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Justin Genius
Member
since 2001-04-02
Posts 85


0 posted 2003-12-31 07:35 AM


When I arrived at the hospital I was more dead than alive. I'd been poked, poisoned, and  shocked in every possible way, but somehow the gods decided they didn't want me for tea yet. Perhaps if it had been coffee time and I had brought their favourite cookies, or candies, better yet pure Swiss chocolate, I might have had a chance, but alas, everything happened too fast. Maybe I should prepare an emergency bag to take with me at all times, especially for unexpected visits to the gods, and label it "Passport to Heaven?"

It's amazing how every person kept ignoring what my previous interrogator wrote down on that once spotless piece of paper, since everybody kept asking me the same questions over and over again: "Name? Doctor? Weight? Do you have a history of heart failure? You do? How often did you lose your heart Sir and be honest with us, we will find out anyway you know! Has it ever been broken and if so why and by whom?"

Ha! Who do they think they are? Dr. Love? Do they really think they can heal this bruised heart? Glue together the thousand shattered dreams and get hold of my deepest, darkest secret and learn the name of the love of my life? No Sirree!... or my name wouldn't be Justin Measurably Miserable. Of course it could also be Justin Genius, since I happen to house more than one personality, but most appropriate seems to be Justin Bed for now.

Hm... Justin Bed? Perhaps for the moment, as I have no intention whatsoever to remain locked up between these stark white walls, where nurses keep walking in and out trying to convince me I must take it easy, take a deep breath and not get myself all wound up about something silly as an attack of the heart. "No sweat, buster, everybody has them nowadays," they keep telling me. Argh! My heart attacked me and that never happened before! I must get out of here to have a good talk with this old heart of mine since it had never done that before and, even though we have our differences from time to time, I cannot recall anything I did to cause it to attack me; at least nothing I did to make me deserve an attack like that. Whatever happened to fair warning? A simple "Hey you, you better listen or else!"

Since it's lunchtime I might as well hang around to see what grub they serve here. I hope they have stew on the menu. Escape always stands a better chance with a full stomach. Even Houdini stuffed himself before his next attempt to drown. "You never know when it will be your last meal," he used to say, although I've heard him complain a couple of times he felt like a stone in the water, but he also figured that was exactly when his performances were most exciting for the public.

Now where's my room service? All I'm getting is an overwhelming colourful view on these flower curtains and a nose full of this so-called typical but oh so penetrating hospital odour! Yuk! Will they ever change the view to hula girls? I'm supposed to be here for full recovery, not to die of boredom, so gone with these ridiculous flowers and find out what else there is to see beside some stark white walls and a – in desperate need of some paint – ceiling!   "Snap." Uh? What happened? Why is it so dark all of a sudden? "Help! Somebody help me please! I'm being attacked by a malicious flower curtain. Can someone please help me before I start blooming!"

"Hold your horses little man. There's no use in taking a wild ride without a horse and it would look a little sloppy if Nurse C. found you strangled by her favourite flower curtain. Relax and I'll get you out of this flower garden.
There you go and I did it using just a drop of water! Normally when the flowers attack, you can only find freedom by watering them and I don't mean just watering, but gallons of water! And for your information, my name's Larry Sea. Proud and single heir of an island in the sun, left to me by my uncle Al Catraz, may he rest in peace. It's a magnificent isle hidden in the Bermuda triangle and the room service is simply superb!"

I slowly opened my eyes, cautious for any killer Virginia creeper hidden under the bed, to see who was behind this overwhelming voice that filled the room. I felt sure I would be hit by echoes bouncing from the walls and could hardly believe my ears adapted to this kind of decibel. When I finally managed to get hold of my vision as well, I thought I was visiting Marine land instead of a hospital! This was surely a creature of the sea and not a man, but a walrus! I saw a big, round head, bald as a coot, moist-brown doggy eyes, baggy cheeks surrounded by a drooping moustache like a string of twined seaweed. In the middle of all this nature had planted something supposedly a nose, but it looked more like a walnut with two holes to me. All this was attached to a huge, and I mean huge, neck, followed by an enormous body, which was more belly than anything else and two wrestler's arms stuck out, ending in fingers like sausage rolls. As his feet were very long and flat, it gave his lower body the resemblance of a tail with flippers. Oh yes! His father must be Wally Walrus alright, or some other sea creature!

"Thank you very kindly Mr. Larry Sea," I said, "Pleased to meet you. My name is Robert, or was it Kevin? Hm, it could be David too, I can't seem to think very well at the moment, but you can call me Justin. Somehow that name seems to fit me like a glove today.  Thank you for saving me from the flower strangler. Now hula girls, that would have been different cook, although not as good as home made cookies, but still... by the way... who's Nurse C.?"

"Nurse C.? Ah, I see. You must be new to this Institute," Larry replied, while he cautiously kept his eyes on the drowned curtain to make sure no more danger was heading my way.

"Institute? What Institute?!? You mean hospital, right? I know a hospital is an institute, but I always called it a hospital."

"Hm, they forgot to inform you uh?" said Larry, wiping some lost drops from his face, as if he was scared to drown in them too. "Well, you're the latest attraction of the psychiatric institute of the living dead and those feeling more dead than alive, or, as we call it, The 'Stute and we are located in the beautiful woods of Confusion – in a state called Bewilderment.
As for Nurse C., that's short for Nurse Crachet. She's the one with the power to give you a barbed wire catheter, extra time in the rubber room, poke your brain, iron your jacket strai(gh)t with you in it – she loves to turn domestic jobs into something hot and steamy – or make your life miserable any other way you can think of. Other than that she's quite harmless and still not clever enough to figure out who resets her alarm every night. You'll meet her soon enough though, so enjoy the time you have left in ignorance."

