Friday, July 8, 2011

Somewhere In Time

Where was I? I do not even know. The colonel is up to his old tricks, again. I mean old, too. As you all know I spent a lot of my early years working for the State of Alabama. The State of Alabama Department of Corrections. Now that is a joke, corrections. What did they correct for me? Nothing. I was at Limestone Correctional Facility in the late year of 1997. I was on the chain gang. Every morning about 400 inmates, convict is what I would rather be called. There is a huge difference between a convict and an inmate. Trust me, you would rather be a convict, too. Anyway, rain or shine, all them inmates, plus a few of us convicts, would congregate outside in lines of twos. It is called duece it up.All the police, with their oak tree limbs hanging on their sides, would chain five of us up, together. We got down on all fours, like a dog, and the police would chain one leg to another until there were five of us chained together. When the five inmates were chained they would take off with a boss and head out to the land of nod. It was about 100 acres of trees that had been sawed down and the five chain gang members would encircle the stump and start to dig it out. The tools we used were rather primitive and very large. They were homemade hoes, axes, sling blades. bush axes, and the handles were made of tree limbs that were about 3 inches in diameter. I gotta tell you this chain gang shit sucked. I only was lucky enough to be a member of the infamous chain gang for about three weeks. There was a situation that happened on I-65 just south of Montgomery that put a screeching hault to all chain gangs in the state of Alabama. The way the story was told by the time it got to Limestone, and inter-prison communication was almost as good as AT&T, a crew was taking a break from bush axing the side of the interstate when two guys that were chained together started a cuss match. The boss man warned them that he would shoot their ass if they started anything. Apparently, one of the boys had hearing problems cause he grabbed his bushaxe and raised it up to show his cussing friend that he was not afraid to use it on him. The boss told him to put it down and when he decided to take a swing at the guy he was cussing the boss man shot him dead as hell. It was wonderful news to me. The state of Alabama on that day stopped the chain gang at all of its prisons. I was not mad, at all.         theblogmeister

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Seems Like I've Been There Before

I was perusing the Internet the other day and came across a story that was similar to mine. A Healthcare worker, a patient with cancer that had some eerie experiences. The truth is it is hard to get these stories out to the public. Fear of what others may think I believe is the number one reason why more of these types of stories are kept inside the one afflicted. The number one thing we need as a human being is a sense of belonging and it would be hard to achieve that if there were whispers about the persons mental capacity. I was forced, more or less, in telling my story. I kept it quiet for over 30 years for the very reason of how someone will view me. I am not alone. There are literally thousands with similar experiences like mine who choose to remain anonymous. I have no judgements or faults because of their choice. It is tough to set yourself up to ridicule judgements of your character. I applaud those who do not care what others may think. I wish I would have been that way in the late seventies.


I believe this to be a true story.


