 This State-of-the-Art Facility included a Daily Wake Up Routine for this inmate, oops, I mean guest: Tap tap outside my door, creeeeek of hinges, I stepped out, greeted by my morning walk companion. In her clinical outfit, she seemed tired too. Following a step behind, in my thin robe over PJs, I shuffled across the fashionable blue, industrial-grade carpeted recreational space, lights still low from overnight settings. Metal clinks of kitchen prep jingled from behind grey cafeteria doors, alerting us that a new day was coming soon. Leaving these slightly homey inputs, she led into a narrow passage. My guide stretched her professional keys from their homebase on her hip, unlocked a brown engineered wood door, and picked up an aluminum, 11 by 14 clipboard. The room seemed small, stuffy, and remote. Files sat atop a veneered office-desk and a small window peered down at us, connecting to a room beyond, for observers. My “walking buddy” positioned the clipboard backwards in front of the scale’s balance, blocking the view. Daily, I stepped on, waited for her to secretly move the little black indicator along the number line for today. Then my job was to step off, turn around and wait. So I did. This gave her a chance to scribble a number in the chart before dismissal. She eased the stiff door open, letting me step out in front of her this time. When we got to the piano, she stood still, so I could finish the route to my room independently, where I got dressed for the new day ahead. What voices were heard on this daily walk? Staff [repeated daily] “Good morning, time for your check in,” “Ok…turn around,”… “Ok, let’s go,”… “See you tomorrow.” Inside my head [evolved over time]: At first-“Well, at least it is not like the other hospital where I had to look at the number and get rewarded or punished by it.” After a while-“This is creepy. I wonder what else happens in this corridor…” Towards the end-“Do they think I am so stupid that I can’t figure out they are still measuring me by weight, not all the other stuff I am working on!?! There is so much more to me than this. I gotta get outta here.” At the end-I heard once that I ended up “getting out” because our insurance benefits were used up. This may sound warped, but to me, that reason still has a satisfying ring to it, like the “ding” in a boxing ring when the undefeated champion finally loses to an unknown little guy. If this walk had art visuals, they would be imagery from some of my late 70s and 80s media influencers: “For You” Prince cover: He is looking straight at the camera, one eye clear and aware, the rest of his head blurrily streaking across the cardboard. (Yes, in my day we cherished our albums stored in artful, coveted, cardboard sleeves). (image/article) Charlie’s Angels: Charlie’s seemingly important assignments were announced mysteriously from an undisclosed location to “his Angels”. As a little girl, I used to ride my bike around, pretending to BE one of Charlie’s “Angels”, but now I see his character was extremely creepy. (see clip). copyright Lynn Jodeit Ouellette, 2024 | ___Says it better than I canAlbum Cover For You/Prince by Warner Bros ------------------------------------- TV Series Character Charlie in Charlies Angels by ABC Ivan Goff, Ben Roberts |
