Heroes of Bedlam, by Anise Barboza

Heroes of Bedlam

by Anise Barboza

one

"And where is Doctor Preston? I would think the Director of the hospital should be showing me the facility."

Head Nurse Granger looked over the new doctor and tried to keep the snide out of her voice. "Perhaps he had other more pressing duties."

"And you would not happen to know what?"

"Madam," the Nurse stopped outside the East Ward. "I cannot say why the Director has given the task to me but I should think his attitude would be obvious to one as learned as yourself. You are, after all, a female physician. There are few enough in this country and fewer still that I think our Director would invite onto his staff."

Doctor Philippa Ottinger grinned at the Nurse. "Such is as I suspected. Nay, I should say 'anticipated'. I had applied previously for a position here and was turned down immediately."

The Nurse nodded. "And it appears you have some influential friends in rather high places, I should say." She chuckled. "The Director was quite livid when he received word that the Board of Governors had extended you an invitation to join us."

"Yes, it sometimes matters who you know more than what you know."

"Don't I know it!" The Nurse shook her head as she opened the door to the ward. "But there are some of the nursing staff as stuck in the past as the Director. They think a woman should not invade the territory restricted to the male."

The Doctor smiled as she preceded Nurse Granger into the ward.

The door closed behind the Nurse as she continued in a low voice. "I have been with the Women's' Suffrage movement for many years and I am certain all our membership would applaud your taking the position here."

The Doctor surveyed the ward as they walked between the rows of beds. "And I have not been so inclined, Head Nurse. I have been far too busy with studies and internships to become involved in politics."

"Then there is no time like the present!" She raised to her full height. "We need the young members to see successful women such as yourself; women who have succeeded beyond the obstacles and assumed positions of importance in society."

The Doctor waved a hand. "I really do not think I shall have the time for any such activity."

"Well, the invitation stands should you ever desire to offer succor to others in their plight. A hero here and there go a long way."

Doctor Ottinger looked sideways at her. "A hero… me? I think not. Merely someone who has better connections than most women. I daresay another might have parlayed the opportunity into something far grander than a physician here at Bedlam."

"You'd be surprised, ma'am." She leaned closer and lowered her voice. "Would you mind terribly much if I mentioned your accomplishment to the movement?"

Another light laugh came from the Doctor. "Accomplishment? I have done nothing more than take a position. I have yet to actually do something."

"Give it time." The Nurse nodded sagely. "I have a feeling about these things. Just give it time."

"Allow me to be frank, Nurse Granger." She now leaned close and lowered her voice. "You people have your causes. Dickens is on a social crusade, you want women's' suffrage, and the spiritualists want to contact the great beyond. All I want to do is remove the people from this establishment who were placed here by either political or economic circumstance. I have seen the sort of abuse these people endure and they are in no need of any treatment we can give them. All they need is a little understanding or at least a advocate for their plight and they can return to their productive lives. The people who truly need our help can then have more of our undivided time and attention.

"That is the crusade I am on. Nothing has any meaning to me other than this. In the previous ages, the elder members of the family who controlled the family treasure were set upon by the younger relatives and their retainers and killed. Today such behavior is frowned upon but the greed of the younger members of the family is no less than before and so they take it upon themselves to do the more politic undertaking of having their forebear committed as mentally unsound. They gain control of the fortune without bloodshed and have the doddering unfortunate locked away for life." She shuddered. "I abhorred the practice when I first encountered it on the continent and I feel the same about finding the practice growing here at home. That is also my crusade. I have taken this as my life's work: removing the people from such institutions as this as have no place here."

Nurse Granger straightened her frame. "I see, Doctor Ottinger, that you have no pity on the state of women in our…"

Ottinger raised a hand. "Women in institutions like Bedlam are in as great a need. You stick to your crusade and I shall stick to mine, eh?"

The Nurse nodded stiffly and they continued the rounds.

The Doctor spent the afternoon familiarizing herself with the patient records. Something struck a strange chord. She stepped out of her office, looked up and down the hall and saw a nurse. "Can I see you a moment, please?" The nurse turned in her direction.

"Certainly, ma'am." She stopped at the doorway. "What can I do for you?"

"Please step inside." Doctor Ottinger indicated the nurse should take a chair. "And your name was Dalton, was it not?" She resumed her own chair.

"Yes, ma'am. Been here a dozen years."

"Very good." She consulted the file open on her desk. "And are you familiar with a Jessica Fredericks?"

"Yes, ma'am. A fairly quiet lass, I believe. I don't recall her ever giving us any trouble."

