America the Poor: A Wanderers Tale, Vol Two

CHAPTER 42: A Final Incident, and a night of Insanity

We are slaves to our emotions, far more than most of us will ever actually admit, and mine took full control sadly that day. Even worse, to alter my entire future. Too often our very human emotions become our very harsh taskmasters, as our rational sides take a backseat to them, conceding our very control to our passions, and our own hatreds.

Yes, at that age, I could still feel very powerful hate and psychotic rage. This became all too clear right then.

"Mr Duran report to the office", was announced in every space on the ward, while the staff on duty looked straight at me through the broad office window, as well as beckoning me in with a finger gesture.

Everything had to be official and proper, and recorded for the future records, and posterity as well obviously. All things right then had to be above board and documented, whatever was bound to happen. And what happened was a crime, not by me, but to me.

I wasn't the true perpetrator, but the victim, but the records will show a very distorted and different view. As they are supposed to of course. I entered the office with a very bad feeling right off the bat.

A sinking empty feeling in my stomach, and going up to a throbbing behind my eyes. I sensed everything, this ability has never left me. A female staff member asked me to sit, while the other boy stood in the doorway, silent for now. "Mr Duran, did you steal and eat bananas from another locker?" She asked me directly, and needless to say, this took me completely by surprise.

I hadn't a single clue where this idea really came from, besides the boy's accusations, especially since I was innocent, and had never even seen the inside of another patient's locker. I had never even tried to look, all I knew was my own. But that didn't matter, for some reason certain minds were already made up long before I ever entered that glass office. Sadly, circumstances were not on my side that day. Here's why: One of the things I always bought in the canteen was bananas, to ripen within my locker. It's always been my favorite fruit of all time, perhaps I'm part primate?

No, I never went to another boys locker, but sometime after lunch, I did go to my own locker and grabbed one of my bananas purchased with my grandma's money. This is the one circumstance that damned me, bad timing, and I ended up making it so much worse than it was. Looking back all these years later, I wish I hadn't. But again, I became a mere passenger one more time, a slave to my inhuman rage.

I mentioned all this to the staff, that I had my OWN bananas, and she slowly nodded, as if sadly commiserating with my denial. The boy standing in the doorway suddenly blurted out "Don't believe it, HE stole my banana, he KNOWS it!", he said this loudly, as if by his very volume he'd prove my guilt. In a way I wonder if this tactic, immature as it was, actually worked?

As it turned out, there was a camera in the cafeteria, amazingly enough, but it was pointed towards the inner door to the ward itself, and therefore not at the actual lockers, so not helpful at all for me. But the angle did work out to be incriminating for me instead.

The staff watched the video, and showed it to me as well. It showed me walking in the cafeteria from the door, past the camera and towards the lockers, then a few minutes later, I appeared again from the off camera locker side, walking towards the door again, with a very incriminating banana in my hand! Not good for me. According to the accuser, he conveniently forgot to lock his locker, and therefore it was open to plundering, and I of course was the banana pirate now.

"I really didn't steal his banana, and I've never gone into another locker, why would I? I've got a small batch of bananas of my own, so why?" I asked them. "If you don't believe me, go check my locker and you'll see for yourselves, go check right now!" I was getting angrier every word I spoke, and midway through this, the accuser again burst out "I KNOW you did, you thief, stop denying, you TOOK my banana!" Again he yelled at the same ridiculous volume. I was starting to really feel the other irrational monstrous being inside me, clawing its inevitable path to the surface. I tried to keep it down deep within, but when pushed too hard like this, my control gets far weaker. I was doing my best, attempting to reason in an unreasonable and ridiculous situation. I knew if my other side that was pure inhuman rage managed to escape, they'd find that side of me far LESS reasonable!