The Serpent and the Crow

Book 4: Chapter Seven

Wade sat on his favourite chair in Ravenswood. It was the only lay-z-boy in the place. Schofield saw the cartoons he would've followed back in the '80s as a kid. He observed that most of the patients were at least double his age. Confused. He thought he was in a retirement home for a second. He glanced at the orderly come with his tray of pills. Pills in paper cups that kind you pick up at a condiment stand at MacDonald's; the ones you squirt ketchup in.

"I'd give you a pill and beg you to shut your mouth upon Giant snakes in the sewer system, but today's a little different."

"Stop playing with me, every day is the same."

"Not now, Wade. Not today."

Wade reported to the counter. The receptionist listened to an audiobook on her headphones. The narrator detailing every inch of the protagonist's engorged manhood sinking into whatever. Wade had read a few erotica novels to know it was one of the trashy ones. She slid over a box, and pointed to an exit.

Wade entered the room. He dumped the box on a wooden bench surrounded by lines of lockers on each side. He peeked inside to view the clothes he entered with. Wade looked over his shoulders to determine if anyone is observing. He stood back, looked at his clothes, unsure of what to make of all this. Was it a joke? A prank or a psychological test?

He came back out the reception. She wanted to be somewhere else, somewhere alone, with her audiobook. She wished to be somewhere else. Wade wanted the same thing.

"Your ride is outside."

Wade stared at her, not knowing what this was all about.

"You better get going. I can still hear the motor running from here."

Wade noticed the front exit to Ravenswood. She was right. The distinct idle chug of a car waited outside.

The front gate of the Ravenswood Hotel, he called it, swung shut as he stepped outside. He shielded his eyes from the sunlight, unable to focus on anything.

"Well, look what the snake dragged out. You look like you could use a drink."

Wade squinted. He said, "Who's there?"

"What, you don't recognise my voice? Look me in the eye, Wade."

Wade's jaw hung loose.

"Are you just going to stand there? You should shut your mouth before those crows start a nest in there?"

"I assumed you were dead?"