by Marilyn Turk
“Strange as it seems, I prefer working in the men’s psychiatric ward. They don’t seem to be as dangerous.” Both Russell and Penny gave her perplexed looks. “Maybe I just haven’t seen anyone so violent there.” Yet, she didn’t say but assumed her companions were thinking the same thing.
“Suit yourself,” said Penny.
They walked a few moments in silence before Lexie recalled the band leader’s offer to Russell.
“Russell, would you consider joining a band like Artie’s?”
“No, those musicians live in a whole different world than I do.”
“What do you mean?”
“They work every night, sleep half the day. Most of them don’t have families because the lifestyle isn’t good for a home life. Besides, they travel all the time.”
“Sounds exciting to me,” said Penny. “You’d get to go to a lot of places.”
“Maybe so, but I want to stay in one place, settle down with my girl here.” He gave Lexie’s shoulder a squeeze.
“Yeah? So have you two set a date?” Penny glanced from Russell to Lexie.
Russell looked at Lexie with a questioning expression. “Not yet.”
“Penny, we’re waiting to find out when I graduate from nursing school. It would be difficult to be married before that.”
“Maybe so, but I’ve heard it’s possible.”
“But most of the married girls have husbands that are in the military, and they’ve shipped out,” Lexie said, reminding her roommate and herself why she and Russell still waited.
“Well, you two don’t have to worry about that, do you? I mean, you’re not joining the army or navy, and neither is Russell, so you’ll both be able to stay stateside.”
Lexie sensed Russell’s uneasiness whenever the topic of joining the military came up, knowing he couldn’t. Why did Penny have to mention it?
“That’s right, Penny. We can support our country right here. Somebody has to stay home.” Lexie had to help bolster Russell’s ego.
They were within half a block of the nursing residence. Lexie stopped and turned to Russell. “Thank you for being our escort, Russell, but I think you shouldn’t come any farther.”
“All right. I’ll watch from here and see if you get inside okay.”
“Of course, you won’t find out what happens until Lexie calls you tomorrow,” Penny said. “We might be confined to quarters.”
“I hope not. Lexie, call me tomorrow as soon as you can and let me know if you get in trouble.” He wrapped his arms around her, leaned down, and gave her a kiss. It wasn’t as long a kiss as he’d like, but with Penny standing there, it would be awkward to prolong the goodbye. “Good night, Lexie. Good night, Penny. Take care.”
The girls told him good night and walked the rest of the way in silence. They reached the side door and turned the knob, thankful it was still unlocked. Breathing sighs of relief, they slipped inside, removed their shoes, and tiptoed up the stairs to the second floor and into the hall. The floor was quiet, except for a snore that came from one of the rooms.
As they undressed and climbed into their beds, Lexie’s thoughts returned to Russell. She was glad he could escort them home. So Artie Davis had offered him a position with his band. That was quite an honor for a musician. Was he refusing to join because of her? Maybe he really wanted to but felt obligated to her. He’d moved to New York because she did. Was he staying here for the same reason?
If he did leave, she would miss him terribly. The warmth of his lips was still on hers, and it was hard enough to be away from him for even a few days. What would happen to them if he really did leave? Would their relationship survive? But was it fair that she was pursuing her dream when he wasn’t?
Chapter Fourteen
“Hi, Russell. It’s Lexie. Everything’s fine. Except that I have to work today—back on one of the men’s psychiatric floors.” Lexie didn’t divulge any details about slipping into the residence the night before, in case the wrong person overheard her conversation.
“Thanks for calling, sweetheart. I’m glad to hear you didn’t run into any problems. Will you be free for church tomorrow?”
“Sure. I need to make amends for my misdeeds.”
Russell’s laughter was welcome. “Good. I’ve heard a lot about the minister at Marble Collegiate Church, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. I’d like to go there tomorrow if it’s okay with you.”
“Sounds swell. I’ve wanted to hear him preach too. Do you mind if I invite Penny?”
