55. Beep Beep

Beep is back.  Brother  Wilgefortis of Wambierzyce, also known as Wile E. Coyote or just Beep Beep, came into Kingston on a Trailways bus this afternoon after being away for a couple of months and called to ask for a ride home.  He goes away every few years to calm down.  His DSM code is 293.81.  When his meds stop working and his mind zooms out of control, we have to restrain him from running down our road and screaming. And we’re constantly putting his clothes back on him.    He ran naked all the way to Blue Mountain a few years ago and stopped at the little market to buy a coke when he got thirsty.  The lady behind the counter asked him if he had money to pay for his drink and she said she had never seen a naked man search himself so thoroughly for his wallet. 

A few years ago, Beep was my roommate.  Up behind the old trophy room are 7 tiny bedrooms that served as sleeping quarters for the young men and women employees when the old estate was converted into a resort before we came on the scene.  Some of us swear we have seen the ghosts of the summer hires cavorting in the night after lights out.  It’s a harmless fantasy, probably, but Beep talks to the apparitions and orders them to “stop that, right now!”  He got into a fight with a long dead dining room waiter and somehow received a gash on his neck.  I watched Beep more closely after that, and kept an eye out for ghosts.

I was hoping Beep would stay away longer this time.  If we get kicked out of here we’ll have to look for positions doing useful work and also find somewhere to live.  Beep is not capable of holding a thought for more than five seconds.  Needless to say he doesn't interview well.

“Agnes, this is not a good time for Beep to return,” I said to the abbot when he asked me to run down to Kingston in the SUV and get Beep.

Agnes was still in his “No one has said we’re closing” denial at the time,  a position I now know to have been a complete falsehood. 

“We can’t leave him waiting at the bus station, Brother Jessica,” said Agnes.

“But how the ….”  I began to say.

“We will manage, Jesse.  Beep is our brother,”  said Agnes.

Which of course is true, if also lamentable.  I still think the rest home should have held on to him longer.