Ezekiel, page 22
‘They haven’t released a name, but I have been told he’s some homeless kid who escaped from the mental ward.’
‘Tallon, Tallon, Tallon,’ sighed Dave, dropping his head.
‘The good news is that this crazy guy requested, in the interests of his own mental health, that no charges be laid. The police have agreed to his request. I guess they have you nailed on other charges, so they’re not too bothered.’
Chapter 46
Medications
At mid-morning on the following day, and with Abigail alongside, Ezekiel was moved from the observation ward attached to the emergency department and taken by wheelchair back to the adolescent mental health unit. He was accommodated there in a single, unlocked room. Apart from a tender, slightly swollen area on the back of his head, he seemed fully recovered, at least from the head injury.
‘How much longer do you think you’ll be in this place,’ said Abigail, looking around at the bare pale-yellow walls.
‘Not sure. They have got me over a barrel with the Mental Health Act order.’
‘That’s so unfair. They don’t really know you at all. And I want you back at school and back at your home. I miss you a lot, Ezekiel.’
‘Hmm… it is quite possible that you are the best thing to have happened to me since I can remember, and I remember a lot. Thank you.’
‘Quite possible? Really? Are you trying to give me a compliment?’
‘Did I not just do that?’
‘Well, it was one of your better attempts. You’re so sweet. You know I’d sleep here if they’d let me,’ said Abigail with a big smile that accentuated her freckled cheeks.
‘This place is not conducive to rest. You would get little sleep.’
‘But I’d be here… with you. I wouldn’t be bothered by that.’
‘Prolonged lack of sleep can induce a psychosis.’
‘Hmm… well it’s your company I’m after.’ She slapped his arm softly.
‘Oh yes, I see.’ He looked at her and touched her cheeks with both hands. She shut her eyes briefly and pushed against his fingers.
‘That was nice,’ he let her go. ‘The more we touch the easier it seems to be getting for me.’
‘Well… I can take that all day… and more too.’ Abigail grinned and a tinge of redness filled her face.
‘I am thinking you are referring to having sexual relations.’
‘Well, you must be a mind-reader,’ she said coyly.
‘Maybe, but at the moment I am a face reader,’ he chuckled.
There was a knock on the door, then it opened. It was Doctor Nathan Williams and Nurse Tracey.
‘Good morning, Ezekiel,’ said Williams, looking smart in his grey pin striped suit.
‘Good morning. This is my very good friend, Abigail’
‘Hello Abigail,’ said the doctor.
‘Hi,’ said Nurse Tracey with a wave.
‘Maybe Abigail might like to wait outside the room,’ said Williams.
‘I would prefer she stayed, as long as she is comfortable with that,’ said Ezekiel. He looked at her. ‘Are you okay with remaining here?’
‘Yes, I am,’ she replied. Abigail was sitting next to Ezekiel on the bed. There was one plastic chair.
‘Very well,’ continued the doctor. ‘I understand you were struck on the head, and this is the reason you didn’t return from leave at the correct time.’ Williams pulled the chair near to his patient and sat. Nurse Tracey ducked out.
‘That is correct.’
‘How did that come about?’
‘I was trying to find the men that assaulted my father, broke his neck, and put him in ICU.’
‘Were you successful?’ asked the doctor. Nurse Tracey returned with another chair. She gently closed the door then sat near the bed.
‘I believe so. And they are under arrest. Though I imagine final confirmation will only occur when they are convicted in a court of law.’
‘How did you find these men?’
‘I looked through a folder that Detective Johnson inadvertently left on her desk,’ replied Ezekiel. ‘I saw photos, names and addresses. There were some faces I had seen previously.’
‘What is it that you think you have to offer the police?’
‘I helped them find the serial rapist. Now they also have the men that nearly killed my father.’
‘Allegedly, yes, but what specific abilities do you have that help with these matters?’
‘Ah…’ Ezekiel nodded, grinned then shook his head slowly. ‘I get it.’
‘Get what?’
‘What you are trying to do.’