“Not at all. I’ll come for you at a quarter past ten. See you tomorrow, darlin’.”
Lexie hung up the phone. She didn’t want to work on a Saturday, but it had been a few days since she’d seen John Doe, and she was anxious to see him again and find out if there had been any improvement in his condition. She checked her reflection to make sure her uniform was correct, then crossed the street to the psychiatric hospital and went to his ward. The floor nurse smiled at her from her seat in the nurses’ station. “Welcome back, Nurse Smithfield. I heard you had some excitement the other night on the women’s floor.”
So everyone knew about Big Bertha’s attack on her now. “Oh yes, it was exciting, to say the least.”
“From what I heard, you handled yourself well. Glad to hear you weren’t hurt.”
“Thank God, I turned around in time.” Lexie appreciated the compliment but realized that without God’s intervention, things could have turned out much worse.
“Well, congratulations on your quick thinking. That patient is scheduled for a lobotomy. Nothing else has worked on her.”
The nurse’s words shocked Lexie. She’d heard about lobotomies being performed in last-resort situations, but the procedure frightened her. Cutting and manipulating a person’s brain was a dangerous surgery. And hopeless. From what she’d read, the procedure might remove the symptoms of mental illness, but the side effects were alarming. People who’d had lobotomies were completely changed in personality, and some had even died from the operation. As frightened as she’d been of Big Bertha, she actually felt sorry for the woman now.
“The men’s ward seems pretty calm, compared to my experience in the women’s, but then I’ve only worked on the mildly disturbed ward.”
“Oh, we’ve had our share of excitement here too. Fortunately for you, we haven’t had any while you’ve been on duty.” The nurse peered up over her glasses at Lexie. “But that can change any minute, as you know.”
Lexie nodded and thought of Claude, the wildest person she’d seen in the ward. “How is Claude Graham doing? Have the electric shock treatments helped?”
“Yes, I think they have. He’s much calmer now. If he has another episode, he’ll be moved to the ‘semi-disturbed’ ward.” She pushed her chair away from the desk and stood. “Let’s go see our patients. Wonder if they’ll remember you?”
She hoped they would, especially one patient in particular. Nurse Addams opened the door, and as they entered, a few heads turned toward them. Four men played cards at a table. One of them pointed at Lexie. “It’s the humming nurse! Will you hum for us again?”
Lexie’s face flushed, and Nurse Addams faced her with raised eyebrows. “The humming nurse?”
Lexie lowered her gaze and muttered, “Yes, ma’am. It was so quiet in here. I wanted to add some music. That’s not against the rules, is it?”
“Not that I know of. As long as it doesn’t upset the patients, I suppose it’s okay. What did you hum? Show tunes?”
“Oh no, I hummed a hymn. The tune had been fixed in my mind ever since I attended church last Sunday.” She nodded toward the man who recognized her. “He said he used to hear the same hymn from his mother and grandmother.”
“Hopefully, he had good memories of them,” Nurse Addams whispered.
Lexie hadn’t considered anything to the contrary and was surprised at the comment. They moved around the room, checking with the patients and assessing their mental condition as usual, asking about the date, the year, the p
resident, etcetera. The men were having a good day, and most answered correctly, proud of themselves when they did, as if they’d passed a test.
Claude sat quietly by himself. “Claude, how are you today?” Nurse Addams asked.
His eyes darted from Lexie to the head nurse before answering. “I’m better, I think.”
“That’s very good, Claude.” Nurse Addams offered the man a smile.
“Do I have to have another one of those treatments today? I don’t think I need any more.”
“Not today. We’ll see if the doctor thinks you need more treatments.”
“Okay. Maybe then he’ll let me go home.”
Lexie wanted to know what his home was like. Did he live with a wife or parents or anyone? Wherever it was, she hoped it was better than staying here.
