The Sanitarium View

By Roger Harrison

When a man wakes up in a Sanitarium he must try to figure out how he got there and why he is there. Join him on his journey and find out the disturbing discoveries he makes along the way. Also included is the short story “Lettuce Is Real”.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Roger Harrison
• Release date: Sep 3, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301201105

Roger Harrison

I was thrown into this world before the internet or cell phones made this world much smaller. I became another part of a poor but somewhat loving family that lived in Brookhaven Mississippi. Times were hard so my dad moved us all over Mississippi from job to job to support us. After spending a chunk of my life in Mississippi I decided to move to Texas to seek my own life. While living there I met the woman who I thought was going to be the answer to my dream. But like most of my dreams that dream faded quickly away. Then one day in 2002 my Dad called and told me my Mom had had a stroke. So I gave up my good job and packed and moved back to a small town in Mississippi to help my Mom and my then 72 year old Dad. Then came Hurricane Katrina and destroyed our house. But we survived and "lived" in a FEMA camper for about six months until our house was rebuilt. We moved back in and thought things would be good now, but I guess I forgot how life is. In the first part of 2008 my Mom was diagnosed with uterine cancer. But fortunately she got a hysterectomy and that took care of that, or so we thought. In early 2011 she was diagnosed with bladder cancer. She had a tough time, after all by then she was 73 years old, but in September 2011 after a few hitches she had her bladder removed. After recovering from the surgery she then had twenty-five treatments of radiation. On July 7th 2012 she passed away. As for me, I take and make it day by day and help my Dad, who is now 82, as much as I am able to help him.

Book preview

The

Sanitarium

View

By

Roger Harrison

Author Roger Harrison © 2013

Smashwords Edition

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Waking Up

I woke up in my bed to the elegiac sounds of horrific screams of pain and suffering. My eyes were weak and I felt like I had been asleep for a month. No matter where I looked, all I could see was a blur. I could not stand the sound of those earsplitting plaintive wails anymore. I felt beside me and I found a bedside table with cotton on it. I stuck some of the cotton in my ears and laid my head back on my pillow and fell back to sleep.

The next thing I remember was waking up again but being able to make out shapes this time although they were just misshapen shapes of people I was sure I did not know. I looked to the right side of me and a man lying in a bed next to me slowly came into focus. He was a strange little man who I did not know but had seen somewhere before. He slowly started biting the thumb nail on his right hand and then moved on to the next finger in order until he got to his little finger nail on his little finger. He would then spit the nails out. He then bit the nails on his left hand in the same way and in the same order. Now you may wonder how I know precisely in what order he bit his nails and how I am so sure he bit each one. I should know because I not only watched him bite each one I meticulously kept track of him doing it. I then laid my head back on my pillow and fell back to sleep.

The next thing I remember is awakening to the deafening sound of thunder. It was so loud that it sounded like it was inside of my head. The ringing in my ears that remained after the thunder was gone made my head hurt as if it had been split in two by an ax. I called out vigorously for help but none came. I could not understand why I had been brought to this place or even understand where or what this place was. I do remember someone saying something about this being the best for me. I guess they would know what is best for me better than I would know what is best for me.

I gazed in front of me as I laid in that bed that I felt as if I was restrained in and saw a man lying in a bed across the aisle. He was staring straight up at the ceiling and mumbling aloud some disjointed voodoo sounding words.

I whispered to him, Psst I didn’t understand what you said.

Even though he was across the aisle and I was whispering I knew he could