[Destitute Genius]
With a dash of cunning!Liberation
2007-05-09
I thought while I was still up, I'd go ahead and post my second short story, Liberation. This one happens to be my favorite because I felt the characters came though much clearer in this one. Again, I read it over 5 million times but those tricky errors always escape my notice, so again, try to over look them. Cheers.
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Liberation
The white wallpaper played with the noon sun, casting monolithic shadows about the room. A large bed was centered in the room, and lost in its white sheets, lay a frail elderly woman. The red spots on her arms shone in the sea of white like buoys. Her brown eyes never left the small television in front of her. Nothing could have stolen her rapt attention away from the set.
There was a tiny insistent knock at the door that sounded more like a polite woodpecker than a fellow human being. The old woman never lost her focus; she continued to watch the television, refusing to give her visitor any attention. A feminine voice afflicted with a light southern accent floated between the wall and the open door.
"Miss Nadine?"
Nadine's eyes stayed on the television. She couldn't afford to miss a second.
"Miss Nadine? It's Nurse Marge. I'm coming in."
Nadine continued to ignore the intruder. A young woman with too-bright red hair and a too-bright smile came in.
"It's time for your sponge bath Miss Nadine."
Marge could see the old lady's body cringe at the thought, but Nadine remained obstinate, not giving Marge the benefit of recognition. Marge motioned with a chubby arm to someone standing outside the door.
"Miss Nadine, I'd like you to meet our newest nurse, Mingmei."
A young girl of Asian descent entered the room, her long black hair contrasting with the bleached and starched nursing-home issue uniform that was much too large for her. Mingmei nodded a silent hello to Nadine. Mingmei felt awkward in the large room that was otherwise silent except for the television and the rhythmic clicking of Nadine's oxygen machine. Marge pointed to the machine and turned to Mingmei.
"That's what you gotta keep your eye on dear, Miss Nadine couldn't survive without it."
Mingmei nodded, making a mental memo of the machine's importance. She turned to see what was so tantalizing on the television, and at the moment a young man was talking to a skull in a graveyard. Marge also glanced at the television and her thick plastic smile widened on her face.
"Watching Macbeth again I see?"
"Hamlet." Mingmei corrected.
"Excuse me?"
"The movie...It is Hamlet, not Macbeth.
"No need to be technical darling, it's all the same anyway."
Mingmei furrowed her brows in frustration. Marge moved in front of the television to catch Nadine's attention. Nadine craned her head around the obstruction to continue watching the film. Mingmei stepped to Marge's side, blocking the television from Nadine's sight completely. Nadine sighed and looked at her captors, finally resigning her attention to them. She looked at both of them, and cut her eyes at Mingmei.
"Get out of my room, you murderer."
Mingmei blinked, unable to respond to the accusation.
"I told you to get out." Nadine commanded with a leathery index finger.
Marge turned to Mingmei.
"I'm sorry, I forgot she doesn't take well to your kind."
Mingmei stepped back, unsure how to respond to the blatant racism.
"Excuse me?" she managed.
Marge lowered her voice to a stage whisper.
"Her brother died at Pearl Harbor."
Mingmei laughed nervously "I'm Chinese-American."
"Oh well" Marge's smile widened, baring her white teeth again. "Y'all look the same anyway."
Marge moved closer to Nadine's bed.
"Today's Monday, and you know that it's your bath time. Don't get ugly with me this week."
Nadine sunk under her sheets, trying to disappear from her predator. Marge looked around the room, and saw that she had forgotten the tools needed to proceed with the sponge bath. She cursed under her breath.
"Mingmei, watch her while I go get the bucket and sponge."
Marge left the room in a flustered rush. Nadine continued to watch the television unhindered. Mingmei moved aside to watch with her. A young woman with flowers in her hair was singing gaily as she walked down the banks of a river. She kept singing nonsensical phrases as she lowered herself into the water. The flowers floated to the top as her head went under, and the singing stopped. She never came up again. Mingmei turned as she heard the oxygen machine pulsating faster, and saw that Nadine was fitfully moving her body with her eyes closed. She looked to be in utter agony.
***
Nadine could taste the memory with her mind's tongue. She could almost identify it, but it wavered, unattainable. She could hear the harsh rain pouring onto the pavement of the road, feel her pumps get caught in the mud of the riverbank, the bundle in her arms screaming. Always screaming, screaming for something, something that Nadine could never give to it. Screaming that would only last for the next five minutes, then Nadine would never hear it again. Except in her unsettled mind.
***
Nadine came back with a start to find Mingmei looking down at her with her face twisted in absolute fear. Nadine reached for Mingmei's arm and patted her tiny hand.
"Are you married, dear?"
Mingmei had no idea what to think, except that maybe she should have been transferred to a hospital instead of a retirement home.
"Yes...Yes I am."
"Does your husband support your choice to work, dear?"
Mingmei nodded.
"That's good, dear...That's very good."
Marge came back into the room and Nadine shuddered at the sight of the bucket slopping the water over its brim.
***
The next morning the sun and dark clouds competed over how to light the small room. Marge entered the room without knocking this time, a large book in her left hand. Nadine looked up to see Marge standing over her bed, the smile large enough to devour her.
