Chapter 17

Sara Jane Kelso, M.D., Ph.D., greeted Archie and set him on a comfortable chair. “Before we get into it, let me start by explaining a couple of things. I’m going to make a brief video to start where you introduce yourself and I note the date and a few details. Then the camera goes off. You should know that I come to you fresh, I have not read about you and all I know is your name and what service you need from me. Are you ready to begin?”

As she had said, the video was done and they sat back in their chairs to talk. “So, Archie, why are we here together? Start from the beginning.” Archie spoke in a flat monotone, sketching his life and family. “No father?” “Nope.” “Friends? Sports? Hobbies?” He shook his head to each. “I see you limping, why?” Archie explained his short and twisted leg.

“So you got along with your Mom and Sister. Then what happened?”

Archie revisited the events of December 7, as he understood them. “Your assailant went to jail?”

“No, not really. He’s wealthy, we weren’t. But that wasn’t the big problem. Mom opened the mail and saw this huge hospital bill. She fainted.” He explained how he had decided to flee. “I didn’t know anything. I thought they would take away Jessie and take Mom to a workhouse.”

“A what?” “A workhouse. It would take many many years to pay that giant debt. We never had any money, I was stupid and ashamed. So I ran off, thinking they might pursue me instead of my Mom.”

“What about your injuries?” “They fixed my abdomen and cut off my balls—” “What?”

“I told you I was kicked. Actually, he kicked my face, my ribs, my gut, and my groin. Nobody wanted to operate on my uninsured parts, so the Doctor had to dis-masculate me. No wife or children for this boy, after that.”

“I put on extra clothes and left a note for Mom and Jessie, and then I took off.”

“Can I see this note?” “My lawyer will send it to you.” “Good, what happened next?”

“I tried to stay out of sight. I walked down to the coast and migrated back and forth between Galveston Bay and Port Arthur. This June I tried to observe Jessie’s graduation and they caught me. So now there’s a lawsuit against my attacker. His lawyers think I deserved to be beaten because I’m poor and ignorant and weak.”

“OK, Archie, that’s enough for now. You know what Shakespeare wrote, ‘The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.’ When all this is over, please come see me again. I know some resources that would be really helpful to you.” “OK, Doc.”

Back home, Archie called Rose Fitzgerald: “Please send a copy of my December 18th farewell note to Dr. Kelso. Yeah. Yes, thanks.”

He buried himself in GED preparations.