‘And what is that?’
‘You want me to say something that will be a nice big hook, and a place for you to hang the hat of schizophrenia.’
Nathan Williams sighed. ‘Is this when the shutters come down?’
‘I decline to give an answer that some may misinterpret as a sign or symptom of a mental disorder which I do not have.’
‘Fair enough.’ Doctor Williams stood. ‘I have made some adjustments to your medication. The dose of your Clopixol injection has been increased, and I have placed you on ten milligrams of Zyprexa at night.’
‘I am already sleepy and tired on the current dose.’
‘Yes, a temporary side effect that I expect will pass in a week or so.’
‘That’s not fair!’ yelled Abigail. ‘Ezekiel is not crazy.’ She stood up. ‘He is a beautiful person. He would never harm a soul.’
Unless they are a school bully, a perpetrator of violence to women, or a person who nearly killed my father, thought Ezekiel.
Williams glanced at her briefly, said nothing and walked out of the room.
‘So sorry,’ mouthed Tracey softly. She moved quickly to Ezekiel. ‘He was going to double your dose. I’ve managed to negotiate only a fifty percent increase. I’ll keep trying. Gotta go.’ She left and followed Williams.
Abigail knelt and gave Ezekiel a quick big hug. ‘That’s just plain wrong. What can we do?’
He kissed his fingers and placed them on her lips. ‘You are simply wonderful.’
‘Can we do anything?’ she cried.
‘In time.’
‘What… days… weeks?’ She wiped her cheeks.
‘Perhaps. I would like you to have a talk to Grandad Ezra. Tell him what is happening. He understands. He might have some suggestions.’
Chapter 47
One Year Later - A
Difficult Future
‘We’re hoping that your father will be able to come home for a visit in the near future,’ said Anna. ‘Once the ramp has been put in and the rails have been installed in the bathroom, they said he could start coming out of rehab. First, spend single days here with a nurse, then if all goes well, we can look at some overnight stays. What do you think, Ezekiel?’
The family were sitting around the dinner table working their way through a roast pork and vegies. There had been a few minutes of silence, which, these days, was not so unusual.
‘That sounds really good,’ said Abigail. She was now spending as much time at the Kaufman’s home as she was at her own. ‘That would really help pick up his spirits.’
‘You think?’ grumbled Emily. ‘He’s a quadriplegic. I don’t think whoever’s hand wipes his arse will make that much difference.’
‘Emily!’ shouted Anna.
‘It’s true Mum,’ she continued. ‘He needs to be in a care home… all the time.’
‘Your father… my son…,’ cautioned Ezra, ‘… will ultimately be living here either semi-permanently or permanently. He will be bathed, cleaned, dressed, fed, mobilized and most of all loved by everyone in this household. You are my granddaughter and I love you without question. But if caring for your father presents you with any problem, you should consider living elsewhere. Then you can simply be a visitor… that is, as long as we find it convenient to have you around.’
Emily stood, raised her middle finger, not just to her grandfather, but to the whole table, then stormed off down the hallway. She opened her bedroom door then looked back. ‘We already have Zeeky the Zombie to look after. This family is fucked!’ She went in her room and slammed the door.
‘She can be so rude at times,’ said Anna.
‘Like all of us she’s having trouble adjusting, and then has those teenage hormones on top of that. Poor darling,’ said Ezra.
‘You’re too kind,’ said Anna. ‘You don’t see Abigail behaving that way.’ She looked at Abigail with a soft smile.
Ezra crunched down on a piece of pork crackling. ‘Hmm…’ he nodded. ‘Very tasty, Anna.’
‘I get into my fair share of drama at home, don’t worry,’ said Abigail. ‘Ezekiel, you should try a potato. They are so yummy.’ She picked up his fork and skewered a crispy golden quartered piece of potato and put the fork in his hand. He lifted it to his mouth and took the potato between his teeth, then sat there like that with his mouth partly open and the food just sitting there. Saliva started dribbling from the corner of his mouth.
