Darl

Darl is in a cage, in a hospital, in Jackson now, where he looks outside across the bars from his bed and thinks as he becomes mad. He is all by himself, tied down to a steel bed, in a hospital where no one wants him. There are doctors and nurses around him, but no one wants to listen to him or talk to him. He talks to himself but he does not listen to himself. No one wants to love him or take care of him. He is all by himself and he is left out yet again by others around him. He stares out across the bars, frowning as he cries. He can feel his tears running down his face, from his eyes to his nose to his lips and then down his cheeks and off his chin where they then hit the cold hard floor. Yet, strangely he cannot really feel himself crying. His cries are mixed with laughter. The cold, hard halls echo in the craziness and reverberate all around him. The walls of the cage are so white. The doctors and the nurses are all dressed in white. It almost blinds him. And the sun, outside, behind the bars, is so bright, it sets the barn on fire. The flames leap from the roof and the smoke pours out of the wooden barn doors. Jewel rescues Addie from the fire. “Is that why you are laughing, Darl?”

. . .