“Nurse, did you ever notice that Jessica seems to be with a person shortly before they pass?”

Confusion set on the nurse's face. "Beg pardon, ma'am?"

"This record shows that she has been found out of her bed several times in the past few months and the occupant of the bed where she turned up had the misfortune to die shortly afterward."

“Oh, my God!” She leaped up and started for the door. “She must be afflicted with some disease…”

“Norse Dalton!” The voice stopped her. “You will do nothing to the girl. You will mention this fact to no one. In fact,” she paused to close the folder, “you will bring her to me at once.”

"Ma'am?"

"I should like to talk to the young lady. Perhaps there is something more here than a contagion she is spreading."

More confused now than startled, the nurse nodded and left.

Doctor Ottinger bowed her head a moment to clear her thoughts and try to grasp what might be happening here. She did not think for one moment that the girl could be making people sick as no one else in the ward has gotten ill. Just the people that died.

Presently, Nurse Dalton returned with the girl and led her to the chair.

"Sit down, dear. The Doctor wants to talk to you."

Jessica looked around, then sat on the chair. The Doctor nodded to the Nurse who, after pausing uncertainly, returned the nod and left the room. Ottinger turned her attention to the girl, sitting quietly, biting her nails.

"How are you today, Jessica?"

"I'm all right." She looked toward the door. "When is the Doctor coming?"

She chuckled and pushed her chair a little away from the desk. "The Doctor is already here, Jessica. I'm the Doctor on duty at the present."

The little jaw fell forward. "You're the Doctor?"

"Yes." She nodded. "And I have a few questions to ask you. Is that all right with you?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"First of all, do you like your bed all right? It's not too uncomfortable is it?"

"No, ma'am. The best is fine."

"Good. But I notice from the records that you sometimes spend the night in some other bed." She paused and got no response. "Do you know why you do that?" The girl nodded. "And would you mind telling me why?" The small head shook side to side. "Good. Please tell me."

"I sometimes feel that a person is lonely. Like they are separate from the rest of us and they are frightened. I hold them for a time to comfort them…" The voice trailed off.

"Yes, you comfort them. And was there something else?"

She squirmed a little. "Well, they need to know everything is all right. They need help passing over to the other side." She sat up straighter. "I am told to be the one they need to ease their passage."

"Oh, I see. And why are you the one chosen for this?"

The girl toyed with a smudge of dirt on her hand, rubbing it with a thumb.

"If it is too uncomfortable to talk about, we can talk about something else."

"Well," the girl rubbed harder at the smudge, "I help them because I have already been there. I can help show them the way."

Doctor Ottinger hid any trace of surprise. "I see. You have already crossed over to the other side before?" The girl nodded. "And you know when these people are preparing to make the journey?" Another nod. "Very good. And when did you go over to the other side?"

The girl muttered something.

"I'm sorry, Jessica, I couldn't hear what you said."

She put her hands in her lap. "I said: 'all the time'."

"And do you sometimes go there to get away from anything here that makes you feel uncomfortable?"

The girl nodded. "Sometimes, Jeremy is mean to me."

"I see. Well, I will have to talk to Jeremy about his being mean. Anything else in particular?"

Jessica shook her head and put a hand to her mouth. "Am I in trouble now?"

Doctor Ottinger smiled broadly and stood. "Not at all, Jessica. Why would you be in trouble for helping so many people?" She came around the desk and offered her hand.

Jessica looked uncertainly at the hand. "I'm not in trouble?"

"Why would you be in trouble?"

"Some of the others say I shouldn't talk about things on the other side."

"Who does that? Jeremy an his friends?"

She looked defiant. "Jeremy doesn't have any friends!" She took the hand and stood. "The Doctor and the nurses say I should not make up such stories. But they aren't, I swear, they aren't."

"I know, Jessica. Some people have a hard time believing things they cannot see or feel for themselves. So, we'll have to forgive them, all right? Don't be angry at them just because they don't believe."

The small eyes widened. "Do you believe me?"

A solemn nod. "Absolutely."

two

Nurse Granger knocked on the open doorframe.

"Yes?" Doctor Ottinger looked up from her paperwork. She dropped her pen and came around the desk. "What happened?"

The teenage girl peeking around the nurse had a small collection of bruises. The Nurse looked down at the girl and brushed the dark strands of hair out of her face. "I could not get a straight answer from the others in the ward. There have been a few assaults lately."

The Doctor had dropped to one knee beside the girl and examined the damage. She glared up at the nurse. "A few? Why didn't I see anything about this in the reports?"

