When It Rains: The Umbrella Collection (15 page)

“It’s good that you agreed with us because you were leaving to go there in a half hour whether you liked it or not,” Dr. Gable sai
d as he stood from the recliner.  He playfully hit me on top of my head with the signed forms he held, “I’ll see you over there,” and he left the room.

Macy sat in the same place she was and we talked about how hard it will be over there.
  She said she heard good things about Ashford and that I shouldn’t worry. 

“I have faith in you,” she said as she watched me sign the discharge papers and then hugged me and exited the room.

Pops sat where the doctor sat and he noticed that a worried look was still plastered across my face, “To cheer you up, do you want to hear a story?”

My posture immediately heightened and a smirk appeared, “Absolutely.”

He began to tell me that he was on a triple date with Sammy, his wife, Charlie and his girlfriend Beatrice and Pops with Hazel, a lady he met at Bingo a few months ago.  They enjoyed a nice meal that was filled with Charlie telling story after story.  When they were finished, Pops walked over to Hazel’s side of the car and opened the door for her.  As he put the key into the hole he saw a lady out the corner of his eye rapidly approaching them and before his old man reflexes kicked she was pummeling Hazel with her purse.  In between purse swings, Pops realized that it was Molly.  My face lit up with this news.  I have always told people she was nuts, but no one listened to me.  Perhaps, that’s the pot calling the kettle black, but I tried to warn people.  It took Charlie and Sammy to pull Molly away from Hazel as Pops tried getting in-between the two. 

As he said those words, I noticed two small scratches above his right eye, “
Battle wound?” I asked pointing to them.

“Yup, it was either Molly’s fingernails or the zipper of her purse,” he said as his hand rubbed the area.

After they were separated, Hazel immediately jumped in the car and locked the door.  Pops said it was like a switch was flipped in Molly. As soon as Hazel wasn’t in striking distance, she calmed down and rushed up to Pops to begin a rant of apologies.  Molly said she was at the store next door, walked out and saw them getting into the car.  She just got overwhelmed with anger because Pops didn’t return her phone call from earlier and that she was so sorry.

“The store next door?
  Yeah, right.  She followed you guys there and watched you in the restaurant the whole night. I bet she knows what you ordered for dinner,” I said to Pops who didn’t look amused by my comments, “Wait.  Are you still going to see her?  You are just as crazy as she is.”

“We are going out later tonight.
I feel bad for her,” he said. I followed it up with my own rant that was about how he was asking for trouble and how one day, she will do something even creepier than her following him to a restaurant and beating the crap out his  date.  She will probably chop off his legs like Kathy Bates did in “Misery”. 

“Hazel was a little frightened to say the least,” Pops said

“I would be, too!  A psycho lady and her purse coming at you would be a bit scary.  I will be surprised if you ever hear from her again,” I said and looked at Pops who was wearing a sheepish grin, “Oh come on!  How do you do it?!  When is your date with her?”

“Saturday,” he said proudly.

There was a loud booming voice speaking a mile a minute echoing through the hallway that I recognized the moment it hit my ears.  A few moments later in walked Dr. Gable whose eyes were big as golf balls.  He was quickly followed by Charlie in his red and black plaid pants with a hat to match and a sky blue t-shirt yapping in their ears.

“You wouldn’t believe the amount of debris that I pulled out of my pants after that; leaves, sticks, mud.
  Nora!” he said.  He was telling them the story of when he was standing on the side of the road when he was younger waiting for Pops to pick him up.  Pops, to be funny, decided to not stop the car as he approached.  He chased him a little bit which resulted in Charlie running from the car into the woods and then he tumbled down a hill.  That’s how he got the debris all in there.

Charlie rushed over to me and gave me an enormous bear hug and he asked how I was and so forth.
  Behind him, silently standing there was Sammy who was waiting patiently for his turn to walk up and hug me, too.  Dr. Gable said that Pops was going to drive me to Ashford and handed me a list from there saying what I could and couldn’t bring with me.  You know things like, no shoe laces, no medication that isn’t prescribed, no sharp objects, blah blah blah. 