"Excuse me!" I called out, "I’m in a psychiatric institute in the middle of nowhere? No way! I'm not crazy... there's no lunacy in my family! Heck, I might be a little confused, but, other than that, I'm perfectly sane! I know exactly what I do and who I am. I am a poet, I write poems – po-ems you hear! - and stories. I write great stories... I am... I am... I am Justin Genius!... I think."

"Oh my, another confused soul lost in-sanity," Larry muttered, "I'll try to bring it to you gently brother, but I fear this may be a bit of a shock to you – don't worry, you'll get proper shock therapy later. Being here means your body is heavily sedated in the real world, or in a coma, and your mind started wandering off to different levels between life and death. At long last you arrived here at Confusion and that's where we caught you. You should be grateful we noticed you, because just around the corner is Bachelor Boulevard from where no men ever returns! Can you imagine you'd be a slave of your manhood, drooling all over your shoes for 24 hours a day? Ecstasy for the rest of your life? Man, you'd be bored within weeks! Nah, you're much better of with us, where there's lunacy all over the place and, with a little luck,  you'll even make some friends."

"Heavily sedated? Coma? Between life and death?" I cried utterly confused. "No this can’t be! I was brought here when my heart decided to attack me without warning. I'm here to recover and awaiting my big moment to escape... no wait! Let me think... let me think! You're not pulling my leg are you? I know all about pulling legs you know. I'm an expert. I've pulled many legs and been fooled an equal number of times, so I know a joke when I see one. This is a joke, right? Come on, admit it's a joke!"
"Nope, no joke," said Larry, while his face showed nothing but seriousness and honestly, not to mention trustworthiness and kindness. There had to be a catch! But what? Was there a prize to win? I've always known I'm priceless and quite the good looking guy, but surely not stud of the month centrefold for Playgirl!
"No joke? So you're telling me this is the truth? You swear this is the truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?" I said, while I experienced a strange phenomenon of water filling my eyes. What was going on? Was this their way of pulling me into a state of confusion? Heck, I was confused enough as it were and Larry was most definitely not helping to lift this misty veil of my now almost blinded watery eyes when he replied: "God? You mean the bloke that lives 4 blocks from here in that skyscraper in the clouds? The guy who's too busy with all his mystery stuff and, in order to get some peace and quiet, created all these distractions like Bachelor Boulevard, so it will take people a long time to arrive at his place and give them time to think about, or forget, their question? I have no idea what kind of help I can expect from him, but, if you like, I swear, with the help of God, this is the truth and nothing but the truth."

Somehow this made the water filling feeling in my eyes change to a flood running down my cheeks. What on earth was happening to me? Even my nose started dripping! I best find a way to stop this ridiculous behaviour before I'd flood the place. God only knows what this could lead to, but then I wasn't too sure about my comprehension of God either anymore. I guess I needed to think about all this later, right now I needed some answers, so instead I asked Larry: "But how do I get out of here? I mean, if my body's somewhere in a hospital bed and my mind's stuck in this place, how will they find each other again? Right now I don't feel half the man I used to be!"
"Since you asked for the truth and nothing but the truth I shall tell you just that. There’s not much of a chance you’ll ever get out of here. Unless a miracle happens and you awake from the deep coma you're in. Beside the slim chance that will happen, we wouldn't let you go anyway. Once in our hands we'll do anything to keep you here, even if you're Justin Genius. You're not the first and won't be the last genius we had in here," Larry said, which made me wonder what happened to the other geniuses. Somehow they got out of here!

I don't recall I ever felt so devastated in my entire life and would have been more than happy to freefall straight into Hell and wrap myself in a serious depression. Instead I wrapped myself in the drowned flower curtain and said: "I think I'm going to sleep for a bit now and perhaps do some thinking. Call me when lunch arrives?"
"Sure will," Larry said, while I turned my back to him to fall into the dark pits of Hell only to find Ignorance awaiting me, while water was still running from my eyes.

[This message has been edited by Justin Genius (12-31-2003 07:47 AM).]

© Copyright 2003 Justin Genius - All Rights Reserved
Marge Tindal
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Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-06
Posts 42384
Florida's Foreverly Shores
1 posted 2003-12-31 11:12 AM


quote:
Chapter 1
Oh lordy ... there's MORE ?

~*When the heart grieves over what it has lost,
the spirit rejoices over what it has left.
- Sufi epigram
         noles1@totcon.com

Justin Genius
Member
since 2001-04-02
Posts 85

2 posted 2004-01-01 04:43 PM


Thank you very kindly for taking the time to read and reply Miss Marge.

Actually... there already is more, but since Justin is kind of new at this, I was hoping for some feedback from the readers to see if I should or shouldn't continue, although I fear once the nonsense starts flowing there's no way of stopping it.

Ringo
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Member Elite
since 2003-02-20
Posts 3684
Saluting with misty eyes
3 posted 2004-01-01 06:20 PM


Justin- NEVER allow someone else's thoughts decide if you should write... While this isn't the general style I read, it is still bizzare enough to catch the imagination, and to be finished...
Besides... if you don't write for you,then you are writing for the wrong audience.

Cause in my dreams it's always there
The evil face that twists my mind
And brings me to despair.

Justin Genius
Member
since 2001-04-02
Posts 85

4 posted 2004-01-02 05:41 PM


Thankee very kindly Mr. Ringo - "bizzare enough to catch the imagination" - is quite a compliment and like I said before... once the nonsense finds a way to this brain, there's no way of stopping it. I, myself and my alter ego is the main audience I write for. Nonetheless other opinions can help an author's creativity - especially when Muse has taken a break.

Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read and reply.

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