"It's Tuesday, Miss Nadine."
She patted the book.
"It's time for your Bible reading."
Nadine nodded, and propped herself up with her pillows to listen. She never went to church; this was her weekly chance to absolve herself of sin. She felt she was almost cleansed. Mingmei came into the room and sat down quickly.
"Sorry I'm late."
Marge shrugged and flipped open the Bible.
"Here we are."
She coughed dramatically before starting.
"When she saw what a fine baby he was, she hid him for three months. But when she could not hide him any longer, she took a basket made of reeds and covered it with tar to make it watertight. She put the baby in it and then placed it in the tall grass at the edge of the river. The baby's sister stood some distance away to see what would happen to him."
Marge took a drink from the glass of water nearby and continued in a monotonous tone. Nadine faded in and out for the rest of Exodus. She wondered why it was always the men who got saved, who were chosen by God. She could hear the screaming again in her ears. Screaming for life, but for freedom at the same time. Nadine could only grant one of those. How unfair that she could never give both. Marge coughed and took another drink of water. She looked at her watch.
"Oh my, we went for three hours this time."
She clicked her tongue, chastising the waste of time that should have been spent with other patients. She closed up the Bible and stood up to leave. Mingmei also rose, rubbing her eyes to make it appear as if she had not been napping. Nadine looked up at Marge.
"Has my daughter called to come visit me today?"
Marge flexed her trademark smile. "No. She hasn't Miss Nadine, I'm sure she will tomorrow."
Marge started to walk towards the door. "You have a good nap now. Mingmei will be back to check on you tonight."
The two nurses stepped into the hall, and Marge took great care to make sure she shut the door before speaking.
"The old fool thinks she has a daughter. She only has three sons."
"Do they ever come to visit?"
"No, I don't even think they know she is here"
"She must be very lonely."
"Her and everyone else in this home."
***
The sun lost later that afternoon to the dark storm clouds. The rain came down and refused to stop. Mingmei was sitting in the break room. She had finished her rounds and had decided to look something up before she began the night rounds. She took a sip of her coffee and opened the large withered manila envelope in front of her. She heard a tapping and looked up to see Marge sticking her head through the door.
"I'm heading out. They say the Tombigbee may flood, and I best get home before it does."
Mingmei nodded and kept flipping through the folder.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to see if I can get in contact with Miss Nadine's sons. Try to come get them to visit her."
"Good luck with that; they'll probably laugh or make some half-ass promise to see her."
Marge paused and stared at Mingmei.
"I keep forgetting you're new here. These people are very lucky if their family comes to visit them, you'll find that out very soon."
Mingmei wasn't listening. She had stopped at a paper that caught her eye.
"Not enough conclusive evidence to press charges, suspect released after the mandatory seventy two hours." She read.
She glanced at the attempted charges and her eyes widened. Marge was still talking.
"I really better go before they try to make me stay due to possible flooding. I'm glad you realize your duty to stay overnight so the older ones can go home. Most of the new ones gripe about it."
Mingmei nodded. She knew exactly what her duty was now.
***
Nadine heard about the Tombigbee flooding before she turned the nightly news off. The rain hit her window like bullets, each decimating the barrier she placed around her memories. It was all flooding into her mind now.
***
She had read that during the Holocaust, Jewish mothers had drowned their infant children to prevent them from being taken by the S.S. That's where she had gotten the idea, from Time magazine while she lay in the hospital bed after giving birth to Elise. Her husband came everyday to see if she could come home yet. The house needed to be cleaned and he couldn't work and take care of the three boys by himself. She needed to come do her job. How dare she abandon her duties as a matron? Her duties as a woman. She too wanted a job, she too wanted to do something. But that wasn't allowed. It was frowned upon because her husband made enough for them to live, and that ought to be enough for anybody. She waited until the nurse was gone and visiting hours were over before she hobbled out of her bed. She walked over to the closet and pulled out the clothes she had worn before giving birth, a smart tweed suit with heels. They were huge on her now but it didn't matter. She couldn't get very far in a hospital gown and slippers. Nadine walked out of the room and towards the infant ward. She looked through the large glass window and saw there were no nurses present. This was her only chance.
Her only chance to save Elise from a life of indentured servitude, a life serving men, a life not worth living. She took Elise from the hospital and walked through the rain. She walked all night, stumbling through the mud in her pumps, the tweed skirt torn long ago on a tree trunk. Elise was screaming in her arms, she was hungry. Nadine had nothing to feed her with, it had all been wasted. Wasted on her sons. She heard the sound of water hitting water. Nadine knew she had reached her destination. She trudged to the banks of the Tombigbee River and slid down the side. Elise was still screaming, that scream that demanded life and freedom. She lowered Elise into the river and everything became a blur. The police found her fifty miles away the next day -- asleep in a train station. She had no idea how she got there.
The memories were so clear now, after years of evading her. She breathed a sigh of relief, and then gasped for intake. Everything became a whirlpool in her mind, and began to fade. The white walls of the room shone brightly in her eyes and everything went dark.
***
Mingmei's hand let go of the oxygen mask and it fell to the floor. She turned off the lights in the room, closing the door behind her. She had other patients to attend to.
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