They stopped at John Doe’s bed, and Lexie noticed the wound on his head was practically gone. He was still hooked to the IV, a sign that he wasn’t eating yet. Nurse Addams moved her hand in front of his eyes, and the man blinked but didn’t focus on the women. “The doctor wants to wait until his injuries are healed before we give him shock treatments so he won’t reinjure himself in the process.”
Lexie hoped he’d come out of his trance before his injuries healed. Maybe he wouldn’t even need the shock treatments once he regained consciousness.
They finished the tour of the ward, then went back to the nurses’ station. “You know what to do now, so I’ll leave our men in your capable hands. I don’t think you’ll have any problems today unless they bring someone new in.”
Lexie nodded, and the head nurse left. She gathered the water pitchers, refilled them, placed them on the cart with some paper cups, and reentered the ward.
“Are you going to hum today? Please?” the older gentleman named Bob asked.
“If you’d like me to, Bob. Would you like me to hum ‘Amazing Grace’ again?”
“That would be real nice. And anything else you want to hum. Just don’t stop.”
She smiled and began going from patient to patient, offering water and trying to be friendly. Lexie hummed as she went through the room and the work developed a pleasant rhythm, lifting the atmosphere. Not all the patients welcomed her gesture, but most of them looked pleased, and the music seemed to have a calming effect on them.
When she arrived at John Doe’s bed, she spoke to him. “Hello, John. Would you like a drink of water?” There was no response, but she offered the cup to his lips anyway as she had before, pouring a scant amount of liquid between his open lips. When he swallowed, she offered more with the same result. When his lips closed, she put the cup down on the bedside table. “Had enough?” She leaned over and gently removed his pillow, fluffed it up, and replaced it under his head. “There, that should be more comfortable.” She also adjusted his sheet and blanket to make sure he was well covered.
She continued to talk to the unresponsive man. “Your head looks much better.” She touched the healing scar lightly with her fingertip. Then she stroked the arm in a sling. “I wonder how long before your arm heals?”
The man in the bed next to John Doe leaned on his elbow and faced her. “He can’t talk.”
“Maybe he can, but he just doesn’t want to,” she said in John Doe’s defense.
“What if he can’t hear you? Why do you keep talkin’ to him when he don’t say nothin’?”
“Because I think he might be able to hear me. He had a head injury in the war, but even though he’s not talking doesn’t mean he can’t hear.” She offered the man a smile, then moved over to his bed. “Would you like some water too?”
The man sat on the edge of his bed, a magazine in his hands. “Is that all you got? Why don’t you bring some scotch with you next time? I’d like to have a scotch and water.”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
Mo was his name, and he’d been brought in two nights ago when the police found him acting bizarre in the park, according to his chart. Since he’d reeked of alcohol when he was brought in, he was most likely an alcoholic.
“Well, I’m not stickin’ around here much longer if I don’t get a good drink.”
Unfortunately, he was probably telling the truth. He’d dry up in the hospital, get released, then go back to drinking and end up back in one of the wards, hopefully the alcoholic ward, if there was room. At least he seemed to be mentally stable when he was sober, not like the others. What irony that the drunks had enough control to leave the hospital, but they didn’t have enough control to stay out.
As she stepped away from him, she sensed being watched. She spun around, the alarm bell going off in her head, wondering if she’d gotten herself into another vulnerable position like she had with Big Bertha. But no one was threatening her this time. In fact, none of the other patients even looked her way. Was she becoming paranoid because of the experience? She blew out a breath. Steady, girl. No one’s out to harm you now.
She moved on to the next patient, who nervously tapped his foot on the floor. “Good afternoon, Tom.”
“You know me?” He squinted at her. “Do I know you?”
“I’m Nurse Smithfield. Perhaps you were asleep when I was here before.”
Tom sat forward, searching her face. “Nope. Don’t know you.” He looked away from her.
She offered him water, which he accepted after some hesitation. He studied her face again and said with excitement. “You’re the humming nurse!” Then he frowned. “Aren’t you? Why aren’t you humming?”
