False Sense
Views Of The Periphery
If you behaved yourself, going outside for a walk was often a possibility.
But he’s been reprimanded numerous times for sharing what they called his dark perspectives (which got him in here)—with the otherwise more cheerful patients who are allowed to stroll the grounds. He had harshed their mellow, one doctor called it — and thus his outside time has been limited.
He’s lost count as to how long it had been‚ but it felt like a year since he’s been locked down.
Just as in any lockup situation, it helps if you have access to money to bribe the attendants at the gates. And just last week his uncle had deposited some money into his account.
So there he was—the trees, the paths, the birds, the benches—with only a handful of other chosen occupants drifting around on this balmy day.
He inhaled deeply of the fresh air. He sat on a bench.
He looked through the newspaper they left on the little table. It was from last year, but things were pretty much the same beyond the fence—merely different flavors of turmoil was how he saw it.
He took off his shoes and socks and walked through the warm moist grass. He ate the cookie he’d been given for a snack, sharing crumbs with the birds—who fought with each other, plucking feathers, for a bigger share.
