Read Online The Girl Who Loved Animals and Other Stories by Bruce McAllister - Free Book Online
Authors: Bruce McAllister
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Piece of My Heart; one particular chapter was by a nurse named Jill Mishkel, and she sounded just like my story’s heroine, Mary Damico. I wrote to Jill saying so and enclosed the story. She wrote back: “Yes, it does sound like me. Exactly. And by the way, Bruce, I’m a science fiction fan. Would you like me to be a consultant on your novel?” That began the strange and marvelous journey the novel would take as it gathered, through one synchronicity or another—some of them (like the vet who found himself standing on the Red Dikes taking pictures for me when my intelligence community contacts couldn’t get those pictures) truly astonishing—the thirty consultants that would make it the collaborative miracle it turned out to be.
The Man Inside
I am ten and a half years old, and I must be important because I’m the only one they let into this laboratory of the hospital. My father is in the other room of this laboratory. He’s what Dr. Plankt calls a “catatonic” because Dad just sits in one position all the time like he can’t make up his mind what to do. And that makes Dr. Plankt sad, but today Dr. Plankt is happy because of his new machine and what it will do with Dad.
Dr. Plankt said, “This is the first time a computer will be able to articulate a man’s thoughts.” That means that when they put the “electrodes” (those are wires) on Dad’s head, and the “electrodes” are somehow attached to Dr. Plankt’s big machine with the spinning tapes on it, that machine will tell us what’s in Dad’s head. Dr. Plankt also said, “Today we dredge the virgin silence of an in-state catatonic for the first time in history.” So Dr. Plankt is happy today.
I am, too, for Dad, because he will be helped by this “experiment” (everything that’s happening today) and for Dr. Plankt, who is good to me. He helps me make my “ulcer” (a hurting sore inside me) feel better, and he also gives me pills for my “hypertension” (what’s wrong with my body). He told me, “Your father has an ulcer like yours, Keith, and hypertension, too, so we’ve got to take care of you. You’re much too young to be carrying an ulcer around in you. Look at your father now. We don’t want what happened to your father to happen . . .”
He didn’t finish what he was saying, so I didn’t understand all of it. Just that I should keep healthy and calm and not worry. I’m a lot like Dad, I know that much. Even if Dad worried a lot before he became a “catatonic” and I don’t worry much because I don’t have many things to worry about. “Yet,” Dr. Plankt told me.
We’re waiting for the big “computer” to tell us what’s in Dad’s head! A few minutes ago Dr. Plankt said that his machine might help his “theory” (a bunch of thoughts) about “personality symmetry in correlation with schizophrenia.” He didn’t tell me what he meant by that because he wasn’t talking to me when he said it. He was talking to another doctor, and I was just listening. I think what he said has to do with Dad’s personality, which Mom says is rotten because he’s always so grouchy and nervous and picky. Mom says I shouldn’t ever be like Dad. She’s always telling me that, and she shouts a lot.
Except when she brings people home from her meetings.
I don’t think Dr. Plankt likes Mom. Once Dr. Plankt came over to our house, which is on Cypress Street, and Mom was at one of her meetings, and Dr. Plankt and I sat in the living room and talked. I said, “It’s funny how Dad and me have ulcers and hypertension. ‘Like father, like son.’ Mom says that. It’s kind of funny.” Dr. Plankt got mad at something then and said to me, “It’s not funny, Keith! With what she’s doing to you both, your mother, not your father, is the one who should be in a mental inst—” He didn’t finish his last word, and I don’t know what it was and what he was mad about. Maybe he was mad at me.
Many
The Man Inside
I am ten and a half years old, and I must be important because I’m the only one they let into this laboratory of the hospital. My father is in the other room of this laboratory. He’s what Dr. Plankt calls a “catatonic” because Dad just sits in one position all the time like he can’t make up his mind what to do. And that makes Dr. Plankt sad, but today Dr. Plankt is happy because of his new machine and what it will do with Dad.
Dr. Plankt said, “This is the first time a computer will be able to articulate a man’s thoughts.” That means that when they put the “electrodes” (those are wires) on Dad’s head, and the “electrodes” are somehow attached to Dr. Plankt’s big machine with the spinning tapes on it, that machine will tell us what’s in Dad’s head. Dr. Plankt also said, “Today we dredge the virgin silence of an in-state catatonic for the first time in history.” So Dr. Plankt is happy today.
I am, too, for Dad, because he will be helped by this “experiment” (everything that’s happening today) and for Dr. Plankt, who is good to me. He helps me make my “ulcer” (a hurting sore inside me) feel better, and he also gives me pills for my “hypertension” (what’s wrong with my body). He told me, “Your father has an ulcer like yours, Keith, and hypertension, too, so we’ve got to take care of you. You’re much too young to be carrying an ulcer around in you. Look at your father now. We don’t want what happened to your father to happen . . .”
He didn’t finish what he was saying, so I didn’t understand all of it. Just that I should keep healthy and calm and not worry. I’m a lot like Dad, I know that much. Even if Dad worried a lot before he became a “catatonic” and I don’t worry much because I don’t have many things to worry about. “Yet,” Dr. Plankt told me.
We’re waiting for the big “computer” to tell us what’s in Dad’s head! A few minutes ago Dr. Plankt said that his machine might help his “theory” (a bunch of thoughts) about “personality symmetry in correlation with schizophrenia.” He didn’t tell me what he meant by that because he wasn’t talking to me when he said it. He was talking to another doctor, and I was just listening. I think what he said has to do with Dad’s personality, which Mom says is rotten because he’s always so grouchy and nervous and picky. Mom says I shouldn’t ever be like Dad. She’s always telling me that, and she shouts a lot.
Except when she brings people home from her meetings.
I don’t think Dr. Plankt likes Mom. Once Dr. Plankt came over to our house, which is on Cypress Street, and Mom was at one of her meetings, and Dr. Plankt and I sat in the living room and talked. I said, “It’s funny how Dad and me have ulcers and hypertension. ‘Like father, like son.’ Mom says that. It’s kind of funny.” Dr. Plankt got mad at something then and said to me, “It’s not funny, Keith! With what she’s doing to you both, your mother, not your father, is the one who should be in a mental inst—” He didn’t finish his last word, and I don’t know what it was and what he was mad about. Maybe he was mad at me.
Many
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