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The Goldfish in a Jar
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Haley finished writing her ninth poem of the day and flopped down on her bed. She stared through the barred windows and sighed. Then she hid her pencil under her pillow. On the Adolescent floor of Crane Hospital, patients weren’t allowed to have pens or pencils in their rooms. The ever-creative patients might use them to hurt themselves. Haley knew this rule. She had broken this same rule at all the hospitals she’d been in. She was a pro at breaking rules and getting away with it. This hospital was hospital number twenty-two for fifteen-year-old Haley. She knew she was at the end of the line. Now she was in DCF custody. No foster home would take her. She would be forced to live in a residential treatment center for mentally and emotionally disturbed kids. Residential treatment was like a horror story spoken about in hushed voices with chills running down your back to kids in psych units. It was the end of the line and the last place she wanted to go. Every time Haley got out of the hospital, she would promise herself that this was the last one. But then the hallucinations would start winding her up and reality would start to crumble.
My current nursing care team was only made up of two people. Laurie, my PCA, and Jackie, my nurse. However, about a week earlier, my nurse Jackie had dropped the bucket of bad news over my head. She was going back to school to become a nurse practitioner. After posting a whole lot of Facebook ads and interviewing three to four nurses, I made contact with Melody. As I tried to describe the nursing care I required in medical terms, Jeff butted in. He gave her the rundown on what I was like and how my care worked. Jeff described me as some sort of high-tech, inflatable Barbie doll toy. He explained that I needed to be hooked up to charge overnight. Melody grinned at me, “I’m up for a challenge! I’d like to do more than just provide nursing care and keep you alive. I’d like to see you thrive. If you decide to hire me, we can do lots of awesome stuff together. We can drive down to see your parents and grandparents. Other times we can go to the park with Jeff to race remote control cars. Or we can go to the mall to shop at The Children's Place or Justice. Sometimes we can even do art projects together. I would really love if you could share some of your writing with me!
After meeting with the Rabbi to go over what it will take to convert to Judaism, Jeff closes the door and turns to me. .“You are the highest maintenance girlfriend I have ever had. I am about to get naked in front of some crazy rabbi who is going to make me stick myself in the dick with a fucking blood sugar testing needle and then go skinny dipping in a collection of rainwater while singing prayers in a language I don’t know and know I will never be able to learn. Before I do that I’m going to have to sit through eight weeks of classes that I won’t be able to focus on or comprehend. The craziest thing is that I am going to do it all because I love you more than I can even express with words.