Dr. Gable said he would see me there and left the room.
  I began to pack with the sound of Charlie retelling the Molly story with his added emphasis in the background.  I was nervous to say the least.  My stomach was in a ton of knots and with all my calming talks I was giving myself in my head was unable to untie them.  I wondered what this place was going to be like and if I would have a roommate.

I was kneeling down on the floor putting me my socks into my bag when I heard an all too familiar sound.
  “What size straight jacket do you wear, Little Miss Nora?” the
voice
said and my heart dropped far beneath me and chills ran through my spine.  I haven’t heard it since the night I tried to end my life and I had hopes of it not returning.  It startled me so much that I was knocked off balance and caught myself with my hand as I leaned a little to the right. 

My body language must have changed drastically because Pops and Sammy ran over to me.
  Charlie was still with his back towards me in mid sentence, but quickly stopped and came over once he saw his audience had left. 

“Nora, what’s wrong?” Pops asked.
  I stood up from my kneeling position and told them that I was alright, that I just heard something.  Pops and I exchanged looks and I went on packing, “We have to tell the doctor.”

“I will when I see him at Ashford.”

I was done packing and ready to go I left the room feeling unsure if I was making the right decision.  I couldn’t go back on my word, but with every tentative step I took I had to fight the urge to run harder. 

Sammy had to head to work while Pops and Charlie accompanied me to Ashford.
  It was an intense half hour drive as my hand kept grabbing onto the handle of the back seat door as I contemplated opening it and jumping.  I watched my watch practically the whole time, as Charlie talked, anticipating pulling into the parking lot.  When we got off the highway I looked at my watch once again and 25 minutes went by.  That means we are close and my pulse rate quickened.  After a few more turns, I saw a big white building with large glass windows on the bottom floor and small ones on the top.  We parked the car and for a few seconds no one moved and surprisingly Charlie didn’t even speak. I sat there looking up at the building, admiring its sparse landscape.  There weren’t any flowers anywhere and only one lonesome tree.  The stark contrast between this place and Pops’ place was startling and it didn’t make me feel all homey. 

“Well, ready Nor?”
 Pops finally said.

“Yup.
  Let’s get this over with,” I said back and I exited the car and retrieved my suitcase from the trunk.  Pops, Charlie and I began made our way to the front door with Charlie beginning one of his fables again.  I didn’t hear him though.  His voice was faded by the
voice
laughing at me hysterically and taunting me about how weak I was.  My feet were heavy and my heart even heavier with emotions, but I needed to do this. 

We walked side by side and Pops put his arm around me for comfort.
  Charlie reached to open the door, but it wouldn’t open and he tried the next one and same thing.  Then, Pops noticed an intercom system on the wall next to them with a sign that said “Push Button for Entry”.  Pops pushed the button and a lady’s voice came through the speaker asking who we were. Pops, Charlie and I looked at each other in wonderment of what to say. 

Finally, after the lady asked once more what we wanted, Pops walked up the speaker and said, “We have Eleanora Boutilier.”

“What are you a bondsman with a fugitive or something?” Charlie asked.

“I didn’t know what to say,” Pops responded as a buzzer went off and the doors unlocked. We walked in and it was just as
sparse as the landscape outside.  There were two chairs lined up on either side of a large desk with one lady sitting behind it with the same voice that flew out of the speaker outside.

“Hello, you must be Eleanora,” she said.
  I leaned myself slightly behind Pops who was standing in front of me.  I was admittingly scared to death.  I was trying to form an escape plan in my head somehow, but figured that the doors locked behind you as they clicked shut.  With my body half covered by Pops the lady reached out her hand to shake mine and my hand hesitantly met hers, “Have a seat and a nurse will be out in a second,” she said.   