Lexie chuckled. “I was, but I guess I stopped. Would you like me to continue humming?”
“Yes, yes I would. They should give us radios in here.”
Some wards were allowed radios, but there wasn’t one in this room, the thought being a news story might upset a patient.
“I’ll ask around and see if I can get one for you.” There was no harm in trying anyway. The sensation returned. Someone was watching her—the skin on her back tingled with awareness. She turned slowly, glancing at each patient. But once again, she didn’t find anyone looking at her. Was her mind playing tricks? Or was someone else playing a trick on her?
She finished handing out water. It was time to get the medications ready for those who needed them. She wheeled the cart down the aisle, checking to see if any of the patients were unusually interested in her. Still, no clues for her suspicions. Before she left the room, Bob shouted from the card table at the other end.
“Do you know the words to that song?”
She put her finger in front of her lips and went toward him. “I know a few of them. Why?”
“Just wondered if you can sing too. Or if you hum because you can’t sing.”
Lexie laughed and said, “I guess I can sing well enough. Maybe next time I come in, I’ll sing. I need to brush up on the words, though.”
“You do that, okay? You’ll do that for me?”
She nodded. Bob must have been the one watching her, and she didn’t realize it. That was the obvious reason for her feeling. So much for her suspicions.
Lexie went back to the nurses’ station to make notes in the patient charts. At the same time, she made a list of meds and their dosages to give the patients that night. She also wrote up a requisition for a radio, hoping the request wouldn’t meet any opposition. When dinner time arrived, she rolled in the dining trays and handed them out. To her surprise, Bob and Tom came forward and helped pass out the meals.
“Thank you, gentlemen. You’re a big help.” Bob beamed with pride, and Tom just nodded and continued helping. Only one patient wasn’t able to eat regular food. John Doe. Lexie eyed him with concern.
His neighbor Mo spoke up, “I’ll take his. He don’t need it.”
“We don’t have an extra, Mo. He’s still on a drip.” She pointed to the bottle suspended from the hook on the IV pole.
Mo shrugged. “Some kind of life.”
Bob spoke up. “Hey, Mo! That man’s a hero. He was hurt in the war. Give him some respect.”
“Yeah, sure. Poor sap.”
Lexie seethed beneath the surface. She wanted to say something to put Mo in his place, but she wasn’t allowed. If only John Doe could defend himself against the man’s remarks.
She busied herself while they ate dinner by straightening up the tables and chairs in the activity area and walked around the room closing the window blinds. When they were finished, she, Bob, and Tom collected the trays and stacked them on the cart.
“All right. Time to get ready for bed. Change clothes and wash up. I’ll be back in a little while to give you your meds.”
“You’re going to tuck us in?” Tom asked.
“Of course. Be a good boy and be in bed when I get back.”
Lexie rolled the cart stacked with dirty dishes out of the room, locked the door, and pushed the cart down the hall to the utility room to be washed, one of the night nurse’s duties. Someone from the kitchen would pick them up in the morning.
Now, to prepare the meds. She checked the time and hurried to get the supplies before the men drifted off to sleep. When she returned to the ward, most of the men were in their beds. Those that weren’t went to their beds when they saw her. Not all the men required medication, but some did only for sleep, and they passively submitted to the injection she gave them. Thank goodness Mo was already snoring. He was not one of her favorite patients, and she was glad she wouldn’t have to deal with him when she went to John Doe’s bedside.
She checked John’s IV drip first, but, wanting to do more for him, used the damp washcloth beside him to wipe his face. As she moved about his area, the sensation of being watched returned. But once again, a scan around the room confirmed that the other patients were asleep or had their eyes closed. Then she saw John Doe’s eyes follow her. She swallowed the gasp that was her first reaction, observing the rule that nurses should not show shock around the mental patients. But her face probably registered surprise.
In a soft voice, she said, “John, are you looking at me? Can you see me?”
He didn’t make a sound, but he blinked. Did that mean something, or was it an involuntary reflex?