‘Bite it, silly,’ she said as she placed a hand under his chin. Eventually he closed his mouth and started chewing slowly while just staring straight ahead.
‘He’s getting worse,’ said Anna, her voice faltering.
‘I know,’ added Ezra. ‘The bloody drugs. He’s probably put on fifteen kilos in the last year since he was discharged.’
Ezekiel had been discharged home twelve months earlier with regular home visits for his injections, which were altered to four-weekly. The community team visited every night for many weeks supervising his evening dose of Zyprexa. When they stopped their regular visits, the Zyprexa also stopped, as the family struggled to get back the Ezekiel they knew. The mental health team decided a trial of the drug Clozapine would be best, so they ceased the Clopixol injections and allowed a clearance time of five weeks before starting the new medication.
Ezekiel made a brief return to the real world in the fifth week. This was short lived. He was admitted for a week to hospital to commence this new drug, which required close monitoring to keep an eye on both his tolerance of the medication, and to make sure he was not having any of the potentially serious, life threatening, side effects. To begin with, weekly blood tests were needed to check his white cell count. He returned home, and after four weeks the blood tests changed to fortnightly. There was no way to stop taking the drug. Apart from the white cell count, the pathology test also measured Clozapine plasma levels, and with the mental health act order still in place, the family were truly stuck between a rock and a hard place.
‘He’ll get better,’ said Abigail trying to sound upbeat. ‘If they don’t take him off that order we need to move interstate. That’s the plan, right, Grandad Ezra?’
‘Yes love. That’s the idea.’
Ezra had put this forward as a plan. But he couldn’t be the one to take him, as he needed to be around for Joshua, as did Anna. It would end up falling in Abigail’s lap. First though, she needed to complete her final high school year, and with several more months before that would happen, it was going to be a testing time for everyone.
‘What about that second opinion?’ sobbed Anna.
‘That would be the third opinion,’ said Ezra. ‘The second one just endorsed the first.’
‘Third opinion,’ drawled Ezekiel as he chomped his potato. A chewed piece fell from his mouth to the table.
* * *
That Sunday evening in July, Abigail helped Ezekiel change into his pyjamas and took him by the hand to the lounge to say goodnight. Holding his hand and touching him now was far less an issue than it had ever been before.
Anna and Ezra were watching the MasterChef finale where Julie Goodwin was getting the accolades for her win in the final. The mood from the TV was not reflected in those watching, who seemed dejected and preoccupied with other thoughts.
‘Ezekiel’s come to say goodnight,’ announced Abigail. ‘Say goodnight to your Mum and Grandad.’
He pushed out something that partly resembled both a grimace and a smile. ‘Goodnight my family,’ he said softly. Anna stood, moved to the kitchen, and returned with a glass of water and the Clozapine tablets. He was prescribed one-hundred and fifty milligrams in the morning and two-hundred and fifty at night. She popped them into his mouth and handed him the water. He swallowed the drugs. Anna kissed him on the cheek and gave him a hug. Ezra did the same, then Abigail took him to bed.
Ten minutes later Anna drove Abigail home. This was the routine that had been repeated many times and would continue over the coming months.
Chapter 48
Different Strokes
Tallon’s involvement with Frank Mortimer had taken a step up since he was released after serving just four months in prison. Now he had assumed some of the responsibilities previously held by Dave, who was currently serving a twelve-year sentence.
He and his father had come to terms with their stuff up regarding Joshua Kaufman, and after discussion with Frank, who wanted the whole thing dropped, the pair had decided that Joshua was in fact the artist, and that Ezekiel was the pseudonym he used to autograph his work. The Chapmans and the Mortimers were also pleased that Joshua didn’t die, as this would have resulted in an escalation of their charges and a lengthening of their sentences. There had been no discussion of the matter now for many months.
Today was a day Tallon had been looking forward to for weeks. He was at the airport, dressed smartly, hair suitably short and spiky, and ready to board a plane to Sydney to catch up with his good friend, Quentin.
