Sometimes All You Need Is An Ear

“Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale are ready to meet with you Ms. Vega.” The main lobby buzzed my office.

A few moments later, I heard a knock on my office door. I invited in whoever was at the door. When my door opened two older looking women walked into my office.

“How can I help you two ladies today?” I asked.

“Well, one of your patients here is a dear friend of ours and we were wondering what exactly was wrong with her.” One responded. “I’m Mrs. Peters and this is Mrs. Hale.” She clarified. “We never got the details on her state of mind and we were just wondering if you could shed some light on the situation.”

“I understand how you two must feel but, I’m not allowed to share classified information of patients.  I can only share this information of the patient with immediate family, medical doctors, or lawyers.”

“But Ms. Vega,” Hale began, “Is there any possible way that we can help Minnie? Could you re-analyze her and see if she is doing better and shorten her days here?”

“I don’t think that I can do that either ma’am. Our institution runs on strict guidelines. Once a patient is analyzed here, they are immediately put on a plan and they have to stick to it until final evaluation.  The plan is only subject to change if the patient shows exceptional change, negative or positive, and from the looks of Minnie,” I paused for a moment to grab her file and skim through her records, “By the looks of it she’s nowhere near ready for an evaluation.”

“PLEASE!” Mrs. Peter’s exclaimed loudly. “Please reconsider. You don’t know what she’s been through. Her husband was a horrible man that kept her under his foot like an animal. She has been through so much and I can’t stand to see her sit in a place like this and rot because of something he did to her!”

 I sat there for a while before speaking. “I’ll see what I can do, but I can’t promise you two anything. When I am scheduled to meet with her for her weekly check-up I will take care to look for signs that could speed up her process here, but like I said earlier, nothing is promised.”

“Thank you so very much Ms. Vega! I am sure that you will do your best.” Ms. Hale seemed cheerful.

“Thank you both for your visit. Come back in a week or two for the update.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hello Minnie, I’m back again to check on you, how are you feeling today?” I asked as I entered Minnie’s room.

“I’m feeling alright Ms. Vega. I’ve settled in quite nicely here. The staff is so kind to me.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Can I ask you a few questions? And I also need you to do a few things for me today.

“Well alright I’ll do them to the best of my ability.”

“Do you remember why you are here in this facility?”

“Yes I was going through some tough times and had an emotional breakdown. Many thought I was from my husband’s unexpected death….” She trailed off.

“Well do you remember why you had that break down? What changed? What caused your stress?” I asked and soon after, the room fell deafly silent. Time seemed to move slowly from that moment on.

“Well…” She started. “I was once a free spirit. A lively one that enjoyed all things, I was told that I always had a smile on my face. When I met my late husband everything seemed to be even better. He made me so happy, but soon after our marriage he completely changed. He didn't allow me to do anything to bring me joy. It was almost as if I were his dog. I couldn't even sing songs aloud anymore.”

“A had a song bird. It made me so happy… but he took that from me too, but in the worst way.” She stopped and sighed deeply. “He took my bird’s life with his own hands. I couldn't take it anymore; I was completely through with him. And then the best yet worse thing could have happened. A murderer killed him in his sleep, the same way he took my bird’s life…”

“Wow that was intense; you had no friends to confide in during your hard times?” I asked this because I wondered if Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale were there for her.

“No there wasn't  My husband cut off all contact with my friends and most of my family. I felt like a caged bird in that marriage, but now I feel… I feel so free.”

I felt like I was starting to understand her. She wasn't completely unstable; I was starting to believe she needed simple counseling services to work her through past experiences. It seemed as though those two women knew she only needed a friend.

“Well Ms. Minnie thank you for sharing your story with me. With some luck you might be able to get out of our institution a bit earlier than expected.” I gave her a small wink and a big smile. “I will see you at your next checkup.”

As I left the room I was starting to realize just how much work I was getting myself into. The paperwork wasn't going to be easy, but I believed that with time I could get Minnie out of this institution and back with a family that will love her, in spite of how her husband treated her.

Family Quarrel

I heard a little commotion in the main lobby of the institution as I returned from my lunch-break. There was a family disputing over their son with the secretary, but I had no time to snoop, so I brushed it off and returned to my office where I had a date with tons paperwork. About an hour had past when I got a call from my boss’s office. He was brief on the phone and told me to meet with him immediately.