"Well," she shrugged, "it has been so difficult to pin down the cause. It is uncertain if there was an actual assault or if the patients inflicted it on themselves. And it could have just been accidents."

The Doctor looked the young girl in the eyes and stood, shaking her head. "This does not appear to have been any accident. And I see contusions on this child in places she could not have reached." She pointed to the chair and looked intently at the girl. "You sit here. And Nurse Granger, I want to see a report of the other similar incidents." She sat at her desk. "Immediately!"

"Yes, Doctor. Right away." Nurse Granger bit her lip and left.

"And now, young lady. What is your name?"

"Jenny."

"All right, Jenny, I want you to tell me what happened to you."

She shook her head.

"Come now, girl, tell me what happened to you. I can make sure it never happens again, no matter who did this to you."

Jenny bit back a sob. "I fell down, that's all. I just fell down!"

The Doctor looked at the girl for a time. Then she rose and went to the door and closed it slowly but firmly. Then she turned the bolt. It clacked loudly as it slid home. She returned to her chair and pulled it around her desk, close to the girl.

"Now, Jenny, we are all alone," she spoke quietly, leaning close. "There is no one around to hear what you say. You are completely safe here. Can you trust me?"

The girl stared at her, turned to look at the door, then returned to the Doctor. Very slowly, she nodded.

"Good." She leaned forward and laid a gentle hand on the girl's discolored arm. "You know that whoever did this to you has hurt other people in the past, don't you?" The again, or even hurt someone else. Do you see that?" Another nod. "Okay, Jenny, I need you to tell me who did this to you."

The girl looked around at the door again and then leaned forward, waiting. Understanding, the Doctor leaned an ear close to the girl. And the whispering began. The Doctor nodded occasionally and showed no outward reaction but for the tightening of the muscles along her jaw line.

When she had finished, the Doctor sat up straight and smiled. "Thank you, Jenny. I know how hard that was for you to say. But I will make sure it never happens again. He won't hurt anyone here ever again. Not you, not your friends, no one." She leaned forward and kissed the top of the girl's head. "You may have nightmares about this, Jenny, but don't be afraid. You are strong enough to stop any horror that comes to you in dreams. You'll remember that, all right?"

The girl nodded and sniffed back her tears.

The Doctor went to the door, unlocked it and looked along the hall. "Nurse Dalton! Could you come here a moment." She turned back to the girl. "I want the nurse to look over your bruises and make certain there is no internal damage. Go with her now and I will talk to you again later, all right?"

"Yes, Doctor?"

She gave instructions to the nurse concerning Jenny, then pushed her chair back to its usual position and sat to ponder how best to handle this situation.

"All right, then. And you would be Donald…" She glanced at the card on her desk. "Mackie, is it?"

"That's right, ma'am."

"And exactly how long have you been in the employ of the hospital, Mister Mackie?"

"Goin' on eight years it is, ma'am."

"And do you enjoy the work here?"

"Well, it's got it's dull times, if you knows whut I means."

"Yes, but all in all, a very satisfactory job?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Then I should think you should want to keep it."

The large man took a half step back. "What's this? What're ye talkin' about?"

The doctor's gaze did not waver. "I have heard rumors of you taking, well, should I say, liberties with some of the female inmates."

"That's a lie!" He regained the half step lost. "Them's that say that is a liar!"

"I have reviewed your record, Donald, and this is the only --?—[smirch] that I can find. I should dislike removing the breadwinner from your wife and…" she glanced at the card again, "three children, is it?"

"It's a lie! Who could ha' tol' you such a thing?"

"Jenny Magruder for one. She was brought in this morning in a frightful state: bruised, battered, and scared out of her mind."

"An' who says I done it?" He leaned forward menacingly.

"Actually, there were several of the inmates who volunteered the information. It seems you have taken such liberties with more than this one young girl."

"Whose word are you gonna take, eh? There's not a court in the land who'd take the word of a dozen of them against my word."

"This isn't a court, and I don't have a problem with taking their word. There are seven testimonies that state the case one way. There is only yours on the other. And I can see that they have no particular motive to lie. Whereas you…"

"Well, look here…" He licked his lips and looked around the room. "There's some of them that likes it, y'know."

"And if it had stopped there, Donny, I'm sure you would not be in this fix. Those ladies would want to keep it on the low down. It's when you started forcing yourself on those who don't 'likes it' – as you say – that you got in this jam."

A lot of the fire had gone out of the man's eyes. "So, what are you going to do?"

