving the room. The orderly closed the door.
“Some of our patients are like that,” Dr. Fenton said, “Next time Raymond will meet you with less fear.” They moved on to the next room.
“I see,” Dr. Radburn said.
“This is Amber,” Dr. Fenton said, “She is very unpredictable and medications have just made things worse.” Dr. Fenton opened the door, but didn’t enter. Sitting in the middle of the padded room was a woman in her early twenties. She would have been beautiful if there weren’t a circle of feces around where she was sitting in the middle of the room. She didn’t move, but turned to them and smiled.
“Good morning, Dr. Fenton,” Amber said, “Who is the cute guy with you?”
“This is Dr. Radburn,” Dr. Fenton said, “He is the new doctor.”
“Come on in, Dr. Radburn,” Amber invited with a flirty smile.
“We are introducing Dr. Radburn to all your neighbours,” Dr. Fenton said, “So he can’t visit at the moment. Perhaps another time.”
“I’m here anytime you want,” Amber smiled at Dr. Radburn. Dr. Fenton closed the door. A shudder went through Dr. Radburn.
“She’ll give it up if you don’t encourage it,” Dr. Fenton said.
“And it will be uncomfortable until then,” The orderly added with amusement. Dr. Radburn looked at the orderly, but found the man’s face impassive. Dr. Fenton moved to the next door and Dr. Radburn had to catch up.
“This is Johnny,” Dr. Fenton said, “Because we don’t know his name, but John is much too formal for the boy.”
“If he is a boy, why is he in this part of the mental hospital?” Dr. Radburn asked.
“Because none of the medication works on him,” Dr. Fenton answered, “When he gets worked up the only thing we can do is to restrain him and calm him. So, do not excite him. To calm him, we sing a lullaby, usually until he is asleep because otherwise he will start getting excited again.”
“Okay,” Dr. Radburn said. Dr. Fenton opened the door and Dr. Radburn followed him inside.
Johnny was sitting against the wall and he looked up at them. He smiled at Dr. Fenton, but frowned at Dr. Radburn.
“Hello, Johnny,” Dr. Fenton said, “I am here to introduce you to Dr. Radburn. He is the new doctor.”
Johnny looked Dr. Radburn over, but didn’t say anything.
“Hello, Johnny,” Dr. Radburn said, trying to replicate Dr. Fenton’s calm voice, “How are you today?”
Johnny looked like he was trying to remember Dr. Radburn’s face. He squinted his eyes and pressed his lips together.
“Dr. Radburn is going to take over your care,” Dr. Fenton said.
Johnny looked at Dr. Fenton and shook his head.
“It is okay,” Dr. Fenton said, “Dr. Radburn is a good man.” Dr. Fenton glanced at Dr. Radburn. “Offer to shake his hand.”
Dr. Radburn hesitated a second before offering his hand to Johnny to shake. Johnny grabbed and held on for dear life. Dr. Radburn made noise that he was in pain.
“Johnny, we have talked about this,” Dr. Fenton said, “Be gentle with people.”
Rather than let up, Johnny clutched Dr. Radburn’s hand tighter and started yelling.
“I’m sorry about that,” Dr. Fenton said to Dr. Radburn, “We’ve been working on that and I thought he was getting better.”
“What do I do now?” Dr. Radburn asked as he tried to extract his hand without hurting Johnny.
“Sing,” Dr. Fenton answered, “Until he falls asleep.”
Dr. Radburn didn’t look happy and was closer to hurting Johnny than singing.
“He’ll let go if you sing,” Dr. Fenton said, “He may not if I sing.”
Dr. Radburn was not happy about it, but he started to sing a lullaby. He started quietly and very unsure about himself, but got louder as he went along. Johnny didn’t loosen his grip, but he quit yelling. That gave Dr. Radburn enough to keep singing.
Dr. Fenton slowly moved back out of the room. Dr. Radburn was so focused on Johnny and singing that he didn’t notice when the orderly quietly closed the door.
“How long do you think it will take Dr. Radburn to sing Johnny to sleep?” Dr. Fenton asked the orderly.
