Blood
Shot
It was my fourth time in the male
psych unit at County General.
which made me something of a
trustee. I came and went on the
ward pretty much as I pleased.
almost invisible at times. The staff
even included me in their twisted
shrink humor But certain jokes
about Thorazine suppositories and
padded cells at least from the
patient's point of view weren't all
that funny. Still, there were other
things, definitely not meant for my
eyes, and this was one of them.
It happened late at night, with
most of the evening shift about to
leave the crazies in the able care of
our graveyard orderly, Frank He
had just pulled on green hospital
scrubs and was combing back his
thinning hair. Frank was pushing
forty, but he still gracefully packed.
around the weight and muscle of a
football player
I was slouched back in the day
nurse's plush office chair with my
skinny bare feet up on her desk I
could feel my blond hair, full of
static, splayed over the headrest
like a dim halo around my head
A sprinkling of corn chip crumbs
arched through the air as I tossed
the crumpled bag into the trash
The police had radioed ahead
that an Indian kid named Delbert
Keetso was on his way But now, as
two officers came in escorting the
new patient, I couldn't help but sit
up and take notice. From the very
beginning, Delbert held our atten
tion. I don't know why, maybe it
was only the unsettling sight of uni-
formed, modern-day calvary strug
gling with a Native American in
manacles and ankle restraints.
Maybe it was his solemn dark eyes,
looking around at us through his
disheveled, shoulder-length hair-
the look of Geronimo, according to
my sixteen year old, white-boy.
Hollywood frame of reference
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As the restraints were unlocked,
Delbert Keetso literally shook them
off police and all and stood
apart, well in control of himself.
They let him be.
"Here's the paperwork," said
one of the officers, obviously self-
conscious in the absolute silence of
the intake room. "The commitment
came from the rez, so I really don't
know much about him. We just
transported from the county line."
He looked around at all of us still
staring at Delbert Keetso, "Good
luck. He hasn't said a word."
Seconds after the officers left,
the unit door locking behind them,
Frank went over and started the
intake routine. He prompted him
gently to one of the side cubicles. I
heard Frank talk to him about the
rules on the ward. Then he took
out a pair of hospital pajamas.
"OK Delbert, I need to make
sure that you're not bringing any
drugs or contraband in with you, so
I want you to take off all of your
clothes now."
What the handcuffs and leg
restraints hadn't done to Delbert
Keetso, a strip search did. As the
meaning of Frank's words crept
across his face, you could see the
wave of fear and shame wash over
Rick Charnoski
Jan Waage
him. He stood paralyzed, tears run-
ning silently down his face. Delbert
didn't lift a hand to resist, but he
didn't cooperate either. Frank and
another man stripped his jacket
and shirt off, then his undershirt.
and his arms dropped limply to his
sides. Then the men stopped. In
the center of Delbert Keetso's
chest bloomed a massive purple
bruise. Frank turned him around
slowly. Black and blue circles mot-
tled his muscular back.
The staff shifted around, looking
ashamed. When you live or work in
a place where the everyday curren-
cy of life is insanity and suicide, it's
rare that anything really has an
effect on you anymore. And most
of us patients had been in and out
of one institution or another, so we
were as likely to have a casual chat
during a strip search as flip a bird
at the guy doing it. It was Delbert
Keetso's innocence that killed us.
That was his power.
Pretty soon a doctor came over
from the hospital floor and talked
quietly with Delbert. He let him put
his pajamas on in private, and told
Frank to get him something to eat.
I saw Delbert sitting alone in the
snack room with his baggy cotton
hospital pants and gown, open in
the back.
"Hey," I said. Delbert looked up
slowly from a hot chocolate. "Here,
I'll show you how we wear those
butt-windows and still manage to
keep our manhood."
He sat passively while I switched
his gown around and tied the tails
around his waist. The gown hung
open at the top, framing the royal
bruise on a smooth brown chest. I
found myself trying to decipher it,
as if it was one of those inkblot
cards the shrinks hold up.
Frank stood at the door. "Hey,
you're off limits, Cash. You already
pigged out," he said.
"Yeah, yeah, I got ya."
"Five minutes, heart-breaker.
That's it."
I turned a chair around and sat
down at Delbert's table, my chin
propped on the back of the chair.
Paul Sharpe
intaine
DRS - BEER
Justin Strubing
"So what happened to you?"
I waited. He stared off into space.
"I did something bad to my broth-
er-in-law."
"I mean..." I had meant the bruis-
es. But now the word bad rang out in
my ears, as if I had a metal trash can
over my head and somebody had just
whopped it with a sledgehammer. It
invited serious speculation-were we
talking murder here? "Why are you
here, Keetso?"
There was a long silence. Then he
looked as though he saw me for the
first time.
"I'm crazy," he said.
Three and a half weeks went by
before Delbert Keetso spoke again.
He refused medications as well, but
that was his legal right. It was funny
to watch the reaction of the other
patients to his silence. At first a kind
of mothering went on. Big stupid
guys like Cooney, who never had an
insight in his life, would go through
the lunch line and instinctively order
for him and reassure him that every-
thing would be okay. In group thera-
py, where the law was "to share," or
lose the privilege and rot in seclusion
for the day patients showed a sud
den enthusiasm to address burning
psychological issues when Delbert
was called upon.
Soon, a different kind of rallying
evolved. As Delbert sat there in his
oblivious, ear-ringing silence, with the
shrink's question hanging uneasily in
the air, one by one, our own voices
stilled in solidarity to his awesome
quiet. Even Booth, an old alky who'd
tried to off himself, stopped droning
on about his problems and fell into
the common bond of Delbert Keet-
so's riveting dream world.
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