Psychologist Kelly clicked in her white, leather heels to the front of the dayroom. Frosted blonde curls bouncing at her shoulders.
“Heh. Where she goin’. Church?” Markus said.
Kelly stood in front of the TV and switched off the Cubs game. “Time for group!”
“Oh, why thank you, Kelly. I didn’t really want to watch that crappy old baseball game, anyway.” Mona said with a sinking in her jowls. Kelly ignored her. Under her gown, Mona crossed one hairy leg over the other and folded her hands on her lap. “I’m just waiting for the bus.”
Mona turned to Markus, who sat on her left, “Excuse me, sir, do you know when the bus will come?”
Markus grinned and shook his head. “Shoulda been here three damn weeks ago.”
Mona says the bus thing a lot. Whenever we’re waiting around in the dayroom, waiting for meals, for group, for happy hour. Sometimes, she really gets into it. Elena does, too. They leave their bathrobes undone like raincoats, hold their pillowcases over their heads like umbrellas and sit in the vinyl chairs, tapping their toes and glancing at their empty wrists to “check the time”. Mona will say, “Elena, it’s starting to pour out here. Where’s the bus?”
Kelly straightened the collar on her skirt suit, Easter pink. “Today we’re going to work on some coping skills. One good way to calm yourself down when you’re feeling stressed out is through meditation.” She paused to purse her lips and look each of her patients in the eye. “Does anybody know what meditation is?”
“I will only meditate on the word of our lord Jesus Christ.” Fergus said and blinked solemnly.
“Well, meditation does not have to be a religious thing. Though some religions use it. It’s just a way to clear your mind of worries. I have a form of meditation you all can do.” Kelly reached into her bulbous leather purse, white to match her shoes and extracted from it a box of tea. She set the box in the center of the long conference table the patients were seated around in the bare, white meeting room..
“Now, look at this box and concentrate on only the box.”
Hela squinted her big green eyes and leaned forward. “I can mooove it with my miiiind!” she said in an exaggerate, spooky voice. Elena and Mona and Markus erupted in chuckles.
“Hela, just try it.”
“Can I? What flavor is it?”
“No, try meditating on the box. Clear all other thoughts from your head. Let them slide out your ears. Tell that voice in your head to be quiet.”
“Which voice?” Elena winked at Hela and pointed to her head. “I’ve got so many up here!”
“Come on you guys, quiet down. Some of us want to meditate.” Kelly gestured her pink manicure toward Fergus and Milton, who were staring hard at the box of tea.
“Can we drink some afterward?” Hela asked.
“No, I’m afraid not. It’s against the rules.”
“Why?”
“Well, I used to make tea for group time every day, but there was this incident a few months back. A visitor slipped some drugs to a patient in a bottle of Coke. Four patients took it and fell into a coma. So there’s no outside food allowed anymore.” Kelly bit her lip, realizing that Hela had diverted her, once again.
The box was yellow. It said “Sweet Earth”. On the front of the box was a tiny farmer plowing a patchwork field. A glowing orange yolk hung above his head in the cardboard sky. On the back was a list of herbs and in what ways they are good for you. Echinacea- Supports healthy immune function. Ginseng- For energy. Green tea- An antioxidant.
After about 10 minutes of silent staring, Kelly noticed that Milton was drifting to sleep in his wheelchair, head cocked sideways, bead of drool glimmering from the side of his mouth.
