The Last Jeskey - Chapter 31

 

The Last Jeskey

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 31

 

(Day 6 – Tuesday)

 

Freaky

 

“Hi Freaky.  Come on in.”

I was starting to like Doctor Knox.  At least he was always nice to me.  It seemed like he was the only person around who was nice to me.  As far as Carol went, that woman seemed to absolutely hate me.  I had no idea as to why though.  Maybe because I kept telling her that she wasn’t a good girl…like me.  I went into the doctor’s little room and sat down again.

“How are you today?” he asked me.

“Why doesn’t Carol like me?” I asked.

“Carol?”

“The woman who wears the green outfit.”

“Her,” the doctor said with a nod.  “She doesn’t like you?”

“No.  She yells at me all the time.”

“About what?”

“About me not doing things she thinks I should.”

“Oh?  Like what?”

“Like…yesterday it was about some kind of brush to use on my teeth.  I mean…my teeth?  That’s crazy!  And then she was yelling because I didn’t use another brush on my hair.  What for?  And then today she yelled at me because I sleep on the floor.  I’m not supposed to sleep in a bed.  I’m a girl    !  Why can’t she get that through her head?  And right after that she got mad when I told her that girls aren’t supposed to use the bathrooms either.  We’re supposed to have pee holes outside.”

“Pee holes,” he said.

“Yeah.  Of course.”

He nodded.  “I remember reading about that in the notes that the shelter sent.”

“They didn’t have one either!” I pointed out.  “It’s not right!”

He seemed to take a big breath.  “Freaky,” he said.  “I’ve been talking with Doctor Wilcox about you, and he’s left it up to me to tell you a few things.  Too many things I fear, but you’ve got to be told sooner or later I’m afraid.  We both agreed that maybe sooner would be the better option.  And I’m very afraid that some of it you’re going to find more than a bit disturbing.”

“Disturbing?”

“You’re probably not going to want to hear it.”

I shrugged.  “Like what?”

“Freaky,” he said.  “The only reason I’m telling you all this, is so that you’ll know, and we can start working on you understanding and hopefully accepting all of it.  That’s our final goal.”

“Did Gary die?” I asked.  “Cause if he did, I don’t know who’s going to take care of me now.”

“Uh…not that I’m aware of,” he told me.  “Okay Freaky, here’s the deal.  And like I said, I already know you’re not going to believe it or even want to believe it, but everything I’m about to tell you is the truth.”

I sighed.  “What is it already?”

“Your uncles have been lying to you all your life.”

“My uncles?  No way!  They take care of me.  They’re the only reason I’m still alive.  Without them I wouldn’t have a house to live in or food to eat.  I would have died many years ago.  They wouldn’t lie to me!  I know it!”

“You know it, and yet, they’ve lied to you about almost everything, your entire life.”

“No they didn’t!  What do you think they’ve told me that’s a lie?”

“I’m guessing,” he said, “that most of it revolves around what you think is men’s business, and what’s women’s business.  What men can do, and what girls can do.  Freaky, your entire life has been one big lie right from the very start.”

“No…it…hasn’t!”

“Yes, Freaky.  Like I said, I didn’t expect you to understand or believe it right away, but it’s true.  And that’s what we have to help you discover and figure out.  And I already know it’s going to go slowly and take some time.  In fact, this place here may be the absolute worst place for you to learn any of it, but I’m afraid, it’s all we have.”

“With Carol yelling at me all the time.”

He nodded.  “Yes.  I’m afraid so.  Even with Carol yelling at you.  I believe she’s trying to help you, despite what you think.”

“I don’t like it.  I don’t like her!”

“I’m sorry you feel that way.  But that brings me to the next point I was asked to tell you.”

“What now?”

“Freaky, do you know what kidnapped means?”

“No.”

“Kidnapped is when someone steals another person and keeps them.”

“For what?”

“For…whatever they want.  Sometimes it’s because they don’t have a baby or a child of their own.  Sometimes, it’s for worse reasons.  Someone who’s been kidnapped, is someone who was stolen.  Do you understand that much?”

I stared at him.  “I think so.  But that doesn’t sound good.”

“No, it’s not.  It’s very bad.  Very, very bad!”

I nodded.  “Okay.  But I don’t think Bo stole any of his sons.  His wife just died a long time ago.”

He nodded then continued.  “Do you remember when we talked about your real mother and father and how you couldn’t remember them, but you did vaguely remember someone back when you were very little?”

“Yeah.  I still can’t remember who they were.”

“Freaky, we know now that those people were indeed your real mother and father.  According to the information we were given shortly after you got here, they discovered that Bo and some of his sons murdered your mother and father, and they stole you to keep for themselves.”

I shook my head.  “No.  They wouldn’t do that.  It doesn’t even make sense!  They’ve taken good care of me all my life.  They’ve taught me everything!”

“Everything wrong!” he pointed out.

“No!  Not wrong.  Everything right!  Everything the way it’s supposed to be!  That’s what’s wrong with everybody else!”

“Freaky, did you ever stop to think that maybe everyone else is right, and maybe you’re the one who’s wrong?”

“No!  Bo and the others wouldn’t lie to me!”