"Like I say, Donny boy, this is not a court of law and your record has been clear – all other things considered – that I think we can leave it off here…" She paused for effect. "If you're willing to leave it off. Even with them's that likes it."

"Now, look here, guv…"

"No, Donny boy, you look. If you think I'm doing this to save your worthless ass, consider this: there's a disease going around that is a nasty bugger. And it is caught by having conjugal relations with a person already infected." She stared at the blank face before him. "You know what happens when you catch it?" She did not wait for a response. "Your testicles – your balls, if you will – shrivel up like little raisins. Then your member gets green scabs, and the stench…" She winced. "It is not a pretty sight."

"But how could…"

"You remember that new bloke that came in from Borneo a month ago? He has it. And he is getting very friendly with them's that likes it. And if he shares them with you…"

"But, but none of the girls looked infected."

"Donny, my boy! That is the great horror of this disease: the women show no signs of infection; only the men."

Don wiped his hands nervously on his trousers. "But if this fellow…"

"Jolly Roger?"

"Yes, him. If this bloke has it how can he still…"

"It's a slow illness. I imagine he's had it a couple of months. Everything seems fairly normal for him but the disease advances two-fold over time. By this time next month I doubt Roger will even be able to walk."

"Lordy!"

"So, I'm not doing this to save you precisely, I'm trying to save your wife and all those other ladies you touch outside the hospital. Those women and the men they couple with and then the women they dally with… Soon, all of London would be infected because of your actions. And I can't have that."

The large man had paled visibly. The Doctor rose and showed him to the door. "So, my dear Mackie, I think it would be best for all concerned if you would keep your trousers securely fastened while you remain in our employ."

She felt pretty good about the interview and felt certain there would be no more trouble from that quarter. But had the illness spread further? Were there other orderlies emulating Mackie's behavior? She would have to ask around as well as check the records.

That is, if they are complete.

Less than an hour after Mackie had left her office, the head of the hospital strode abruptly into her office.

"I heard about your little confrontation with Mister Mackie and I will have you know that he has been a loyal and valuable servant for…"

"I could read his record as easily as you, Doctor. It was not a question of his record, it was a question of rape."

His jaw tightened. "That is a hefty charge to be bringing against an employee, Miss Ottinger."

"And it is not a charge I made, Doctor Preston, there were several complaints made by others. And it is Doctor Ottinger, if you do not mind."

"Indeed! I do not know which paltry sniveling baronet in the House of Lords is the relative who wrangled this position for you from the Board of Governors, but I think we have had enough of this sham. I believe it is time for you to leave Bedlam."

She stood slowly, glaring all the while. "I do not know your credentials, Mister Preston, but I have studied under the finest minds both here and on the continent. And as for the sniveling little uncle who prompted the Board to offer me a post, it was not a presumptuous baronet as you suppose, but Arthur Wellesley."

Doctor Preston paled. "You mean, the Duke of Wellington?"

"Is there any other Arthur Wellesley with that sort of influence?"

"I… I mean, I, er, had no idea your uncle was… Wellington."

"It is not something I like to bandy about, normally, but you are the one who questioned his judgment."

"Well, not his, precisely."

She smiled, coldly. "Good. Then I shall not have to put that in my report."

"You report to Wellington?"

"Of course." She smiled even more coldly. "My uncle is interested in my welfare and is always asking how things are getting on at Bedlam." She sat again, intertwining her fingers together carefully on her desk. "Is there anything I should have to relay to dear Uncle Arthur?"

Preston tugged at his collar a moment. "No, I can think of nothing. I think all the staff will agree that you are doing an adequate degree of work here."

"Yes. Even Mister Mackie?"

"Ahem, we will have to see if Mister Mackie can maintain his previous record without further blemish. Good day, mi-… ah, Doctor Ottinger."

"Good day, Doctor Preston."

three

Footsteps were running down the hallway. "Doctor, Doctor!" The voice was breathless. Nurse Simpson ran into her office, distraught and looking a little ill. “Doctor! Come quick! There is…” She paused a moment, leaned against the doorframe, looking suddenly very nauseous.

The Doctor rose, reaching for a trash can. “Here, are you going to be sick?”

She shook her head but she pressed a hand to her abdomen. “Hopefully, no. But you must come quickly. There is… There has been a crime committed!”

She followed her along the corridor and up the stairs wondering if perhaps Mister Mackie had been up to more of his extracurricular activities.

When they reached the upper floor, she saw a crowd around one room near the end of the wing. No one was actually looking into the room. She squeezed past the group and stopped short.