* * *
The taxi pulled up outside the semi-rural property at Horsley Park in Sydney’s west. Tallon tipped the driver and wandered to the house, passing a black Lexus sedan.
The red brick, low-set home was on a small, partly used farm of twenty-five acres. It had a front boundary of five hundred metres and extended back two hundred metres to the boundary of another larger farm. The property was surrounded by several other small to medium sized productive farms growing a range of vegetables and fruit.
Tallon hopped up the three steps to the veranda, put his duffle bag to the side of the door, then turned around and checked out his surroundings. Part of the front of the fence, which ran alongside the road, had been constructed from many large logs, while the remainder of the perimeter fence was barbed wire. There was a gravel driveway with plenty of parking space. Across the road was more farmland and the nearest other residence was at least half a kilometre away. Near the log fence were three fully grown Flowering Cherry trees which provided a degree of privacy to the home. At both sides of the house were large eucalypts and further along the front, away from the house, were a couple of spectacular Chinese Elms, currently leafless.
Locks clicked. The door opened, and Tallon turned to see Quentin.
‘Hey you!’ shouted Quentin. The two young men hugged each other and slapped one another hard on the back. ‘So glad you made it.’
‘Me too. Been looking forward to catching up. You look good. Your arms are strong.’ He squeezed Quentin’s biceps.
‘Done a bit of gym work. Great place to meet nice ladies.’ He winked at his friend. ‘Come inside. Let me show you what I’ve done with the place.’
The two entered. ‘Shit!’ exclaimed Tallon. ‘What is this? Have you gutted the place?’
‘Not completely. There’s still some side rooms, new smaller kitchen, bathroom.’ He pointed to the side where there were three closed doors. ‘I ripped out the old kitchen and dining room walls and made this one big open area. Polished the floors. Covered the windows. Installed the air con.’
‘Are you setting up indoor bowls or something?’
‘No. I’m going into the movie business.’
‘What?’
‘You know the sort of movies I like,’ smiled Quentin.
‘Fuck me! You doing snuff right here?’
‘Snuff… hmm, maybe, but not exclusively. Splatter films… you know… like real, live splatter films.’
‘Not while I’m here if you don’t mind.’
‘Hope to get started real soon. And I know you think I’m a sick, perverted, twisted fuck… but hey, we all have our secret and private pleasures. Some of us get to experience them… some don’t.’
‘You haven’t added to the body count then?’
‘Hey! I wouldn’t quite go that far.’ Quentin raised his hands like giving a little cheer. ‘A couple of generous ladies have… let’s say… given me some trophies.’
‘You mean like body parts, yeah?’
‘One a foot and one a heart.’
‘Fuck, Quentin!’
‘The footless bitch is chained up in the container out back.’
‘Still alive?’
‘Oh yeah. Cauterised the wound. Given her antibiotics. She’s going to be the star of my first movie.’
‘Saying I’m pleased for you doesn’t sound quite right.’
‘Whatever.’ Quentin shrugged the comment off. ‘That doesn’t matter. It’s my thing.’
‘You gotta be so careful. They’ll lock you up and throw away the key.’
‘I know, but that’s not happening anytime soon… if ever. I’m super careful. The heartless lady is at the bottom of the cement foundations of a block of six units. If she’s ever found it won’t be in my lifetime. How are you doing with the ladies at the club?’
‘I’m a guy of less complicated needs and very happy with Chocolate and Sugar,’ said Tallon.
‘You mean Cream, right?’
‘Cream died. Accidental OD at Peppers a little while back.’
‘Fuck!’
‘Yeah. Choc found her. She was devastated.’
‘That is so bad… sorry to hear that,’ said Quentin as he shook his head and looked at the floor. ‘Tell me, how was your stint in jail?’
‘Not so bad. No one asked me to pick up the soap in the shower which was a relief. I made a few useful contacts.’
‘You’re a Chapman that’s employed by a Mortimer,’ said Quentin. ‘That pretty much took the target off your back… or your arse, as the case may be.’ They both laughed. ‘How’s my old man treating you?’
