ha

he pleaded. ‘Let me see m

going to jai

him in confusion.

tack of papers in front of him,

to find out if I’m fit to take care of my son

ay have gone through similar forms of maltreatment

efore,’ she aggressively objecte

r temper would not have been a problem but the fact that that temper ma

urned hopelessly to the floor. ‘I

lst facing the two-way mirror. He stood up and headed for the door, leavi

d his aunt as they watched her sobbing throu

said. ‘Your mama will be fine. S

n his cheek. ‘And

r using her fingers. ‘Remember what happened to grand

cid

n wiped the tea

een on TV. The building had countless windows and massive pillars at its sides. It was surrounded by a tall fence secured with thick barbed wire. Just in front of the building was a lawn witch stretched up to the main gate. A black pickup truck parked

nurses stepped out of it, one from the driver’s

okay?’ she

of them held her tightly by the arms, one on the left and the other on the right. She was in her straitjacket. Her hair,

. ‘Sin! Sineas! Sineas!’ She

saw a sorrowful look develop on Si

but his expression l

ly in hers and began their

straitjacket, the most intimate response to her son’s hug was to p

ere are y

n her cheeks. ‘Mama needs t

ou. I’ll be good th

ce at her sister who was standing protectively beside Sineas. She finally drew her face from

th you, mama!’ he sa

but right now you have to go with Aunt J

tors picked her up from the pavement a

n as they walked her through the doors of the building, he buri

ma will be okay,’ said Janice w

enough for three placed just before a small television set. Just behind the couch about ten paces ahead were the stairs. To the left of the house’s entrance was the kitchen. There was not much to note here either.

ck. ‘Go take a shower and get r

ase. They had taken a short detour to get his clothes from his house. His ho

eturned his smile and looked up the staircase. He had only been in Aunt Janice’s hou

slept in when he last visited her. To the right was the room in which she slept in. the walls were heavily laden with cracks and they were slowly lo

s draped with brown cobwebs. Just beside the shower was the towel rack. When he pulled open the half-torn shower curtains he noted more cobwebs etched in one of the corners of the wall. He turned the valve. At least the water was warm. He undressed and stepped in. The water

g hit the floor from behind the shower curtain. It sounded