“But they did,” Knox said gently.

“And I don’t believe it!  I know they didn’t!  I’m a good girl!”

“Freaky, I’m more than sure that you are.  But as for everything else, I honestly believe that what you really need is to get away from here.  You need to see more of the world than just that farm you were living on.  You need to get away so you can see how everyone else really lives.  And more than that, I believe you need a teacher.”

“What’s a teacher?”

“Someone who can teach you things.  Show you how everything is supposed to be and how everything is supposed to work.  Someone who can explain the entire world to you.  Not to mention, someone who can teach you to read and count.”

“But I’m a good girl.  Girls don’t need…”

“Freaky!  Like it or not, the truth is that girls, all girls, all people, need to learn to read and to count.  All that stuff that your uncles have been telling you about men’s and women’s business is wrong.  All wrong!  None of it is true!”

“Yes it is!  Yes it is!  They wouldn’t lie to me.”

He stared at me for a few moments, letting me calm down before he said, “I’m afraid there’s one other thing I need to let you know as well.  Something more unbelievable than any of the rest.”

“What?” I sulked.

“You were once a boy.”

I stood up.  “You’re…just…stupid!” I yelled before I walked out of there.

How could he even think such things?  It was all so dumb.  I hurried back towards the door where Doctor Wilcox had brought me in.  I tried to open it, but it was locked.  No amount of tugging would make it budge.  I noticed the buttons next to the door.  I pressed a few of them, but they did nothing at all.  I couldn’t get out!

Angrily, I turned around and went back to my room.  I passed Carol on the way.  “I hate you!” I shouted at her, and I kept going.

I went all the way back to my room where I walked around in circles in the tiny space.  What do these people know?  Nothing!  Bo would never lie to me.  He was my uncle.  He took good care of me all my life.  He fed me and made sure I had a house to live in.  He was the only reason I was alive today.  I’d be dead without him.  He…wouldn’t…lie!  I knew that fact better than I knew anything else.  He had told me enough times so that I’d never forget it.  They all had.  And now this stupid doctor thinks I’m a boy?  Is he blind?  And I was starting to like him.  It’s not Bo who ever lied to me, it’s that stupid doctor!

“What’s wrong with you now?” Carol asked from my doorway.

“Go away!  I hate you!  You’re all stupid!” I yelled.

Instead of going away, she came into my room.  “What’s got you all hot and bothered now?” she asked angrily.

“None of you know anything at all about the way you’re supposed to behave.  None of you know the difference between men’s business and girl’s business.  None of you know the way things are supposed to be!  You’re all just stupid!  Especially you!  And especially, especially that stupid doctor!  Go away, and don’t come back!  Ever!”

I could see how angry she was.  Well so was I.

“I’ve had enough of you!” Carol said menacingly.  “You need a reality check!”

She walked out of my room, and I was glad to see her go.  Why did she have to yell at me so much?  I didn’t understand any of it.  Why didn’t she know any of the things I did?

Unfortunately, Carol came back a few minutes later, and she had Wanda and that guy that took me to see Doctor Knox with her.  I also noticed she had a big pair of scissors in her hand.

“Stick her on the bed, on her stomach, and hold her down!  Firmly!” she ordered.  When Wanda and the guy didn’t do it right away, she yelled, “Do it!  Let’s see if we can adjust her attitude a little bit.”

Like it or not, they grabbed me and forced me down onto my bed, then they both held me down.  I started struggling as hard as I could, but with the two of them, I couldn’t get away.  And then I felt the most horrible thing in the world.  Carol grabbed my hair, and I could feel her starting to cut it, right up at my neck.  I screamed and screamed and screamed.  I struggled as hard as I could, but none of it did any good.  I still felt her cutting my hair off.  All of it.  And then the final bit of it was suddenly gone, and I felt Carol grab all that hair and pull the weight of it from my head and body.

“Let her up,” Carol told them.

Wanda and the guy let go of me and my hands immediately went to my head.  All my hair was gone.  I started screaming and screaming.  I looked at Carol, and she looked so satisfied.  Like it or not, not caring what kind of punishment they would do to me, I launched myself at her.  I attacked her as hard as I could, kicking and scratching and hitting her with every ounce of strength I had.  Both the guy and Wanda grabbed me and held me away from her, and I still struggled and screamed as hard and as loud as I could.  And I kept at it.

Carol ran out of there, but I still struggled and screamed and screamed some more.  Carol eventually came back.  “Hold her still!” she told them.  Then she stuck some kind of really thin knife or something right into my arm.  I screamed even louder since it hurt so much.  But only a moment after that, I started to feel really weird, then weirder, and then so tired.  They laid me on the bed and let go of me.

I was so tired.  So sleepy.  But not too tired to see both Doctor Knox and Doctor Wilcox run into my room.  I saw them both looking around, then they looked at Carol.

“What happened?” Knox asked her.

“I did what needed to be done!” Carol shot back angrily as she pointed at all my hair on the floor..  “She needed a reality check.”

“You have no idea what you’ve just done,” Wilcox said.  “You not only took away her security blanket, the only comfort she had, you removed her very identity…what little identity she actually had.”

That’s the last thing I could remember for a long time.