500 words establishing an interesting place

4.05.2007

1st assignment--limited to 500 words to establish an interesting place. Also working on a short story or novel to get workshopped.

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“Amy,” Mary Lou whispered in her Mississippi English, “can you tell that I have candy in my bra?”

“What?” Amy cocked her head. Mary Lou leaned in closer speaking slowly and emphasizing each word of the whisper.

“Can you tell that I have candy in my bra?”

Amy couldn’t, and neither could the nursing aids when they did the bag checks before letting Mary Lou onto the van. The patients were allowed to leave the hospital once a week to pick up amenities at Target, and their bags were always checked as they left the store. Anything sharp was confiscated as well as alcohol in drinks or hairspray or mouthwash, and the patients were allowed only two servings of sweets per week. Mary Lou, a heavy and rather buxom woman had arrived at the store wearing a large sweat shirt. Immediately upon entering she bought two big bags of chocolates, ran to the bathroom, and put them in her bra. She had then pretended to shop with the other patients.

That night in the women’s dorm, we stuffed Dove chocolate squares two at a time into our mouths, laughing and trying not to gag. Sarah put two under her shirt and they stuck out like square nipples. She aped Mary Lou’s words, “Amy, can you tell that...” Amy had smacked her, but before Sarah could retaliate they heard the front door open and scrambled to put away wrappers and anything else incriminating. Louisa, the head nurse walked into the room. She knew something was up, you didn’t get a room full of middle aged women giggling on the couch and saying nothing if something wasn’t up. “I might have to do room checks tonight,” she announced. When no one flinched or protested, she sighed and went back to her office.

There was a black market for sweets at the hospital. One woman had her daughter tape candy bars to her body when she came to visit. Another had her friend send her a box of stationary with paper on top and Hershey's below. The alcoholics had it the best. They were taken to off campus AA meetings that usually sold snacks and ice cream. Before they left everyone would jam dollars in their hands, “Bring me back a Snickers bar.” The nurses tried to stop it, but they were only allowed to check bags and not bodies.

Of course, they were worried about sweets when they should have been worrying about sex. Even in the sparse Santa Fe landscape--thin wiry trees struggling to move out of the sandy earth--the patients found places to make love. It wasn’t that hard. You had to wait for a crisis--a suicide scare, someone to have cut themselves, or the ruckus that followed when a patient managed to smuggle alcohol onto campus. When the aides were busy swarming around a problem, the two patients would slip into a room.

“Can you believe what Jason and Pam are doing?” Sarah asked Amy after Louisa had left.

“I heard,” Amy replied hugging her stuffed dog, “but my inner child does not want to talk about it. We don’t like Jason.”

“I’m just saying they could get kicked out for that,” Sarah shrugged. Amy did not like Jason because he was loud and angry, still it was good gossip and Sarah had wanted to talk about it.

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