“What the devil…!” Mackie was hanging from a pipe by – apparently – his own rather sizeable belt. A puddle of red goo on the floor could be traced up from his shoes, up his trousers, to his private parts. The face of the corpse was swollen and strain showed on the discolored but very lifeless face.

The Doctor indicated the bloody patch on the man’s trousers. “Am I to understand someone mutilated him before hanging him?” The nurse could only nod, not looking directly at the victim. The Doctor examined the man’s face. “Was he gagged as well? There seems to be something in his mouth…”

At this point, the nurse gave up her self-control and did become violently ill, creating a puddle matching in size the one below the dead man.

Eyes widening, the Doctor turned from her to the corpse. “You mean they removed…”

She coughed once. “Yes! They took them and forced them into his mouth if you must know!”

The Doctor was lost in thought a moment.

“Well, Doctor,” the Nurse Granger poked her head in the door, “what should we do now? Call the police?”

“And tell them what?” Nurse Simpson spoke to the doorframe, still unable to look at the corpse. “They will turn the place upside down looking for the culprit. The publicity will do us no good.”

“Not at all.” The Doctor was eerily calm. “What can they investigate? The man was distraught and took his own life.”

“Suicide?” Granger shook her head. “No one will possibly believe this to be a suicide!”

“Really, now.” She seemed almost angelic. “How could it not seem so? Would you accuse anyone in Bedlam of a premeditated attack on the orderly? That would ascribe mental faculties to these that are supposed to be so unencumbered.” She nodded and looked back at the remains. “No, I think it is an open and shut case… of suicide.”

She glanced around at the nurses. "Someone get a couple of orderlies up here to remove the corpse. Granger, get an ambulance to take the body to City Hospital." She left the room.

"And what will you be up to, Doctor?" came Granger's voice down the hall.

She called back over her shoulder, "Someone has to tell the widow!"

Later in the day, she had set out looking for a few of the inmates. She found them together in one corner of the yard, talking quietly. Jenny was there, and Jessica, Herman, an overweight and very shy prankster with an addiction to flame his file said, Dora, a tiny little girl who had manic episodes, and several others she did not know, including an older fellow she had never seen before. They turned at her approach, fear passing through the face of several present.

“No,” she held up her hands, “I don’t want to know who of you did it or how…”

“But, Doctor,” Jessica glanced around, bewildered, “he killed himself.”

“No, I know that’s what I told the police, but…”

“No. He killed himself. All of us,” she indicated the group with a motion of her hand, “were all locked in our wards. How could we have done anything?”

The Doctor rubbed her jaw a moment. “Well, I assumed you must have… the group of you – not one of you is strong enough to overpower the man.” She surveyed the faces. “But none of you did anything?”

Herman smirked and covered his mouth.

“What’s that, Herman? Do you know something? Did you see anything?”

The boy shook his head. “No, but I know who put the thought in his head.”

“What?”

Jessica rolled her eyes. “Yes, well, there’s a few here who thought Mister Mackie should have felt some remorse for his actions. And the more they thought it, we were sure he was feeling remorse. And then they thought perhaps he was so remorseful he should take his own life. And we were sure that’s what he was thinking. And then they were sure he was actually going to do such a thing. And then…”

“Whoa!” The Doctor lowered her head, eyes closed and shook it to clear her thoughts. “You mean to tell me that you thought him into it? I mean, you put the thought into his mind?” She surveyed the faces, slowly, searching for another explanation. "You made him think these thoughts even to the extent…" She paused and swallowed. "I mean, you made the man mutilate himself?"

Jessica pointed. "That was Jenny's idea."

Jenny looked away, ashamedly.

The Doctor looked from person to person in the group. "And you were all in on this? This… this thinking the man to death?" Several nodded, others simply hung their heads.

"Did we do wrong, Doctor?" Jessica asked.

The Doctor grasped at a straw. "Jessie, did you know it was his time to go? Did you sense it was going to happen? I mean, before the group of you did anything?"

The girl thought a moment. "If you mean did he regret what he was doing, yes. He thought he would be going to hell for what he did. It was like some monster took over his body and did the bad things. He did not know how to control it." She nodded solemnly. "He was afraid that he was going to do more harm. His soul was reaching out for help. I just showed him how to get to the peace that was on the other side."

The Doctor shook her head and sank to her knees. "I don't think that is quite the same thing, Jessie. Not the same as comforting someone coming to the end of their life."

Jessica came over and put a hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "But he's happy now. He really is."

Ottinger covered her face with her hands and thought: who's crazy here?