“Johnny woke up from his last nap only half an hour ago,” The orderly answered, “It will likely take several hours before Dr. Radburn will be able to extract himself.”
“Let him out and send him up to me when he does,” Dr. Fenton said.
“Will do,” The orderly replied. As Dr. Fenton headed out of the ward he could hear the orderly chuckling. Dr. Fenton didn’t suppress his own smile.
May 8, 2012
Dr. Fenton arrived at the mental hospital rested and ready to face another day. He greeted the nurse at the reception desk before going passed her into the break room. As he was taking off his coat and putting it away, he noticed that Dr. Radburn’s coat was still hanging up where he had left it.
Dr. Fenton finished putting his stuff away before going back out to the reception desk.
“Did Dr. Radburn go home yesterday?” Dr. Fenton asked. The nurse checked the records.
“If he did, he didn’t stop to sign out,” The nurse answered.
“Thank you,” Dr. Fenton said. He headed for the area with the dangerous patients. The orderly opened the door for him and followed him down the hall to Johnny’s room. Dr. Fenton looked in the window.
Dr. Radburn was leaning against the wall with his head fallen to his chest. Johnny was curled up beside him.
“Shall I get ready?” The orderly asked.
“No,” Dr. Fenton replied, “Just let him out when he wakes up.”
“I will,” The orderly said.
Dr. Fenton left the ward and went up to his office. He had other work to do as well as making up Dr. Radburn’s schedule. He had to make sure that Dr. Radburn was constantly busy from the time he arrived to the time he left and it all had to be away from the offices where the files were.
Dr. Radburn woke up to find Johnny crouched near him. But Johnny’s eyes were unfocused and he was singing to himself. Dr. Radburn slowly got to his feet. He tried to avoid any jerky movement or anything that would startle Johnny. Then Dr. Radburn slowly made his way to the door of the room. He knocked lightly on the door. Johnny didn’t seem to be aware of Dr. Radburn. Minutes went by before the door opened. The orderly held it open and Dr. Radburn stepped out. The orderly closed the door before heading back down the hallway. Dr. Radburn followed him.
“What time is it?” Dr. Radburn asked.
“Four o’clock,” The orderly answered.
“In the morning?” Dr. Radburn asked.
“The afternoon, actually,” The orderly answered.
“Why wasn’t I woken up?” Dr. Radburn asked.
“You didn’t ask to be,” The orderly replied.
“From now on, I would like to be woken up if I fall asleep in there,” Dr. Radburn said.
“I will make a note of that,” The orderly said, “Dr. Fenton had said yesterday that he wanted to see you when you were finished. I don’t know if he still wants to see you, but I would recommend you check in with him.
“Thank you f
or passing along the message,” Dr. Radburn said.
They reached the end of the hallway and the orderly opened the door to let Dr. Radburn out. The doctor left and headed for the break room.
Dr. Radburn got a sandwich out of the machine and ate it before heading up to Dr. Fenton’s office. Dr. Fenton was standing at the window when Dr. Radburn knocked on the door. Dr. Fenton turned around to see who it was.
“So, you finally decided to show up,” Dr. Fenton said.
Dr. Radburn opened his mouth to defend himself, but realized how bad it would sound and closed his mouth.
“I put your schedule together,” Dr. Fenton said, moving to his desk. He picked up a piece of paper and offered it to Dr. Radburn. Dr. Radburn stepped forward to take the piece of paper. He looked it over.
“Since you said that you could keep up, I assumed that you were being truthful,” Dr. Fenton said, “If you find yourself having trouble, come talk to me. And make sure you are on time from now on.”
“I will,” Dr. Radburn said before leaving the office. He checked what he was supposed to be doing and went off to do that.
It was six thirty before Dr. Radburn had finished everything and was able to leave. The only thing that made Dr. Radburn feel better about it was the fact that Dr. Fenton was still there and likely to be there for a while.
Dr. Radburn headed back to the apartment that had been set up for him. He ignored the call of his stomach and the light from the answering machine. He went straight to his computer. He turned it on and went into the chat program. It took a minute before the other person came on.
“Where the hell were you?” Mr. Masters demanded, “You were supposed to call as soon as you got back from checking in with Dr.