edenland: Street Talk: Bruce From The Psych Ward.

Friday, 11 October 2013

Street Talk: Bruce From The Psych Ward.

There's a mixed bag of people in the mental hospital. A lot of them have given up hope, a lot have hurt themselves, and a lot just want to die already.

Bruce was none of those things. I first met him as I was being admitted. Walking past him sitting at the telephone he looked up at me and started singing a song which included the words "Baby, be mine, love, heaven." Irritated the hell out of me immediately.

I went straight to bed. Bruce just kept singing, pretty much outside my door. At dinnertime I watched him eat a huge amount of food, slurp it round his plate, dribble. He asked me if I had any money, I told him no. He asked me if I wanted one of his beanies.They were pretty cool so I said yes.

"That'll be ten bucks."

I told him I didn't have ten bucks. "Ok ..... five bucks."

I watched him do the beanie-thing to people the entire time I was in.

Bruce sang. A lot. He was also on the phone a lot, would sometimes sit there carrying on a conversation with nobody at all. I think it made him feel important. He was in his sixties and lived with his mother, who would send him a parcel EVERY day. Usually consisting of change for the phone and another beanie.

Most people were cranky at Bruce - he'd go into peoples rooms and steal their stuff. He'd throw things around, get argumentative and have to go into time out. I went off at him once ... it was like dealing with a toddler. I was trying to talk to Dave on the phone, Bruce was deliberately being loud so I couldn't hear. I screamed into his face:

"Just because you're pissed off you've wasted your entire life - SHUT THE FUCK UP."

I felt really bad about it afterwards, for being so mean. All I could hear was him agreeing. "Bloody oath I've wasted my entire life. Of course I have. Who wants to buy a beanie?"

He kept carting around this Scrabble board but nobody would play with him. One night I sat opposite him during dinner, he told me about winning the karaoke championships at Blacktown RSL in the eighties.

"Tell me any Johnny Cash song and I'll sing it."

And he could! Over and over again he'd tell me I had to get a Decree Nisi, to get Dave out of the way so he and I could be together. We had a game of Scrabble, watching the words he formed and how he calculated the scores just in his head really quickly ... I realised he was whip smart. Alcohol had done a bit of a number on his brain but he was still there.

I sat there and told him he was sharp as a tack. He just mouthed a shhhhhhh with his fingers, smiling wildly. His eyes glinted because I saw him.

The next day, a lady from church came to bless us all. I politely sat out, but when they were doing the Our Father, Bruce kept scolding me to say it.

"Bruce! I said that prayer enough in my childhood. I don't want to say it now ok?"

Always walking around giving somebody something he thought they needed, he came over to me and gave me this:

Don't Worry Be Hoppy! Best card ever. Bruce asked for it back. I said no.

After a while I graduated over to the other, less intense side of the unit. Bruce missed me. I missed him so much I bought a beanie off him for $30. He ordered a pizza with the money then sat on the phone talking for an hour.

Every so often I'd see him.

"Give us a kiss sweetheart. Slip the tongue in."

He asked me for my address and I gave it to him. I wonder where he is now. I hope he's ok.