I took a seat as Pops and Charlie paced the floor.
  The one time that I would love to hear one of Charlie’s stories for the hundredth time, he walked in silence with his fingers in his mouth as he bit down on his nails.  The voice was still laughing as a nurse came out of the twin doors beside the front desk.  She was pleasant looking enough; compared to Gloria I guess everyone does.  She had crystal blue eyes and her gray hair was propped up on her head in a bun. She was wearing a set of purple scrubs and carried a clipboard.

“Hello, I’m
Nancy. How is everyone?” she asked as she shook everybody’s hand including mine and her hands were like ice, “Eleanora, I’m going to take you back and get you settled in now.  Come with me,” she said as she put her hand on my back and tried to lead me away from them.  I hesitated and gave Pops a look of desperation.  He sensed my unsettledness and leaned in to give me a hug.

“Things are going to be okay.
  Just do what they say and you will be back in your own room in no time.  I’ll visit every day.  I promise.  You want to know why?” I looked up to him awaiting his answer, “Because we are two peas in a pod.”

A smile rose on my face and I patted him on the cheek with my hand and held in a cry that was trying to force its way out.
  It was the truth.  Pops is one of my best friends and we fit together perfectly.  I’m a pain in the ass and he is understanding then he acts like a pain in the ass and I understand.  I reached up to the back of my neck and unclasped my mom’s necklace with the rings hanging off of it and gave it to Pops.  It was one of the rules for this place; no jewelry.

“Take care of it,” I said.

“I’ll guard it with my life.”

I then gave him another hug and went to give one to Charlie, too.
  Charlie still didn’t say a word, but gave me a tight long-lasting hug.  When we parted there was a tear dripping from his eye and he quickly turned away from me as he tried to cover it up.  The only emotion I ever saw him exhibit was one of happiness, so this was new.  I turned to walk away and as I did, I caught a glimpse at the window I saw that it began to rain.

“You guys don’t have an umbrella,” I shrieked and I instantly began to cry.
  Pops wrapped his arms around me.

“We will stay here until it stops,” he said and
Nancy led me away through the double doors. 

She placed me in a small room alone for a few minutes.
  There was nothing to entertain me while I waited, not even chipping pain on anything to occupy my mind.

“Oh, stop you crying. You are becoming more a
nd more pathetic as time goes by,” the
voice
said.

Nancy
came back in with another nurse named Elizabeth.  They asked me question after question, went through my belongings and examined me.  They checked for things in my pockets and thoroughly checked my body for any cuts or scars.  They wrote everything down on a piece of paper and put it all in a cream colored file.  They told me all the rules and gave me a schedule that tells me when the doctors come and any meetings I need to attend.  It read the times for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  They then ushered me around the ward and showed me where everything was.  I didn’t see any other patients and the sound of silence was deafening. 

The walls were filled with posters of people looking sad and asking a question, “Are you sad?”,
 “Are you depressed?”,  “Do you want to harm yourself?”  I thought that was odd. 

There was a large room at the center with tables, chairs and benches throughout.
  On the tables were board games, paper, pens, markers and everything else you could imagine to occupy your time.  The led me to one door with a small square window that led to the cafeteria of sorts.  I peeked in and there was about 20 or so girls and a handful of guys.  Some were talking and eating, others were just eating and the rest sat there by themselves doing neither. We moved on to my room.  It was a one bed room with a small desk and a smaller bathroom.  It had one of the small windows that I saw from the ground outside.  I raced over to the window and looked out.  It was still raining and Pops truck was still there in the parking lot.  I sighed in relief. 

“We are going to let you get situated now.
  There is a quick meeting in an hour in the meeting area we passed.  You can come and meet everyone then.” Nancy said and they left. I sat on my bed and looked around.  The sheets were ghostly white and starched to the point where they feel like cardboard.  There was a twin sized bed and a two drawer dresser beside it, acting as a dresser and a nightstand.  There was also a closet with a folding door on the opposite wall and next to the bathroom.  There wasn’t a railing in there to put clothes on because we weren’t allowed clothes hangers but there were multiple shelves in there to put my clothes on and that is want I began to do.