“Yes Dr. Berman?” I asked as I closed his office door behind me.

“Ms. Vega I need you to put off all the work you are doing right now. I desperately need you to work with--” He paused and flipped through a few files, “Ah yes, here it is, I need you to work on this case. Your patient’s name is Hamlet and you will be meeting with his family today around--”

“Dr. Berman have you forgotten about the piles of paperwork you threw on my desk this morning? I don’t have time to meet with anyone today if you expect me to finish this by your deadlines.”

“I know what I said, but this needs tending to, NOW!” he emphasized.

I took the file and skimmed through it briefly then asked,” What time am I meeting with them?”

“This afternoon around 3:30.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The door slammed open as a young man stormed in followed by a group of people.

“Hello!” I stammered as I watched the young man walk about the room as if he were in deep thought and fueled by rage.

“Hello Ms. Vega.” an older woman replied. She reached out her hand to me and gave me a heartwarming smile as we shook hands. “I am Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother.”

“You aren’t my mother anymore! You married the man that killed my father!” yelled the young man, who I assumed to be Hamlet at this point. Gertrude looked over at him as if she could not believe he said that in front of me.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” I said trying to ignore the outburst,” I believe you all are here because you think Hamlet needs to be placed in our institution correct?”

“Most definitely.” One of the older males addressed. “This boy is claiming that he is seeing ghosts and trying to slander my good name!”

“And you are?” I asked.

“Claudius, I am his Uncle. How rude of me for not introducing myself earlier.” He pointed to the old woman. “You already know his mother Gertrude.” She smiled at me. “And this is Horatio, a friend from Hamlet’s youth.”

“Nice to meet you all. Hamlet can you please come sit down and join us?” I motioned for him to sit in the seat closest to me.

“Hamlet has been really angry lately and acts extremely irrational at times.” Gertrude explained with concern. “We think he has gone mad and we desperately need your help.”

“I have gone mad? You married your own husband’s brother! How could you disrespect him like that? How could you do that to my father even if he has left this world!?”

The room fell deathly silent after Hamlet’s remark.

“Okay,” I said breaking the silence, “I will do my best for you, is there anything else I need to know because I need you all to step out of the room while I go over some questions with Hamlet.”

“Alright.” said Claudius as the group stood simultaneously and headed for the door.

I turned to Hamlet and I noticed that he was as red as a tomato. “Are you alright Hamlet?” I asked in regard.

“It is hard to hold my tongue with that atrocious creature in the room. He killed my father and I have yet to come up with a plan to prove his guilt. I will prove it, even if it kills me.” Hamlet said in an awfully cold tone.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry for that.” I lowered my voice,” Okay I already know you don’t want to be here, and that’s fine, all I ask is for your complete cooperation so I can get results to your waiting family. Now if you could just answer a few questions and......”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour and forty-five minutes later I came out of the small room and found Hamlet’s family in one of the waiting rooms down the hall.

“Did you find the truth? That boy is mad isn’t he!?” Claudius screeched as he jumped from his seat.

“He is upset, but not mad sir.” I replied. I looked down at my clipboard and quickly skimmed through one last time. “I was unable to find any psychological problems with Hamlet. He is extremely upset over the death of the father though, so if I were you all I would try to avoid that subject.”

“But he claims to see ghosts! He thinks I killed his father. I will not allow that boy to come back to my kingdom, he will stay here.” Claudius screeched.

“Claudius can you please calm down, maybe if you guys could just sit down and discuss things with Hamlet, everything will be ok then. He is in mourning and doesn’t know how to handle the things that have taken place right now.”

“That’s absurd! I can’t believe you people. He must have deceived you, that kid is a no good--”

Claudius was becoming furious and raised his voice with each word he said, and they weren’t very nice words. I guess Hamlet heard him yelling because he stormed out of the room we were in earlier.

"You are crazy Hamlet! I should have gotten rid of you too!" Claudius yelled when he saw Hamlet.

"Gotten rid of me too? You did call my father! YOU MURDERER!" Hamlet screamed back, and he pulled something from his pocket and dashed toward Claudius. It was a pocket knife, and when I realized it I dashed for the security office down the hall. All I heard was Gertrude's voice pleading for Hamlet to stop as I reached the door......

[The rest of this story cannot shared due to the horrific content and for the sake of the families]