To the Ward

As I walk into the café I am greeted the customary ‘Hello Nat’ from Rick the attendant speaking as if we were old friends.  I returned a nod and a smile, ‘you know what I need’. ‘Coming right up’.  I do enjoy coffee, staring into the pool of black swirling as the heat wafts up onto my face I sometimes feel I can see the future; my tea leaves you might say.  After scrying for a moment I leave to the desk to determine what the night holds for me.  I must admit I do enjoy working with the truly disturbed in the psych ward because they are the only honest people I know but most of the patients are just attention seekers.  Society must help the poor little things to deal with their horrible lives – laughing inside, ‘my boyfriend broke up with me’, ‘I cannot afford a car’, and so on being the underlying concerns of their suicide threats..  The horror..  I have some places to take them where they would truly need the treatment they seek.  For now, I just use the opportunities I can to torment those that deserve it and to work with the others.  At the nurses’ station I quickly check the chart, no one new.. Pity, I love to break in the new ones.  Being on the night shift of course things are usually quiet.