On a Beam of Light by Gene Brewer Read Free Book Online Page A

problem for us earlier in the summer, an elderly man who was pretending to swallow his medication, devising various clever methods and schemes to fool the nurses. Will caught him at it, but, with an understanding beyond his years, did not try to force the man to take his pills or report him for not doing so. Instead, he spoke to him at length about the matter, discovering, finally, that the old boy was afraid to swallow anything red. When we had the medication repackaged in white capsules the patient was home with his family within two weeks.
    Will’s current self-imposed project, in addition to his regular duties, is to try to decipher the ramblings of a young schizophrenic patient who (Will thinks) is trying to communicate with us through some sort of code that no one can decipher. Most of his utterings seem to be pure gibberish. But occasionally, after one of his meaningless statements, he chomps a few times on an imaginary cigar and repeats the whole thing two or three times. Here is one of Dustin’s orations (a kind of poetry?), delivered with four chomps and four repeats, and carefully recorded by Will:
    Your life sure is fun when you like cabbage but be careful when you find a yellow box full of crabs or ostrich poop because then the world will stop and you can never really know if this is where someone says that you must comply because you’re not going there to learn how to be grateful or to make mistakes when you’re stepping out….
    Did Dustin have some sort of cabbage fetish, or had he had an unfortunate run-in with a crab or an ostrich? And was the cigar a phallic symbol? We stared at this nonsense for an hour after dinner until Karen sent us outside to shoot a few baskets and chase after the dogs and forget about work for a while. But Will wanted to know more about some of the other schizophrenics and the nature of the affliction in general, which he referred to as “split personality. “
    “The first thing you should know about schizophrenia is that although it literally means ‘split brain, ‘ it is not the same thing as multiple personality disorder. It’s more of a malfunction of sense and logic, not a ‘split’ personality. The patient might hear voices, for example, or believe things that are patently false. Others suffer from delusions of grandiosity. In the paranoid type, feelings of persecution predominate. Many speak ‘word salad, ‘ but this can happen with certain other maladies, too. “
    “You’re lecturing again, Dad. “
    “Sorry. I guess I still find it hard to believe you’re following in the old man’s footsteps. “
    “It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it. “
    “Anyway, with schizophrenia, you’ve got to be careful with your diagnosis. Nice shot. “
    “What’s the etiology?”
    “Schizophrenia usually develops early in life. Recent evidence suggests a genetic origin, or possibly fetal damage by a virus. It often responds almost miraculously to anti-psychotic drugs, but sometimes doesn’t, and there’s no way to predict which cases—Oxie, come back here with that!”
    “What about Dustin?”
    “In Dustin’s case, none of the neuroleptics has alleviated his symptoms in the slightest, not even a gram of Clozapine a day. But he’s an unusual case anyway. I’m sure you’ve noticed that he plays chess and other games without any problem. He never says much, but he seems perfectly focused and logical during these encounters. In fact, he almost always wins. “
    “Do you think his problem has anything to do with the games he plays?”
    “Who knows?”
    “Maybe his parents. They visit him almost every evening. Would it be all right if I talk with them sometime?”
    “Now, Will, I admire your enthusiasm, but that’s something you shouldn’t get involved with at this point. “
    “Well, I’m not giving up on him. The key to the whole thing is in that cigar routine, I think. “
    I was very proud of him for his perseverance, which is one of the most