While workers in the medical field have to be some of the most rational and logical individuals of any field, if you spend some time with anyone who deals with death and dying you will eventually come across some very strange and odd stories.
  Whether it be care assistants, nurses or even physicians themselves there are many in the medical field that have an amazing story to tell. The problem is getting them to tell it.
Like in any other field of work there are many of those who doubt and mock the stories of the unexplained. And perhaps those in the medical profession are more suspect of such stories; since many are surrounded by death and dying constantly but few ever have an unexplained experience. And unless you are a good friend most of those who experience the paranormal at the medical workplace will keep quite about their experiences. But if you are fortunate to have them share their brief encounters with the unexplained, you often find they are some of the most heartwarming and assuring you have ever encountered.
  Pearl had worked at the hospital for more than 20 years, and was used to switching shifts. When she was younger she hated the night shift if only for the reason that she had a young family to care for and she hated leaving her children with a sitter. But now as she was older and her children were in college, she saw the night shift as a relaxing and peaceful time to care for her patients and have the ability to actually finish all of her paperwork. Being a floor that was home to many terminally ill patients, it did have its times of stress and chaos. But most of the time she would be at her desk or assisting some of the other nurses in caring for those who were about to cross the mortal veil.
  Many times she became very close to the patients that she tended, especially with those who still had their mental abilities unimpeded during their stay on the ward. It was very hard to get to know and appreciate these patients only to loose them within a few weeks, but that was the nature of the job. Roger had terminal cancer, but was still coherent and mobile when he came to the floor. Even though walking was very difficult for him, he took at least two or three walks around the hall during Pearl’s shift. He would walk around and joke other patients and flirt with all the pretty nurses. With his cordial attitude and carefree humor he won the hearts of all he socialized with. Sometimes he was the only friendly face and comforting voice besides the faculty that some of the other patients had seen all day. When he became too sick to do his daily walks, the other patients sorely missed him. His inability to be mobile also had an effect on his morale and he deteriorated very quickly. It was less than a week later that he was dead.
  A few days after Roger’s passing Pearl head one of the patients carrying on a conversation by himself, intermingled with uproarious laughter. This in and of itself was nothing too uncommon, many of the clients on the floor had dementia and often relived their past or carried on an existence living in an unseen fantasy world. But Pearl knew this patient to never have an incident of dementia; he had a clearer mind than she did most of the time. So she entered the room to investigate. When asked what all the commotion was the patient told Pearl that Roger had been ‘a card’ tonight and he cheering him up. The man pointed at the chair next to his bed and then sat up with surprise. “Where did he go?” he asked looking quickly left to right for his friend, “He was sitting right here…”
When she informed him that Roger had passed away days ago the man was insistent that there had to be some kind of mistake, Roger was there just moments before and he had seen him for the last few days. “He said he was feeling a lot better, I was worried because I hadn't seen him in a while.”The staff normally did not notify any other patient if there was a death on the ward, those who remained did not need to know and it would cause their morale to drop. And some of the patients were clinging on by a sliver of hope. So the man had no idea previously that Roger had died. He insisted that the he had visited him.
  Within the next coming weeks the man’s condition also declined. He passed quickly. The nurses heard him carrying on conversations all the time with an unseen guest. One night shortly before he passed Pearl visited him once again and asked how he was doing. The man told her that he was alright, everything would be fine. Roger had visited him and told him that even though he would be passing soon there was nothing to fear.
  The next shift Pearl worked she found that the man had indeed passed. As she talked to another nurse about the incident the nurse reported that on the night of the mans death he had been carrying on a conversation with someone who was not there. According to the nurse the last words he had said were, “OK Roger, I’m ready.”
Did the Roger continue his rounds cheering up a fellow patient and escort him onto the other side?

You be the judge. I have not one shred of doubt of the validity of this story. Why my story evolved into something sinister, I do not know. I hope to get the chance to sit with the colonel one more time. I promise, I will handle it differently.      theblogmeister




Sunday, July 3, 2011

I've Seen This Movie, Before

There was a long banging coming from my front porch door. It was enough to wake me from a pharmaceutical sleep. I started to get up but then remembered my nightmares of the past. I just rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. I heard the loud noise, again. I looked at my wife, who happened to be a light sleeper, she was not moving. That fucking colonel. Is he so bored in the world that he is stuck in that he has to play with my mind? That made me start thinking. What if it was a real emergency and someone from law enforcement was indeed trying to get a hold of me? I had to check it out. I got up from my bed and looked at the clock, 11:52pm. I tip-toed to the front door as quiet as I could. If it was some neighborhood kids I wanted to look out inconspicuously and try to catch them doing whatever it was they were doing. It is nothing like the days of my youth when we would put some dog shit in a paper bag, light it, ring the doorbell and run hide to see their reaction. It would work every time. The homeowner would start to stamp out the small fire only to find he was stomping in dog shit. We had to try real hard to keep from laughing out loud and give away our position. All the lights were off, so, I looked through the slits in the blinds. You know, the same way a crack head does, but I did it once, not every minute. I did not see anything or hear anything out of the ordinary. I knew when I had first heard it there would be no one there. It was the colonel. Playing his silly games. I have been exposed to so many of his repertoire I am fearful that he may try things that have never been tried, before. I cannot recall the colonel ever showing anger towards me and my family. He never threw knives or none of that scary shit. It puzzles me that he takes so long before he will actually speak with me. If the chance comes and I ever speak with him, again, it will be different. I am not sure if he is stuck between parallel universes or what. Why can he not go own to where his journey ends. Or, maybe it begins. He seems to be stuck in my sub-conscious mind. I have moved on, I think. Maybe I haven't. Maybe his job is to get me to see all the things that have held me back in society. This is too much for me, right now. I will have to do some research.          theblogmeister